Going once, going twice, sold!

I (Misha) don't know about you, but the words "going once, going twice, SOLD!" are not ones I think of as being part of a church service. Well, until I came to Tanzania, that is! Here in Musoma, and I assume in other parts of the country, auctions are a pretty normal part of many churches.

Most people give cash during the offering, but sometimes they'll give potatoes, a papaya, a pencil, candy, a chicken, or something else like that. At the end of the service, a church leader will stand up and pick up one item at a time and run a little auction to see how much money they can raise for the church offering. Usually things are sold for a higher price than what you'd buy them for at the market, since people are giving money to their church and getting an item, too. Typically, the person who stands up is an energetic type running around trying to get people to raise their bids as they compete against each other to pay for an item, so it really feels like an auction.

There is sometimes a little twist on the auction - instead of people bidding in an effort to buy the item for themselves, they will decide to give the item to someone in the church (usually the pastor or a guest). In that case, lots of people contribute small amounts and everyone who wants to take part in giving the gift can do so and it's usually 'sold' for a pretty high price.

Last Sunday I actually joined in the bidding for the first time. Someone had brought some green peppers, and I was all out of them at home. I thought that buying some at church might be a nice way to support the church and save myself a trip to the market! I started the bidding at 500 shillings for six little peppers and upped my bid to 800 shillings when some others bid after me, but I was victorious in the end. After that, apparently people were excited that their American guests were taking part and they auctioned off a little bag of potatoes and several tomatoes and gave them to us as a gift! (We passed the fun along and re-gifted them to the Tanzanian couple hosting us for lunch that afternoon.)

We are thinking that we'd like to take a Swahili Bible as an auction item someday. That way, we can bless the church with a nice offering and provide somebody with a Bible. If we do, we'll let you know how it goes.