Some days I'm a troubadour

I grew up in a musical household and while I did take years of piano lessons, I've never really considered myself much of a musician.

My musical debut is actually a bit of a funny family story. My mom is a singer/songwriter/worship-leader. My Sunday-school teachers knew this and so when they put all of us 5-year-olds on stage to sing a song for the church, they put the mic directly in front of me. Being the little ham that I am I sang as loudly as I could directly into the mic so that everyone could hear me. One problem: I didn't know what a "key" was, or what "singing on key" might possibly mean...so I did an impressive job of singing completely out of key. Thankfully I did accomplish the task of singing loud enough that everyone could hear me.

Apparently my mom was the recipient of many looks of shock and awe that her daughter could be such a bad singer.

Thanks to piano lessons my ears got tuned into the concept of a "key" and I eventually learned how to sing (at least most of the time) in key.

Since being in Tanzania I have been teaching myself how to play the guitar, which is a much more mobile instrument than a piano. I would borrow a guitar until someone needed it back, and then find someone else's guitar to borrow. A bonus of learning the guitar was that I could volunteer to lead worship every so often for a monthly gathering of local missionaries for worship, a sermon (in English!!!) and a potluck*.

The first time I led worship at one of these fellowships the worship song theme was "songs that only use G, D, A, C and Em". I've broadened my chord selection, and thankfully my song selection has also broadened.

While I was in the States last year a friend gave me his guitar and my house-mate Crystal gave me her awesome multi-fabric "backpack" guitar-case. I now regularly get to lead worship at our missionary fellowships, and it is pretty fun walking through Musoma with a guitar strapped to my back.

So, somedays I feel like a troubadour. Maybe I'll even start writing songs someday...maybe.


*I have learned that the Dutch call a potluck an "American style meal"...and we call splitting everything up on a tab "going Dutch". I find that interesting.

Ikizu Genesis

A couple of years ago, as each language completed the book of Luke, we had celebrations out in the language community to announce the presence of mother-tongue scripture!

These days, we don't get to have as many celebrations because we are often holding off until we have the whole New Testament to print other books. There are a lot of practical reasons that have gone into that decision, but those would probably bore you to hear, so I'll focus on the fun that we had last week.

We got to print the book of Genesis in Ikizu (Kabwa Genesis is coming later this year as well)! Its a big book, 50 chapters, and not in the New Testament, so why not print it!!!

We didn't have a big celebration in the community, but instead a very sweet and intimate "book release" at the office. A local bishop came and prayed over the books as we opened the boxes. The bishop also brought a local pastor who is from the Ikizu language group and that pastor translated the bishop's prayer into Ikizu on the spot. It was beautiful, and I may have had a couple tears in my eyes by the end.

The books can now be taken out to the community and distributed!!! It is always encouraging and exciting to see the physical fruit of our labors here in Musoma.

Congrats to the Ikizu translation team and yay for the Ikizu language community.

Reverse Downton Abbey

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I have a house-help. What I didn't mention is that I also have three outside workers. There are two night guards; Mr. Sakwa works Monday through Thursday while Jeremiah works over the weekend. There is also Shoka who is a gardener/day guard that works 5 days a week. They are all blessings, even if it is odd to have four employees at my house.

I was resistant to this whole idea of being an employer until a couple of years ago. I was watching Downton Abbey and realized that I needed to stop seeing employing people as a drain on me. Rather, it is one way that I can provide employment and a salary to at least a few people. So, thanks to a TV show I was able to get a better appreciation for the role I sometimes play here in Musoma.

In Downton Abbey the employed staff of the mansion are called to their duties by bells.

Here in Musoma I am called by my employed staff in a similar fashion.

While I was in the States last year, my housemates put up some bells and wind-chimes. For decoration. Well, Shoka, Mr. Sakwa and Jeremiah found that we tend to hear the bells ringing even when we don't hear them calling for us. So, now if I hear the tinkling of bells, I know that I am being called to a chat with one of the guards.

In some ways my life is similar to Downton Abbey, while in other ways it is kind of the reverse of Downton Abbey.

My Normal: The Serengeti

Musoma Tanzania is located merely a couple hours from the Serengeti.

Whenever I drive between Musoma and the closest big city, Mwanza, I pass through part of the Serengeti and see wildebeests and zebras quite regularly.

This past November though, I actually went to the Serengeti for the first time. Here are some of the pictures that were taken during the trip.

The cheetah was the most exciting part of the whole trip. I hadn't yet seen either a leopard or a cheetah (or a rhino for that matter, but that is even more rare). So I was glad to be the one to espy this beautiful cheetah despite the camouflage of his environment and the distance.

It was such fun to get to see more animals than I've previously seen and to take advantage of the proximity of such an amazing park!

February 2015 Newsletter

You can access a PDF of this newsletter by following this link: Found in Translation 2/2015