party time
Read about day one.
We witnessed our sister and brother's beautiful generosity and love yesterday.
We visited Mpare church for lunch and worship. Also, we saw the progress of Mpare’s 62,000 liter (16,000 gallon) water project.
Lunch included a traditional ndafu, or roasted goat. Pastor Fue compared it to a pig roast in the U.S. In Tanzania, people celebrate special occasions with a ndafu. In this case, it was the 50th anniversary of Pare Diocese. Because it was her 11th birthday, Allison received the honor of sharing the first portions.
Later, worship concluded with a surprise birthday party for Allison. As is traditional in Tanzania, she cut the cake and shared a bite-sized piece with everyone present, one after the other. During our hours-long road trip from Moshi to Kirangare, Pastor Fue carried this cake on his lap in the cramped Land Rover. Wendy and Connor distributed party favors–noisemakers and party glasses. The choir sang “Happy Birthday” in English. It was all loud, chaotic joy!
Later, at Simon Simon's Kirangare home, Allison was surprised with another party, thrown by Simon's secondary school students. There was another cake with a sparkler candle, singing “Happy Birthday” in English and Swahili (including a Swahili verse about how if you don't sing, you don't eat!), ginger tea, and handwritten messages for all of us travelers of faith and love.
Such joy and generosity! And I was worried the night before that, because we came too late to experience the community welcome, this year's first-tune travelers would somehow miss out. Me of little faith.
We show our love for each other, Zion and Kirangare, with our prayers, letters, and visits. Some on both sides may see only Zion financial support for Kirangare community development projects and think the companionship is lopsided. That Kirangare is the lesser partner, and Zion the greater or even the burdened.
But how wrong that is! Maybe these words, photos, and eventually videos pale in comparison to being here first-hand. But even so, maybe you can see that, together, we of Zion and Kirangare Parish are guests of God's great banquet. Miraculously, we get to taste now that feast that someday will have no end. Without each other, we would miss it. We can only enter the celebration together. God is good!