Nov. 22 is the day we celebrate the anniversary of Lutheran women’s ordination. The ELCA created a celebratory post and many people have shared it on social media. It feels like a good time to finally put into words my time with women pastors (and one woman pastor to-be) in the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese (UKD) in Tanzania.

First, my big thanks to a few people. I met Alison Richard in May when I attended my goddaughter’s high school graduation in College Station, TX. Alison is the Youth and Family Minister at Celia’s church. But Alison also coordinates the ELCA companion synod relationships! So, when I was eating graduation cake, Alison sat across from me and got me up to speed on companion synod relationships. She highly recommended that I set up a zoom call with some ELCA women pastors from Northwest Ohio who had just returned from a trip to their companion synod in Tanzania. In late July I zoomed with three of these pastors and they gave me all sorts of encouragement and advice, chief among them was to ask for time with the women pastors and a woman translator.

And so, part way through our trip, when we were at the UKD headquarters in Ifakara, Carla, Heidi, and I sat with five of women pastors and one woman who will begin the process quite soon. I began by telling them how important it was for me, even though women had been ordained since six years before I was born, to see and know women pastors before my imagination could really be opened. I simply asked the women to share their call stories. They are not my stories to share but they were amazing, at times heart-breaking, holy, and ultimately hopeful. Each of us listening was reminded of the power of representation. Some of the women there had already been inspiration for the younger women gathered. I am so incredibly grateful for their vulnerability and honesty.

After hearing the stories, Carla, Heidi, and I brought out gifts from congregations and pastors back home. These included women’s clergy shirts, one alb, and many stoles. What delight we all had watching shirts made for women be tried on. I remember my own gratitude when I discovered the companies catering to women clergy.

A great joy of the journey was that the following day, Pastor Faith, the first woman to be ordained in the UKD, traveled with us to Kiberege. We saw most of the women at Frank’s ordination. At the end of our time in the diocese, we went to Pastor Susana’s church.