July 21: Meeting the District Pastor and MGLSS Students

I joined the students for morning prayer at 7:00 am, while Anya caught up on some sleep.

I walked to the North Maasai District office, which I had visited before in 2008, but without a sign, I wasn’t sure about the entrance. Fortunately, I was close to Rebecca’s bakery and home, so I stopped and asked Rebecca. I was right, despite the lack of a sign. I bought some of her wonderful rolls to bring to anyone at the district office, partially as a gift, but really to advertise Rebecca’s new bakery right across the street.

I talked for 1.5 hours with Pastor Saning’o Laison.

We knew of each other and had emailed, but we had never talked before. His oldest child, was a student of mine. She was a very good student too! She has now graduated with a bachelor’s degree in law and has a new job as an advocate in Dar es Salaam. She would need at least 1 more year of schooling to be a lawyer.

My home church, Cross of Christ Lutheran in Bellevue, has partnered with the North Maasai District since 2008, and we have been mutually blessed. This is why I was so honored on Sunday (see July 19^th’s post). As Pastor Laison is new, taking over for Pastor Nangole, it was so good to get to know each other and talk about our partnership. My church group will be coming next July to share in celebration of the work that will be done this next year, with some financial assistance from my church. I left very encouraged that we have another fine leader who will faithfully steward the relationship and gifts.

Rebecca and her friend were at home when I got home. They had done some laundry for us, as we are not very good at washing clothes by hand, and it provides some income for these women. Lunch was tasty with some very sweet mangos at the end.

I spent some of the afternoon writing up my report of the visit with Pastor Laison for the mission team leaders. I wanted to give plenty of detail of the conversation to help with our future planning.

The water came on in the late afternoon, and for a while, we had both water and power! The power is out now for the second time as I write this.

In early evening, we went to the chapel for the evening devotions. A handful of students brought song books and sat right next to us to welcome us and help with finding the songs. This is one aspect of the legacy of Jean Wahlstrom, who taught the girls this hospitality. It is really helpful when the hymn and page numbers are announced in Kiswahili for guest who don’t know the numbers. However, this is English day, so the singing was in English. The scripture reading was in Kiswahili, as was the homily. The message given by the student was longer than most Lutheran sermons in the USA, and while I can get the just of what she was talking about, for Anya it is a bit boring.

But afterwards these girls and a few others stayed to talk with us. We met the younger sisters of my former students Kipuye and Selina. Selina was a good friend of Anya. We have continued our contacts over the years, but this time we won’t be able to see Selina, as she is head of a school in Mto wa Mbu (literally, mosquito river). There was also one Hadza girl, and I finally remember the name of my Hadza student, and yes, she knew her. The 15-year-old mortality rate is something like 46%, so almost half don’t make it to their 15^th birthday. One of the Hadza students wants to be a doctor, and then, she will be a huge blessing to her people group.

What a difference education can make!

With blessings,

Beth