Buhigwe

On August 25, 2011 a service team was sent to St Mary Coptic Orthodox church Buhigwe, a rural and remote parish located in the mountains of Kigoma, in the District of Kisulu, Tanzania. As Christians, we are often called to venture to the utmost to preach the Gospel and the rewards of serving Christ and His people can be quite beautiful. As the team approaches the outskirts of the village we are able to hear singing. HG Bishop Paul mentions that the people of the Parish have been waiting for our visit for two days and are eager to hear the Word of God and celebrate the Divine Liturgy.

As soon as the people of Buhigwe Village see the taxis, they all begin to leap and ululate with joy, waving green branches. The experience is quite humbling as the people have such joy and eager love to receive our Lord Jesus Christ. A deacon is holding a cross and leading the throngs of villagers in front of the cars, walking an additional 5 kilometers from the main road to where the temporary parish building and the Bishop’s residence located.

The next few days are filled with such joy and a pressing need to impart the love of Christ through the Gospel and the Divine Liturgy. HG Bishop Paul with the fathers and missionaries lead spiritual lessons on purity, love and prayer, in addition to servants prep meetings, daily medical campaigns, and prayer meetings. The children of the village are a joy to behold, their wonder and playfulness encouraged the servants who sang, played and dramatized biblical stories with them.

Three Divine Liturgies were celebrated and the team was blessed to witness and partake in the Baptism and Chrismation of sixty men, women and children who then partook of the Holy Mystery during the Liturgy. Deacons were also ordained to the rank of singers during the Liturgy. HG Bishop Paul through the blessings of the mission and by the Grace of our Lord Jesus, distributed food with the Eulogia, and blessed each of the newly baptized as well as each family of the Parish with KiSwahili Bibles. Every time a person or family received a bible, the entire congregation cheered.

Experiencing such faith among the people, the team experienced how real and linked to life the Gospel is to those who believe. Every evening the team would also share in prayer and themes of repentance, protection, spiritual warfare were discussed. One of the most beautiful meditations during these nightly prayer meetings was a meditation and prayer to bring comfort and peace to the people, to surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit who would take each of the team’s work and make an impact to each person, according to their need and broken heartedness. That any worry, any disease, any separation from Christ be abolished, that healing, love and simple and humble hearts for Jesus prosper.

The work in the village and all of Tanzania, all of Africa and the uncharted, un-preached areas of the world, is still ongoing, still in need. Our Lord Jesus Christ is calling each Orthodox Christian to pray for the service and mission, for bold and prayerful laborers, for truly the harvest is plenty but the laborers are few. As we leave the village, a consistent question is asked of us, “When will you be returning?”

There is darkness in the world, but the Light of Christ is shining, we as Christians are called to shine that people may glorify our Father in Heaven. In Psalm 89 the psalmist says “let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the works of our hands.” My beloved brothers and sisters, pray for us, that we all return to serve His people and bring many laborers who will have the brightness of the Lord on them and that He may prosper the work of our hands. Irini Passi.