Those Days

It's crazy that I only have a few weeks left. This week and next week are my last weeks teaching. The next week is testing for the kids. Then i go on my safari and go home!
Last Sunday Brad, Tricia, and I went to Nate's church in Basotu. I enjoyed it. There were so many people there that Brad, Tricia, and I had to sit outside. One of the nationals that has gone through Bible School in Katesh preached. He is the assistant pastor under Nate and really makes many of the decisions for the church. It is awesome to see the growth in the church because it is only a year old.
The next day, Monday, I was basically the kindergarten teacher for the day. Mama Ema is the teacher but she wasn't able to be there. So a Teacher's assistant and I worked together that day to teach the kids. Unfortunately for reasons i really don't understand, he was only there to teach the Swahili and Bible lesson and i had to handle the rest all on my own. He left me! It was interesting. The kindergarten class understands English... but not very much. I tried my best to keep things very simple. I'm really used to teaching the 2nd grade who understand English pretty well.
During activity centers the student teacher came back so we broke into two groups. All of a sudden i see one of the girls in my group put her hand over her mouth. All i was thinking is oh no. She started throwing up but i was able to get her out of the classroom before it was really bad. The ladies that worked in the kitchen cleaned her up and sent her back to class! i just had this feeling that she was going to throw up again... so i kept a close eye on her. And not even ten minutes later she started again.
It was an interesting day that only got better!
Brad decided to teach me how to ride a "Piki Piki"- a dirtbike. So we sat in the driveway as he showed me the clutch, the brake, gas, all that good stuff. i was so nervous but i really wanted to try! so i got on and was fine in first gear. went around "the block". So Brad got on the other bike and we took off. He showed me how to shift into second... so i gave it a try. I guess i got scared though, at one point going in second gear we were taking a turn and there were cows and children all around. and i went straight instead of turning! I got scared and made the bike go faster! i probably would have crashed pretty badly if i hadn't crashed into these huge pricker bushes. It stalled out the bike and Brad had to fish me out, i couldn't get out on my own! And he couldn't get the bike out by himself either... i got it stuck in there pretty good! Two guys who were walking by helped him get it out. And a group gathered around and watched me.
That's one thing about Tanzania, if a white person does anything, it draws a crowd. You can be changing your tire on the road and people will come out of their houses to watch!

Its Been Awhile

Sorry you avid blog readers. I know it has been awhile. Its turned into life here. So the things that happen become... life.
Last week Brad, Tricia, and I traveled to Arusha on the 4th of July for a three day trip. They travel there about once a month to get supplies. It takes about 5 hours to get there on extremely bumpy roads. And there is so much dust from the lack of rain (it hasnt rained once since ive been here) that when cars drive by its scary... you cannot see a thing. its like a giant fog. and the trees on the side of the road are covered with dust. it looks almost like snow.
well anyways, we traveled there and spent our time getting supplies that you cannot get in Katesh like meats, shampoo, canned foods, cereal, different things like that. So we travel out there and pack up the car with enough goods to last a month.
We stayed at a single missionary lady's house. She is only recently single though, her husband suddenly died last year and she has only recently been back to the ministry. It is very amazing to see though. She has spent many years with her husband out here and I can't imagine how hard it is for her. But she is an awesome woman and definitely has the love language of service.
I was told today by one of the girls in the church that I'm too quiet. But i said, i dont speak very much Swahili. I dont have much to say! it is kind of frustrating. i can pick up enough words.. construction words especially, to know kind of what they are saying. but not enough to converse. but all i can really say is, Hello, How are you? and answer back. I am very grateful that the majority of my time is at the school which is an English medium school.
But I am very grateful for my time here. I am learning a lot about myself, about God, about missions life, about the ministry, and about life in general. Its crazy that a month from right now i will be back in America and back to school to finish out my last year.

want to know some words that I know?
Shikamoo- greeting to someone older than you
Marahaba- the reply to that word.
Hujambo- How are you?
Sijambo- I'm fine.
Bwana asifiwe- Praise the Lord.
Habari yako? What's the news with you?
Hamna sheda- No problem.
Asante- Thank you.
Safi- Cool. Safi sana- very cool
Habari za asabuhi? - Whats the news of the morning? -basically, hows your morning?
Habari za leo? - Hows your day?
Nzuri- Good.


okay. thats basically the extent of my verbal vocabulary. what i hear is a little bit more, but only by a little :)

First Two Days Teaching

Yesterday i began teaching classes at the Kweli Learning Centre.
Every Monday I will teach
2st Grade Math, Bible, & English
1st Grade English

