The Grieving Giver

A team of Black Forest Academy students and teachers accompanied me to a worship service at the Kimokoa Baptist Church, a Maasai churches in one of our ministry areas.  The praise and worship was lively as usual with the singing, jumping, and "Parade of Praise" in and outside of the church building.
Introductions were given, announcements made, the main offering received, and then the preaching/teaching time began.  As the pastor spoke, I heard a wail followed by load crying, sobbing and moaning coming from outside the main entrance of the church building.  I ask the Maasai pastor next to me what we should do.  He said he would investigate and bring back a report.  He left the church to check out the situation.  I began to visualize different scenarios -- a sudden death in a family, bad news about other family members, loss of animals and/or property, or demon possession manifesting itself at this worship time.

The Maasai pastor returned in 15 minutes and reported that this particular woman was indeed in deep sorrow and remorse, so much so that she refused to even come into the service even though she was a faithful member of that church.

She had not lost a family member.
There was no bad news concerning her family.
Her animals and property were fine.
There was no demon possession manifestation today.

The cause of her wailing, crying, moaning and deep sorrow --- she did not have anything to give
as an offering for that day.  She had set aside some items and money to bring but other family members had taken her offering items and money to use for their own purposes!

After the service, a special offering was taken to buy supplies for the church's pre-school and to rebuild the doors on the church building.

We saw different members go outside and bring the grieving woman into the service.

She eventually came forward and gave something for the special offering.

The service concluded and we stayed and greeted all the members that day, especially since I had "special guests".

I asked the Maasai pastor about the women giving to the special offering since he had earlier relayed that she had nothing to give.

He said that other church members had combined their resources and gave them to this grieving women so that she would have something to give that day.

She said she would return the "loans" to her fellow church members over time.

Have you ever been so overcome with grief like this "grieving giver" because you had no offering to give to God?
Do you have friends/fellow believers who would help you out in the way this women's friends helped her?

This "grieving giver" is truly blessed.
Are you blessed in this same way with friends/fellow believers?
Would you be a blessing to someone else in this or other ways?

You Thought Your DMV was Challenging?

Tanzania has recently revamped their process for obtaining/renewing a Tanzania driver license. 

Our first process was to show an International Driver License bought at AAA before our departure from the USA to proof we could drive, fill out a form, submit the form with pictures, buy a Tanzania license book from a street vendor, and then have the picture and the official license glued in (yes, glued in) to the license book.  Our first license, which is good for 3 years, took 1 hour to obtain from the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA).  That was 1997.  Every three years, the process to renew the license was to go the nearest TRA in whatever city you were living in or close to, show your license, pay a fee, and a renewal form was glued in to the license book.

Not this time in 2012.  

The steps that I followed to obtain my new license are as follows:

1)    Go to TRA in Moshi to obtain a new form.

2)     Get your Tax Identification Number (TIN).

3)     Go to TRA again to Office # 3 to turn in your form.

4)     Go to TRA Office # 15 to have my TIN verified.

5)     Return to TRA Office # 3 to have digital fingerprints and a facial picture taken and stored in their computer data base (Upon taking the picture, this question was posed to me “Is this you in the picture or is it someone who looks like you?”)

6)     Go to the Highway Police station in Moshi (5 blocks – walking that day) to have your Tanzania driver license verified and receive a certificate of “Competency to Drive”.  I was directed to Office # 3 (3^rd door on the right) but on arriving there, the sign above the door read “Office # 8.  I returned to the main desk, asked again to make sure I had the right directions, and was politely escorted to “Office # 3 – This is door 1, door 2, and door/office # 3, which was still labeled Office # 8.  I “failed the logic test” that day.  I received my certificate of “Competency to Drive”

7)     I was then directed to go back to TRA to Office # 3 to turn in the form and certificate.  This was 5 blocks back to the TRA building. 

8)     After two clicks on a computer mouse, I was verified as a competent driver.  I was then re-directed back to the same police station to the “Computor Room” so that my information could be enter into their data base.  After another 5 block walk and a short wait, my information was “safely in their system”.

9)     Once again, I was directed back to the TRA office to turn in the final form and receive a pay receipt so that I could go to a bank and make the payment for the license.

10) At TRA, I was given a pay slip/receipt to take to a local bank.  I would pay the driver license fee there, keep a copy of the paid receipt, and instructed to return 1 week later to TRA pick up my new license.

11) I left the TRA building and walked 6 blocks (in the opposite direction from the police station) to the bank to submit my payment.  After a 30 minute wait in line, I paid my fee and received my official receipt.

12) Now I get to return to the TRA building on 29 May to hopefully receive my new Tanzania license.

This process only took 5 hours (which was a good day).

An update will follow on whether I was successful in this venture.

So, how does your DMV compare to this experience?