I feel like I'm living back in the dorm at school. OK, let me start at the beginning.
Last week I was at my desk working when Eliza, the secretary, came around the bookshelf-wall in my office and plunked a sheet down beside my computer. "Here's the list for worships," she said as she pointed to my name. "What would you like to talk about?" Surprised, I stared at the list organized in three neat columns: jina, tarehe, somo (name, date, lesson). There was my name, the third one down the list after Max and Yona. My eyes slid over to the next column: 14/02/2011 - 18/02/2011. I looked up at Eliza shocked. "Yes," she replied before I had time to ask, "you'll be doing worship next week. Please can you tell me your topic for the week?" "Ummm," I stammered, while frantically racking my brain for appropriate worship topics. What in the world? I don't have time to plan a week's worth of worships on such short notice, especially with the awful internet connection we have right now. And I haven't even been to worship in a couple months, ever since they started reading "Gifted Hands" in Swahili. No one even let me know they were finished the book. "Can I think about it and get back to you?" I finally asked. "OK," Eliza signed, "but please tell me tomorrow." She picked up the schedule and disappeared into Soulpeace and Rachel's office next door.
The next morning she again swept into my office asking for my topic. I had thought about it the night before, but unsuccessfully. Maybe I can just find the teacher's edition of the Sabbath School quarterly and use that, I thought, before realizing that the quarterly is printed and studied all over the world. Everyone here already discusses those lessons every Saturday. Still, it was the only semi-OK idea I'd come up with since I'd heard I'd be doing worships next week. I scribbled 'SDA Sabbath School' beside my name and handed the paper back to Eliza, who thanked me and left. I thought about topics all morning until I got a brainwave later in the day; ask if someone else further down the list could switch weeks with me. Of course! Why hadn't I thought of it before? I went to talk to Jacob, the campus manager, who organizes worships. He thought my reasoning was sound (just heard about my week to be in charge of worships a few days ago, getting over being sick [only a cold, but still a valid reason in my opinion], all my evenings being taken up by trying to long-distance plan a wedding [whenever we actually have power and internet]) and said to ask Eliza to find someone to switch with me. I headed right over to her office. She seemed rather reluctant to accommodate me until she got a phone call from her husband (Jacob). Finally she said she'd find someone. I asked the next day. She said she'd do it that day. I asked the next. She said Edson would trade with me. I was relieved and had a blissful weekend and start of this week with no worship planning. And then, this morning, Eliza showed up in my office with an updated schedule. "Here's the new list," she said. I took it from her and looked for my name. There it was, fourth down on the list after Max, Yona and Edson, beside the dates of 21/02/2011 - 25/02/2011. She had ignored my request for doing worship sometime later on in the year, March or April, and put me on for next week.
I'm kind of frustrated, but I guess I shouldn't be. I could have started coming up with real ideas already, I'm completely over my sickness, the power is staying on longer this week and the internet connection seems to be working a bit better (and should be in tip-top condition tomorrow when the member of campus who controls the internet leaves for a week of work in Dar...). But it's mostly the lack of consideration I'm annoyed about. No one thought to tell me they were done reading the Swahili version of Ben Carson's book or asked me to come back to worship. I was only told about having to do worship a few days before the weekend last week. And I was only informed about having to do it next week today. And most frustrating to me, I was never asked to do it, never given a choice. Had I been, I know that, despite having no desire to organize a whole week's worth of 15-minute talks all on the same topic, I wouldn't have said no. I just wish I was asked instead of required.
Anyway, here's to a weekend of thinking up a topic and planning out the time between 8 and 8:30 a.m. for next week. Thank goodness worship starts with a song or two and ends with recent ADRA TZ news updates.
Last week I was at my desk working when Eliza, the secretary, came around the bookshelf-wall in my office and plunked a sheet down beside my computer. "Here's the list for worships," she said as she pointed to my name. "What would you like to talk about?" Surprised, I stared at the list organized in three neat columns: jina, tarehe, somo (name, date, lesson). There was my name, the third one down the list after Max and Yona. My eyes slid over to the next column: 14/02/2011 - 18/02/2011. I looked up at Eliza shocked. "Yes," she replied before I had time to ask, "you'll be doing worship next week. Please can you tell me your topic for the week?" "Ummm," I stammered, while frantically racking my brain for appropriate worship topics. What in the world? I don't have time to plan a week's worth of worships on such short notice, especially with the awful internet connection we have right now. And I haven't even been to worship in a couple months, ever since they started reading "Gifted Hands" in Swahili. No one even let me know they were finished the book. "Can I think about it and get back to you?" I finally asked. "OK," Eliza signed, "but please tell me tomorrow." She picked up the schedule and disappeared into Soulpeace and Rachel's office next door.
The next morning she again swept into my office asking for my topic. I had thought about it the night before, but unsuccessfully. Maybe I can just find the teacher's edition of the Sabbath School quarterly and use that, I thought, before realizing that the quarterly is printed and studied all over the world. Everyone here already discusses those lessons every Saturday. Still, it was the only semi-OK idea I'd come up with since I'd heard I'd be doing worships next week. I scribbled 'SDA Sabbath School' beside my name and handed the paper back to Eliza, who thanked me and left. I thought about topics all morning until I got a brainwave later in the day; ask if someone else further down the list could switch weeks with me. Of course! Why hadn't I thought of it before? I went to talk to Jacob, the campus manager, who organizes worships. He thought my reasoning was sound (just heard about my week to be in charge of worships a few days ago, getting over being sick [only a cold, but still a valid reason in my opinion], all my evenings being taken up by trying to long-distance plan a wedding [whenever we actually have power and internet]) and said to ask Eliza to find someone to switch with me. I headed right over to her office. She seemed rather reluctant to accommodate me until she got a phone call from her husband (Jacob). Finally she said she'd find someone. I asked the next day. She said she'd do it that day. I asked the next. She said Edson would trade with me. I was relieved and had a blissful weekend and start of this week with no worship planning. And then, this morning, Eliza showed up in my office with an updated schedule. "Here's the new list," she said. I took it from her and looked for my name. There it was, fourth down on the list after Max, Yona and Edson, beside the dates of 21/02/2011 - 25/02/2011. She had ignored my request for doing worship sometime later on in the year, March or April, and put me on for next week.
I'm kind of frustrated, but I guess I shouldn't be. I could have started coming up with real ideas already, I'm completely over my sickness, the power is staying on longer this week and the internet connection seems to be working a bit better (and should be in tip-top condition tomorrow when the member of campus who controls the internet leaves for a week of work in Dar...). But it's mostly the lack of consideration I'm annoyed about. No one thought to tell me they were done reading the Swahili version of Ben Carson's book or asked me to come back to worship. I was only told about having to do worship a few days before the weekend last week. And I was only informed about having to do it next week today. And most frustrating to me, I was never asked to do it, never given a choice. Had I been, I know that, despite having no desire to organize a whole week's worth of 15-minute talks all on the same topic, I wouldn't have said no. I just wish I was asked instead of required.
Anyway, here's to a weekend of thinking up a topic and planning out the time between 8 and 8:30 a.m. for next week. Thank goodness worship starts with a song or two and ends with recent ADRA TZ news updates.
3 comments:
I'm sure you're doing a great job, Ali. Keep it up! only one more day! :)
Oh. I was going to give you a suggestion, but I just realized that they're over now. I'm sure you did a good job. :)
and so did it all work out fine in the end?
relax, you have a lot to offer on the spot. remember, always, remember doing the chapel time in kgh when the pastor did not show up, but the hospital residents did...
God helps in times just when we need Him.
love you
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