Back home again...

I have the tendency to not write something because I don't have that one certain blog that's in my head typed out and I haven't had the right time to do it yet! (you know, that "right" time when you're in the right mood, and the right situation and you're not too cold or hot...stuff like that!)

So! I'm back home again! Oh, what a wonderful feeling! To be home, with all your comfortable things- like those super comfy pants that should be thrown out they're so old! Like your siblings, close around you, telling stories and catching you up on stuff that happened. Like sweet little brothers that like to sit with you early in the morning...with their sleepy eyes and sleepy heads comfy on your shoulder. That comfortable feeling of laughing with your sisters as you're getting ready for bed...little chats with your parents throughout the day...:) It's truly a wonderful feeling to be home again.

Here are some random thoughts I'm trying to catch...

• I had a wonderful time in Africa! My life has been blessed so richly by my time there! I'm thankful for safe travels, for my dear friends the Jensen family and for the time God has blessed me with.
• Going through storage sheds and old junk is a good thing! Last Saturday we cleared out our "upper room" which translated is our junk shed! We threw stuff away, we put stuff in a garage sale pile...and it's quite neat and tidy now! We should have done that 10 years ago!
• I'm really enjoying this Far Above Rubies study with Kristen...I'm going to post more about that later.

So that's my list for now. I know this is a little random, but that's just me! :)

I hope you have a wonderful evening! Or morning! :)

12 April 2010

I can hardly believe that my month here in Tanzania is up! Time has a way of fleeing....

It's been such a lovely visit....being with the Jensen family, worshiping with the people here, the Swahili singing, the beautiful scenery...I could make a list a mile long. But I won't.

It's just good to be encouraged by people you love and to let the beauty of God's creation sink into your soul.

Yesterday Jacob, (with Don and Axe!) Julia, Luke, Linz and I took a walk up the hill from the house. It's really a lovely walk and the view is spectacular. You can see all the way to Kisongo where the school is. You can see the Maasai plain stretching out to Longido. It's just beautiful. Beautiful because there are round hills just at random. Because the yellow blossomed trees that line the road wind around like a wavy pencil line. It's beautiful because the sun is so warm and brilliant; it's beautiful because God made it that way. So we we walked and chatted and enjoyed the beauty. We ended up sitting on the green grass and just being together. Oh, Jake was brushing the dogs and Julia was taking pictures and I was not crying, just for the record! :) It was just so nice to be with my dear friends. Time stood still for just a few precious minutes. And then we walked home and that was that. But it's those moments in time that make life more precious.

That us standing in the sun-left to right, Linz, myself, Luke, Julia and Jake.

My flight leaves at 9:30 (or there about) and I'll get home around 5 pm on Tuesday. Please keep me in your prayers!

a picture is worth a thousand words

"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, The moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?" Psalm 8:3-4

Just a quick trip to the grocery store....

Tuesday I went grocery shopping with Julia and Mrs. Joy. Now I've been grocery shopping here before so it wasn't really a new experience but I wanted to tell you about it because it really made me think. Just to see the difference. Just to see what it's like.

In the states I usually do the shopping for the family (on my week) on Tuesdays. There is this one nice grocery store about 15 minutes from my house that has everything I need on a usual basis. So I get around, hop in the car and drive to the grocery, park, shop, push the buggy of bags to the car, load 'em up and drive home. I put them away and continue with my day. The end. Oh, sometimes I have a nice little chat with the check out girl. Sometimes I see someone I know....but that's still it.

Here's what happened on a regular shopping in Tanzania. We get around, hop in the four wheel drive SUV, wait a second while Luke gets the gate, and drive 30 minutes into Arusha. We drive on a dirt road for part of it, an extremely rough and potholed paved road and into the city itself that is lined with other vehicles, push carts, people and animals. We stop at a roadside vegetable stand and bought 1-2 kilos each- carrots, zucchini, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes. Two heads of lettuce, two large avocados, one large pineapple, two mangos and a bag of apples. Julia and I stood there in the dirt talking with the lady (Julia did the talking seeing as I can't speak Swahili!) as she got the vegetables ready with Julia keeping a tally. We paid about 18 US. for all of that. I know for a fact I couldn't have gotten away with that much, in that quality for under 45 US. in the States!!
Then we drove about 10 minutes further to a supermarket and bought some house ware type items (like doing your Walmart shopping) and fresh milk products like cheese, (10 US. for 1 kilo.) and yoghurt. This stop made up for the cheap price of produce with things like a toothbrush costing about 4 dollars US.
The last place we went to was a grocery store called Pick 'n Pay. There we found boxed milk, canned vegetables, condiments etc. These items were about average. So we check out and they actually have a scanner system (the shop I've been to in Moshi had a calculator) and the young man boxed up the groceries and carried the box out to the Wagon for us. We headed home by way of the post office through more traffic, speed humps, daladalas, people on foot pushing carts....
Thirty minutes of it. Back up the dirt road to the house, pause at the gate while Luke holds the dogs and opens it for us. As we're unloading everything Linz informs us that the power is still off so we put away the perishable food, and wait as long as we can before Luke starts up the generator. The end.

