2/ 22

 

It's our second day I guess.  I’m kind of messed up on the time though because we had a 7 hour time change.  Anyway I'm sitting at the Amsterdam airport in the Netherlands.  We just got off an 8 hour plane ride and the 10 hour plane ride is yet to come, after our 4 hour layover here.  About 22 hours total!  On the plane ride here we had some good food:  Chicken with rice and vegetables, cheese and crackers, salad, bun, and a brownie.  For breakfast we had an egg mcmuffin, yogurt, and a fruit cup.  The flight was fine.  I spent my time doing puzzles with my mom, watching Serving Sara (the movie), and listening to CDs.  I couldn’t fall asleep just yet hopefully on the next flight.  I'm getting excited to get there, but I'm already missing home.  Got to sleep.

 

2 /23

 

Well the flight was long, but it was fine because it wasn't a full flight so I got 2 seats to myself the whole time.  That made the flight so much more enjoyable because I could sleep more comfortably.  The plane ride was about 9 hours to Kilimanjaro- very pleasant- I practically slept the whole time.  We did watch The Tuxedo.  The meals were also quite enjoyable.  We stopped at Kilimanjaro first to let people off, and surprisingly practically everybody got off.  Therefore, we almost had an empty plane to Dar es Salaam.  It was only a 45 minute flight but we got to ride business class.  Reclining seats and so much more space made it easy to sleep.  When we finally arrived in Dar es Salaam the air was hot and muggy- but it felt good to forget the snow.  Dennis greeted us (he said he recognized us because of my Minnesota soccer shirt).  Dennis and his friend Christopher were so nice!  They took us directly to our house, to get very little sleep.  We got in at about 12:30 and had to get up at 6.  It wasn't life back home but it was nice for Africa.  I was able to take a shower and go to bed- hesitantly- afraid of what might crawl out of the drain or be in my sheets.  Surprisingly there were no bugs to bother me. 

 

When we woke up at 6, I really got my first taste of Africa.  Bright and early Dennis sent us on a bus- alone- with only a "doughnut" to eat.  We were on our way to Iringa- a 10 hour bus ride with no other Americans.  It went fine but was long.  We made 2 brief stops on the way, where I realized just how much we stood out.  EVERYONE stares at us and whispers.  Boys and kids come up to me and stare.  Few try to talk to me, I just smile.  One boy called me America.  When we were almost to Iringa we drove through a game park (Makumi).  It was awesome.  We finally made it to Don and Eunice's house where we are staying.  Actually I am across the hall by myself with a woman named Lillian.  Seems to be fine.  We had dinner: fruit, carrots, cashews, potatoes, and a brownie and ice cream for dessert.  After dinner we went to a special church service at the university, where a Danish pastor was ordained and a student was baptized.  It was awesome I got a real feel of African culture.  There was singing and dancing.  I met a boy named Samuel who was very interested in talking to me and taking pictures with me.  I have to go to bed now- it's late and I'm already sleep deprived.  Tomorrow we go to the game park- yay!

 

2/ 26

 

Well it's been a few days since I've written because we were away.  We drove to Ruaha.  Ruaha is a national park and is home to 2 camps.  Our camp was the Mwagusi camp.  The drive from Iringa was about 5 hours.  I have to say the one thing I don't like so far is that to get anywhere you have to drive for hours on very poorly conditioned roads.  It gets very tiring and sickening so I pass the time sleeping.  Anyway, Ruaha is the game park where we went on our safari.  It was spectacular!  As my dad said:  "rough days in paradise."  Every day the schedule was as follows: wake up, eat, safari, eat, nap time, tea time, safari, tea time by the fire, go to sleep.  Every day we got up to a boy serving us coffee/ tea at our chosen time and we were given our hot water for our shower, then we would eat breakfast.  For the adults the food was excellent but to me it was a bit exotic.  I did try many new things, though.  After breakfast we went on a safari.  It was so cool.  We went in a big, open truck with Bahati as our driver and Leo as our guide.  It was such a fantasy; I didn't think it could be real.  Elephants, zebras, giraffes, and impala were everywhere!  We also saw 3 cheetah (unusual to spot), 5 lions (hard to see), 2 porcupines, etc.  The list goes on but those were 3 rare ones to see.  I got several great pictures I think; I'm excited to see them.  At the park, we stayed in tents surrounded by an open grass hut.  They were beautifully made with grass, rock, drift wood, and horns.  I must admit, at night I was terrified.  I was so scared because your camp is right in the middle of the wilderness- an animal could easily enter camp.  I didn't get much sleep because of it.  Yesterday, on one of our drives we had a minor encounter with an elephant that frightened me most.  As we drove down the road, elephants were in the path (common), every other animal runs out of the way but NOT the elephant.  They got upset and 1 started walking towards us.  Easily an elephant could tip our truck, so I was scared.  The elephants turned away but trumpeted their trunks and flapped their ears to show that they weren't happy.  Eventually they moved and we drove on.  This encounter is common so the drivers aren't scared one bit, they know exactly what to do but it was certainly an experience for me.  Also, one night around the fire an elephant trumpeted his trunk right behind us.  We knew he had entered camp, but he eventually left.  Everyone told me he was further away than he sounded, I was scared.  The whole thing was an amazing experience.  I enjoyed the whole staff.  The staff consisted of several African boys who worked for the owner Chris and were very kind.  They did everything for us, but were never a nuisance.  They were amazingly gentle and kind.  They would do everything: wash our feet after crossing the river, cleaned, served us, guided us, everything.  I almost felt bad like they were my servants so I thanked them often.  They were very grateful.  The drive back to Iringa from Ruaha wasn't so great.  Both my dad and I felt car sick- so I slept.  We came home and went shopping at the market with Gary.  I bought baskets and necklaces.  Finally, we had a great dinner at Arnie and Mary’s.  It was the most I'd eaten the whole trip.  We had spaghetti, bread, fruit, and brownies.  I have to sleep because tomorrow we go to the school.  Another long drive- yay!  Goodnight.

