I was woken up early this morning! It was around 6:30am when Joseph knocked on my door and told me he was leaving for church already. He told me that today I would go to Roza and try to be at the church at “7 past half”. I slept for a bit longer before getting up, getting ready, and heading to Roza’s! It was close to 7:00am when I arrived at Roza’s said “hodi” at the front door (pronounced odee) and waited for a karibu. Roza tiredly responded and I came inside! I was there extra early and Miraclin wasn’t even up yet. I just sat on the couch and enjoyed the WiFi in the house while Roza went and woke Miraclin. Miraclin was surprised to see me so early, but with Joseph’s ETA for me I thought we would be on our way soon. 7:30am came and went and the hope to make it by Joseph’s time disappeared! We started walking at 7:40am and were just trying to make it there before 8:00am.
On the way, Roza told me that the reason we needed to get there early/on time was because the priest was coming today. Mboje told Roza 8:00am and Joseph told her 7:30am! Apparently the priest coming was a big deal and we wanted to make sure we did not arrive late! This finally explains why Joseph has been at the church from Wednesday to Saturday practicing. I honestly don’t talk to or hang out with him very much. He’s always at Eli’s house and since all of my meals are at Roza’s, I don’t see him often. Our dynamic is way different than the dynamic I had with Paul to say the least!
Miraclin played some of the music we listened to the night prior before switching it to worship music! The walk was very pleasant and seemed to go by way faster than last week. It was also early which meant there weren’t many people around! With some time to talk, I asked Roza all of the questions I meant to ask last Sunday. To start, the service last Sunday was about planting seeds and how you’ll never know where they might land! It’s better to share the gospel with everyone even if only a few hearts begin to accept and understand the message. What a great message!
The next thing I asked about was how the tithings worked. Roza answered that a lot of people from different areas come and attend the church. Therefore, when it comes to giving money to the church they want their money to go to their area. Each person standing in the front represents an area around the church. That’s why Roza was very specific that I give my money to the right person so the money goes to our area. The money is used for general good causes like helping orphans and those who are in need. Roza also explained that the second tithing was for a guy who is leading a non-profit of some sort and needed donations for a building he’s constructing (if I understood Roza correctly). What the non-profit is about, I have no idea!
When we arrived at the church, we arrived at the exact same time as the priest! He drove in on a very nice Toyota Land Cruiser (I want one!) We continue our way inside and church starts. Since the priest is here there is a lot more worship than last Sunday! All of the singing was very beautiful and Leonard recorded one of the songs.
I could tell that the congregation has spent a lot of time practicing all of the songs! There was also a lot more prayer and call and response between the priest and the congregation. I’m sure if I knew more about the Catholic church I would know what’s going on, but instead simply followed what everyone else was doing. A little bit into the service, Roza came over to me and asked me if I wanted to do communion. I of course said yes!
In general the priest had a very beautiful voice and seemed to be a very good public speaker. I had no idea what was being said, but we ended up spending a lot of time on our knees in prayer. When it was time for tithing, I understood and knew what to do now! The person who was holding the basket representing our region was the shop keeper from two days ago who spoke a bunch of Swahili. I went up to the front to give my offering and went back to the seat. I noticed that some children gave avocados and bananas for their offering. Very cool to see!
Eventually it was time for communion. I could tell there was a lot of ritualistic stuff going on and obviously understood none of it. We were asked to raise our hands so they could see how many people were taking communion and around a fourth of the people raised their hands. When it was time to take communion we didn’t drink anything but were fed a piece of bread in our mouth! It was definitely a very interesting experience. A kid to the right side of the priest had a silver plate to catch any crumbs that may fall which I thought was funny. I’m not sure why we didn’t drink the “blood” but I suppose I’m grateful I didn’t have to share a cup with anyone.
Service came to an end and I left with Roza and Miraclin. Outside of the church I made sure to snap a picture of the priest’s cool car!
As we walked back home, I asked Roza what the message was about today. From what she described I’m not sure how it’s connected to God, but it was about not counting out those who struggle and that you must start small to get big. Roza had mentioned something about a chapter in a chasm, but I’m not sure what that meant!
