Dear Cherished Interested,

Africa time.. Is not North American time.. Both literally and figuratively.. That must be striven after to understood as.. good..

This affects everything else.

I think I’ve wrapped my head around Swahili Time which cycles in two twelve hour units like western time. However Swahili Time, a product of near equator living with hours of day and night being both equivalent and consistent throughout the year with nearly no seasonal variance, has sunrise at 12:00.

Then the counting of the hours of daylight 1 thru 12 at which time the sun sets. Western time would record sunrise at about 6 with sunset at about 6 this means that western time is 6 hours out of phase from Swahili time. Swahili time is still extremely sensible where power fluctuations make artificial lighting less than reliable and reliance on daylight still the most prudent choice.

Further, time here, where not everyone has a phone nor a watch, is less than precise.

Yesterday we learned, when we were collected by Pastor, that the college we were going to see is not the one hour to Moshi, TZ that most folks think. Moshi, TZ is actually about an hour and a half away. The college is three hours away.

It was well worth the six hour round trip.

We were welcomed with time, courtesy, patience and food. We were listened to and we were trusted to .. listen. We had the company of the Assistant Principal of the College as the Principal was literally called out on an emergency.

We had that attention for four to five hours.

“We exist to support the local parish.. the local parish has nearly no resources to send people for training..” Assistant Principal..

Then he showed this old former farmer the cows. They have a small dairy. They have goats. They have Chickens. They have gardens of plantain, maize, coffee and other fruits and vegetables. The Assistant Principal himself maintains a swineherd next to his home on campus. This they do at this college for the sake of providing food and income to support the training of Evangelists and Pastors, ..to support the local parish.

My Dear North American siblings connected with higher education, especially education intended to affect the formation of pastors and other church leadership.

Firstly, if you haven’t spit it out, swallow your coffee..

This grandfather is sick to death of the debt culture model our North American church machines foist upon those rare few who not only feel the call, but respond.

Further, I get regular solicitations from OUR training institutions seeking to pull ever more resources out of our local parishes to support the training of our current and future church leaders.

Forgive the farming reference but OUR training mechanisms milk both the student and the parish to maintain.. what?

? A debt culture that ties the hand of graduates limiting the parishes they can serve or demands they walk away from their call to work in service to that debt?

Which Master do we want them to serve?

Pick your college or university and you can see manicured lawns and ornamental gardens. I know this was not always the case for us in North America. When my grandmother attended Cornell University students were part of programs that helped fund that center for training.

Yes, WE know how to do this too. We are the culture that has turned the flow of resources completely wrong. Friends this is part of OUR failing witness to our communities full of people who wonder why the Word of God we preach doesn’t seem to affect our own steps. It is almost like Jesus asking the lepers, orphans, widows, and those who serve them to take The Cross in His place.

That is NOT the character / nature of our God. Jesus does what we cannot. God supplies everything.

God even provides opportunity to exercise leadership that is self-sacrificial for the sake of communities of people who we may never know in our here and now.

What joy it will be when we find their precious faces in our hereafter together because we were given the opportunity to lead through self-sacrifice. Our small self-sacrifice investing in their having a witness that lives the truth of Christ’s Cross, the truth of God’s love, the truth of change for the better because Jesus lives, even through the likes of us.

Today is a new day! Let us try again. Let us try.

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Why would a Pastor of an impoverished 300 plus person parish collect Hilda and I in his own truck and take us to his own college 3 hours out of town?

“We Pastors here, we have nothing so we rely on miracles..” Pastor Ombeni said through a knowing smile then explained how he had to borrow the truck we were in and when he tried to return it.. he was told that he needed it.. and to keep it. Yes, Pastor Ombeni keeps cows and gardens. As endlessly busy as he is, I am certain that many others help in their maintenance. How busy is a Tanzanian Lutheran Pastor?

So busy that he had me drive the last hour or so back, then up the bush road to where we are staying for the moment so he could be on his phone to catch up with and direct those needing him.

Yes, Hilda and I saw to his truck getting needed maintenance. Yes, we bought the fuel. His joy and our joy in our time together in that miracle truck. His joy in his encountering everyone at his college as we were there. His choice to find joy in this strange old man who still dreams dream’s and this man’s brave capable life partner, is beyond any price.

We found acceptance to enter a process for me to be evaluated by Tanzanian means, both Governmental and Diaconal, for fitness and readiness to attend this college because of the respect all who serve there have for the gift of this Tanzanian Pastor. You prayed us together with this joyful Pastor. Your Prayer has pulled us here.. Keep it up!

I asked the Assistant Principal to please Shepherd me through this Tanzanian process as this old man is like a child here. I simply do not know what I do not know. I am here to try. The fact we were taken on a tour of the campus, that we were introduced to so many and got waves and greetings from everywhere, including a Montanan teaching music here, Pastor Ombeni assures, means that Hilda and I have indeed found a willing shepherd.

What to Pray for..

Got word this morning that our friends and family in the Pacific Northwest have gotten 5 to 6 inches of rain in the last two days.. Yes this is deeply problematic.. swollen rivers, flooded valleys, towns and homes..

The missing rain would be a blessing here below Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru.. Your powerful cords of prayer have done the miraculous already.. shift the problem there to a solution here..

The heart of yet another Bishop, a Tanzanian Bishop, and his Stewards at Mwika Lutheran Bible College.. for my striving to study scripture alongside tough capable impoverished Tanzanians and other interested foreign nationals..

Gratitude for every unexpected turn, each and every unexpected person..

Gratitude for both our health and our weakness and vulnerability..

Gratitude for each and every one of you, miracle workers all..

Gratitude for Pastor Ombeni’s grandson who is doing very well..

For our wits and our hearts, for our feet and our willingness to take every moment as given, to live as God would have us live it..

Thank you, Thank You, Thank You.. Prayers, your prayer, makes all the difference..

Vern W

May Life be as Music to your Heart - May Music be as Heart to your Life 

- May Heart be as Life to your Music -