In Swahili, habari za asubuhi is the standard greeting for the first half of the day--equivalent to "good morning" and literally meaning, "News of the morning?" The funny thing about Tanzania (and definitely a place its culture differs from American culture) is that people here actually respond to your question. How novel! People who actually want to talk when they start talking to you! If I said habari za asubuhi, the other person might say, Nzuri! (Good!) and then, if he's a child, he might say, Shikamoo (May I hold your feet?), to which I would of course have the decency to respond, Marahaba (It is not necessary.) From there the conversation could go any number of ways, but my point is that the conversation would likely go on. None of this silly "Hey, how's it going?" "Fine! How's it going with you?" "Oh great! How's it--oh wait, I already asked that!" Tanzania is an extremely relational society where time takes a back seat to conversations and your to-do list is about fourteenth on your to-do list.
In a culture like this, a driven American has to have the self-control to slow down. Aaron shared with me in the last couple days that one of his friends always says, "Sorry for your busy-ness." Aaron doesn't feel that busy, but if he's not careful, he and many other missionaries can come across as rushed and disinterested people--always focused on the next thing and never taking time to build the relationships that are so vital to ministry.
Now, missionaries here don't combat this problem by sitting around. They work like crazy, but they have to know when it's time to work and when it's time to talk. Jobs don't get done with the efficiency or precision of a bullet-shot. You can't decide at noon to do a plumbing job, plan from 12:00-12:15, drive to the store and buy your stuff from 12:15-1:15, and do the plumbing from 1:15-3:00. It's more like a relentless tidal wave. You decide to do a plumbing job, but just as you're sitting down to plan it, the neighbor kids arrive with a puppy they want you to look at. So you spend 12:00-12:20 looking at the dog, then herding all the kids (there's 15 of them) back out and saying goodbye. Now you plan the plumbing job (12:20-12:35). You head into town, but traffic is slow because the guys driving the dala-dalas (taxi busses) are stopping in the middle of the road. Once you get to the hardware store, you have to find a parking space and pay (and briefly talk to) the parking guard. All of this takes from 12:35-1:00. Once you're in the store, your rafiki (friend) shouts across the room and comes over to talk, which takes 10 minutes (It's now 1:10). But you still have to buy your stuff, which takes another 25 minutes of sitting in line. On the way back, you get stopped by the police for a "routine check" and by the time you get home, it's 2:30. You get the picture . . . in a sense, you're working a lot harder than someone who can just "up and go" get a job done.
Today was varied. After a delicious pancake breakfast in the morning, I worked on the convection hot water heater Aaron designed. We cut PVC and painted it black, then glued elbow joints together so they were "U" shapes instead of "L" shapes. I'll post a picture later . . . I got to drive here for the first time today. First time on the right side of a vehicle. First time on the left side of the road. First time shifting with my left hand. It was all exciting--including the clockwise roundabout I got to navigate. Those things are weird even going the normal direction. Played B-ball with Ben Shipe again, went shopping with Aaron, and had a delicious dinner of chicken and pasta. I got to meet one of the other missionaries in the country--Steve Burkholder, and tomorrow I get to see Rodney Myers and his family at church in Ndatu. Please pray that the Lord would give me grace to preach effectively for the assembly there.
Thanks for your prayers. Preparation for the youth conference is moving right along. Aaron and I leave tomorrow for Babati.
In Christ,
Nick
P.S. - Aaron says the illustrative plumbing saga is accurate.
In a culture like this, a driven American has to have the self-control to slow down. Aaron shared with me in the last couple days that one of his friends always says, "Sorry for your busy-ness." Aaron doesn't feel that busy, but if he's not careful, he and many other missionaries can come across as rushed and disinterested people--always focused on the next thing and never taking time to build the relationships that are so vital to ministry.
Now, missionaries here don't combat this problem by sitting around. They work like crazy, but they have to know when it's time to work and when it's time to talk. Jobs don't get done with the efficiency or precision of a bullet-shot. You can't decide at noon to do a plumbing job, plan from 12:00-12:15, drive to the store and buy your stuff from 12:15-1:15, and do the plumbing from 1:15-3:00. It's more like a relentless tidal wave. You decide to do a plumbing job, but just as you're sitting down to plan it, the neighbor kids arrive with a puppy they want you to look at. So you spend 12:00-12:20 looking at the dog, then herding all the kids (there's 15 of them) back out and saying goodbye. Now you plan the plumbing job (12:20-12:35). You head into town, but traffic is slow because the guys driving the dala-dalas (taxi busses) are stopping in the middle of the road. Once you get to the hardware store, you have to find a parking space and pay (and briefly talk to) the parking guard. All of this takes from 12:35-1:00. Once you're in the store, your rafiki (friend) shouts across the room and comes over to talk, which takes 10 minutes (It's now 1:10). But you still have to buy your stuff, which takes another 25 minutes of sitting in line. On the way back, you get stopped by the police for a "routine check" and by the time you get home, it's 2:30. You get the picture . . . in a sense, you're working a lot harder than someone who can just "up and go" get a job done.
Today was varied. After a delicious pancake breakfast in the morning, I worked on the convection hot water heater Aaron designed. We cut PVC and painted it black, then glued elbow joints together so they were "U" shapes instead of "L" shapes. I'll post a picture later . . . I got to drive here for the first time today. First time on the right side of a vehicle. First time on the left side of the road. First time shifting with my left hand. It was all exciting--including the clockwise roundabout I got to navigate. Those things are weird even going the normal direction. Played B-ball with Ben Shipe again, went shopping with Aaron, and had a delicious dinner of chicken and pasta. I got to meet one of the other missionaries in the country--Steve Burkholder, and tomorrow I get to see Rodney Myers and his family at church in Ndatu. Please pray that the Lord would give me grace to preach effectively for the assembly there.
Thanks for your prayers. Preparation for the youth conference is moving right along. Aaron and I leave tomorrow for Babati.
In Christ,
Nick
P.S. - Aaron says the illustrative plumbing saga is accurate.
Praying for you Nick! God Bless.
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