Where to begin?
Where to begin?
It has been several days since we last met, people of blogland. So much has happened. Let’s rewind a bit, shall we?
6:30 AM Sunday morning. Nathanael, Todd, and I hopped in Pastor Jeremiah’s SUV and headed on over to the general area of Tanga. We were supposed to arrive at a church for worship and the ordination of two new pastors at around 11am. Had we arrived at 11am, however, we would have been early. That’s just the way it is. We did not come even close. We arrived in between what is described as Chunga time and African time. I shall look into the origins of the former. African time is understood to allow two hours from the beginning of the scheduled time and still be considered “on time.”
Even still, the people of this congregation and village waited patiently for us. It’s hard to describe exactly what it’s like to arrive at certain places and have a literal mob of people waiting just to greet you, shake your hand, smile, wave, or just have a good long stare. For me, this is not the most comfortable situation to be in. I know very well how unworthy I am of such celebration. So I get to thinking about why they make such a fuss. I’m sure some arrive just because it is a rare occasion to have a few crazy wazungus (whiteys) come all the way out to where they live. Others may be there because everyone else is there and why not join in the fun. But there are those who sincerely are thankful to have their brothers in Christ come a long way simply to share the Word, encourage, join in worship, and pray. All of this hooplah on our behalf is an ever present reminder to shift the focus, attention, and honor to the only one who is worthy.
Having spent most of the daylight getting to our destination it was decided that it would be too perilous to try and reach our hostel in the dark. We were invited to stay in accommodations that I cannot really capture with mere words on a page. I think Pastor Mayhew has some pictures up if you would check out his blog at lutheranmissions.org under the missionary journals tab. Just as I was drifting off to sleep, all tuckered from the days events, under the vigilant care of my bug net, I was awakened by one of the most unholy sounds I have ever experienced. The initial thought was the someone was being murdered outside my window. Gladly, this was not the case. As the sound persisted I realized that it was emanating from a chicken or chicken-like animal. I have heard chickens being killed before and I don’t think this one was going out without the whole mountaintop knowing about it. I couldn’t help but laugh.
The next morning held even more excitement for us…little did we know. We said our farewells and bid them “adios” and headed down the mountain to our next location. Not twenty minutes into our journey do we run across the scene of an accident. A motorcycle is thrashed and on its side in the middle of the road, the victim is sitting on the side of the road with multiple injuries. There were passers-by who had stopped to see what happened. This is where our hero steps into action. For sake of anonymity let’s call him Todd O….no, wait, that’s too obvious. Let’s say his name was T. Ohlmann….yes, that’s better. He had carried a first aid kit with him on countless mission trips in the past If you would like all the graphic details of this account please e-mail me privately and I would be glad to share. So anyway, he’s not in great shape. We load him into Pastor Jeremiah’s SUV and take him on the TWO AND A HALF HOUR drive to the next clinic. We were concerned with the blood lost and the extremely rough terrain for a man riding with a separated/broken shoulder. But we did get him there and on the way back through later in the day, the man’s brother said he was doing well.
These are just a few of the many things that have happened thus far. Please remember to ask any questions that you might have. Also if you would like to chat you might be able to find me on skype. Simply go to skype.com and download the free program. My contact is michael.gurath.