Today, we went to church. A 3-hour pentecostal service. It was actually a good service, part rock concert and part inspirational exhortation; and it did not feel like three hours. Pastor Trice gave the main sermon, and Pastor Laura Katherine from Apex UMC also gave a sermon.

Laura spoke of blessing, that at the end of Luke, Jesus is taken up to heaven while he was blessing his disciples, and also that the exact words of his blessing aren’t recorded (although they could have been). Which Laura takes to mean that (a) he is still blessing the entire world (as if, the higher he rose, the more people he blessed); and (b) since the exact nature of his blessing is deliberately left indeterminate, his blessing is whatever we need to hear.

Trice spoke of an adjustment in our relationship with Jesus. She started with the passage in Luke where Jesus, at the age of twelve, remained in the temple even as his parents were returning home. She contrasted those people, such as Joseph and Mary, who do their religious duty faithfully and then decide “I have done enough” and go home with those people who figuratively linger in the temple after the necessary duties are completed. She also noticed that Jesus’s parents spent three days searching for him before it occurred to them that maybe he was in the temple, and she suggested that some of us today might search for what we need everywhere BUT the church.

But her main point was that Jesus’s parents thought he should follow them (home after worshipping at the temple), but, really, they should have (and would, later) follow him. She suggested that perhaps some of us need to re-alter our priorities to put Jesus (and his calling for us) first, instead of an “after our other priorities” sort of thing.

It was a good sermon, and very much worth hearing (at least, for me).

After the service, we went next door to Trice’s radio station (Zion Impact Radio) and Trice interviewed us on air, and asked if any of us would like to say something.

Then, lunch at a nice restaurant. I had to try the “black vanilla” ice cream. It was good, but it did actually turn my teeth black. Savannah said I had “pirate teeth”.

After lunch, we went to visit a painter who is a Zoe graduate. His artist name is Lishy and I believe his real name is Elisha. He is part of a painting collective that sells paintings in a very nice park in Arusha. We had actually gone there on the first day, but hadn’t had time to linger. Erika and I bought a very nice painting that the artist took off the frame and rolled up for us to take home.

Elisha was a very quiet, softspoken person and not particularly expressive. When another of our group bought a VERY nice picture of elephants at sunset (the artist basically painted with light), Elisha overheard us discussing it and quietly pointed out the artist, which I thought was particularly gracious. When the facilitators took a picture of him with us and the picture, they tried to get him to smile, and they did. But I am choosing a picture that looks more like the way we saw him normally, when people weren’t trying to make him smile.

Our final stop today was a local market where a member of Trice’s church sold souvenirs and curios. The Zoe staff knew this market had good prices and knew that the church member wouldn’t rip us off.

And then, supper.

I think the Zoe staff are heroic, because they are staying with us all day, including through supper. They are putting in some long days.

(Again, issues with uploading pictures and videos, so more tomorrow.)