A welcome to Bomalang’ombe
Today we finally got to return to Bomalang’ombe! Our interpreter is a pastor at a church near Iringa, who joined us at The Lutheran Center. We now have our permanent driver, Aiden and a four wheel drive vehicle that will take us over the rugged terrain.
The road is hilly and a combination of packed gravel, tarmac, and bumpy dirt diversions where road construction is going on.
We were met close to Bomalang’ombe by church members greeting us with singing, flowers and branches! One we arrived we were met with more singing and dancing before going into the pastor’s house for tea.
After tea we went back to the church for a welcome ceremony and the women received dresses and the men received shorts. The clothing is made from fabric hand dyed by a women’s group.
Then it was time for lunch! We certainly don’t go hungry with so much delicious food!
This afternoon we visited 2 of the 5 preaching points, Mwanzala and Mangalali. There was singing, dancing and gift exchanges. At Mwanzala, they are expanding the church building to add more room, an office and storage. Jim saw an avocado tree that he helped plant in 2019. It is very tall now and ready to bear fruit.
Mangalali is the newest preaching point and they are building a new church building to replace a temporary structure. In 2023 they had started building and now are far enough along to use the building.
The welcome is overwhelming! It is so good to be back and to share the experience with others. We will have a busy day tomorrow!
