Once or twice a year at Elizabeth’s house, they video chat with her Aunt and Uncle in Tanzania.  Tanzania is in Africa.  You may remember that that is where Elizabeth’s mommy and daddy are right now!  That’s shy Aunt Gertrude is here.   So, Aunt Gertrude and Elizabeth are sitting at the Mawakasunga’s computer.

“What’s this ‘username’?” said Aunt Gertrude in a frustrated voice.  “Just type in ‘maw’. m a w.” explained Elizabeth.  “Password?” “Sweetbreads” answered Elizabeth.  “Oh dear, my typing is terrible.  I typed in meatheads!”

“Here!” said Elizabeth in a helpful voice.  “I can do it.”  And Elizabeth typed in the correct information and soon they were booted up and logged on and ready to talk with Elizabeth’s mother and father!

Now, because the place in Tanzania where Aunt Naomi and Uncle Luther live only has electricity for several hours each day and because Aunt Naomi and Uncle Luther certainly would not have a computer in their own house, they must walk several miles to the Manlow community center and use that computer.  Life in Tanzania is MUCH different than life here in Pennsylvania!

“Hi mommy!” said Elizabeth in an excited voice! “How are you?  Aunt Gertrude and I got to go to HersheyPark yesterday!  And we rode the Comet!  It was fun because Aunt Gertrude screamed all the way! Is Daddy there?  What did Martin and Ruth and Esther do today?  I miss you!  How many days until you come home?”

Mrs. Mawakasunga talked with her daughter for almost 15 minutes!  A video chat is just wonderful for talking with people you know who live far away.  Then Martin talked with Elizabeth, and then Aunt Naomi and Baby Ruth got on, but Baby Ruth just cried because she was tired and it was past her bedtime.  Then Esther got on.

       MARTIN                             AUNT GERTRUDE                 ESTHER

Esther is 13.  You know how some teenagers fiddle with their hair and sometimes color it?  Well, Esther has bleached off all her spots!  Teenagers!  But there was something else that was different about Esther.  She had a white veil on!

“What’s that for?” Elizabeth asked about the veil.  “Oh!” answered Esther with a flourish of her head.  “I was hoping you would notice!    I put it on to show you! I affirmed my baptism today at church!”

“What does that mean?” asked Elizabeth.  “Well, I was confirmed and it means that you are more grown up and need to go to church on your own, not just because your parents make you go.  You kind of become responsible for your own growth in faith.”

“I hope I get to wear a veil like you when I firm my baptism!” said Elizabeth with admiration.

You know, what Esther said about ‘confirmation’ is true.  When you grow up, you become responsible for your own growth in faith.  You must nourish and feed your faith and some day you may find that God has been talking with you the whole way.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could video chat with God like the Mawakasunga’s video with each other!  I guess that when you take the time to pray and to be quiet  . . . and to listen, sometimes, sometimes God uses your own voice to tell you what is right and good.  So, in a way, it is more like Instant Messenger than like a video chat.

I love to tell you stories each week about Elizabeth and her friends.  I’ve been doing this since my grandchildren were even younger than you are.  In fact, Elizabeth actually came from my granddaughter’s toy box.  And today, my granddaughter Rachael Elizabeth is being confirmed!  I hope that Rachael and her fellow confirmands will get to Instant Message with God!                            THE END

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