Worship at Mjimpya/Raina

We have watched the progress over the past several years of the construction of the church next to the diocese office. The main part of Mjimpya is now 90% complete and boasts seating for about 400-500 on the lower level and a balcony for additional seating for about 200. The tower that will ultimately hold the bell is still under construction and will have two levels for rental to generate income and a level for use as a conference room. (Pictures of the church were posted in our first set of photos on this blog.) Mjimpya is the home church for our Tanzanian liason, Tabitha Kilatu, who invited us to join her for worship on Sunday.

We arrived just in time for the start of the 7 am service and were ushered up to the front row. Bishop Mameo was also visiting and was dressed in his formal Bishop robes and mitre and carrying his staff. He made an impressive sight!

Three different choirs contributed to the worship and their choreography, blended with their syncopated African melody, had us swaying and tapping time with our toes. One of the highlights for the team was when the strains of “How Great Thou Art” began swelling over the Swahili and we were able to sing the beloved words with our Tanzanian brothers and sisters.

Bishop Mameo preached on the passage from Matthew 7:15-20 about knowing the tree by its fruit. Kilatu and two of our other translators were sitting among the team and whispered the translation of the sermon to us so we were able to follow the message.

After the two and a half hour service we were treated to tea in the pastor’s office which included chai, coffee, bread, hard boiled eggs and braised liver. Little did we know how important this morning snack would be to us.

It was about 11 am when we headed to Mazimbu to do rounds and check on Ben. Doug was finishing up and making notes in his charts when he became curious about an 11 month old baby on the desk getting a blood transfusion through a scalp IV. Doug, Cindy and Nancy reviewed the baby Raina’s chart and were worried when they saw the hemoglobin was 1.8, barely sustainable for life. Normal is 10-12. Notes in the chart stated the baby fell a week ago and had been bleeding out of the mouth. As they were reviewing the chart, the IV blew out and the transfusion was not able to continue. The staff asked Cindy and Doug for help starting another IV. As the hours wore on, the team was praying while Cindy, Doug and Nancy struggled to get an IV started that would hold. Because the baby was so little and was dehydrated, her blood volume was so low that even the tiniest needle could not enter the vein without piercing through the back wall. At the second hour, the power went out and Doug continued work with a head lamp. At about 2 and a half hours, Dr. Swai arrived to do rounds and joined the team to assist. At about 3 and a half hours Doug asked who was in charge of praying because either they got the IV in place or the baby would die. Nancy replied that we were all praying. Numerous small incisions were made to identify a vein into which we could insert a stable IV. At about the fourth hour, Doug decided to retry one of the previous sites, the left groin. As he shifted to this area, Doug stated “I ellt good about this” and got a successful IV right away. Prayers were answered! To ensure it would stay, he sutured it in and fluids were immediately started. The baby revived within a few minutes and began looking for her mother to nurse. Shortly after that, a bag of blood was transfused. The team offered up prayers of thanks for this gracious gift of life.

So the afternoon waned and the team was able to leave the hospital at 5:30. We headed to the Morogoro Hotel for dinner. As we were sitting around our table, enjoying conversation about the day, we were greeted by one of the managers, Robert, who saw us that morning at Mjimpyia. We shared greetings and stories and well wishes.

As we have finished our first week, we are humbled and moved to see God at work in our mission every day. From the smallest things like meeting Robert at dinner after being in the same worship to the big things like being at Mazimbu at the right moment for Ben and for Raina.