 

 

2/ 27

 

Today was another spectacular day.  We woke up, ate an oatmeal breakfast, and were on our way.  Today we drove to the secondary school: Pommern (sp?) in the town of Pommern.  At this school, we (our church) sponsors 4 children to go to school.  So, we went to meet our students and to present them each with a backpack full of school supplies.  Not uncommon, we only got to meet 2 of our 4 students, because one was called home for a family emergency, and the other was in town getting his eyes checked.  Anyway, the day started in the headmaster's office where we had sodas and biscuits, and found out some of the schools statistics.  Then, we got a tour of the "campus."  We saw the boy and girl dorms, the computer lab, and the library.  Next, my favorite part, they called a school assembly of all 1,000 some kids and each of us introduced ourselves in front of all their smiling faces.  I was nervous and didn't know what to say.  After we introduced ourselves, the best part was that they sang for us.  It was amazing; they were as loud and happy as could be.  The flip side was that we had to sing for them.  Them, we got to meet the children we sponsor.  It was so nice, but hard because the two of them were from form 1, meaning that they spoke very little English.  They loved our gifts and were sent away to write us thank you letters.  It took them quite some time, but they were very nice to receive.  One thing I did see at this school is that their behavior is definitely better than ours, because they all want to be there.  Again, the ride was long to and from on poor roads, but not too bad.  We came home and ate another good supper of chicken and potatoes; I ate it, and liked it!  After supper my mom realized she wasn't feeling well, so we hope and pray that a good night's sleep will heal her.  It's time for bed now, but I do have to say that I learned and felt bad allot today about aids and education.  I heard some amazing faith stories.  Goodnight.

 

2/28

 

Today was a hang around the town day.  In the morning after breakfast, we went up to Tumaini University, where we had tea and got a tour.  Arnie led us around campus, and boy did he have a lot to say (in a good way).  The college campus was a lot nicer than I would have expected, because of the many sponsors.  It was really neat to see.  From the tour, Eunice and I left a little early.  We went to the market, and went home to make an oatmeal cake for tonight.  It turned out great.  For lunch, we went to Pastor Mahenga's house.

 

Was that ever exciting.  Pastor Mahenga and his wife welcomed us with open arms and had lots of food.  Most of it I didn't eat, so I felt bad.  We spent the time looking and old pictures and telling stories.  We also met one of his daughters- Kerri.  She was six years old and so cute, but shy. I gave her bubbles and showed her how to use them.  It was so much fun!  After lunch, we briefly stopped at an orphanage for kids, They were so pleasant and happy.  I felt bad though because they had so little to do, but not one was frowning.  We took a little tour and learned that the kids were either picked off the street, brought by a pastor, or walked in themselves.  It was so touching to see the people that worked there, feeding them, helping them, sheltering them, and paying for them to go to school.  I do have to say though, the orphanage was a lot smaller than I would have expected.  Then we went home and rested: I slept.  We rested until nearly dinner.  For dinner, we went to Benjamin Ngede's house.

