"Ain't no mountain high enough..."

…ain’t no pothole deep enough, ain’t no bush thick enough to keep us from getting to you!

**This is by far the best description I could ever give you about how we got to and where this village is… (thanks to LeeAnn for bringing up “Ain’t to Mountain High Enough”)…although I changed a few of the words :)

The best part of the day was the driving experience (on the way there and equally on the way back)!! I didn’t feel too good Tuesday afternoon/evening, nor in the morning yesterday, but I downed some Pepto Bismal and was ready to go again! PH, LeeAnn, myself and my teacher, Moreto, came with again. I went over a lesson while we had nice, paved Primary Road for the first 1.5 hours…then of course, we pick up more passengers! :) We went to practically the same place as the day before, therefore we picked up the same 4 guys who are Evangelists!! I did not mind one bit as they are wonderful and I knew there would be an excellent “men’s choir” again!!! :)
PH warned us that he did not always know the conditions of the road because if it had rained, it would be a whole different story… this is one of those “impossible” roads, because again, rain makes it all the more dangerous of getting stuck.
PH also declared it a “Hold-the-goat-day” meaning that the villagers do not know if the Pastor will make it so they wait (“holding a goat”) until they hear a car motor coming signaling his arrival and that they would in fact kill the goat for the after service meal.

Mliga, the Evangelist who grew up in a village “near” the one we were going to was an amazing navigator, therefore he obviously rode in the front with PH. We were on Secondary Road maybe 15 minutes, and the rest of the way was “impossible” road. Granted, there are areas or patches where the road is decent but we dip, jump, slant, squeal, spin, and swerve every which way!! It had rained a little bit the night before so there were also some areas of muddy standing water that we had to avoid, or if they didn’t look too deep PH would gun it through them! A few times Mliga would hop out of the car and run ahead to inspect the road and which direction to go. Kulita= left, Kushoto= right, moja kwa moja= straight ahead, Hapa= here.
One time, Mliga is looking and says, uhh kulita, Kushoto- hapana (no!) kushoto porini (meaning left in the bush…so, into some grass, off the road) and PH agrees and says Kushoto kabisa! (Absolutely left)!
Then when I think we’re getting “close,” whatever that means… we could go left, however it was a large dip into muddy water and we figured we’d never make it back up the slant out of that, but to the right, there was no road at first as there were bushes and branches of leaves that had overgrown the road… so Mliga hops out to inspect…comes back and simply opens the door, says one word to the Maasai man in the back of the car and is handed about a foot-long knife (specifically what all Maasai men carry around). So, we see Mliga chopping at some small bushes trying to clear a way…then the rest of the guys in the car get out leaving PH and LeeAnn and I to watch all the guys pushing branches aside and cutting at the bush…all of a sudden there was an opening and I could see the road again! They had cleared a perfect path! Also, out of nowhere appeared Manuel (or actually, Immanuel)- my Evangelist friend from the day before too!!! When I say out of nowhere, I literally mean it, because after the guys came back from clearing the path, Immanuel was with them!! These Evangelists are incredible. They are so dedicated to their job and have such great respect for PH. They truly care about their “work” and have just as much desire as PH to get to these Maasai villages, therefore they will find out routes to get to them and will walk or bike, or travel with us to get there! This is what I was talking about in the beginning…that there is literally NOTHING that will keep us- mostly PH and the Evangelists from getting to the villages. Places where you don’t think a car could go…WE go. Places where a vehicle probably should never go…WE go. Talk about the church should look like, and how it should act… PH’s discipleship…I would not say “mission” as he does not have a “goal” to just go into these villages and convert...but he is simply one of those people that went to the ends of the earth as part of the Great Commission that Jesus gave years ago.
Anyway, back to the journey… I can’t imagine how many miles in the middle of nowhere we were. It probably wasn’t that many miles- maybe 3-5 at most, but it took us over an hour obviously because of the road conditions. We passed a couple villages and I kept thinking, okay, we’re finally here…but we weren’t. Finally, at about 12:15pm (we left at 9am) we arrived.

(I forgot to mention that we stopped very briefly a couple times…once for a bathroom break, another time to see some men building a cattle dip? I guess it is supposed to be a flea dip…and also once at a village because we though we were picking up an Evangelist so we waited about 5-10 minutes and this was the first time that the language barrier made a huge communication problem as someone got out of the car, then a Maasai man walked over to the car and was talking to some people inside and then one of the Evangelists in the back kind of gives my shoulder a little push as Moreto (my teacher) opens the door and tells me to get out and stay, and I was super confused, and I said what?? And Moreto’s English is not the greatest, and I asked him why and I think that because they thought we were staying they wanted me to see the village...I don’t know if PH didn’t hear them talking or what, but I raised my voice and said PH, should I get out? WHAT are we doing? He said, No, no- we are just waiting for an Evangelist but don’t know where he is (mind you, all of the Evangelist’s have cell phones at least), but stay in the car. So the door remained open, I still had a confused look on my face, and by this time there were all these children crowding the vehicle outside with this man, and Moreto still motioned toward the door. I have no idea why PH couldn’t tell them No, and why I had to… ohhhh goodness)