At the village, Roza wanted to buy some things but none of the shops were open yet! We continued to walk and passed by a ton of students who were walking towards the church. It turns out that there is a second service and that’s when most students go! I’ve come to find that I quite enjoy the early start and end time for service as it allows us to relax and enjoy the rest of the Sunday. In Madisi it felt like there was no time for anything else (which is fine, church is great but I also enjoy relaxing and enjoying the Lord’s day too!).
When we got home we relaxed and drank tea Roza made us. For breakfast Roza reheated Miraclin’s meal from yesterday. I’m not sure where the food is kept between meals, as to my knowledge, there isn’t a refrigerator in Roza’s house! I think it’s simply left out but is reheated hot enough to kill anything harmful. The food was filling and the tea was amazing. As the time passed, Roza left to do some chores and Miraclin talked to me about her trip in Kenya. It looked and sounded like an amazing experience! I’ve really enjoyed volunteering here, but would also like to see the more tourist side as well.
12:00pm came around and I figured I should start to get some work done at the office! I walked to my house and realized all of my clothes should be dry by now. At the clotheslines, Alvin comes biking my way! I can’t communicate with him, but we oink at pigs together and laugh. I took down all of my clothes and grabbed my shoes and began to walk to my house when Alvin began to whimper. I promised to come out and help him the moment I put my clothes down. I unlocked the door to the house, dropped my clothes on my bed, and came outside to help Alvin. The seat on his bike was at a messed up angle. I fixed it with ease and also made the bell on his handlebars work again! He was ecstatic to have a working bike again and I went inside to grab my work stuff.
Locking up the house, I turned around to find Leonard sitting on the front porch! I had forgotten about recording the music video yesterday so I made sure to record with him today. He was adamant that I only go with him if I didn’t have work to do, but I wanted to see what recording a music video was like. My work could wait, but I did not know what I was getting into! Miraclin showed up at right as I was about to leave with Leonard. She was disappointed that I couldn’t go to the office with her, but a promise is a promise!
I walked with Leonard to the soccer field and sat underneath the shade of a tree as we waited for the women that would be in the video to show up. We listened to the radio on the portable speaker before Leonard left to go get them. I held the speaker’s antenna to keep the music playing and watched kids play soccer in the dust under the shade of tall trees. It was quite warm today and honestly the hottest it’s felt here. I waited for Leonard for quite a while until Raphael showed up and began to talk with me. We proceeded to make conversation for over an hour and a half while Leonard recorded the women with my phone.
The main topic of our conversation was all about his beliefs. He would tell me something he believed, I would question it, and then when he couldn’t justify what he was saying, he would move onto another topic. To summarize, he believes that you can only go to heaven if you’re baptized in the name of Lord Jesus Christ (he believes in only one entity of God), that you receive the holy spirit only when you’ve been baptized, how heaven and hell aren’t eternal, how William Marrion Branham has “fulfilled” many things in the Bible, the serpent doctrine, and weird prophecies of Branham that have been fulfilled (the fact that the first woman vice president wore a purple dress when getting inaugurated was apparently a prophesy of Branham). It was so interesting to talk to him and see how he truly believed these things. I’m not sure how someone can see such things in the Bible when there are verses that directly contradict his beliefs. It takes a conscious choice to not see the truth!
In total the conversation went in circles and was completely unproductive. I didn’t have my phone on me to support any of his contradictions and simply had to go off our own interpretations and understandings of the Bible. He claimed that because his English is poor, that’s the reason I don’t understand him. In my opinion his English is just fine and I’m able to understand him quite well. At the end of the day all he wanted was for me to pray about the validity of Branham’s teachings to have my eyes opened!
Eventually it was time for me to be a part of the music video so I had to say goodbye and run out the field to join in the recording. The sun was quite hot and I realized I’ve spent this entire summer in some great weather. When I get back to the states I’m not going to be used to the heat! Leonard directed me and the women to do a variety of dance moves while the song in the background played. To make it easier for Leonard to edit, each dance move we do must be done to the ENTIRE length of the song (so he can match up all of the clips and have them synced well). The song was over four and a half minutes long and it was very monotonous to do the same small dance move and smile for the entire time. I have no idea what the song is saying so I can’t even try to lip sync. I honestly just stand there and make sure I’m on beat.