That was their regular shopping trip- Mrs. Joy and Julia were commenting on the ease of it. Which it was...if you live in Tanzania.

I'm amazed at the difference in so many ways. Just the whole way you go about things here! It's humbling and sobering to think about the two different ways of life.

And I thought that getting a call from Mom for one more thing as I was almost to the check out line was inconvenient!

Yep, that's an avocado!

The internet is out at home so we girls are over here at the Samfords (Bonnie was sweet to invite us over!) checking our email...I had a post all typed up but since my computer is sooo smart..and can't connect to the internet, I'll have to wait! Ha! Computers! You can't live with 'em and you can't live without 'em!

The rain here has been lovely! I love rain. :) It's peaceful and lovely.

I'll post more soon!

So hi! I finally got my blog all fancied up! Thanks to the help of Lindsey and Julia my blog has a brand new look! Haha..if you're wondering what the difference is, it's just a rearranging of the black and white! But dontcha know, black goes with every thing and you add white and it's classy! Haha...Oh dear...I need some help!!

A little more seriously now. I've been in Africa for two weeks today. And it's been a wonderful two weeks! Mrs. Joy has been sewing bridesmaid dresses and she is doing a beautiful job. :) Julia, Lindsey and I have been doing regular stuff around the house...for me it's always fun to do regular stuff with dear friends- there's something encouraging about folding laundry and doing dishes with friends.
It's been rainy here and the clouds have been bunched around Mt. Meru almost constantly. It's amazing how you can hear thunder in the distance with sunshine coming over the fence.



Funny story: Wednesday evening on our way to Bible class we heard that the road by the church building was closed so we parked at the school and walked about a quarter of a mile down this little path. It started out with a pebble path under some trees, then progressed into a nice walk through a grassy field. It was very lovely, really it was, but when you're trying to walk through mud and slippery grass without falling it's a little distracting! But, we all made it both ways without falling. (though I nearly fell three different times and there was one spot where I was doing some kind of weird lurching and flapping!!) As I was sitting there listening to class, I was thankful. Thankful that I was there safe. Thankful that I had friends willing to do what they're doing. Thankful for the rain. Thankful for my family. Thankful for so many things...
Like beauty in so many different forms.





I challenge each of us to right now count our blessings. And to look for beauty. Everywhere.

One Sunday in Africa

We went to Moduli yesterday for worship. To those who live here, it was just another Sunday at Monduli. But I had never been there. We drove 50 minutes to reach it- across a Maasai plain then turning toward the hills to a small village sprawled out amongst thorn bushes, little dips and gullies. With green hills making you look up to see the sky. Maybe I should have taken a picture. But the people here don't like pictures being taken. I respect that. Besides a picture is flat. And this was anything but flat. It was full of character, color, sound, smells...you can't take a picture of something that you'll see in your mind until you die.
Like a small tanish building of cinder and mud. Cement floor that was more like a dirt floor, simple benches neither painted nor plumb. There were glass windows looking very modern and unbroken-like something out of another world. Outside the cows walked by with their little boy walking behind giving a whack at a straggler. A sheep called and a hornet got stuck trying to get in the window.

We sat there on the benches and worshiped God. We sang in Swahili. I heard two amazing lessons. One on the purpose of our life on earth, by Jacob, and one on lessons from the rich man and Lazarus by Mr. George. But there was also the lesson of God's plan of salvation and worship- from a dirty little building in Monduli, Tanzania to the nice building in Cave Springs, Arkansas. Every time I come here, I'm struck again by the magnitude of God's plan. And also of the need to tell every person. Have you ever heard a lesson that's translated? Perhaps it gets tiring at times for those who live here. But to me it's something like a painting or a piece of music- the web it weaves, the English sentence, the Swahili sentence, hearing the words you recognize, seeing comprehension and encouragement in the dark eyes and nodding heads. Back to English, back into Swahili....

At then end of the service, the congregation doesn't just have a closing prayer and everyone stands up, picks up their purse and leaves. No, they sing a song and file out the building and shake hands down a line until everyone has shaken everyone's hand. Then they have a closing comment and then we're done. And you turn to the person next to you, talk if you can, smile if you can't and murmur "shikamu" the the elderly looking Momma who comes up to shake your hand again.
You stand in the hot sunshine with the wind pulling at your clothes and watch the Christians talking together, the white with the brown. The mommas gathering together, holding babies, chattering quietly. The men standing around shaking hands and talking. It's natural and easy, they've been doing this for so long...just like we do.

And then we drive away, back down the uneven road and back home.

I wish each person could step outside and see what it's like to be in place that is so different but the principles are the same. The love and worship is the same. But I'll never be the same. It's too beautiful. It's too much.