Easter

In many ways it's nice to have stayed in Morogoro for over a year. Last year, I never knew what was going to happen. Many things were sprung on me last minute (especially at school). So, it's really cool to be able to anticipate certain events and have a better feeling of certainty in the future. 

This year, like last year, the missionaries put on an Easter sunrise service in town. Kjirstin and I made arrangements to stay in town with friends on Saturday so that we would be able to go. (It can be really hard to get to town at 5:30 in the morning) It was a nice service and the man who was leading it (someone with PBT) play-acted as one of the disciples telling the story of Jesus. Throughout the service, we also sang hymns throughout the service that corresponded with the different events in the Easter story. 

After the service, we all ate breakfast together at the PBT (Pioneer Bible Translators) offices. Everyone provided something and so we had all kinds of breads, fruits, egg casseroles, and other goodies. After the breakfast the kids went outside for an egg hunt. Some of the eggs were real, but some were plastic and had pieces of candy inside.

Honestly, it was such a great event and so incredibly simple. At one point I was thinking back to how Easter is a huge commercial deal in the states. I don't miss it. I don't miss the candy isles. I don't miss seeing the over-done, expensive decorations. I don't miss all the extra pressure that comes with holidays in the US. This was a simple celebration with friends; a reflection on the life of Jesus Christ followed by fellowship and a little bit of fun for the kids. 

Of course, this is not to say that I don't miss my family and friends or that I'm glad they weren't here. It certainly would have been even better if I had been with my family, but that's just not a possibility right now. What I'm trying to say is that the concept of the day and the way the Easter celebration manifested itself was more to my liking.

Breakfast after the Easter sunrise service

The adults after our breakfast

Easter egg hunt for the kids

After our excursion in town, Kjirstin and I returned to Kihonda to celebrate with our Tanzanian family. Once again, everything was simplified. In fact, in many ways I hardly really realized that it was Easter.
Our services usually go for only 2 hours. But, this week, there seemed to be a lot of extra things that we did during the service. For one, a few people decided to join our church and become members. For another, it was Kjirstin's last Sunday, so there was an official good-bye/send off from the church members. Also, we took Communion together and English choir sang two songs. I felt like since it was Easter, we needed to do a little bit more! Between all the additions, the many people who came up for testimonies, and the normal things that happen at church, service went for 3 hours! But, that was OK with me. Honestly, there was so much going on that I hardly noticed the time passing.
For the afternoon, we just chilled out around the house and got some real time to rest and relax after our trip and all the Easter preparations.

Shalom Choir performing for Easter

English choir performing at the Easter service at church

"I'll become even more undignified than this!!"

Saying good-bye to Madam KJ

As for the rest of this week, I've been catching up on a lot of personal business and preparing to go back to school next week. Also, Kjirstin left on Thursday, so there were some farewell activities for her with other missionaries and whatnot. The students are certainly going to miss her and it's going to be weird for me to be the only white person at my site again. But, I don't feel alone, and that's the good thing. I've been here for long enough now that I realized I'm surrounded by friends. Now all that's left for me to do is to get through the last two months with the same attitude!
It's hard to believe that I'm this close to leaving, but this year, I feel in my heart that it is time to return to the states. I'm still waiting to hear from all of the graduate programs that I've applied to, but I know that even if I get rejected from all of them, it's the right choice to go back to the states for a while. I have a peace about it all and if graduate school is not in my future, I know that God has another plan for me. I just have to wait and see how everything falls into place.

Hope you have a great weekend!
May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine