Sunday, February 19, 2012

Today we visited  village churches near the seminary.  Each of the instructors and volunteers have been paired with 8 to 10 students in what is called a "Pastoral Care Group"  This group meets once a week on Wednesday morning (7:30 am) in place of chapel and makes preparations for visiting a local village church they have been assigned. Eventually I am told, the theological majors in this group will lead the service, say prayers and read the scriptures.  Maybe one or two of them will even give the sermon.
These churches do not have a pastor or anyone who is ordained  or trained to lead their meetings and services.
They are usually new churches or ones that have lost a pastor and they are all Anglican.  David and I both have different churches and Pastoral Groups.  We have been paired with another instructor who has experience in leading the Pastoral Group and attending the local churches. David's church is named St. Mark's and my church is called Muungamo(not sure if this is the village name or the church name). 
From a western point of view both churches are very poor without for example a proper alter, real doors, or even enough benches in St. Mark's case.  My church did have song books and everyone had their Bibles to follow along with the readings.  Yes the services were in Swahili only and were very long (over two hours at my church).  Muungamo Church had a wonderful  choir (actually two choirs), one that sang traditional African church music and one that did what I would call a more tribal version with large and small drums, whistles, and some sort of rice shaker.  Each one was wonderful and entertaining in its own way.  My church had no road into it so we followed the edge of corn field (which was dried up due to the lack of rain).  Everyone except the four in our car walked to service from the village.  The same for David's church. 
David took the camera today to take pictures of his church.  Next Pastoral Group Sunday I will take the camera and share.
I have included several pictures of David's car, the fence, gate and the house in the back.  (Note the cinder blocks where all the lizards live!) He was very happy to have the guard on the car today due to all the brush he had to drive through. Picture one is of Shaking Hands after service, Picture two is of drummer ladies, Picture three is of the church, the next three are of the gate, fence and car (cattle guard on front).  We are known as Fort Knox because of the gate!

  

Monday, February 13th, 2012

Today was the first day of classes for the new semester here at Msalato Theological College.  We started with Chapel (every week day morning) at 7:30 am.  Classes begin at 8:00 am and continue until 1:30 pm with a tea break at 11:00 for students and faculty.  Not all of the students are here yet but we have been told more will arrive through out the week.  No one seems to register for school as they do in the US.  The dorms are very quite even though over half of the students are present.  David helped out with the English classes in the seminary area while I taught vocabulary and reading classes to other seminary students.  Tomorrow we both begin an additional class for Grammar content which will include fun games and activities based on grammar skills for about 17 students who are in need of review and support in that area.  (Don't know how much fun that will really be for them!)
I have 12 hours of student contact during the week and David has the same.  It has been very hot the past week with little or no rain.  Working in these conditions is hard on both of us so we are hoping that the rains will start again and cool down the whole area.  We are in late summer now and they really should be experiencing rain on a daily basis.  Crops here are drying up especially the corn and beans.  Having a small garden is how many people survive over the winter and spring months.  Everyone is praying for rain. 

Yesterday was like groundhog day for us!  We went to the Cathedral for 9:00 am English service and again at a 5:00 pm at Msalato for opening of the seminary's new term.  The readings, sermon, prayers, and songs were all the same!  We even participated in communion twice that day!! Can't say I wish to do that again!
The  pictures are of our students along with one road picture of cattle and livestock on the main road to Dodoma from Msalato.  Enjoy!

Today we went to visit my housekeeper Mama Zawade and her family.  She lives across from the college in a typical home for Tanzania.  Very nice family, polite children and good food!  We did not expect the lunch but was served a nice meal.  Limited conversations in English but the oldest son and Mama spoke to us mostly asking about America and differences in Tanzania and there.  Great visit wish I could have spoken Swahili.  We are learning some phrases but it is really hard with all the preperations we need to do for classes which are starting soon.

  The other  pictures shown are of new friends and volunteers, misionaries here at Msalato Seminary.We are at our usual haunt the Dodoma Hotel for Friday night dinner out.  Nice place good food but hard to get to from Msalato.   All are from of course English speaking countries,  New Zealand, England, Canada and US(that's us).  We are expecting more instructors to come in this weekend.  Three more from the US and another couple from Korea.  Monday night we are planning a welcome dinner for everyone  before the semester starts.  David and I really enjoying the social aspect this time.  We are getting to know some  wonderful people.  Some will be leaving in May but others are coming all the time to volunteer for what ever time they can give. 