Leonard wanted to experiment with some other dance moves but I just couldn’t get them under my feet. The song we were making the video to naturally didn’t have an easy beat to dance to and the moves were difficult to time correctly. Leonard ended up scrapping those moves and just had me do easier ones. As we’re recording I can see that my phone is just suffering in the heat and waiting to stop working. Leonard also wanted Eli to be in the video so I went out to go find him. It was a little past 2:00pm and he was STILL not back from church!
We recorded a solo video of just me and some other clips before the speaker battery got too low and my phone was at 2%! Leonard was recording in 4K at 60FPS which means a single four minute video can be over 1.5 GB! I checked my storage and we were down to the last 10 GB on my phone! The four of us waited under the shade of a tree as my phone cooled down and charged. To charge the speaker, Leonard gets his laptop and plugs the speaker into it!
Eventually Eli and Mboje show up and it’s time for another round of recording. Since my phone needed to charge more, in the middle of one of the first videos, it overheated. While we waited for my phone to cool down, the clouds came out and Eli and I talked with each other about his church experience. It was a LONG one today and he was exhausted. Soon enough it was time to record again and the clouds came out to cool things off. However we didn’t get too many more videos done before tons of students were leaving from the school and ruining Leonard’s shot. Even when it’s the weekend, students are expected to go to school and participate in all activities throughout the week. The school wants to make sure that no student has free time to get into trouble!
We packed up our things and split off when Eli and I left to go to Roza’s house for lunch. We first stopped at a nearby shop and bought a couple of tiny drinks. Originally Eli only wanted one but when the store didn’t have enough change to give him, he bought me one too! The drinks we got are called Mo-Chungwa and is one of the best orange sodas I’ve ever had! As we walked to Roza’s we noticed Alvin outside and immediately hid our drinks. He’s the type of kid to incessantly ask for something and will cry if not given to him! We got inside and sat down at 3:30pm to eat palow with potatoes and peas. As a reminder, palow is simply just well seasoned rice. I’m not sure why the rice isn’t always seasoned but I think it’s because ingredients that add taste out here are expensive!
The meal was amazing and it filled us up to the brim. The potatoes were wonderfully salty and paired well with the peas and seasoned rice. Alvin joined us and was a nut like always! The dream of working today was completely crushed and I wanted to take a nap. When the meal was finished I went back to my house to fold my laundry and get the video files off of my phone. In total there were more than 12 GB of videos! As I folded my laundry I put all of them onto a thumbdrive to give to Leonard. It would be impossible to get them to him otherwise (I think 12 GB over the internet would take half a year). I was in the middle of lacing my shoes when Joseph came in. I asked him if it was true that the volleyball game would happen at 6:00pm and he called Peter to find out. Unsurprisingly volleyball was hapenning at the same time as always and we were simply told wrong!
The dream of taking a nap was crushed too! It was almost 5:00pm at this point and I needed to get to volleyball. I got dressed in my volleyball clothes and went to Eli’s house. He was taking a nap and I unfortunately woke him up to go play. Eli was also disappointed he didn’t get t osleep longer. He got changed quickly and we went to the volleyball court. There were a ton of kids already playing their own game so Eli and I ran our laps to warm and wake ourselves up. When we were finished we played with the students until they had to leave and it was time for the Art vs. Science department match (which I suppose did technically start closer to 6:00pm as that’s when the students have to go back inside). Right as we started, Miraclin, Alvin, and Roza showed up to watch us. Eli and I were on the same team with Joseph and some others from the Art department and the games went amazingly.
Our energy on the art side was simply unbeatable and crushed the science side even though they technically had more experienced players! We made up from the horrible losses of Friday and showed that the art department is the best! Joseph was hard to play with which made the games way closer than they should’ve been. It was fun to have an audience and made the wins that much better. When the night was creeping in closer, Joseph wanted to play one more little game to decide who would take down the net. Due to the complete lack of light we got “supered” and lost in 7 serves. For some reason for this game Eli was sent to the other side so I could set for a random guy and have him spike. I think he was upset with the lack of spikes he was getting on his side but since we didn’t receive the ball well, I wasn’t able to give him a single set!