 

It was such a wonderful, beautiful house- with vines draped on the ceiling.  We had good food, that even I liked and ate.  I am always so blessed to eat at people's houses because you know that they are putting everything that they have on the table for us.  The best part of the evening was when they called the whole family in to sing for us.  When Africans sing, it is always so touching because it is always so enthusiastic and powerful.  Also they pick up on melody/harmonizing so quickly- it sounds so beautiful.  Benjamin is the father of Dennis (our guide) and Rueben, and Alex is their cousin.  It is such a cute family- very close to Don and Eunice.  Also, Benjamin and his wife Anna are the parents of several orphan children, one being HIV positive.  This little boy was so cute, but looked so weak and sick.  Before we left, we left the kids with pencils, paper, a Frisbee, coloring books, and toy cars.  The boys were so happy, I had never seen the little boy smile until that moment when he got the toy car,  I'll never forget.  One more little tidbit:  this morning, I forgot to mention, we presented Israel with a bicycle as a gift.  The look on his face was incredible.  He was so excited and kept telling us that he couldn’t ever put his feelings into words.  Afterwards, we saw him showing it off to his friends on the street.  It was so nice.  Well that's it goodnight!  Tomorrow we visit the church.

 

3/3

 

This weekend was amazing! I don't know how else to say it.  Saturday morning we left for Idegenda.  The four hour ride on some of the worst roads ever got a little tiring, but once we got there it was all worth it.  Their welcome was incredible- I don't even know how to say it!  Not only was their energy amazing, but as was the scenery; Idegenda is up high in the mountains- as high as you can get it seemed- it was just beautiful!  The mountains did make it harder on the driving though- it was straight up and down.  When we first entered Idegenda, a boy met us on the road, waving two branches- it was exciting.  He ran along with us the whole way to the preaching point (about a mile at least) it was incredible!  And if we thought that was a lot, people from every home joined the runner on the road, waving branches as we passed them by.  As we pulled up to the church we couldn't even drive anymore because the people had swarmed the road.  We got out of the car and continued to walk the rest of the way.  We were almost overwhelmed by their welcoming- it was like no other.  It was obvious that all the people knew who we were, and were expecting us, because they were so excited and had so much energy!  Surprisingly, when we got there we were told that a wedding was going on and that they had stopped the wedding for almost an hour just to welcome us!  How honored!  As if that weren't enough we were invited to the wedding as practically guests of honor!  I felt bad.  We were taking away from the bride's special day!  As we got closer to entering the church, inside and outside there was singing and dancing.  The music was most enjoyable to me- they put so much energy into it.  There were young kids everywhere- hundreds- just staring and amazed by us!  Not only were the young energetic, the elders had bells on their feet and were doing unusual but beautiful dances, where they get low to the ground and stomp around!  When we finally entered the wedding, there were seats ready for us right up in front.  I felt like we were taking away form the wedding.  But it was truly an experience- to be present at a Tanzanian wedding!  The depressing thing was that the bride and groom were so serious and did not crack the littlest smile, and they wouldn't look at each other.  We later learned that they weren't supposed to be happy because that m meant they knew each other too well, and plus the bride was leaving her family.  She was supposed to be sad.  The service was amazing and definitely a once in al life time experience.  After the wedding, we ate lunch at the pastor's house.  We had beef, rice, bananas, and potatoes.  It was pretty good, mainly I ate rice and a banana.  The whole time we ate in the pastor's house, all the people were still outside peeking in the windows.  We couldn't have privacy if we wanted- but that was more than fine with me.  The people were nothing but nice- just interested.  After lunch, we were off to Idegenda.  We all piled in the car including the pastor (a deacon actually) and other two evangelists.  We drove off with several children chasing our car.  It was kind of scary because they would try to jump on.  The other two preaching points were not far away, only minutes, but it was rough driving in the mountains.  Both parishes were on the highest points on the opposite ends of Idengenda from one another.  At each preaching point we received the same energetic welcome of waving branches, dancing, and singing, just slightly smaller numbers, but still hundreds.  The first one we visited of the two was Idegenda preaching point.  It was beautiful to look down the mountain to the valley as any other place in Idengenda.  We took almost too many pictures.  We went inside and the deacon welcomed us and thanked us abundantly.  It was almost set up as a service with us in front.  The deacon than gave us the history of that specific preaching point, and the future plans.  It was nice to hear what our money has done and what it still could do.  Between songs and prayers, we introduced ourselves.  I have to say that none of the people of Idegenda spoke English, not even the deacon.  We brought Behito Modembo along to interpret.  He did an incredible job all weekend!  Any way, introducing was a little nerve-wrecking because I didn't know what to say but turned out fine and got loud cheers anyway!  Before we left we shook practically everyone's hand and thanked them: Asante!  On to the second preaching point.  Again we were welcomed and thanked in the same ways.  It was awesome.  Again we got the history and had introductions.  As we left Kisatumla preaching point, we were thanked graciously.  This preaching point definitely needed more work.  It had only stones for a floor.  As we left, a boy asked to take a picture with me - that was nice.  We returned to Isanga preaching point, which is where we stayed in the pastor's house.  We had supper, again with the people outside.  After supper, we got our stuff and were shown to our rooms.  I’m sure the rooms were very nice for the town of Idegenda- they worked out great.  My mom and I had a hard time sleeping all night but it had nothing to do with the accommodations.  The next morning was Sunday- and even more energetic day for the spiritual town of Idegenda.  We ha d breakfast and went to the church for a committee meeting with all of us and the board of our partnership for Idegenda.  We had several questions to ask as they did as well although fewer.  It was very interesting.  We found out how we could help each other.  The biggest being prayer.  They asked us to pray for our relationship between the churches and for the AIDS sicknesses present in their town.  That was touching.  It was a very useful meeting.  After the meeting was time for the Sunday church service.  It was wonderful! Again singing, dancing, lots of enthusiasm.  It began as a normal service (in Swahili of course).  We tried to follow along but it was a little difficult.  Again throughout the service the deacon expressed much thanks and welcoming.  About half way through the service the evangelist from each preaching point presented us with a gift of baskets.  We accumulated several baskets- very pretty.  Then, we presented our gifts and introduced ourselves.  Again, another touching experience.  We gave the pastor a bike I presented from our youth to theirs, and we had several random gifts (pencils and such).  The pastor later told us that these gifts will go to the preaching point kindergartens. 