 

Today is Friday the 27th of January and we have two more weeks before classes start here on campus.  Yesterday we visited St. John's University and saw a few people we taught with and even a few of our former students who were still working on their degrees.It was a nice visit and later we took our friend, Focas with us to eat at Rose's Cafe downtown.  Earlier that morning we met with the rest of the English Department and discussed our teaching loads.  David and I will be teaching a form of Reading Recovery to students who need the extra attention for reading skills.  Later as time permits we may help with basic computer research skills, grammar activities and even a Pastoral Care session and Bible Study.  We have been very happy with the staff we will be working side by side with and believe that this is a good match for all of us. I have some pictures I will attempt to share today.  Hope you like them.PS: I will post more later..so check back in.

typical small shops

hotel

big big big

road repair in Dodoma

main street

cart for delivery

mattress-cushion shop

waiting to cross

heading north west to Msalato

small beverage shop

I believe older students at a school

small shops

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January 25, 2012

January 24th Front Yard, Notice the grass!

Doing clothes lines, 1/25/2012

Yard Man 1/25/2012

Swahili Teacher 1/25/2012 Living Room

View from front yard.

Today has been a very hot day but a very busy one.  We had our first lesson in Swahili, our nets were placed over our beds, the workers came and put our clothes lines up and we went shopping and found some items for the house that we needed.  Tomorrow we will meet with some of the seminary faculty to discuss some of our schedules and classes we are teaching.  Later in the week we will do more planning for the start of the new school year.  It is beginning to feel more like home here and we are adjusting to the weather and our surroundings. Above are some more pictures of our house and people who are helping us.

Home In Tanzania 2012

David and I have arrived in Msalato, TZ.  School is out for three for weeks here at the seminary but some faculty from England and New Zealand have already arrived.  We are settling in fine except for the heat.  It is summer here and the rainy season.  Every thing is green and wet and humid!  The faculty we have met are wonderful and of course we have already visited with Moses and Ruth our Georgia friends from Tanzania.  Moses is the Director of Msalato Theological College and Ruth is his wife.
The only obstacle so far has been the road from Dodoma to Msalato.  It is awful, full of pot holes and when it rains the holes become small and large ponds. David is enjoying his car (SUV) and loves to drive it to Dodoma.  It is perfect for these roads.
Our house was remodled for us before we came and it is a great improvement over the small one bedroom apartment we had at St. John's University in 2009-2010. It has three bedrooms, hot water, electric outlets that work, fresh paint and lizards in the back and front yards!  A front porch for viewing Dodoma and the lizards.
All in all we all happy to be in one place and settled into the house.  Praise be to God for that!
Here are some pictures from Dar es Salaam and Msalato. More will follow later.

Focas, a faculty member from St. John's University, Dodoma and David at Pizza place in Dar.

Cefa Hostel in Dar.

Chapel at Msalato.

Our house at Msalato.

The SUV we got in Dar.

Home in Msalato

Today is Sunday, January 22nd, a day of rest and church going for all Christians in Dodoma and Msalato.   We have arrived at Msalato Seminary and are mostly settled into our new home.  The house was remolded for western people which means heated water, an American toilet, stove and fridge,new paint and cleaned through-out.  It looks great! Praise the Lord.
We now have a car, our Trusty Besty, the SUV.  She is 12 years old but works great.  David loves to drive her. The only real difficulty we have had has been the road into Dodoma from Msalato.  It is full of pot holes and when it rains they become lakes and ponds making it difficult to see where the road goes.
Over the past week we have met the instructors here at the seminary for English and some of our past friends we knew from St. John's University. We are slowly connecting but it is more difficult because of the distance and the road conditions.
We did manage to go into town at least once a day and sometimes twice a day this past week for supplies and items we needed for our home.  Today we rode with a neighbor in her car to church at the Anglican Cathedral for the English service.  There were about 20 or so misionaries there along with some brave Tanzanians who wish to hear the service in English.  It was nice to be back.  We met some people from St. John's and others from CAMS ( English Mission School).
This time our trip to Dodoma is different.  It is odd but we both feel a connection here. The Christian Angelo community is very close mainly due to how few of us there are in the area and I believe our common goals.
Tonight we will welcome back another couple who have been on long holiday.  There last name is also Reid but they are from Canada.  In our little community here on campus we have one couple from England, another one from New Zealand, two retired doctors from Georgia, and of course us from Denver, Colorado.  We are a very international group in this part of Tanzania.  But we all have one common thread:  the will to follow a call to teach and serve in this country.  It is very good to be here and to met the challanges of the Tanzanian people. 
Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Pictures to follow soon.
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