Monday we opened the day with a chapel service at the Chimala school of preaching. We introduced ourselves and encouraged them then we were introduced to all of the students (about 12 in number; 8-10 more will arrive as this week continues. Boaz, one of the elders in the Chimala church, is the director of the school, translated for us and did a wonderful job expounding on all the things that we said. We dismissed and shook all of the hands and then toured the school of preaching. We began with three classrooms then saw the printing room where Mark was gifted a songbook in Swahili which he has quickly learned and is now practicing song leading for Wednesday. We also saw the library which has been updated since I last came: the librarian has reorganized all the books by the Dewey Decimal system. I’m still jealous that they have several old Greek books that are near impossible to find anywhere else so while everyone else toured the library I stopped for a spot of reading.
From the library, we made our way toward the hydraulic pump system for the entire hospital and discussed with the overseer all of the processes that the water goes through before getting to the hospital. He gave us a brief demonstration, then introduced us to his second in command. Three people take shifts watching this system as it has to be monitored 24/7.
We then looked at the missionary houses, all of which are currently vacant, but we heard the history of all the missionaries who have lived there through the many years of this operation. We also visited the shop which has warehousing for container shipments, woodworking, parts, and a mechanic shop. There are several things that happen in this area and many hands go into the operation. We watched as the new water pump was installed on the tractor to make it functional again. We also visited the goats, rabbits, and ducks during this time which was profitable as Mark has always wanted a pet rabbit. However, these rabbits were not for petting, much to his dismay. We then began the trek over to the secondary school. On the way we were able to stop and see one of the wells that pumps water into the complex. We visited two of the classes in the school and introduced ourselves.
The kids there all speak English so we did not need a translator. We also stopped in on some of the teachers who were taking a coffee break. The kitchen there was our next stop and we saw a big oven cooking rolls, as well as three giant pots cooking beans and rice that would feed the both of the schools, a total of about 500 students. We then went to eat lunch and had chicken curry (precious memories with Paul and Dean came back) and some delicious cinnamon rolls.
At 12:30, Mark and I began the journey to the Mbeya airport to pick up his bag which had not made the trip from Amsterdam to Tanzania at the same time we did. Our driver, James, was a real talker as we finally managed to get about 3 sentences out of him. He was very focused on making sure we arrived at our destination alive. When we got to the airport, they would only allow Mark to come inside, so James and I waited in the parking lot. Mark got himself into a real “frisky” situation in there and had a wonderful time showing the entire contents of his bag to the security officer. When he finally got out with all of his items but less of his dignity, we traveled back to Chimala and ate dinner with the Fergusons. The process of getting a volunteer visa as opposed to a tourist visa was explained to us as we engaged in a further vigorous discussion about governmental corruption over more cinnamon rolls. We plan to go to the shop chapel tomorrow before spending the day up on the mountain if the rain stops.
The weather has been quite pleasant with rain in the morning and afternoon which is keeping it nice and cool, a stark contrast to our last visit which saw us coming inside every afternoon avoid the blazing African sun. We are also hoping for a full night of sleep tonight as we have woken up at 1 most every night so far. The good news is, we do have open windows and overhead fans, unlike the hotel we stayed in the first night in which we almost suffocated because of the humidity and heat. Pray for a full 8 hours this night.
The following map shows you the churches around Chimala, all of which have been influenced strongly by the preaching school.
