Written by Caryn & Jim Josephson
Sunday in Bomalang’ombe! Worship this morning was filled with lots of music, dancing and joy! We also presented our gifts to the Bomalang’ombe preaching point. Normally we do that the day we leave, but we will be leaving tomorrow at 6am because all of the pastors have a meeting in Iringa tomorrow morning.
After church and tea, we met with the widows group and the women’s batik group. Both groups are diversifying- the women’s batik group has started planting potatoes and the widows’ group is making oval baskets. Caryn received an oval basket that had been made into a handbag. Both groups appreciate all of our support. We shared with them some of the ways that Bomalang’ombe batiks are being used.
After lunch we met with parents and guardians of our scholarship students. Most of those present were guardians of orphaned family members. The best chance these children have for a good life is education. 4 students were at the meeting because they were on a school break. We presented each with the signed card, a book of daily Bible readings and a Bible verse bookmark. 3 of the students are in secondary school and have aspirations to be a pastor, a doctor and an engineer. The 4th student we sponsored last year to enable him to get a livestock management certificate. Now, he is in university for a degree in that same field! We passed out the remaining gifts to the parents or guardians who were there and showed them what the cards looked like. Pastor Tewele told them to tell their students to keep the card safe so they would know that people were praying for their success, and that when they succeed, they should likewise be a blessing to others.
The final event of the day was the partnership meeting. The meeting started with unanimous agreement that we should renew our covenant. We went over to the church for the signing, and the official Bomalang’ombe Lutheran Church stamp!
Following that we each shared information about our congregation priorities and challenges and had a chance to learn more about each other. After exchanging thank you gifts we shared a delicious meal. We head out early tomorrow so that the pastors can get to their meeting on time!
