Yellow Bird

Back when I was young Sunday was often punctuated by Harry Belafonte singing about a yellow bird on Two Way Family Favorites. Well, it was another Sunday, and this time there were two yellow birds - one in the morning (a weaver bird) and one in the evening (a canary). Between them I had my first experience of preaching in translation. We went to the edge of the city to a small community called Kaningina, perched on the top of a hill at the end of a long and dusty road. Here there was a prayer house - the home of a relatively new congregation, planted in the last few years. Here they had a wooden room, which doubled as a classroom for the small local primary school. Although the congregation was quite small, they still managed to run three small choirs. Like Wales, this is very much a land of hill and song.

Preaching in translation is certainly a strange experience. You are just warming to your point, and you have to stop to let the translator catch up. This is both frustrating and helpful - it is frustrating because you keep on loosing the flow, but it is helpful because it gives you a pause to frame what you are going to say next. Either way, it seemed to work, as once or twice the congregation responded with a resounding Hallelujah. Of course, it may have been that the translator was preaching a much better sermon than I was.

After the service we had lunch at the church, and a look around the site. The school was run by the church and had only 240 children, taught in four classes. They hoped to expand, as the oldest class is currently taught in the next community because of lack of space. And perched right on top of the hill is the new church building. So far they have built the walls, and now they are raising funds for the roof. It was good to be here and to share fellowship with this community.


Yesterday morning (Monday) was spent organising trips fort he rest of the week. Tomorrow I will be going to visit some of the Youth Clubs run by the VTC, while next Monday I will be walking through the bush to see some of the water wells maintained by the Synod with the help of the Raven Trust. The afternoon was spent sorting glasses for the team of eye specialists - they are hoping to set up a dispensing outlet for people in the community. This was their last day with us before they go north to Livingstonia, and so we had a cake to bid them farewell. Apart from the cake, this was a typical evening so far, as we sat around the main room in the Mission House and shared the experiences of the day. No day goes the way it has been planned, but every day has its good tales to tell. And as the eye team leave us, a team of dentists will come to take their place on Wednesday - and another cake will be baked and iced.

The current Mission House, on the CCAP (Church of Central Africa - Presbyterian) site in Mzuzu, is soon to be reclaimed by the Synod to be used as the residence for the vice-chancellor of the University of Livingstonia, so one of John's current projects is to build a new Mission House just outside the centre of town. I was there for most of today, painting the walls. The house is almost finished, and it is hoped that we will move there by the end of the month - as long as we can get the electricity put on. At the moment we are waiting for the delivery of a telegraph pole from the national supplier, ESCOM. Tonight it was not only the new Mission House that was without power. It meant we had a candle-light supper, and were able to see the Milky Way crossing the tail of Scorpio.

Which brings us to the end of another good day. And remember - road signs save lives - at least, according to the road sign you see as you leave the centre of Mzuzu on the way to the new Mission House. Travel well in your journey with God.