We had to have tea first so went in for mondazi doughnuts and coffee and waited for the Bishop to arrive. He arrived around 9:45 and then he had to have tea so we went into the Church to listen to music while we waited. They were using the new church under construction because it is bigger but it only had tarps for a roof over most of it. Finally, around 10:45 the procession with the Bishop and other pastors came into the Church, led by a small band.
There were several choirs and a couple new district pastors were installed as well as the ordination for five new pastors. We were three hours in and had not even gotten to the sermon yet. Elias was ordained with the others and then there was a big celebration of dancing throughout the congregation. The Bishop gave the sermon which was partially translated to us. He spoke that there should be no mention of politics in the Church, only preaching about Jesus, but then proceeded to speak in English rebuking Obama for protesting the Uganda government decision to criminalize homosexuality. The Church service lasted until 3:15, so at four and a half hours plus two hours of waiting was a pretty long day. After Church we went into the old church building for lunch of rice, beans, pilau (a Tanzanian spiced rice dish), chicken in tomato sauce, green vegetable, and bananas.
It was great to see Elias and Elizabeth and we were invited to visit them at Mwatasi where Elias is already serving as pastor. Mwatasi is the partner village for Trinity Lutheran in Stillwater and is about 2 hours from Iringa. They have bus service to Mwatasi which will be convenient for us.
Elias, Elizabeth and Enjoy with typically serious poses:
Elias reading his statement with the Bishop listening (sometimes called the big potato because of the hat):
Pastor Gary Langness with the new Pastors. Sue got Elias to smile on the right. Gary was instrumental in the founding of Tumaini University in 1994:
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