"Ichesa"

The week before Easter had me (Gary) in Ichesa with the evangelist, Bahati, and the local pastor, Michael.




I had borrowed a bike for the trip, but with little brake activity, was reduced to using it mostly on the flat portions of the 2 hour journey. When I reached Ihowa, Bahati thought it best to leave the bike there and proceed to Ichesa on foot.

We took some “short cuts” through incredible mountain sides along very narrow trails. For some reason, I thought I would save the picture-taking for the return trip, but as is always the case, nothing happens the same way twice…we returned by another, less spectacular, route.

I don’t like to take pictures during the service, because the people are so taken by the notion of a digital camera that all attention is lost to the message and worship. So, sorry for that; no pictures of the service in Ichesa.

I brought the message on the hidden wisdom of God as recorded in I Corinthians 2. It was well received, especially when I threw in a few Swahili phrases. If you can imagine someone babbling on in a language you don’t understand and suddenly say something in your tongue, you can guess that it kept their attention. Bahati is a good translator, but lacks animation, so the delayed reaction to my antics is sometimes pretty comical.

It was a much more comfortable setting than last year; they had saved enough money to have cement poured for the floor. With dancing as part of every song, you can imagine the dust in the air of a closed building with a dirt floor.


At lunch with the pastor, I found that he was completing his secondary education by bicycling to Vwawa five days a week for classes; quite a distance. The surprising thing was that he was taking Bible Knowledge, not normally offered at government schools. He agreed to do some photocopy work for me, so now I have some idea of the subject expectations for the national exams.

Blessings to all,

Gary & Joanne