Sunday in Dar

Dar Es Salaam, 22 Aug 2010

This morning we got up early and met some people from the yacht club and went on a six mile run. We ran with two white south africans and a Kenyan and managed about a 8 minute mile pace over dirt roads and the mini-hills of Dar Es Salaam. Immediately after the run we jumped in the truck and headed back to the house so I could get changed for church.

I took a cab to church and got there a couple minutes early and passed the time talking to the missionaries, a black elder from Zimbabwe and a white elder from South Africa. The branch is part of the Kenya mission and has about 70 active members. I was the only white person there and the services are conducted mostly in English. The elders said they were only allowed to teach in English, even though the Scriptures are printed in Swahili.

In Sunday school the lady teaching the class shared a Tanzanian parable about a frog and a snake. They had both gone to visit the hare to learn how to get smooth skin. The hare started to explain- get a pot of water and start it boiling, then take the water... At this point the frog said he got it and hopped away. The frog went home and boiled some water and jumped in and his skin became very rough. The snake stayed and listened to the rest of the instructions- take the water off the heat, mix in the medicine, then let it cool, then take a bath in the cool water. The snake stayed and listened to all the instructions and that's why it has smooth skin but. The frog has rough skin. The moral of the story was to not rush off without getting all the instructions. If you jump too soon you may get the opposite effect.

After church we hung out around the house and later went to dinner at another friends house. It was a pretty quiet and easy going Sunday.