Tanzania: Moshi Prayer Rally 7/6/2009

The rally was smaller today, since it is a weekday. Once again, it wasn't on our original schedule, but was initiated by the locals. We're trying to go with the flow. It's critical to empower the local leaders, so there is a foundation to build on when we leave, but sometimes it sure makes things more complicated.

When we arrived, we played with the kids, and I wandered behind the platform, and encountered some of the woman who were organizing things -- I think they were ushers. One by one they greeted me with 'Bwana asifiwe' (praise the Lord), and embraced me. They were excited and joyful when I said 'Bwana asifiwe' back to them, so we shouted this back and forth, to mutual acclaim.

Once again, we are considered honored guests, and seated on the speakers platform. After the preaching there was again a salvation call. Fewer responded than yesterday, although lots raised their hands for re-commitment -- this was a little puzzling, as many of them were children, and presumably too young to have been backslidden believers.

Once the ministry time started, I was happy to have someone come to translate for me, but it was still hard to understand. After almost every prayer, he would discuss the results with the person, and then tell me "He feels fine." It was all very matter of fact, and I was a little suspicious about whether these were really healings, especially since the people didn't crack a single smile. Day by day we learned that that was pretty common. It was confusing to me that the same people who would exuberantly dance and sing and shout during worship (see picture), wouldn't even smile when God healed them.

One boy had an evident eye problem -- it was red and weepy and inflamed. I prayed 5 times and thought that perhaps his eyes were a bit less red, but they still didn't look right to me. The translator claimed that one of the eyes had opened up some, but I wasn't sure. In fact, it was often very hard to understand what was really going on, whether or not there was a translator handy. The chaos and ambiguity was just something I had to learn to live with. But it was mixed with moments of sheer exhilaration, in the cases where I could really tell that God was moving.

As usual, we had to leave as soon as it started to get dark, both for safety reasons, and because the permit to use the fairgrounds only covered daytime use. So once again we climbed back on the bus to go back to the hotel. Of course, I was always afraid the bus would leave without me, since there wasn't a scheduled departure time.

Then back to my room. Lori had given me an avocado she bought at one of the church auctions. It was the best one I ever ate -- creamy and sweet and mild. I had it with a banana (Katrina's auction purchase), a fiber bar, and an ostrim stick, finding it slightly amusing that the most exotic part of the meal was the ostrich sausage that I had brought from home, to turn it into a balanced meal.