Usolanga

Our driver, Kulwa, picked us up at 8 this morning for the drive to Usolanga.  He already had Pastor Lusungu Msigwa and his wife Gloria in the car.  Pastor Msigwa is the Iringa Diocese Bega kwa Bega liaison and served as our translator today.

We drove out of Iringa, past the turn off to the airport, for about 45 minutes on a beautiful paved highway. At Isimani, we took a right and continued slowly on dirt roads the rest of the way.  Had to stop for directions once, and received the instructions to go past the school, then take a right.  We arrived, were greeted by Pastor Patrick Chaula, and had plenty of time to tour the new construction and also have breakfast before the start of the church service.

Pastor Chaula has been here for 13 years - an almost unheard of length of tenure in a diocese where pastors are usually shifting from one parish to another every three to five years.  He and Pastor Msigwa joked that he had been here so long because the diocese had forgot about him -- but it is clear he is respected, loved, and well suited to this parish.

We are told there are seven preaching points in the parish.  It is comprised mostly of people from the Bena tribe who relocated to this fertile area from Njombe.  To me, it is very similar to Tungamalenga in landscape and vegetation, fairly dry and arid, with the exception that the soil here is orange. There are also some Maasai and Ngogo represented in the area. 

About 150 people worshipped at the main station with us.  As usual, church elders, ministry leaders, parish treasurers, evangelists from the preaching points, and members of the partnership committee rose to introduce themselves during announcements. There were two wonderful choirs, a youth choir and adults, as well as a choir of evangelists offering songs of praise.  The church has purchased a sound system and generator, which provided the prelude music (at a very loud volume) as well as accompaniment for two songs during worship (at a softer volume).

the very noisy generator for the worship sound system

During the course of the service, our congregations renewed our commitment to partnership together by signing the Bega kwa Bega covenant. We shared information about Shepherd of the Valley and asked for prayers as our congregation goes through the transition of leadership to a new senior pastor. We exchanged gifts -- honey, soccer balls, baskets, t-shirts, fabric, a tabletop cross carving. These are signs of affection and remembrance for each other.

gifts of honey and baskets

After lunch we held a short partnership meeting.  They outlined their parish priorities: to purchase 300 chairs for the sanctuary; to install solar power for both the church and the parsonage; and a long term goal of purchasing a grinding machine to produce sunflower oil as an income generating project for the parish.

Pastor Chaula signing the covenant

Our friends thanked us for the ten bicycles we purchased; they will take care of transporting the bikes from Iringa to Usolanga.

Pastor Msigwa spent some time talking to the congregation in Swahili about being good partners.  Later, he summarized his points in English for us.  He cautioned them to be faithful with the gifts shared, and to leave nothing hidden.  "When our friends agree to support something, they expect 100% will be used as agreed.  If you use it for something else, even if you think it is good and necessary, without first discussing it with them, they will feel disappointed."

To students and parents, he advised that they work hard when they have the chance.  "If you are not serious about your studies, and they see that you fail, it can ruin the partnership."

He spoke of the three pillars of Bega kwa Bega: pray for one another, share the gift of presence by visiting one another; work together on projects.

We talked about what we would do next year, bringing a group of travelers.  Spending time in fellowship and worship was the first item listed by our partners.  They noted that if we came in four wheel drive vehicles, we could easily visit each preaching point. If we bring youth, they would schedule a soccer match.  In addition to seeing projects, they would like us to spend time with various groups -- women, children, youth.  The women especially noted they would like to show SOTV women some of the handcraft projects they do to support parish projects, and they asked whether we would be willing to take items for sale in the US.  Yes, of course we will!

We discussed the scholarship program, and they let us know that the applications received this year could have used additional funds.  Our steering committee will look at ways we can shift some funds from college scholarships to additional secondary scholarships here.

It was a good day building a foundation of friendship and understanding with our friends at Usolanga.