Yesterday at our monthly Site Meeting in which we meet with the Contractor, Building Supervisor, Clerk of Works and our Architects the commitment was made to complete construction by our next meeting at the end of June. Judy and I are already buying sheets, mattresses, water jugs, mosquito nets, towels, water glasses, shower slippers, outside chairs, water filter, and more.

We are making the furniture for all the rooms ourselves; in each room (cell) will be a bed with mosquito net frame, a small simple table for writing with chair, and a simple cushion chair. Each room will be named by a Desert Father or Mother. I want St. Moses the African, Judy wants St. Mary of Egypt.

I ask that do something to divert the rain water that comes rushing down our hill during heavy rains. The danger is if we don’t divert it the water will flood into our rooms. We decided to dug a good size gutter in front of the veranda to divert the water away from the rooms.

The struggle for the development is not easy so when we see how our work is creating a beautiful building that will serve people for many years, we have a quiet satisfaction.

Our contractor told me today that we have completed 79% of the work on our new guest wing. So, things going well we could be done by the end of next month. What to do in the meantime?

Many things actually need to be done to be ready for additional guests such as: making the furniture for the 6 rooms(bed, table, chair, cushion chair for each room), an extra dining table with chairs, a large table for washing dishes (the guests will wash their own dishes factory style), getting a new four burner stove, converting another space in the Rock House for preparing meals, 6 outdoor chairs, new bed sheets and towels, the list goes on but I’ll stop here.

We are moving into a new phase in the Journey of the Lake House of Prayer when we begin serving up to 12 guests at a time. The goal is to maintain Silence, Simplicity and Solitude; to keep it Small for indeed “Small is Beautiful”.

We at the House of Prayer were blessed with a visit of a couple of Judy’s friends; a husband and wife, the husband being an architect. I asked him to  help me review the overall site plan for future development.

We walked slowly through our property taking an inventory of our present and future buildings. We also inventoried our natural resources: trees, rocks, plants/flowers and the natural spaces in between. The Vision of a simple, natural environment came alive for me.

For the moment we are completing our new guest wing after which we will wait to see the response to the added capacity from the public. Things going well, after a couple of years we hope to build a combination meeting/sleeping room for small groups; this building would include toilets/showers for men and women.

Lastly we would build a new small church in the middle of our land. We hope the blend of  simple structures in the midst of nature will enflesh our Vision of Silence, Simplicity and Solitude for our visitors.

Yesterday we hosted our second small group (21) from my former parish Mabatini. I enjoyed being with them, inviting them to enter in to the deep Contemplative Tradition of our Church. In one of the two talks I gave I shared with them St. Ignatius’ ‘Rules for Discernment’. This sparked a lively discussion.

One of the leaders explained that as a Christian if you do not participate in witchcraft practices people will gossip viciously about you and isolate you from the community. He  asked what does one do in such an environment? We spoke about the importance of a strong faith-prayer life and fostering daily one’s relationship with the Lord. Along with this we discussed the vital need to create Christian community to support each other in such a hostile environment.

In the end we concluded being a serious Christian in following Jesus of the Gospels is not easy in any culture. Indeed Jesus warned us that the world will hate us because of our desire to follow him and live like he did.

We hope at the House of Prayer we can be a place of refugee for the weary and a place of spiritual education to empower Christians to possess the transformative skills of contemplation. We hope this refugee and skills will give our people the freedom to live without fear in the midst of so much surrounding fear.

We just completed the 4th Priests Retreat Group at the House of Prayer. We have started a custom of closing the retreat with a large breakfast featuring Judi’s delicious omelets. During the breakfast we share our thoughts and thanks of our time together.

One of the priests told us that in his culture a woman Judi’s age would be the one was would be served and not serving like Judi was serving the priests during their stay. In African culture one’s elders are held in deep respect as wisdom figures who share their  wisdom with the clan empowering the young ones to live full and happy lives. The elders are not expected to make omelets and wash dishes.

The priests ended their comments about Bibi Judi saying ‘you are our mother’; for the manner in which Judi served them like a mother. They enjoyed very much the omelets but they enjoyed just as much her smile. The smile of a mother.

 

Two days ago there was a public meeting in which a high ranking government official officially opened the building of road that comes to our place. This announcement has come just at the proper time. Why? Our ‘road’ is TERRIBLE. It is more of a dirt path with many rocks and holes.

Our road is used by many: people walking, motorcycles, daladalas (small vans), cows, chickens, goats, cars, big trucks hauling building supplies, big trucks hauling water(water is sometimes hard to get here so one has to order it),  small push carts filled with vegetables, bicycles, one encounters humanity and creation on our road.

Promises have been made in the past but hope springs eternal. The promise is to start building the road next month and that it will be a tarmac road. From a rocky, dirt path to a tarmac road!? Yes, indeed hope springs eternal.

A large part of what we are trying to do at  the House of Prayer is to share the Contemplative life of the Church with people who live on the edges of society, the poor and unwanted. We are very thankful of the response of these people to our presence and vision.

One way I try to keep this relationship alive is to celebrate Mass at the local outstation where I meet all the people who come to the House of Prayer. When I first started almost four years ago now I celebrated Sunday Eucharist every week for close to three years. Now I help out during large Church feasts and whenever the local pastor is shorthanded for Sunday Masses.

Along with Christmas/New Year I offer to be with the local Christians for Holy Week. This year I was with them for Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday (see pictures of Palm Sunday). One would think that it is I who am doing the local Christians a service and in a way I am but in fact it is their faith and joy that touches me.

The builders call me ‘Bwana Mawe’ because I like to build with stones for the outside walls. I started building with stones in 2005 at my former parish Mabatini and continue until today with our current project our 6 room guest wing.

Mwanza City is called ‘Rock City’ because of the many, many rock formations throughout the city. One wonders where all these rocks came from, some in unique forms as if an artist was trying to given us onlookers a message. So why not take advantage is such indigenous material?

It is getting harder to find craftsmen who know this difficult art of building with stones instead of concrete blocks. So much  so that I told the contractor not to build with stones this time and just use cement blocks. But no he said your ‘Bwana Mawe’ so we have to build with stones. So graudually the stone walls go up and my reputation ‘Bwana Mawe’  increases. Which is ok with me just as long as we do not ‘run into a stone wall’ during this project.

Yesterday we said good-bye to the third group of Diocesan Priests to come to the House of Prayer for a short three day retreat. And like the first two groups what is striking is the deep need for Rest, physical, mental and spiritual.

These men really don’t have a ‘day off’ and the demands on their time and energy are quite daunting. So to Rest with us in the Silence and Solitude is a gift they received with open hands.

These retreats have affirmed our vocation at the Lake House of Prayer to provide a ‘desert’ space for those wearied by the Journey to come away in the Solitude to Listen to the Still Small Voice within in the Silence.

Last week we welcomed the second group of Diocesan Priests for a short Directed Contemplative Retreat. After a slow start because of late arrivals the retreat  was a special moment for all four priests who attended.

The opportunity to rest body, mind, spirit is hitting a cord with these priests. Reflections questions and the opportunity to meet with a Spiritual Director also enliven and bless their time with us.

Finally, our “Nairobi Mangoes” are a big hit. They are sooo sweet to the taste, like eating delicious candy. They are expensive but worth the price in providing a healthy diet for our guests.

So, Silence, Rest, Reflection and Prayer combine to help our priests settle into a strange but new Contemplative rhythm. Just what we hoped for.