Tumshukuru Mungu—We thank God—is a phrase we often
hear in Tanzania. Tanzanians don’t celebrate Thanksgiving as a once-a-year
national holiday, yet, in their everyday lives, they often express gratitude to
God for their blessings. Nearly every church will have a special Sunday for
Thanksgiving, usually around the time of the corn harvest in October. Also,
people who want to show their gratitude to God for a special blessing, such as
recovery from an illness, will often make a special offering. They will come to
the front of the church to present their gifts, receive a special blessing and
perhaps give a testimony of God’s goodness in their lives.
Recently
Deborah was visiting Sumbawanga, the headquarters of Lake Tanganyika Diocese,
one of the newest dioceses in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania. When
it came time for the offering, people came singing and dancing up to the front
to place their offering in a wooden box. The photo above is of the box labeled,
Shukurani—Thanksgiving Offerings. There
are other boxes for different kinds of offerings, such as tithes and pledges.
As is often
the case in Tanzania, people also brought up sacks of corn, watermelons, eggs,
and even two live chickens. The women of the church had baked about a dozen
loaves of bread. Some people brought handcrafts they had made themselves. These
items were auctioned off after the service and the sale price was added to the
offering. In this way, people with little cash on hand could still contribute
to the work of the church. Church in the U.S. might be a little more
interesting if we had this custom!
As we approach Thanksgiving, we are especially thankful for
visits from folks from the U.S., including a group from ELCA Mission
Advancement in Chicago who came to visit projects and missionaries sponsored by
the ELCA and to make some videos of mission work in Tanzania. We are also
thankful for safe travels around Tanzania, a trip to Nairobi to visit the Kenya
Evangelical Lutheran Church, and a safe journey to South Sudan, for the
dedication of the new Lutheran Center in Juba. We are especially thankful for
our wonderful supporters in the U.S., many of whom we got to visit this past
summer.
Whatever you
are thankful for, we pray that you will have a blessed Thanksgiving. Remember, Tumshukuru Mungu!
Top Photo: Offering box at
church in Sumbawanga, Tanzania labeled Shukurani
(Thanksgiving in Swahili).
Middle Photo: Offering boxes
at church in Sumbawanga, Tanzania labeled Fungu
La 10 (tithes) and Ahadi (pledges).
Joe and Deborah are
missionaries living in Arusha, Tanzania, where they are the East Africa
Regional Representatives for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and
work in Tanzania, Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda. Their daughter, Christa, is a
sophomore at the University of Southern California this fall.
