Running Races

I guess it's been a while since I posted last, so here's an update on the going on here in Morogoro!! :D

On Sunday I preached my sermon at church. Oftentimes, in my life, I find myself comparing life to a race. For those of you who know me, running has been a big part of my life since I began college. I've run many races including a half marathon (and I intend to run another half marathon at Kilimanjaro in March!!). In life, I tend to ask myself "which direction we're moving in? Am I pointing myself towards God? Is this the path that He is leading me down?" Having lost a friend at an early age (during college), I know that some of us will finish our races before others, but if we are pointing ourselves towards God, we're going to end up in the same place and there's going to be a HUGE party! That is the ending prize; getting to spend eternity with God in heaven. But, while we're here on the earth, we must continue to run the race. Sometimes it's easy and we can run swiftly with joy in our hearts. Sometimes, we walk through life, taking time to enjoy the scenery. But, sometimes, it's very difficult to keep moving and it feels like we are crawling forward. And sometimes we feel like we are beyond help and we collapse in the middle of the road. It doesn't matter what stage we are in right now, Jesus is beside us, running, walking, or crawling along with us. He experienced it all and He knows what we're going through. And, lucky for those of us who chose to run with Jesus, when we collapse, He's there to pick us up and He will carry us onward. In a nutshell, that is what my message was about.

On Sunday evening, Kjirstin and I hosted the prayer service at our house. I led music (which was almost a disaster...my poor fingers were shaking so badly). Honestly, being here has challenge me in a big way musically. I didn't realize how much I was going to have to accompany people (English choir and leading worship for prayer service) and it's quite nerve wracking. I mean, it's one thing to play a solo by yourself. It's a whole other thing to have a group waiting for you and counting on you. Aside from less than a year of piano lessons in 1st grade, my formal training encompasses 3 1/2 years (2 years of class piano and 1 1/2 years of private lessons). I have to say that, like my Swahili, although it's not great, my piano abilities are improving rapidly and I am very thankful that God has given me this challenge! (which doesn't mean I always like it; I just know it's good for me) Also as part of the service, I gave a short message which was basically a shortened version of my message from church.

The rest of the week has progressed as any normal week should. I taught classes at school and church, I taught piano lessons to young and old. I washed clothes by hand, I went to town to buy groceries. I bargained in the market, I rehearsed the English choir. The only true oddity in the week was that on Friday morning, we found out that Class VI was going to have a friendly test with another local private school (St. Mary's). The last mock exam went TERRIBLY. Even the English scores (which are usually the highest) were quite poor in my opinion. But, it was only the first practice test that they have done with other schools, so I'm hoping that they were just nervous and that the scores will improve with time. However, after talking to one of my students about the latest test, it seems that there were some mistakes and unanswerable sections (which of course is a problem). On Monday, I will be marking the English tests from St. Mary's (and they will be marking ours), but I'll still get to see how the test was composed then.
One SUPER exciting thing that happened this week was the arrival of a package from my aunt, uncle, and cousin! Receiving packages is always like having Christmas! It's so nice to have a little reminder of home, as well as friends and family who are supporting me throughout this adventure.

Today, I woke up early, read in bed for a while and then tackled the remaining laundry. Just before 9am, Nathan arrived because he wanted to go to play frisbee with me. We took the daladala to town and then walked to SUA. It was a GREAT game. We had a TON of people (like 8 on each team!). I mean, sometimes we only have like 8 people total. Also, there was a big event going on at the next field, so we had a nice, upbeat soundtrack going in the background. It was really fun despite the heat!

One sad thing about this coming week: on Monday Nathan is going to begin pre-form 1 (which is  like preparatory class for secondary school). The results will come out before Christmas, but before that, no one knows. Thus, many of my primary school graduates are traveling or doing interviews at private schools (just in case the result for public schools is not favorable). Anyways, I feel like Nathan was my first friend here in Morogoro. When I first arrived, we would always washed clothes together after school, we watched many of the movies that I brought to Morogoro together, and he always has a question for me to answer. Honestly, I'm going to miss hearing "Madam, I have a question for you!" all the time. LOL! Even today, as Nathan and I were walking on our way to SUA, he was asking me all kinds of questions because of a book he read about farms in the US. At one point, he said that he had just one more question and that was the last one. I just laughed and said that I didn't believe him because he always had new questions for me and that he was welcome to ask me about anything any time. I hope that he goes far in life. He, like so many of my students here, has such a willing and curious mind and wants to know about everything. I just wish that the knowledge they all crave was more easily accessible...

Some exciting things about the coming week: the other missionaries and I are going to be celebrating Thanksgiving on black Friday (since that day works better for everyone). Kjirstin and I are going to go into town after lunch on Friday (Fridays are half days at school) to help with the preparations. On Saturday, we're off to Bagamoyo with the students in classes IV and VI (and I think III). It's going to be a long bus ride to and from DAR, but I'm sure we're going to have a lot of fun playing at the beach and learning about Tanzanian history. Apparently there are some specific sites that we're going to visit where slave trading was done, and various other historical events happened. I think I'm more excited about the history than swimming in the water. (Those who know me well know that I'd climb a mountain over going to the beach any day) However, it will be cool to say I got to swim in the Indian Ocean with some of the coolest kids in the world! ;)

I hope that you all are having a wonderful and beautiful weekend!
May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine