Dancing for the Lord: A Sunday in Tanzania (6/7)

The regular morning routine ensued as usual! There was no electricity all day yesterday so I was very pleased to hear the sound of the kettle going. Paul was insistent last night that Michael and I took showers as soon as we got home (he knew we played soccer and got very sweaty). Not wanting cold showers since it was chilly outside, we convinced him to let us bathe in the morning. Now that the morning had come, you better believe it that Paul had all the water ready for us to bathe! I unwillingly showered first as Michael went first last time. 

After getting ready and waiting for everyone else to get ready for Sunday Church, we walked up the hill to the kitchen. This is near the office where we work everyday and is essentially a large barn. To cook they use small fires scattered inside of the barn which means it’s always filled with smoke! The three women work here everyday and make us the best food. Henry met us there where we had our usual breakfast.

On our walk to the church, Paul gave us our "sacrifice", his word for a tithe, and a piece of Big Boss Energy gum. The tithe was a 20 Tsh coin which is $0.007 USD which is not a ton! Who knows if the piece of gum actually had any caffeine in it, but it tasted like a Red Bull energy drink. 

Instead of getting to church at 10:00am like last Sunday, we got there at 9:00am or so. I’m not sure why we got there so early but we got to hear a message on Matthew 6 and how our actions should be directed towards God for His praise and not the attention of others. The pastor would speak in Swahili and then translate the summary of his preaching to English for us; a very kind gesture. 

When the first message was done, it was time for worship! Tons of singing and dancing. Like always it was extremely loud and it was inspiring to once more see the passion everyone has for God. At one point, Henry, Michael, and I were asked to come up to the front and dance. We all jumped right up and went to the front and danced our hearts out. A group of high school aged boys led the way and we followed their moves. They were pretty amazing! It was an absolute blast and nearly the entire church came up to the front to either join in or video us! The last time I danced at church was in Sunday school so it was such a pleasure to dance for the Lord once again! After the song was done and all of us were sweaty, we went back to our seats just to be called up immediately to dance to another song! 

An hour and a half of worship went by and I didn’t even realize it. For some reason or another I was never particularly fond of worship before the sermon at my church back home. It was always the 15 minutes of standing up and waiting to sit back down again. I realize my loathing came from where my heart was. I didn’t see the true meaning behind worship and only saw the lyrics and chord progressions. In my mind it was “just another song.” Seeing this outpour of love for God and genuine connection and joy through worship, I finally understand what worship means to me. 

Worship is an experience that transports you to a place where you get to praise our almighty, loving, and gracious God. There is no one else around you. It is simply you and God in an outburst of worship. I am not a great singer, but I do think I’m a better dancer. I’ve never moved my body much during worship, often times feeling hesitant to even raise my hands. Being called to go dance and go dance as hard I can was something so special. I got to dance for the Lord for the first time. It’s not only fun but adds a sense of communal praise to God that you don’t get by standing side by side with someone. 

I didn’t know the names of the kids beside me, but I knew that for us to be dancing together, we’re connected by a mutual love for the Lord. There are no language barriers when it comes to the Lord and there are no language barriers when it comes to dancing. It doesn’t matter that I spoke no Swahili when I was jumping up and down to the beat of the song. We are doing it together for one purpose, to glorify our God. I now understand how David danced with all his might! You feel that transformation in your bones when you enter the church here and even more so when you start movin’ and groovin’!. In fact as I said earlier in the blog, my friend Eli when stepping into the church was brought to tears. 

I often think to myself, if the people here have this outpour of thanksgiving for the Lord when they have comparatively so little, why am I not dancing and singing my heart out when the Lord has given me so much? We get so wrapped up in our local spheres of influence in America that we are ignorant to how billions of people live. I think that most people if they were to come and live here for even a day would immediately recognize how blessed we are. I believe when one lives so much more primitively, they are able to be more connected to the world around them and not be blinded by superfluous human inventions. When you have to work so hard for everything out here, it’s so much easier to see. Washing clothes by hand, tending to the farm, fetching water or wood, the list goes on and on. These chores are simply avenues for people here to be grateful that God gives them the opportunities to have these things. To be realistic, living situations here could be even worse and honestly gotten a lot better in the past 20 years. God has allowed this entire region to prosper and these people know that. They are so grateful for what they have and it’s simply amazing to see. It brings joy and thankfulness to my own heart.