 

The Indegenda congregation was so excited that it made me so excited to be giving them.  After gift-giving, Don preached a good sermon with Modembo translating the whole thing.  The service got to be about two and a half hours long total.  When the service ended, right outside the door, we had an auction.  They auctioned off some of the food that people gave to offering instead of money.  This was also something new for me.  They also had several baskets that we bought as an offering to their church.  After the auction, my parents and I started to blow bubbles and attempted to hand them out peacefully, but instead were mobbed and almost knocked over, not a good idea.  We gave up and went to lunch.  After a quick lunch it was time to go.  We packed our car and were once again swarmed by kids chasing after us the whole way out.  Overall, I think visiting their church was a good thing for our church.  We have a lot of information and hopefully can bring aback some of the Idegenda congregation's fire.  We made it out of the steep mountains undisturbed, but experienced heavy rain, and pea to marble sized hail just outside of Pomern.  We had to stop at Pomern to drop off two children that we had taken with from Idegenda.  For a short time we had to stop the car because the hail was so bad, but thankfully it passed over quickly.  Singing the whole way home we made it.  The car ride home didn't seem nearly as long as it did to get there.  Within minutes of returning home we were at a restaurant for dinner to celebrate Pastor Nielson's ordination.  I was expecting Chinese, but it turned out Indian- a little disappointing, but it was still good.  After dinner: came home, chatted, showered, and went to bed exhausted from a very exciting, energy-filled weekend!

 

3/4

 

Today has been a pretty laid back day.  They're nice to have every once in a while.  We woke up, had breakfast: granola with milk and yogurt.  After breakfast we sat around for a little.  My dad and I made a quick walk to the bakery to buy some bread for Dee and Bob's road trip home.  Around 9:30 we walked to the bus stop to see Bob and Dee off.  We wished them a safe trip home: safari engima.  At the bus stop we met Pastor Mahenga and Philip who were there to also see Bob and Dee off.  As always, it was nice to see them.  After they left, we came home and rested.  Then, for lunch, we went to Gary's favorite:

 

Hasty Tasty Too.  We met Gary, Arnie, and Mary for lunch.  It was pleasant.  My mom and I had Gary's regular: Toasted sandwich, with cheese (grilled cheese).  It certainly was tasty.  After lunch, we again came home to rest.  I slept for a few hours.  When I woke up, we went to the market.  Don and Eunice had to pickup groceries for tonight.  We bought fruit in the market, and groceries from Fussy's.  It was a nice little trip out.  Before dinner, I read for a short time, and then we ate.  We had rice, fruit, curry chicken, and cucumbers.  It was a good meal.  Again, after supper, we are all just lounging around.  Tomorrow will probably be another relaxing day with a few errands here and there.

