Arusha

Today took the 9 hour bus ride to Arusha. Sat next to an American backpacker guy, so the time passed quickly between talking to him and reading. I finished a biography on Hudson Taylor and read half of "it's my turn" by Ruth Bell Graham. Now I am at Erik, Bernice and Nashesha's house (uncle, aunt, cousin). It is soooo great to be here. Shesha (9 yrs) was so excited to see me. She has grown so tall!! We played Barbies all evening and she showed me her french homework. She loves school. Steve Friberg was here tonight (family friend), so it was great to see him although I don't think I'll get to see the rest of fam. Also Bernice's parents are here tonight - B's dad has been having heart problems so came to Arusha from the village to get treatment. Tomorrow early I fly to Musoma to visit a Wycliffe Bible translation site for two days so I will try to write more and download pics when I get back.

No Hurry In Tanzania

Still in Dar, visiting people. I will be glad to head to Arusha on Tues - this city is huge and everyone is spread out all over the place. Traffic is bad and weather is hot! Friday I had lunch with my German friend Susi. We met when she came thru my language school as a student. She works for SIL/Wycliffe Bible Translators and is now (6 yrs later) the head of all language survey in Tanzania and Uganda. She gave me a tour of the headquarters and we ate hamburgers at a nice restaurant. Even though it had only been a week, it was still a little funny to be hanging out with wazungu (white people) and speaking English. It was great to hear about her work.

Friday night was the rescheduled dinner for friends here. It ended up being 13 of us! We arranged to meet at 7 pm. I arrived at 7:45 pm. I think the last people arrived around 8:30 pm. Time is very "flexible" here :) I'm so proud of my friends. Some are still studying, but others have good jobs as civil engineers, loan officers, bank branch managers, university teachers etc.

Saturday enjoyed the beach and today went to church and lunch with an American couple who work for Young Life here. They work in an international school and have their first club on Friday. There are also some Tanzanian staff here who work in the govt schools. It was fun to hear more about YL here since it didn't start until after I left. Hugs to all!

Roller Coaster

Space Mountain has nothing on my life in Tanzania! The last two days have been a total emotional roller coaster. Tuesday I spent most of the day visiting people in the nearby village, Maili Tatu. I love these friends so much, but they have nothing, so with each visit comes a request for help (mostly with school fees). As you may know, my generosity sometimes extends beyond my means and I often feel others' problems as my own, so the day was exhausting. I simply cannot look a friend in the face and refuse to help. I was also very disappointed that so many people in the village have had children out of wedlock since I left. It just makes life even harder for them with another mouth to feed and another mind to educate.

One low point was when I stepped into a river of siafu (biting ants). By the time I noticed, my feet were covered with them! I removed my tevas with record speed and ran screaming barefoot down the path! And suddenly I felt like everything was too much - constant dirt and sweat, insect attacks, and the burden of poverty.

Wednesday night I arrived in Dar and after a short period of time found myself in the middle of a soap opera to rival Days. One of the hardest things for me about Tanzania is the way people tend to hide the truth to save face. I found out that a close friend was deceiving me, and caught him in the middle of the lie. He then was forced to tell the truth, which was pretty bad. We talked for a long time and finally I asked him where he was with God. He replied "far away". He then told me that he has watched the example of his brother, a born-again Christian whom he lives with, and that he wants to turn his life around but isn't strong enough. I immediately thought of last Sunday's sermon about the Lord being our strength and was able to share with him that none of us, his brother included, have any strength on our own, but God alone gives us strength. I shared some verses with him, and he asked if I would give him a Bible (bought one today in town). I asked him if he wanted to pray, and he did. I left the room for about 5 or 10 minutes so we could each spend time alone confessing, and then we prayed together. It was powerful and we were both crying at different points. Please pray that this friend would feel God's presence and God would give him the strength to withstand temptation and turn his life around.

Patience

Up until yesterday I did a really good job of not being tasky or in a hurry. But yesterday I had all sorts of plans in mind for the day when one of the Sisters from the orphanage came unexpectedly to the school to see me. She really wanted me to meet her nephew Stanley who I have been helping in school. I didn't want to go because I already had plans and knew this visit would likely take at least half the day. But it was obviously very important to her since she came so far without knowing if I would even be here. So after walking, taking a bus, taking a taxi, going in a private car and then hiking up a mtn, we arrived. I was trying very hard not to be irritated, but I was anyway. But when we reached the house I relaxed, because it was such a beautiful area, in the foothills of the mtns with a stream running by the house and a cool breeze. Also because Stanley and his family were soooo happy to meet me. We ate lunch, but Stanley was so happy he said he couldn't even eat. He was such a polite, handsome young man and told me about how much he enjoys studying, esp. science. He walks at least 5 miles to school and then back again, up the mtn. We Amercians take education for granted. Here it is an incredible privilege and young people do whatever it takes to get it if they can.

