Hump day

Good lord.  Everyone is so ridiculously tired today.  I took advantage of this and relaxed and studied for most of the day but some interesting things did happen.  Pastor Hafermann told us today about his trip yesterday.  Apparently, it was very exciting.  The clan leader of this particular people rules with something of an iron fist.  He can be a harsh man.  The women do nothing without his consent.  (My mind as had to bend a bit here to understand the role of women in this society as compared to my ideas but this man was evidently intolerable in his ruling).  He also has not allowed any religion even though his people really want to experience life in this way.  Some who were baptized before he took over the tribe have even had to give up their religion.  This came to be because some pentecostal evangelists were calling him the devil and condemning he and his people to hell.  (Religion can certainly be evil and is unfortunately often a stumbling block).  Pastor Hafermann was not even offered anything for hours (this would not normally stand, but this was a very serious meeting).  In the end Pastor Hafermann explained gently that tehy are not there to destroy their way of life but to allow the people freedom to become Christian if they want.  He allowed a service and asked for Hafermann to return. In one month we will all go.  This will be extremely interesting.

Class is becoming routine.  We are getting some things more easily than others.  I love the language.

This evening Peter and I attended the English speaking service on campus.  We were the only language school students there in a sea of secondary school students. Communion was really meaningful tonight as I realized how humanizing the act of kneelng with all sorts of people really is.  The secondary school students and language school students do not seem to interact all that much but we were invited and kneeled together with these students. It did not matter who we were but that we were a part of the group at the time.  This is everywhere in TZ.  Even printed on the front of our langauge book is "Mtu ni Watu."  A person is people.  We are nothing without community.  Tonight I saw that. We are all equal part of the body.  The idea of God showing no partiality became alive tonight.  This brought to me the thought taht I like the idea of a service of word and then one of sacrament within worship (it does not necessarily need to be pointed out.)  Communion tonight really started with greeting, then the prayers, then the meal.  These are all acts of communion.  We need to know that the ritual of ingesting the body and blood physically is not all there is to the ritual of communion.  That is a small part.

Besides this, I spent a good amount of time today looking at the mountains.  There is a range that can be seen really well from the soccer field.  This place is beautiful.  Every tree, every flower, every bug, every mountain.  And the people are very close to the land and care for it well.  I will write about this at another time.  I need sleep.