For the first 30-40 minutes it’s always greetings, but once greetings are done with, then it’s just an akward staring contest sometimes :) I remembered my Frisbee this time though, so LeeAnn and I start tossing it and it attracts attention- from not only the people in our vehicle, but many of the Maasai warrior men. Well, Moreto and Immanuel ended up tossing the Frisbee with us for about 20 minutes, then it was time for tea!!! It was Incredibly hot today so we had to wait awhile for it to “cool,” however I wanted to finish it fast because we were attracting SO many darn flies.
Remember, yesterday I said that there were really only tiny stools for everyone, and a few plastic chairs? Today, there were only little stools, and huge pieces of tree to sit on. However, at tea time a man on a bike road in with 3 wicker chairs…one for PH and the two female guests! We always get bottles of water too…we are treated SO well and it is hard to accept many times. Well, of course baptism registration started after a while (about 1:30pm) and today there were SO many… He wasn’t done registering until 3:30pm therefore we didn’t start the service until about 3:50-4pm. It was Super humid today actually, and all day LeeAnn and I were watching the sky as more huge grey clouds were rolling in slowly (just like the day before).
During the baptism registration, LeeAnn and were able to chat again for a couple hours- just about seminary and classes and interpretation and FGM (female genital mutilation) and what’s being done to stop it as it has been a very prevalent tradition.
About 30 minutes or so before the service, many women and children had gathered and had started singing and clapping…then the Maasai elder (man) called us over and we didn’t know if he wanted us to sing and they follow, but I knew that wouldn’t work! Haha Well, bless LeeAnn’s heart as she tried to sing “We Are Marching In The Light of God” in a language she thought was kiiswahili…but it wasn’t…therefore we just stood with them and clapped along with and tried to sing if we recognized some words…however sometimes they sang in their tribal language: kiiMaa(sai).
Well, one time, this Maasai elder (woman) came over to us and she wanted LeeAnn to try and grunt and jump/bounce like the men normally do…it was quite entertaining as she tried to teach LeeAnn!!! :) (and quite entertaining for everyone else…including the men watching us all at a distance!)

The service starts and the mens choir sings and I just adore that. We sing in Swahili, and then it’s time for the baptisms to start, so the Evangelists have to organize everyone up front…that meant 54 PEOPLE!!! 43 children and 11 adults. PH had to say no to about 7 more babies.
By this time, it’s cooling off, and the winds are picking up and I’m freaking out with LeeAnn in the back trying to figure out different situations because the planner in me came out and I was like oh no, this isn’t good, the baptisms are Just getting started-how are we going to get through them all, And communion, And the offering…it’s totally going to start downpouring on us any second…and oh gosh- if it rains, we will definitely Not be getting out of here with those roads… so we’re going to have to stay in the village tonight…but we can’t do that because LeeAnn has to catch a bus at 8:30am back up to Arusha (northern Tanzania). Maybe, we can get through the baptisms and then wait out the rain, and then we can finish the rest of the service, but oh no- then we really will never get out….but I really wanted to finish the baptisms and the service, so I really just didn’t know what was going to happen. Well, I of course freaked out for nothing. LeeAnn and I went up front to watch the baptisms and take some pictures and halfway through them the wind is just incredibly strong (one of the Evangelists is holding the communion wafers and wine) and the dust is blowing as well. Then it starts to rain but not too hard so we keep watching…well then, the rain picked up and so a few of us ran to the land rover but we only had to stay in it for about 5 minutes as the rain was just a sprinkling the rest of the time. However, we stepped out of the car and it was COOL. It was the best temperature yet!! :)
PH finished the baptisms and all those that were part of the congregation not getting baptized that had left the service came back and PH did not give his sermon, but he always talks about the meaning of baptism for a few minutes. We had communion and the offering, and of course the “men’s choir” made up of Evangelists and a few Maasai men, including a male elder sang and “bounced” and of course I loved it :)
I did not have a Swahili hymn/liturgy book after the baptisms so I did not know the call and response songs by heart, but as I go to more and more services I am remembering more and more as well! I have made it my goal to for sure memorize the “Our Father” in Kiiswahili before I leave!
My favorite part of the service is still the very end when we sing the same song that is SO catchy (and I love it), and we make a big circle and shake hands with everybody, starting with PH and the Evangelists!! It was still softly raining so I thought we would just leave, but they wanted us to eat still!! So, the men (Evangelists) served us (as PH said, the men serve the guests here!)…they brought our chairs over and a table and poured the water over our hands to wash them so we could eat the wonderful rice and LeeAnn and I even had 7UP! So, this was my 2nd time eating since 7:15AM that morning!
We really had to get going if we wanted to get to the Secondary Road at least before dark, but that wouldn’t happen as it was already 6:15pm. We went a different route on the way back to the Secondary road…it was longer, but it was supposed to be better than the other road we came on, especially because it had rained some. Except, that is what is so weird about the storms here…the clouds were super threatening and all of these grey ones were rolling on above us, yet hardly any rain fell…and on the drive back, you could tell it only rained in patches. It took a good hour and a half…the first 30 minutes it was light and I took a couple pictures of everyone in the car! It was much fun, and we all laughed a lot… and the Evangelists are always willing to help me with some new Swahili words, or to correct me!! We went through more scratchy trees… and let me ask you: what do you do if you are walking through a forest or an area with many bushes and there are branches that stick out…we would duck or dodge them of course…well…it was funny because PH would do that sometimes, but Mliga, the Evangelist and wonderful navigator also up front would duck his head EVERY time… and all of us in the back just cracked up laughing…and it was even funnier after Mliga’s Evangelist friends in the back said something to him…Immanuel, who was sitting next to me was even Crying because it was so funny… and I found that great because when I laugh too hard I also cry!! :) I felt a little bad, although we meant to be laughing With him… it was just too cute…and he was so focused on helping PH that it was a natural reaction to duck, even though we were in a car!!!
We dropped off Jose, an Evangelist and a Maasai man and continued on through the night. LeeAnn and I realized that when it’s nighttime and one is driving on roads like this, the time seems to double as it seemed like we would never see a sign of civilization again…
Once we finally made in onto Secondary Road, PH had to stop and call Luka quick to see how the building was going, and then we continued for another 40 minutes or so before we stopped in a town right before the Primary Road. We had to let out Immanuel and Mliga~my two favorite guys!! Mliga was much more relaxed after making it through the bush and I stepped outside to let them out and say good-bye…they are so genuine and warm and just being able to meet them and be part of what they are doing the past two days was such a blessing…and watching them sing/”bob” as well just makes my heart smile :) I dearly hope I get to see them again before I have to leave in 2 months or so…(look at me, I’ve only been here 2 weeks, but I’m already realizing that time is flying by…) I hopped back in the car and waved good-bye and I will never forget their grinning faces with both hands waving furiously good-bye back at me :)
We dropped off one more Evangelist as we continued, and the rest of the time I leaned forward to listen to PH talk to LeeAnn and I about some more stories…including the service where he baptized the most at one time (over 80) and one of the most vivid demon possessions he has seen in his time here….very interesting indeed!
It was 9:40pm when I got back in my room and I was way too exhausted to write…plus I had to upload LeeAnn’s photos from this past week too. Now I have at least many of her pictures from the weekend, as I didn’t take hardly any!!

