Thanksgiving

Justin and I woke up on Thanksgiving Day like it was any other day. We went to mass and then headed to work. The only thing that made the day any different was seeing on Facebook how no one could move because of the amount of food that they had eaten.

Luckily for Justin and I there are some other American missionaries in Mtwara, and earlier in the week they invited us over for a Thanksgiving dinner, but on Friday instead of Thursday because we all had work on those days. Friday afternoon after work we went over to these fellow missionaries’ house to have Thanksgiving dinner. There was no turkey, but they were able to get a couple fat chickens. Most chickens in Mtwara are all skin and bones. We also had sweet yam casserole. As far as I know they don't have the orange sweet potatoes here, but these yams might have been even better. We had rolls, ham, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy, mixed vegetables, and canned cranberries. The cranberries were sent from the states. We were able to wash it all down with sweet tea, or Fanta for me since I am probably the only Southerner who does not like sweet tea.

Then when we were done with dinner we went around the table and said what we were thankful for. It made me feel like I was back home going around the table in a circle with my family. We were able to finish off the evening with pumpkin pie, apple pie, and homemade vanilla ice cream while we watched a “fall” movie. I was most excited about the ice cream. Ice cream is not very big in Mtwara, because there are very few freezers. The person who made the ice cream had to freeze ice for a week to have enough. There is no such thing as going out and grabbing a bag of ice from Walmart. It is nice that even though Justin and I are far away from home we can still celebrate with the traditions that we grew up with.

Happy Thanksgiving! God has given me a truly blessed life. God is good. Here are a few things I am thankful for:

1.      For the Lord, and how he leads me with a gentle but firm hand.

2.      For my family, and how supportive they are of me.

3.      For Justin who puts up with my craziness.

4.      For my friends, and how they are always there for me.

5.      For my electric fan. Without it I do not know how I would be able to fall asleep in such a hot place.

6.      For everyone who sends me letters or packages. They really make my day.

7.      For my Kindle. That I can always have a library with me no matter where I am.

8.      For the new friends that I am making.

9.      For all the opportunities that my life has been blessed with.

10.  For mine and Justin's families who got us out of college without debt.

11.  For LMH who gave us the opportunity to be in Tanzania, so that we may grow in our faith.

12.  For the water when it is running. There is nothing better than a real shower.

13.  For technology that enables me to talk to my family who is almost half way around the world.

14.  For my doodle prayer book. So that I may relax in prayer with God.

15.  For the Baobab trees. For their beauty and wonder. 

-Lauren

Card & Letter Wall

Doodle Prayer Book

Prayer

Lord,

God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes, as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his—if, indeed, I fail, He can raise another, as He could make the stones children of Abraham. Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.

Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me—still He knows what He is about.

O Adonai, O Ruler of Israel, Thou that guides Joseph like a flock, O Emmanuel, O Sapientia, I give myself to Thee. I trust Thee wholly. Thou art wiser than I—more loving to me than I myself. Deign to fulfill Thy high purposes in me whatever they be—work in and through me. I am born to serve Thee, to be Thine, to be Thy instrument. Let me be Thy blind instrument. I ask not to see—I ask not to know—I ask simply to be used.

Amen.

-Written by Blessed John Henry Newman

Observations

Here are some of the things that I have seen here which you would not normally see in the States:

1.      Equal number of women as men on a construction site.

2.      A cow, goat, or chicken walking in the middle of the road in town.

3.      A man holding another man's hand.

4.      Four children riding on one bike.

5.      Three teenagers riding on one bike.

6.      Two adults riding on one bike.

7.      Bikes being used to haul all manner of things from huge baskets of oranges to lumber.

8.      A child, around four, cutting up her own mango with a giant knife.

9.      Men wearing secondhand woman's sandals without knowing it.

10.  Clothes hangers that spread out at the waist area to make the hips as large as possible.

11.  Oranges being mostly green.

12.  Some guys having pink backpacks or other bags (again secondhand).

13.  Children sitting in the front row at mass all by themselves and behaving.

14.  The collection at Mass including an assortment of things such as bottles of soda, brooms, rice, and various fruits.

15.  Students at school using large machetes to cut the grass.

-Lauren

Small World

There is a lot of second hand western clothing that has been donated in the U.S or in Europe that has found its way to Tanzania. Pretty much any kind of western clothes that you could want you would be able to find here. Pants, shirts, or even big winter coats. I have no idea why they sell big winter coats in a place that almost never gets below seventy, but they do.

