Not Exactly Pilgrims and Indians

Not exactly Pilgrims and Indians.

It seems odd still on American holidays to see life continue here as usual. Thanksgiving is not celebrated here, and of course if it was we wouldn’t be celebrating now. Now is the time of planting not of harvest. It is a time for hope, a time looking off to the future not to the past. In fact, looking back to the last harvest here it is difficult to imagine a large feast of Thankfulness on the hearts of our farmers. Just about everyone in one way or another here gets their income through farming. The farmers are in their fields now with hoes and occasionally plows preparing the red earth for the coming rains.

None the less, we have much to be thankful for. We have begun to fit in to life here in the city of Sumbawanga. Just recently, along with our education plans I have become excited about the possibility of outreach to two distinct groups of people here in Sumbawanga. I will write more of that as it develops, but please pray for the meetings coming up tomorrow.

Despite the harvest, we decided to host a feast anyway. Becca was able to find a few of the Thanksgiving Day essentials such as apples for a pie and sweet potatoes. She had brought out a box of stuffing and substituted the rest as best she could. With no turkeys available in this area we substituted chickens. Yam pie with orange food coloring substituted pumpkin pie. Short on Indians and pilgrims, we substituted Tanzanian and Arab friends of ours. Fellow missionaries, Cory and Kim Hodgson, joined us from Mbeya and have been staying with us all week. The Sumry family had invited us to their celebration feast at the end of Ramadan, so we extended a welcome to our celebration of Thanksgiving. Our kids looked at each other and played a bit. Everyone was a bit nervous and a little out of their comfort zone. The Sumry’s are used to hosting everyone, rarely are they the guests, rarely are they put in a new situation. They know a little of everything that goes on in the city but today they would learn and share community from the other side of the table.

As many did across America, we opened in a prayer of thanksgiving. Our Tanzanian friends who shared the table with us were quiet and spent much of the time watching. Mama Isa and Neema cooked much of the food with Becca and Kim and tried little bits throughout the day as appetizers. They enjoyed the food as we sat together. Others around the table were resistant to the new foods, but all welcomed the pies and cakes. Throughout the meal we talked about traditions and about life here and in America.

Looking over our life here, we have much to be thankful for. Friends and family, both here and around the world. A flavorful life of culture, home and homelessness. A faith that sustained us through past struggles. A hope for a redeemed future. A present washed in grace that opens our eyes to the beauty of this world as God must see it through Christ. It is easy to be thankful with a full harvest. Today we shared thanksgiving in the hopefulness of planting season. May God bless the ministries that are unfolding as he has sustained us in the past.

In Him whom we are eternally thankful,
Chad, Becca, Emma, Ian and Elzabeth Zuber