Meet Mama Nick

One thing that I've now gotten used to, living her in Tanzania, is having house-help. It was odd at first to have someone come over, clean my house, go shopping for me, and do various other little tasks around the house, but now, I've grown accustomed to it. Mama Nick is the woman that comes over once a week to help out at the house. I hardly ever need to go grocery shopping, I don't have to boil milk, I don't have to chop fruit for smoothies, I don't have to make bread or cookies for the guards' chai, and I hardly ever do any cleaning of my house (other than dishes). It is such a blessing, in the midst of an often very busy schedule, that there is someone as wonderful as Mama Nick taking care of so many house chores.

Last week Sarah and I had the opportunity to go visit Mama Nick at her home. It was my first time to go to her house and I got to meet her husband and three kids. We had a wonderful meal together and some interesting conversations, one about how the languages in the Mara region have the letter 'r' while the languages just south of Mara use an 'l'. I hadn't realized that pattern, so I was happy that Baba Nick (Mama Nick's husband) pointed it out to me.

Their youngest son Jackson is an mtundu (m-toon-doo). I think this word might translate into English as 'precocious'. He didn't raise his voice above a squeak when he first saw Sarah and me, but after an hour at the house he was tossing himself on top of me so that I could tickle him. This tossing of himself occurred despite the sodas we were each holding. We were great friends by the end of the visit.

My Normal: Lake Flies

Remember the plague of flies in Exodus? Well, here in Musoma, we have a version of this plague that flies in from the lake several times a year...but yesterday (Sunday the 18th) was one of the worst influxes of these lake flies that I've ever seen.

A friend made this video from her house. The house where this was filmed is the house that I lived in for my first 6 months in Musoma :).

Lake Fly Plague
(Its on Youtube, and for some reason I couldn't pull up the preview of it.)

FYI...we still played soccer amidst the plague. Granted, it wasn't as thick in the afternoon as it had been in the morning.

My revelation at the mosque

On Saturday this week I went to visit a friend in town who happens to be Muslim. What I didn't know was that her mosque was celebrating Maulid (Mohammed's birthday) that day. When she wasn't at home, I was directed to go find her at the mosque. Outside of the mosque I asked someone to fetch her for me. She came out and we returned to her shop and to chat.

I met this woman randomly in town a of couple months ago and upon finding out that I am a Christian she told me that she is Muslim, so basically the same thing. She just prefers Mohammed, while I prefer Jesus. We got into a great discussion about that point and thus our friendship was begun.

After visiting at her shop, she invited me to return with her to the mosque. I agreed because, why not? I have nothing to fear from a mosque. She brought me a head covering and a couple kangas (a garment that you wrap around yourself). Once I was decked out we headed back to the mosque. The women were sitting in a special section and cooking a feast for the celebration. The women took great pleasure in watching me try and help by stirring a huge pot of rice, they enjoyed how pink my cheeks got from bending over the pot of rice and sympathized with my tears because of the smoke that was burning my eyes.

They tried to convert me to Islam by telling me that if I just knew enough, I would love Mohammed more than Jesus. And I basically told them the reverse of that. We became fast friends.

Anyway, that is the set up to the revelation I had about Jesus...and it has nothing to do with Islam or a mosque...that just happened to be the setting.

Well before anyone else was brought food, I was given a plate of food and an old woman washed my hands so that I could eat first. As I took the plate and started eating I realized that I have not always been a gracious recipient of unmerited favor.

For the past 4 years, I have had people favor me. They may have any number of reasons for favoring me, but that doesn't change the fact that I know that I don't merit it. Whether it is being sought out for a friendship, being served first, being taken out to a meal, or given a gift; I have wanted to deserve it, not simply be given it. If I know that I have earned something, I'm fine with receiving it. If I know that I truly haven't done anything to earn it, I try hard to give it up because it doesn't rightfully belong to me.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this way. If I were, then there would be no legalism in the world, except in me.

God has His reasons for favoring us and pouring out all his blessings and promises on us. That doesn't change the fact that we know that we don't merit it. So, we either try to earn it or doctrinize away why we don't have those blessings and promises. Really there are a number of reasons why we might not have them, one of those reasons being that we simply won't receive them. Over the past 4 years I've had to learn to be a recipient of unmerited favor because of living here in Tanzania and being white. Being born white truly doesn't give me any inherent merit. But, the plate of food was being given to me, it was there for the taking, despite my not meriting it, and despite the fact that I really didn't think it should be meant for me. But why despise a blessing or a gift that is being freely given to you? Why not just receive it graciously and be thankful that you are favored despite meriting it.

How often do we do this with God's blessings and promises throughout the Bible?

God's Christmas gift to me

I love surprises. They are my favorite. I love not seeing something coming and it taking me completely aback.

On my way back from the 4-hour church service on Christmas day I asked God for a surprise. I wanted something shocking to happen and little did I know that He already had it well in hand. I got home and settled in, expecting to be home alone for the whole afternoon with a break in the solitude to skype with family. At around 2 I got a knock on the gate.

Standing outside my gate with a pikipiki (motorcycle) was a young Tanzanian guy that I had never seen before. He greeted me and then told me "I've come to fetch you."

After replying with utter shock and confusion, he informed me that his mom and sent him to bring me to their house. Again, I couldn't help but respond with confusion because I had no idea who he was, who his mom was and why on earth I was supposed to be going to their house. Finally, I figured out his name was Jeremiah and he was the son of Veronica (AKA: Mama Jeremiah) who is one of the cleaning ladies at the office.

Veronica and me

I had to make a quick decision - do I go with this young lad to his house, knowing that it means missing a skype call with family, it was NOT part of my plan for the day, plus wouldn't it be awkward for the first visit to someone's house to be on Christmas day? Well, the answer was simple...of course I'm jumping on the back of this pikipiki and we'll just see where the day leads!

As I was sitting (side-saddle, because I'm a lady) on the pikipiki I felt God say; "Well, you wanted to be surprised, Merry Christmas!"

It was then that I remembered a two-line conversation with Veronica 4 weeks before Christmas where she said; "You should come visit over Christmas." I replied; "Sure, that sounds like fun."

Honestly, that was the entirety of the conversation and not another word was mentioned until her son arrived at my gate. Every other Christmas I've ensured that I am with people every second of the day because the idea of being alone on Christmas day sounded so tragical. God knew that I would likely be home alone on Christmas day and that I love surprises, so He prepared it all for me. Had I been striving to ensure that I had plenty of people to spend Christmas with, I wouldn't have been home that afternoon. Had I been seeking to have my needs met, or at least what I perceived as my needs, I wouldn't have been around to receive God's gift.

I've been learning a lot about maintaining focus on God and trusting His good character instead of looking at my circumstances and seeing God through them. He is there in the midst of them, but I interpret my circumstances based on the character and nature of God, instead of understanding the character and nature of God based on my circumstances. I had peace through my circumstances because of where my focus was. "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." (Isaiah 26:3)

So, the reason this was the best gift ever?

A: It came from God.
B: It was a complete and utter surprise.
C: Relationship with people is always the best gift. We had a wonderful meal, enjoyed each other's company and took a walk around the area greeting others as we crossed their paths. One of the most hilarious parts was the 5-year-old doing exercises throughout the living room, including push-ups and tricep-dips. I asked him where he learned to do all these exercises and he said; "I don't know, God just taught them to me."
D: It showed me that my focus was where it needed to be and it encouraged me to not grow weary in growing in this area.

I couldn't ask for a better gift.

PS: I was able to have a friend email my family to let them know I would be late for the skype call, so I didn't even miss out on talking with them :).