Justin and I have seen a lot of shirts from America such as a McDonald's employee shirt,  a boy scout uniform, many proud to be an American or shirts with American flags. However, my all time favorite I saw just the other day.

A man at school was wearing a OU polo. I could not believe it. Hardly anyone here even knows where the state of Oklahoma is. A few people who have kept up with global news know of Oklahoma from the 1995 bombing.  I normally follow saying that I am from the state of Oklahoma with saying that Oklahoma is directly above the state of Texas (Texas seems to have good global awareness).

I don't think this man has ever heard of Oklahoma, much less the University of Oklahoma, but there he was wearing an OU shirt. Sometimes it amazes me how small the world can be. So, to anyone in Norman who donated a polo that had OU Memorial Stadium on the chest and Flinco on the sleeve, know that it is still getting good use here in Tanzania.

Things that remind me how interconnected the world really is:

1. Seeing a special about the Oklahoma Bombing in the Dar Es Salaam Airport.

2. Seeing a Tanzanian man wearing an OU shirt.

3. Hearing a church group singing Trading My Sorrows in English.

4. Listening to Justin Bieber playing on the radio across the street.

5. Knowing what is going on in Mass even when I don't understand most of the Swahili.

-Lauren

When was the last time you...

Today I was in the Library with Lauren as she was cataloging some new donated books. I was looking through the books to see what had been donated and I came across a book titled: When was the last time you…? And subtitled: Playful inspirations and invitations. Out of curiosity I opened it and was immediately struck by the irony of this book being donated to a library here in Mtwara. I ended up reading out loud through most of the little book to Lauren, laughing most of the time. I realized after finishing that if I were back in the U.S I wouldn’t have given the book a second look, but reading it here and thinking about it in this cultural context I found it very funny. Therefore I thought that I could share some of the questions from this book and explain why many of them don’t make sense here in Mtwara.

To begin with, there were a whole category of questions that didn’t make sense because the things they refer to simply don’t exist here. For example:

When was the last time you… 

Played miniature golf?

Went to the circus?

Made a snow man?

Well, there is snow on top of Kilimanjaro.

Jumped over a fire hydrant?

Snickered in an elevator until you got everyone else laughing?

I am sure there is an elevator somewhere in Tanzania, but probably not for a few hundred miles from here.

Danced out to the curb while taking the garbage and recycling out?

There is no trash service here or curbs for that matter. Most people burn anything that they can’t use, so you often see random fires on the side of the road. Tanzanians are however very good at reusing things. For example, you see many toys that are made out of things that we would normally throw away, such as toy cars made with plastic bottle caps for wheels.

There were also many questions that simply don’t work culturally here, so I thought that sharing these may help to show some of the cultural differences here. One of my favorites was:

Took a long walk with your partner, strolling hand in hand?

This made me laugh quite hard. Couples here do not hold hands in public. In fact any form of public affection between a man and a woman is usually considered inappropriate here. On the other hand, friends of the same gender will often hold hands. That goes for women or men. It is quite funny coming from our cultural background to see two of the boys at school walking to class holding hands. This is even stranger when it happens to you. I experienced this firsthand the other day other day when I was coming back from class, and I met a man who was coming out of the office. He was there to fill out forms for his daughter to be enrolled in the school next year. I greeted him and shook his hand, but I quickly realized that this wasn’t going to be a short western style handshake, or the short Tanzania handshake (which is slightly different and would have to be shown not told). I had seen handshakes that turned into hand holding before, but this was my first personal experience, so I felt a little awkward. Anyway, after shaking his hand we just continued to hold hands for the rest of the few minutes of casual conversation. I had no feel for how long to hold his hand, so I actually let go twice only to have my hand grabbed again. I will have to work on my cultural awareness for hand holding time.

Another good question was:

Had a party where all the food was “finger food” including Jell-O

Disregarding the fact that Jell-O doesn’t exist here, this is still a funny question in a society that already traditionally eats everything with their hands.

Played with a kitten or a puppy?

This would be a strange question to ask in a culture that doesn’t really have the concept of pets. There are many animals here, but that is mostly livestock with some dogs and a few cats. However, dogs are there to be guard dogs and cats are there to catch mice. Some of the foreign aid workers here do keep pet cats, a fact that Tanzanians seem to find funny, especially since these cats are fed human food, since cat food isn't available. They seem to see feeding the cat as wasteful, and that a cat should be useful and catch its own food.

I thank whoever out there donated this book, although I don't think our students will have much use for it. For me it was a silly little example of all the things that we take for granted as being important to the world.  

-Justin