15th December 2009 - Merry Christmas

I think this may be the last blog post before Christmas, so let me wish everyone reading this the most blessed of holidays. There’s something about Christmas that’s just SO nice – I don’t know if it’s the promise inherent in what/who we commemorate or the innocence and excitement of children or the good will that seems much more apparent at this time of the year or the sense of giving and receiving or the universality of the celebrations or what – I don’t exactly know but there’s something that makes this a really special time of the year no matter where it’s celebrated.

Our Small Christian Community and the whole outstation where we pray have been reflecting on “making the way straight”, and “putting on the cloak of justice”. The participation of the people is really amazing, and when last week our SCC was invited to help Father pick the main points for him to emphasize the following day, they really got into it. And they did a great job of introducing to the whole congregation the theme of the day on Sunday. It’s very impressive the way people are so committed.

While walking in downtown Dodoma the other day I noticed that the shop keepers are getting into the commercial Christmas mode. Usually there are a few samples of clothes hanging outside shops and small displays of shoes on the sidewalks but this week there were lots and lots of clothes, especially children’s clothes, dancing in the wind outside, and yards and yards of shoes displayed on the streets. Clothes and shoes will be the gifts that children receive if they receive anything, and so the shopkeepers are trying very hard to be the ones to sell. Artificial greenery and flowers are also on display, Chinese made, quite unattractive in my opinion, but decoration nevertheless. A lot of people think that artificial flowers are more “modern” than the natural ones, and so they’re quite popular. I guess I can understand that a little bit here where greenery is rare in the dry season but in many places in the country there are beautiful flowers and plants year around and they are so much more beautiful.

We will be leaving tomorrow on a short bus ride (about three hours) to Morogoro where we’ll stay overnight and then get a ride with the Sisters there to Arusha on Thursday. Friday through Sunday will be our Maryknoll Sisters’ meeting which we hold about once every 1½ years, and so all of us from Tanzania will be there along with representatives from Kenya, Sudan and Zimbabwe. It will be wonderful to see everyone and catch up with them. Then when the meeting is finished we’ll stay to celebrate Christmas with the Sisters in Arusha, probably returning here on the 26th or 27th. It will be nice to visit again where I first lived when I returned in February, and there is a beautiful green yard to enjoy. They say that there’s been quite a bit of rain in Arusha already so that will be a big contrast to our dryness.

Right now it’s very hot and windless, lots of clouds in the sky, sure signs that the rain is close. This morning we woke to a yard full of small moths – clinging to the sides of the house, in the bushes, and all over. The birds are having a feast today, and the chickens as well. All the neighbors’ roosters start crowing around 4.00 a.m. every day in order to wake us up and at least today they had something to crow about!

And what I have to crow about is a great year, starting out with family in North Dakota, then returning to Tanzania and finding a welcoming place and people, satisfying ministry, and happiness. I have so much for which to be thankful.