MISSION UPDATE November 2019 Mark Rich and Cynthia Holder Rich
ELCA Mission Personnel serving at Tumaini University Makumira
near Arusha, Tanzania
We’re back!
After many weeks in the US, we’re back at Tumaini University Makumira, and grateful to be here! We’ve spent a couple weeks greeting friends, setting up life, and preparing to teach. And as always, we’re working to let go one rhythm, one set of rules, one way of doing things in order to pick up another.
We’re back, where if one wants hot water, one turns the hot water heater on.
We’re back, where we filter our water before drinking.
We’re back, where a mosquito net drapes our bed each night.
AND back, where our students are so very grateful for the opportunity to study theology. Back, where colleagues are grateful for our presence, and where we are grateful for their support. Back, to be reminded that in this part of the church, every pastor sees him or herself as called to evangelism, in a highly religiously-pluralistic context where less than half the population is Christian.
We’re back, where we are not in charge. Where the class schedules and course load agreed upon before we left the country have changed in many ways, for reasons beyond anyone’s control. Where students we thought would be here are not and some we didn’t expect are here—also for reasons beyond anyone’s control, including the students’ themselves.
Back, to hear a new Anglican student say he enrolled here because Tumaini is “the best Christian university in the country”, to hear another state how he has been able to apply what he has learned from us in his ministry, to have a woman student come quietly and share how happy she is that we have returned. Back to greet the first students we have had as Bachelor’s students in our time here return for graduate studies. Back to see growth in many areas at the University, and concern expressed in others.
We’re back, and so grateful for the opportunity to be here!
MANY, MANY THANKS to all who welcomed us during our home leave, for visits, classes, worship, presentations, and conversations. We so appreciate you all! Enjoy some pics of our time in the US, and a few from our yard here now, as the short rainy season bursts forth. In this month of All Saints, we’re grateful for all you saints of God!
Peace and love, Cynthia and Mark
Mark and Cynthia in Tanzania 