 

3/5

 

Today was a relaxed day we woke up, and ate breakfast.  After breakfast, around 9:00, we went to the Iringa Diocese head office.  First we visited the kindergarten class- they were so cute.  They went outside and did their morning exercises for us- singing and dancing.  After the kindergarten, we got a brief tour of the offices.  We got a chance to see where the people we had met throughout the trip worked.  Later we went to the cooking school.  We bought potato chips, simosas biscuits, and table runners.  All of them were made at the cooking school.  For lunch we ate the simosas and soup.  After lunch we rested at the house.  I read outside- beautiful weather.  Later we briefly went to the market and walked around.  We didn't buy anything though.  For dinner, we had curry chicken with rice- a good meal.  After dinner, we went to Lulu's for dessert.  We each had a cup of ice-cream.  Yum!  Went home, packed, and went to bed.

 

3/6

 

Today, we drove back to Dar es Salaam.  It took somewhere between seven to eight hours.  The drive went fairly fast, I thought- not like the drive out.  Perhaps because we were in Don and Eunice's car- not a bus.  On the way we saw baboons, elephants, impala, giraffe- mainly through Makumi National Park, but the baboons were scattered.  Also, on the way, we made a few stops.  Immediately before our first bathroom break we encountered a scary incident.

 

As we drove by a man on a bike, he burned right into us and we hit him.  He fell off, but got right up.  He appeared to be OK, so we left right away.  Our second stop was at Morogoro, where we again went to the bathroom, bought bananas, and visited a wood carver’s shop.  My mom bought her giraffe.  Our

 

final stop was at the secondary school in morogoro.  We had to drop of some stuff for Pastor Mhenga’s children.  We didn't get to meet them though.  On the last stretch to Dar, we ate cheese sandwiches, fruits, and veggies in the car.  Finally we arrived in Dar!  We drove right to our lodging- again we stayed at the

 

FPCT.  A nice little place.  We got settled in and then met Dennis.  It was nice to see him again.  The six of us headed out for dinner, but had a few problems with the car beforehand.  We ate dinner at a Croatian restaurant called Samonas.  The food was okay.  I had "chicken salad" and mixed fruit.  Dennis made fun of me for not eating a whole lot- I was picky.  After dinner, we brought Dennis home and went home ourselves.  Now it's time for bed.  Goodnight.

 

3/7

 

Today was my last day in Tanzania!  Boo hoo, (It has been really fun but now that it is over, I would like to be home).  Today we ran errands for Don and Eunice.  It was a nice day to walk around the city... but very hot.  In the morning, we woke up and ate our breakfast on the patio.  Then, we went to the Honda dealership to fix our car.  It was having trouble starting.  They bumped us to the head of the line (because we were tourists) and sold us a new battery and mirror.  Very nice service.  After our car was fixed, we went to the Royal Palm hotel and had our "coffee and Danish"- I just had a croissant.  Then, the men and women split up.  The men went to KLM to get our seats and to arrange other flights, while we women went shopping.  We went to look for more wood carvings- but were not successful.  We met the men back at the Royal Palm.  Around 12:30 we went to meet Dennis who just got our of school.  The six of us went to lunch at Steers.  Steers is Dar es Salaam’s fast food restaurant.  We split two large pizzas and ate outside.  We had a chicken and a beef pizza.

 

I ate the chicken.  After lunch, we walked around downtown running errands.  We made keys and bought shower supplies for Don and Eunice.  It was very hot out.  Our last errand was to the motor bike shop where the men figured stuff out while the women sat in the air conditioned car.  Before dinner, we drank cold sodas.  I wrote thank you letters for Dennis, Eunice, and Don.  Dinner was a nice; perhaps the best yet.  We ate at the hotel Sea Cliff in one of its cafes.  We ate outside right by the ocean shore.  It was beautiful.  We watched s the water hit the rocks.  For diner I ate ribs along with my mom.  They were excellent.  After dinner, we sat around for another hour, watching the stars appear.  It was so peaceful.  After we left Sea Cliff, it was time to go.  They brought us to the airport.  I gave them our thank you letter, we prayed, and hugged good-bye.  It was a great trip!  I'm going to miss Don, Eunice, and Dennis- such kind, funny people.  Through the window, they waved and talked in our “click” language until we were out of sight.  It as a nice goodbye.  Now we are sitting in the airport for about two hours.  We just bought a few things at the duty free store!  22 hours of travel ahead of us!  Can’t wait to be home to shower and shave!  Be home soon!