I haven't figured out how to download pics yet, but hopefully will soon!

I'm here!

Victor was kind enough to come to the Dar es Salaam airport AGAIN to meet me Friday morning. He dropped me at his auntie's house since I didn't know where the Wycliffe guest house was, where I had planned to stay Thursday night. The Wycliffe driver had come the day before, and I didn't know how to reach him. (For those of you who were surprised at my lack of planning for this trip, now you can see why I didn't bother!) But it was nice to see his aunties again, and it was a more "authenic" experience anyway, eating ugali with my hands on the porch and taking a candlelight bucket shower (loving my haircut!)

After Victor and another friend, Paul, got off work we took a 3 hour bus ride to Morogoro, where I used to live. I am shocked to see that prices have increased dramatically since I left, due to the cost of oil. Transportation costs are about 100% higher after just 4 years. Paul's brother Upendo met us in town for a late dinner when we arrived at 10 pm. Upendo just took over the language school where I used to work, so I was able to hear all the news of the school and people there since I left. Then we returned to the school where Upendo had arranged a room for me.

Since Paul and Victor had to return to Dar Sunday night, we had to pack a lot into the weekend. Saturday morning we had chai at Victor's mom's house in the nearby village. I was delighted to see his three little sisters again (ages 15, 12, and 4). The youngest was born shortly before I left, and I was asked to name her. She was a little shy at first, but warmed up quickly. We took the three girls to town to buy new school uniforms, but picked up two more little boys (both named Moses, age 7) on the way when we visited Victor's fiance Ester and baby. Moses is Ester's nephew and he totally remembered me, although he was only 3 when I left. We visited for about 20 min. and he started crying when I rose to leave! So I asked his mom if we could take him to town too, and the other Moses (his cousin) came along as a bonus. Moses' mom Dina was obviously sick, and when I asked her about it she said she didn't have any money to go to the doctor. I gave her $5, hating how complacent I have become living in America and no longer weighing my purchases against what that money could do here.

After buying new uniforms for the kids, eating lunch, and buying sacks of flour, rice and beans for the two families, we dropped the kids at home and went to the nearby orphange which I used to visit weekly. It was fun to see the nuns I knew, as well as the older children who were still there. My favorite, Bebi, lives with her grandma now, so I was disappointed not to see her.

Sunday morning it poured rain. It cooled things off for a bit, which was nice (it is 90 degrees, 95% humidity here). It was raining so loud on the tin roof I could hardly hear the pastor as he preached about the joy of the Lord being our strength. After church Paul, Victor and I went out to our friend Jacob's village to see his family. It was a 20 minutes bus ride followed by a 20 minute walk on a path in the hot sun to reach the village. Victor made me laugh when he broke off a large tree branch and held it over his head for shade. He looked like the little kid from The Gods Must Be Crazy.

Jacob is from the Maasai tribe. His father has 4 wives and Jacob is the 2nd of 18 children. We had a nice visit with the family and they send their greetings to Kathy, Chuck, Krista, Sonja, and Thea. I love being with my three best buds here: Victor, Paul, and Jacob. Although much has changed, we are having so much fun talking and reminicing and laughing. Then Victor and Paul caught a bus back to Dar and I headed back to the school. I went for a long run, visiting Victor's sisters again on the way. I forgot how beautiful the mountains here are. I loved running thru the village at dusk, when people are starting to light kerosene lamps and the road is full of people walking home or standing in groups talking.

Halfway there...

I am writing from London where after a 7 hour layover we have a 2-hour delay (minimum) due to a plane that "missed the runway" shortly after I arrived, causing all sorts of cancellations and delays. I was blessed to be sitting on the flight from Seattle with a missionary family of 5 on their way to Malawi, so we've been hanging out at the airport together, watching each other's bags. I called my friend Victor who is picking me up, to tell him that the plane is delayed. Turns out I was confused about which day I was arriving, and he waited three hours at the airport for me this morning. Oops! I also arranged a dinner for about 10 of my friends in Dar, which has already happened. Hope they had fun!

Habari

"Habari" means "news" in Swahili, so this blog will be about my news from Tanzania! Yes, that's right, I'm going back for a visit, four years after spending two years there, working at a missionary language school in Morogoro. I leave January 16th, and will return to Seattle on February 18th, after a short detour in Oslo, Norway on the way home. Stay tuned!

I would appreciate prayers for safety and health, that I would be an encouragement to those I visit, and that God would go before me in arranging who I should see/meet while I am there.