*A few interesting facts about Wednesday: PH said that sometimes there are elephants roaming in the bush that we drove through…wouldn’t that have been something to see!!
**Also, this was only the 2nd time that PH has ever been to this village (once in Dec), therefore I am the first Wartburg student to have ever come to it!! (The name of it is Lukenge). Maybe that is why LeeAnn and I had sooo many stares from all of the women and children, and well everyone…more than usual I mean :) because if PH has only been there once before, and unless some of these Maasai walk to a town/market, they definitely do Not see any white people!
*** PH also said that Mliga often hears among the Maasai “What are white people doing here? There must be gold or diamonds or something around… they wouldn’t just come here to come here…” Interesting…



NOTE:
~ I have a correction to make: I found out that the first place we stopped at last Friday-called TwaTwaTwa the German Evangelist is Actually the Pastor for the village!! Hmmm…he was another story….

~TUESDAY: I forgot to mention I think, that before we left the village one of the Evangelists set fire (burned) to the necklace that had the “medicine” in it!!

~TUESDAY: Also found out that the village on this day was a new preaching site for PH, so that’s exciting!!! :)

**One more NOTE: On Sunday, I mentioned my teacher, Moreto...he grew up kiiMaasai and is 8th out of 9 kids....that is with one wife... I did say that his father has 8 wives...but I found out the actual number of total children: 52 I dont think I can say anything else but, wow.



WHEW… I apologize that these entries are so long all the time, but I don’t know any other way to really describe it without being as descriptive as I can…My words don’t do justice to this beautiful country and the beautiful and even more intriguing people…but I do want to do my best to give you a glimpse into another world, another way of life. I mean, the way of life just living at the seminary is already totally different...but when one goes to the villages…that is completely different…and the “townie” Tanzanians, as I call them, know that! In fact, one of the teachers (21), Godfrey, whom I’ve mentioned, told me has never been to a village before…I told him he is coming with me the end of February or March!!!

Also, instead of doing two separate journals for my classes this blog is going to suffice for both, so that is also why they are going to continue being long!!!

** Thank you for your time and patience when reading these…I appreciate your comments and thoughts very much and I hope that maybe some of this reading will perhaps give you a “breath of fresh (warmer) air” as well during these cold and often monotonous days!!!

In awe,
Alana :)


“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
*Romans 10:15*