With the game over, my team took down the net and we had our normal end of game debrief. As the players talked in Swahili, Eli and I noticed large sparks coming from inside of one of the rooms in the school. Intrigued, Eli and I left the meeting early and ran to see what was going on. We thought there may be some sort of electrical problem occurring. However, when we got closer to the window, it was only a welder putting together metal bed frames. Interesting that it was happening inside of the school, but not as cool as an outlet exploding.
We headed back to our houses, and since there was no warm water at Roza’s, I took a nice cold shower! With the cleaning and dressing activities completed, I walked over to Eli’s house. He had a cold shower too and we talked for a bit. In my pocket I made sure to bring the thumbdrive with all of the video files on it and found Leonard in the back room on his computer to transfer all of them. The transfer took a while and as I waited, I was told by Joseph that everyone is going to the school to watch the World Cup final (Spain vs. Argentina) tonight at 10:00pm. Eli came in and we were both asked which team we’re rooting for. In general they (Joseph) like when Eli and I are against each other so I told them I hoped that Argentina would win even though I wanted Spain to win in my heart.
Joseph wanted us to play the piano so we were both directed to the piano in an adjacent room and played. Since there was no supervision by anyone Eli and I just played random things and messed with the different features on the keyboard. It turns out there are a ton of cool songs and sounds to play! Soon enough Eli and I get quite bored of making noise on the piano and go to Roza’s house.
At Roza’s house, Godfrey was there for a bit before leaving when it was time for us to sit down and have dinner. It was the same meal as lunch, but quite good nonetheless. Andrew showed up during the meal to practice his Canva skills and enjoy everyone’s company. Roza also made a wonderful avocado and banana smoothie. It was so refreshing and sweet! Miraclin also let us know that Henry and the other volunteer Sam made it safely to Malawi!
When the meal was over, Miraclin taught a bit more until it was almost 10:00pm! It was time for Eli and I to go to the school and watch the game. We were invited to watch the game at Ma Alvin’s (how mother of Alvin is said in Swahili) house, but we figured that even though the house would be a million times more comfortable, our hosts were expecting us to be at the school. Eli and I walked back to his house to see if anyone had left yet. Leonard was the only one present and he was already working on editing the videos from today. We left with him and began the short walk to the school when we ran into Joseph and others before going into the school.
I’ve never been inside of the school and it was quite nice! It seemed to be almost identical to Maidisi in some ways. We went inside of the administration building and took a couple of turns through some hallways to a random room that had tall ceilings and a TV! Inside of the room there were already a dozen plus people watching the game. Some were standing, some were sitting, and Eli and I walked to the back of the group to start watching. We were given chairs and started to have fun! To our dismay, the headmaster stood up and told us that we all must be quiet as there are still professional things happening inside of the building. Eli and I were definitely disappointed as one of the reasons we came to the school in the first place is to have a big group to cheer with. Nonetheless, the game continued, and 20 minutes in, Eli and I were incredibly thirsty! Dinner had a ton of salt in it and we were just now feeling its effects.
When it’s finally halftime, Eli and I leave to go drink water! It was quite cold outside and the wind went right through me. I gulped down the rest of the water I had in my room and walked back to meet Eli at crossroads before going back to the school. Inside we caught the back half of the halftime show and it was quite weird. I’m not sure if soccer matches usually have halftime shows or if it's just an American thing! Regardless when the game resumed, it was time to sit through the most boring match I’ve ever seen. Nothing happened between the two teams and I fell asleep several times. Jordan kept nudging me to wake up, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open!
Of course the boring game has to go OVER time and it’s already past 12:00am (both teams have still not scored). I was only staying up since the World Cup only happens every four years and I’m never going to be in Tanzania to watch one again! I just wanted someone to score to get it over with. Overtime is an additional 30 minutes and thankfully Spain scored to finish the game at 1:15am. We all got up from the room and I went straight home. I was exhausted and have not stayed up this late for a very long time (goes to show how good my sleep schedule is here!). I got ready for bed and immediately fell asleep!
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