Rain at Last

Arusha, March 3 - 4, 2018, Saturday & Sunday

Once it began raining on Friday, the showers kept coming. Having a metal roof makes the rain sound much stronger than it actually is, but I saw some large puddles for the first time this visit to Arusha.  The farmers must be very relieved, as it has been dry here for about two months. Ray told us that last Sunday at church, they prayed for rain for the farmers, and it has come, so now he thinks they should pray for the taxi drivers. For us, the rain has caused power outages and a crash of the internet system here, but those are minor irritants. The cleaner air and cooler temperatures are big bonuses.

John was the speaker at church Sunday, so most of our Saturday was spent right at Kundayo, where John could focus on working on his sermon. I felt very successful in getting two red bucket loads of laundry done and making chili for dinner. It’s a relief to have such simple goals for a day. That’s possible because a worker comes in every morning to wash any dirty dishes, clean each room, make our bed, and leave us clean towels. If only this would happen back in Spokane!

The rain pounded on our roof almost all Saturday night. We were up and ready for church early because John had to meet with the others participating in the service. My review of the service was that John did very well, but the worship leader bumbled a couple of very important parts. One gets a continuum of ability in a lay-led congregation, but everyone is very generous in accepting what others do. I’m very supportive of not spending money on a big professional staff so the church can give over 50% of it’s offerings to groups who are active in social outreach in Arusha.

After church, we took a taxi out to Njiro mall, a place we used to frequent more in the past than we have this year. The best feature there is the big open air food court in the center, where waiters from as many as six or more restaurants converge on diners with their separate menus. One can order things from different restaurants, e.g., a main entree from one and a dessert from another. Usually, I order Indian food, but today, both John and I opted for Chinese. Then, we bought a loaf of freshly baked bread and a few other items from The Village Market, an outrageously stocked store with imported clotted cream and El Paso salsa, before taking another taxi back to Kundayo.