Church at Pepe's restaurant.....for now.... our current meeting place....
Kid's church meeting in the parking lot.... under a tent....
Requires a "don't sweat the small stuff" "we can do this even tho' there is nothing working right now" and "God is for me therefore I am sure there is a solution to this current problem" kind of attitude...
Every week we arrive at our rented venue to find loads of garbage from the night before being hauled away, sometimes beautiful wedding chairs, flowers and fabric adorning everything and often no power...
A scramble ensues... where is the generator, is there any petrol in it? Why are the lights dimming? What will happen to the keyboard if it is plugged into fluctuating power? Why is there no light in the bathrooms? Did anyone know there was going to be a power outage? I can pick up gas for the generator when I am at the service/gas station getting my puncture fixed. Why are there cats sleeping on the sound mixer? How did they get under the cover? Hope they don't set off the keyboardists allergies.....
This last Friday we were met with a surprise. Our current venue for Arusha Vineyard, "La Bella Luna" restaurant has been taken over by new ownership. The new owner was being very accommodating and wanted to continue our stay there however, did not realize that the previous owners took all of their fittings. This meant that the first week we met there under the new management we had no tables and chairs and no mirrors or hand dryers etc. The following friday when we arrived to see if there had been some improvement we found that there was no running water, no toilets and the main restaurant area was flooded. No way church could happen here in 2 days time.....
Panic and prayers ensued.... within a couple of hours however, we were able to find a new temporary home for Arusha vineyard at Pepe's an Italian/indian restaurant a few streets away. They are very happy to house us and have rented a tent for children's ministry and we have running water and flushing toilets!!!
What would I prefer..... predictable, order and sameness? Certainly this would be nice.... in Africa, it is often a luxury where the unpredictable and wild nature of this place demands a flexible faith whilst striving for safety and predictability without monotony.....
Pray for us as we continue the venture of finding our new home!!!
Lyndall preaching at Pepe's
View from the balcony...
Kid's church meeting in the parking lot.... under a tent....
Requires a "don't sweat the small stuff" "we can do this even tho' there is nothing working right now" and "God is for me therefore I am sure there is a solution to this current problem" kind of attitude...
Every week we arrive at our rented venue to find loads of garbage from the night before being hauled away, sometimes beautiful wedding chairs, flowers and fabric adorning everything and often no power...
A scramble ensues... where is the generator, is there any petrol in it? Why are the lights dimming? What will happen to the keyboard if it is plugged into fluctuating power? Why is there no light in the bathrooms? Did anyone know there was going to be a power outage? I can pick up gas for the generator when I am at the service/gas station getting my puncture fixed. Why are there cats sleeping on the sound mixer? How did they get under the cover? Hope they don't set off the keyboardists allergies.....
This last Friday we were met with a surprise. Our current venue for Arusha Vineyard, "La Bella Luna" restaurant has been taken over by new ownership. The new owner was being very accommodating and wanted to continue our stay there however, did not realize that the previous owners took all of their fittings. This meant that the first week we met there under the new management we had no tables and chairs and no mirrors or hand dryers etc. The following friday when we arrived to see if there had been some improvement we found that there was no running water, no toilets and the main restaurant area was flooded. No way church could happen here in 2 days time.....
Panic and prayers ensued.... within a couple of hours however, we were able to find a new temporary home for Arusha vineyard at Pepe's an Italian/indian restaurant a few streets away. They are very happy to house us and have rented a tent for children's ministry and we have running water and flushing toilets!!!
What would I prefer..... predictable, order and sameness? Certainly this would be nice.... in Africa, it is often a luxury where the unpredictable and wild nature of this place demands a flexible faith whilst striving for safety and predictability without monotony.....
Pray for us as we continue the venture of finding our new home!!!
Lyndall preaching at Pepe's
View from the balcony...
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