It’s counterintuitive as one would think that with the more that someone has, the more grateful they would be. I argue no. The more material possessions we have, the farther we separate ourselves from God. We create more idols, more distractions, more comfort that makes life so effortless. That is not to say the invention of the washing machine inherently strips us away from God, but it makes it more difficult to intimately connect with God and requires us to be more intentional. When you’re scrubbing pants with a bar of soap there’s nothing more to do than to sit and think or talk with God. The same can be said for any other chore found here. From this whole rant, if you take anything away from it, is that you should first dance for the Lord and second, be more intentional with how you understand and give thanks to the Lord!

Eli and Miraclin finally showed up right as we finished dancing! They didn’t get to see or participate with us which makes me hope they can join us next Sunday as it was amazing.

Our sermon was on Jacob in Genesis, specifically chapter 30, where Jacob cleverly increased his flock of animals and subsequently his wealth. The point of the sermon was to emphasize that it wasn’t Jacob’s actions that made him wealthy and prosper, but the fact that he trusted in the Lord and did what He wanted him to do. A cool story I hadn’t heard before and certainly one that can be applied very directly to the lives in this area! This was the same pastor as last week so we got tidbits of the service here and there which is the only reason why I knew what was going on. 

We got out of service at 12:30pm and went to a neighbor’s house for lunch (Paul, Eli, Henry, Michael, and I). I’m not exactly sure who invited us but it seemed like it was a member of the church who wanted to welcome us. It was a modest meal of ugali and beans and I was extremely grateful to eat. There is something so sacred to be welcomed into someone’s home, sitting in their comfiest chairs, and eating what they can provide. It was a wonderfully wholesome moment.

At this point it was 1:30pm and I’ve needed to go to the bathroom since we got to the church earlier that morning. There are plenty of bathrooms but I didn’t have any toilet paper on me! To spare the details, it was a torturous walk back home that felt like forever. I made it back just in the knick of time.

Lunch was being served at the kitchen when we got back but being stuffed I decided to not try my luck at asking for a small portion. Every time I get served I am always given a ton of food no matter what! I don’t like wasting food so I decided it would be best if I just waited until dinner later that night.

A nap was calling my name so I went to a couch in the back of the office and slumbered for almost an hour; it was fantastic! When I got up, I hung out with everyone for the rest of the evening. We would talk, go play hacky sack, and even some card games. The teacher, Mr. Chesco, who has spent a lot of time with us recently due to our projects, wanted to teach us a new card game! It’s called Cardi and is quite the interesting game. It’s like playing Uno with playing cards, but rules are always being added on or altered. The changing rules made the game so much fun to play as you never knew if what you played had the intended consequence. I’ll make sure to share the game when I get back to the States as I think it’s a blast. 

We then tried to teach Mr. Chesco Euchre but, being a complicated card game for even a native English speaker, he never really got a hang of it. We ended up playing Cardi for hours and overall it was a wonderfully relaxing and refreshing Sunday.

The dark finally came which meant it’s time for dinner. The regular rice, beans, and cabbage filled my stainless steel plate and my tummy. When I eat dinner, it’s inside of the kitchen with the IT department and Michael. I’ve learned that Michael does not like ugali and he’s always very pleased to see rice being served! I find it funny that one can dislike something that inherently has no taste! Once finished with dinner, Michael and I packed up our things and walked back home. Once again there was WiFi! To my knowledge, we have WiFi down there because so many people are staying in the house. Regardless, even though the commodity is nice it definitely takes away from the “disconnect” I’ve enjoyed at home having no service or internet. 

To not spend time on the internet, I simply read while Michael does his homework. At this point he’s finally almost caught up with his classwork! Before I went to bed I checked my laundry which I realize I haven’t done an update for in a bit! To preface, everything has been drying in my room where I open the windows everyday for airflow. My shirts and pants only took one full day to dry; I was very surprised about that. Another surprising thing was how long it took for my socks and underwear to dry. They were still damp after almost three whole days of drying. Hopefully they’ll dry here soon as I’ll need those clean pairs before I know it. A simple and easy night all things considered!