Exhuberance marks local praise and worship; the people in the foreground are dancingAfrica provided a fantastic conclusion to a four nation tour, even though it involved a grueling schedule that began the day I arrived. Barely hours after reaching (February 29), I found myself giving a short retreat to a group of African youth, which was followed by a talk to local parishioners.
The session with the African youth was really alive, but it didn't exactly prepare me for the vibrancy of worship I witnessed the following day (March 1) at the Emmaus Center prior to my talk. The locals sang and danced with an abandon I have never seen elsewhere.
The hunger in the people was also amazing to see. There were 300 people when I started. By the time I was half way through there were over a thousand people in attendance. My talk was supposed to have been for two hours, but the translator (Br Sebastian) suggested that I continue, and I ended up speaking for another two.
Before and after the other programs that followed, there were talks to local communities, visits to the sick and a miscellaneous assortment of things including a visit to Cardinal Polycarp Pengo to pay my respects. While I had met nearly two dozen bishops over the past few years, this was the first Cardinal that I was meeting. I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last
All the sessions were organized by Cajetan Misquitta, who was also my host for the length of my stay in Tanzania along with his Hindu friend Milan. God is going to use both these men in the days to come, even though one of them doesn't quite know it yet.
The session with the African youth was really alive, but it didn't exactly prepare me for the vibrancy of worship I witnessed the following day (March 1) at the Emmaus Center prior to my talk. The locals sang and danced with an abandon I have never seen elsewhere.
The hunger in the people was also amazing to see. There were 300 people when I started. By the time I was half way through there were over a thousand people in attendance. My talk was supposed to have been for two hours, but the translator (Br Sebastian) suggested that I continue, and I ended up speaking for another two.
Before and after the other programs that followed, there were talks to local communities, visits to the sick and a miscellaneous assortment of things including a visit to Cardinal Polycarp Pengo to pay my respects. While I had met nearly two dozen bishops over the past few years, this was the first Cardinal that I was meeting. I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last
All the sessions were organized by Cajetan Misquitta, who was also my host for the length of my stay in Tanzania along with his Hindu friend Milan. God is going to use both these men in the days to come, even though one of them doesn't quite know it yet.
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