Back in Umalila

It’s Friday evening and I am sitting in the home of the pastor at whose church I am teaching. I’m wearing my coat as the Malila people live in the hills where mornings and evenings are distinctly chilly. (Note: In Swahili the area where any people live is written as the name of the people group preceded by a ‘U’, so I was in ‘Umalila’.) Before it got dark I went for a short stroll along the road, enjoying the soft sunset sky. On the way back I bumped into the pastor’s wife and had a wee chat by the side of the road. Today was day two of teaching an overview of the Old Testament and how it points us to Christ. The teaching has felt like hard work for a number of reasons. There’s the fact that most of the group were very quiet – it was hard to tell if they were too shy to answer questions or were afraid of saying the wrong thing or simply didn’t know the answers. Then there was the way people kept coming who hadn’t been there for earlier teaching so they’d missed a lot of foundational stuff. Also very few had Bibles and only two or three people ever volunteered to read and even they read slowly and with some difficulty. And then this afternoon both my former colleague, Mwangwale (who had made the arrangements for the seminar to take place), and the pastor himself couldn’t be there, and they are the best two readers of the Malila language, which meant I wasn’t able to use the Malila Scriptures in the afternoon as I’d hoped to as we got into the New Testament. I feel very alone when I have no-one with me who I know in a seminar. Even though that person may not need to do much, their very presence encourages me; I know I can call on them if I need support such as to explain something in the local language or to do a Bible reading fluently.

Mwangwale teaches how to read Malila

So it felt like hard work, as if I was swimming against the current, and not sure if I was making any progress! However, there were moments of encouragement. Near the end, as we looked at how Christ is the final and complete sacrifice for sin, one lady was smiling broadly and spoke up – from what she said (unfortunately I don’t remember her words well enough to quote her) she had obviously understood in a fresh way just what it means that Christ has done all that is necessary for our redemption. And a particular illustration I used obviously hit home with some. I showed a picture of an elephant’s tail and then their trunk and asked what they were. People either didn’t know or thought the trunk was a snake. Then I showed the picture of the whole elephant, and used this to make the point that when we read a section of the Bible without understanding the big picture of the Bible, we can fail to understand what we read or we can misinterpret it. 

After teaching all day, I was then asked to preach in their evening service! I didn’t find out I’d be doing that until I got here. You’d think that by now I would be used to the unexpected, but somehow it doesn’t seem to get any easier. Indeed, last night was particularly stressful when I found out that I wouldn’t be staying with Mwangwale, who I am used to staying with, but instead would be staying here at the pastor’s home. I think it was a case of the pastor extending hospitality that it would be rude to turn down, so Mwangwale accepted their hospitality on my behalf. When I found out I felt my body tense in anxiety over this unexpected change and I began to worry about food and about doing or saying the wrong things and about whether they’d lock the door overnight and I wouldn’t be able to go out to the toilet. Of course, they are very gracious, and even if I am doing or saying the wrong things, they don’t let on! It feels awkward for me – I’m sitting in the lounge with other guests (men), but they sit silently much of the time. It would be nice to sit with the ladies, but they’re at work in the kitchen and I find the smoke of the wood fire (for cooking) hard to tolerate.

But at least now, on my second evening here, I feel more relaxed, that initial anxiety gone. I have a better idea of what to expect. I know they won’t lock the door overnight, that I’ll be free to go for a walk in the morning, that I can get warm water for a wash after my walk, that they understand I need to eat my own breakfast snacks because of my tummy problems, that dinner probably won’t be ready until 10pm and that my bed is warm and comfortable. My room feels a bit exposed, as all that separates it from the living room is a curtain that is rippling gently in the breeze that creeps through poorly fitted windows and doors, so I don’t feel I can get ready for bed until I know people are vacating the living room, and it always feels like I want to go to bed earlier than people here (even though they also get up earlier in the morning than me)!

Tomorrow we begin another seminar – this one will focus on Ephesians. I am thankful that Mwangwale has rearranged a meeting he had so that he can be there, as I can now see that I will need to rely heavily on him for reading the Malila Scriptures.

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It’s now Saturday night. I’m sitting in my room with the company of my solar light. The battery for the solar powered house lights has gone to church where it is being used to power the projector for showing the Jesus Film. The whole household has gone to watch the film, which started very late after various issues and an early (at 9pm) dinner, so all is quiet, except for the wind and insects outside.

I was encouraged this morning when the pastor told me he’d asked people what they’d learnt yesterday afternoon while he was away, and the things they told him were the very things I was hoping to communicate! Today we had a different topic – the book of Ephesians. (The previous seminar was intended more for church leaders with Bible teaching responsibilities, though I didn’t exactly end up with that kind of group, while today’s seminar was for everyone.) We worked our way through the book, using the Malila translation of Ephesians. We explored key themes: We are saved by grace (Eph. 1-3), therefore we can live in unity as the body of Christ (4:1-16), loving one another as we imitate Christ (4:17-6:9) and standing firm in all of this by reading the Word of God and praying (6:10-20). When we asked people at the end what they liked about the book of Ephesians, what it taught us about God’s character and how it impacts their life, they had clearly grasped at least some of the key truths that I was hoping they’d get. One lady’s comment was that through it all “…we have seen the greatness of God” and later the pastor commented on how the teaching was helpful because it worked steadily through one book of the Bible instead of their normal practice of jumping around from text to text.

I’m wondering what will happen when they come back from watching the film, because that battery lives in the room I’m staying in. Will they sneak in while I’m asleep to put it back, so that there can be light in the house? But I don’t want to wait up for them as it’s already 10.30pm and the dim solar light makes me feel sleepy! I think I’ll just go to bed and hope for the best. I’d better head outside to the long drop toilet first, with my head torch so I can see where I’m going; the good thing about needing to go outside for the toilet is that as there is no electricity in the village the stars are amazing!

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I’m now back home in Mbeya, sipping on a coffee as I type and nibbling some Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt – lush! (No, I can’t buy that here, I always stock up on good chocolate when I’m in the UK!) Let me carry on where I finished off… They did not sneak in to put the battery back, but I still heard them come in well after midnight! Apparently many had gathered and had been moved to tears by the film.

Sunday morning. I had been asked to teach in the morning service – although I didn’t know this before I went, I had a hunch it would happen, so I’d picked up notes from a couple of previous sermons to take with me just in case. I decided to talk about the importance of teaching our children about God and reading the Word with them, looking first at the example of Timothy and his mother and grandmother as well as sharing from my own life. I also taught the children the song ‘Read your Bible, pray every day’ (which I have translated into Swahili), which they enjoyed. I lost count of how many choirs sang and then I had been given an hour to teach so it was quite a long service!

Back at the pastor’s house, lunch wasn’t too long in coming, more rice, greens and meat. Feeling like I had already been very blessed by their hospitality, as they prepared food especially for me (no onions etc), I was then overwhelmed to receive a gift of a big basket from a member of the church plus a sack of maize, a bag of dried beans and a rooster from the pastor’s family! (I got my househelp to prepare the rooster for me on Monday – it turned out to be the toughest chicken meat I have ever eaten; it must have been the grandfather of the flock!)

On the way home, with the rooster lying calmly in the basket, on top of the sack of maize, I picked up a couple of young ladies who flagged me down, needing a ride to town after having been in the village working in their potato fields. It was nice to have a bit of company as we bumped our way over the rough, dusty road back to town and tarmac. I thank God once again for his care of me on the whole trip – so much potential for things going wrong, but despite changes in plans, God watched over me and I pray that those who I had the privilege of teaching may know the width, length, height and depth of God’s love for them.

“And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge…” Ephesians 3:17b-19a