Usolanga Parish, Day 2

July 9, 2017

Worship at Usolanga was a wonderful experience.  While we were being served chai [breakfast] in the pastor's home, the sound system was warming up and calling people to worship.  For about 45 minutes before worship begins, the music is played at a very loud volume so that all the neighbors hear.

Pastor Rick preached the sermon, with Pastor Lusungu Msigwa as his translator. Compassion and justice was the theme, and Pastor Rick told the travelers they might hear bits and pieces of it again sometime.

At the end of the service, gifts were exchanged.  We were presented with six large bottles of honey from the local preaching point bee keeping project.  When we are unable to take food items home, we give the items to the Huruma Center orphanage.  The kids will love this.

We were each given kitange, and Pastor Rick and I were also given cross necklaces made of Maasai beads.

Shepherd of the Valley's gifts to Usolanga included an altar cross made by Tim Schaefer, a chalice and paten set for communion, as well as a box of disposable communion cups (our past experience is that these will be washed and reused many times), and a photo collage made by Kris Horton. The photo collage shows the old shepherd logo, and is made up of many tiny photos of SOTV members.  (When we gave this gift in Tungamalenga and Makifu parishes, our friends immediately studied to find photos of people they know from previous travels.)

 

As we left the church to have lunch, the Hehe musicians took over.  Their drumming, singing and dancing accompanied us through the meal and until we had to leave.

On Saturday evening, after our tour of preaching points, we participated in the partnership meeting.

The partnership committee includes both pastors, secretary/treasurer Yusta Mkosa, and the evangelists from each preaching point. Pastor Chaulla opened the meeting by thanking God for the opportunity to sit together. "We know you are here on behalf of your whole congregation. We thank you that last year we signed the covenant to become partners. But even before that, you showed interest in us by being with us. We have been receiving support from SOTV and through that, we saw God working together."

He explained that there were just two agenda items for the meeting: 1) what has been done so far, and 2) what is planned for the future.

He outlined the things we have done together.  In 2013-2014, SOTV provided 3,400,000 TSH that was used to plaster the walls and floor of the church at the main station in Usolanga. There was also 3,700,000 TSH provided for scholarship students.

In 2015-2016, 2,100,000 TSH was used to plaster the office and sacristy, and to install windows. Ten bikes were purchased for use by the evangelists, and 4,700,000 TSH was provided for scholarships.

In 2016-2017, 16 students (twice as many as before) were supported by 10,200,000 TSH in scholarship funds.  156 chairs were recently purchased for the main chapel, using $1200 that was originally earmarked for solar power to provide electricity for the sound system.  The congregation had a change of heart this spring once they learned that the national grid will be extending electricity to their village within a few months.  At that point, they contacted SOTV and asked if the funds could be redirected toward another priority, the chairs.

"We know this money comes from many people, so when you go back, please convey our thanks," Pastor Chaulla asked.

Next, he explained the plans for the future.  The parish has a five year plan that includes goals that are ongoing, like scholarship support and chapel construction, and some items that might be viewed as stretch goals, like the idea of building a hostel for students attending nearby Furahia Secondary School.  That hostel would require an initial investment of over 100 million TSH ($50,000) but would eventually provide revenue for the congregation.

In the end, after hearing about plans for scholarships, chapels, parsonages, piki piki, electrical hook ups, a small water project, bee hives, a machine to grind sunflower oil, the hostel, and remodeling the old church into a kindergarten classroom, here are the priorities for the coming year: 1) scholarships, 2) finishing chapels, 3) the grinding machine (no estimate on cost), 4) piki piki for the pastor, 5) install water pipes to the pastor's house.

We discussed scholarships and Pastor Msigwa outlined the new BKB program for post secondary scholarship support.

In response, SOTV members said we would take these requests to our steering committee at home, and would respond with pledged amounts for projects and scholarships by November. Pastor Rick thanked the leaders for their good planning, and for including goals that would require a long reach.

Members of the parish then took turns offering specific words of thanks, including:

• Without God, we would never have met one another; it is God who brings the partnership from America to Tanzania.
• Thanks for accepting us as partners and for accepting our second plan [chairs].
• We will keep on praying for you.
• If God wishes, we would like to visit you in Minnesota.

Pastor Msigwa added his comments, emphasizing that faithfulness is important for a good partnership. "We must go forward with the thought that what we agree is what we do, and that if plans change, we must all agree."

Pastor Chaulla thanked us for the meeting, and for accepting their plans and priorities. "This shows that we are on the same page to walk together. We will be faithful with each and every thing coming to our parish."

Finally, he thanked us for traveling so far to meet with them.  "It shows you loved us a lot. We could ask you to stay, but we know you have an itinerary and other plans. When you go back home to your families, to your partnership committee, and to your whole congregation, convey our thanks.  You are welcome again and again."