And Tuesdays I will teach:
1st Grade Bible & Math
2nd Grade Phonics

When I first walked into the classroom on Monday morning i was so nervous! My worst fear? That they would not understand me!
They learn their subjects in English, but they still don't know very much English. But everything went extra fine! The second graders understand the most English, so to begin the week teaching them was very good for me!
We played around the world during their math lesson and they absolutely LOVED it. apparently one of the kids went home that night asking their mother if they could play it! Teaching the 1st graders is a little more challenging.
Today, during their Bible lesson i could tell that they really were not understanding me too well. When you teach math they are used to hearing the same words over and over... they know those. But Bible brings in a lot of foreign words. I had one of the teachers explain things in Swahili from time to time... just to get the point across. They were not completely lost though! :) or else that would have been very bad.
Today i had some math problems on the blackboard for them to come up and work on... the 1st graders loved that!
I am really really enjoying teaching.
And I enjoyed it today when one of the 2nd grade students came up to me during recess and said "Teacher, I remember." And pointed to her head and said "Anything you think," (then she pointed to her mouth) "say" (then she held out her fists) "or do that does not please God." And i said "What is that called?" "Sin!"
It is rewarding when they understand and apply what you are teaching them. I am really enjoying it! Who would have thought phonics would be fun! :)
It is also really cool to put to use a lot of things i learned in my teaching classes at Pensacola. I took a whole class on teaching phonics. which i used very much today! and yesterday i used a book that we had to teach from in my Teaching Bible class. different other things are popping up too! its really cool :)

A Week in Morogoro

This week we traveled to Morogoro, Tanzania. It is about 8-10 hours away from us and about 2 hours from Dar Salaam. Two missionary couples are working together through the donation of a wealthy Christian man from the states to start a camp. It is called Camp Highlands. This past week was camp training. So Brad and Tricia brought 5 of their best young adults to Morogoro. There were all together about 150 Tanzanians there.
When we got there I had this overwhelming feeling of, what am i going to do all week?? The week consisted of meetings, worship services, more meetings, training, and more things that required sitting for long periods of time listening to Swahili. I felt like i was going to be totally useless the whole week. So I asked Tricia if there was anyway i could help around the camp. So we went and talked to one of the missionaries.
The next day my week of serivce began in the kitchen. There were about five Tanzanians in there working on the food. And Tricia brought me back there and asked if I could help out. So i peeled abour 100 potatoes, cut peppers, washed and dried plates, cups, pots, and spoons. But the most interesting thing i did was with coconut. They had me sit in this little tiny chair thing, on the side of it was something that looked like a spearhead with spikes on it. They used that to shave the inside of the coconut into a basket. It was really really hard, but they make it look so easy! I did three of them in the amount of time it took him to do 6! :) but it was definitely an experience that I enjoyed.
I was also able to help out by watching some of the missionaries' children throughout the week. Two missionary couples live on the camp campus, but a bunch more came to support the camp and their young people. Altogether there were.. five missionary couples, one man, and two single lady missionaries there from the surrounding ares probably within a 10 hours traveling distance. It was really cool to talk to them all. Most have been in the country for at least 10 years, with the exception of Brad and Tricia. I was able to talk for awhile with the camp manager and his wife and just ask them questions about their strategy for getting young people to come to camp. One of the missionary couples have started an orphanage in Dar Salaam.
I really enjoyed the week in Morogoro, even though I didn't get the same thing out of it as everyone else. I was able to serve and help out as i could.

Some Visitors For Lunch

At the Kweli Learning Centre when the students eat lunch the teachers eat lunch as well and everyone eats the same thing. Monday it is beans and rice, tuesday and thursday it is oogali... and wednesday and friday it was a dish that i cant remember the name of. But it is maize and beans. When Tricia said its corn and beans i was thinking oh ok cool. But this corn is different, its the kind that you feed to your animals. It does not taste like corn at all. I cant even really describe it.
Well anyways, at lunch on Wednesday we had this with the addition of a few visitors.
The bag of beans that they have been using was at one point overrun with little bugs. So they left it out in the sun to kill the bugs, or let them fly away. But many died in the beans...

So at lunch you have to make sure you look around your dish very well for any little black things that are not supposed to be there! Having a few bugs in your beans is typical, the people here are used to it. But this past week i have watched even the teachers pick the bugs out of the food and create a nice little pile by their dish.
On Wednesday we were laughing about it, and decided to have a contest: Whoever found the most bugs wins.
And i won the contest! I found 15 little bugs in my food.
I dont know if i was the winner, or loser though... :)

Kweli Center

Well, this week is observation week for me at the Kweli Center (the Truth Center). I sat in the 1st grade class on monday and today i sat in 2nd grade. I wanted to get a feel for how the teacher teaches and what level the students are at. So nothing too exciting going on :) but ive enjoyed it. And i am excited to teach. I will be teaching 1st grade English, Math, and Bible. And 2nd grade Phonics, Math, and Bible... i think i will be teaching English as well. I am very excited for the opportunity. I love kids and teaching i think will be awesome. This afternoon i was with Mama Ama with the little ones. I got to help them with their letters and simple math.
This past Saturday i was able to teach a Bible lesson for Kids Club. There were about forty kids there i would say. Nate Wolf, one of the missionaries, translated for me. I had to stop after every sentence for him and try to use easily translatable sentences. He said i did well. I think the lesson went well. In this culture, children are everywhere. So it is not hard to find fifty kids. Little five year olds bring their younger siblings in on their backs. It is also interesting to watch nursery school children walk home from school on their own... but that is just the way things are done here.

Broken

we went to an orphanage today. and if you know me at all you have to know that was hard for me because of my burden for children. but it was extra hard today because these kids are the social outcast ones who would be beaten or dead if they were still in their communities. the black albino children are precious.... so beautiful. i just wanted to take them home with me. there were blind kids and deaf and ones in wheel chairs, all sorts of stuff. it was heartbreaking. it just increased my burden for children so much more. as i was sitting there with them i was singing "Jesus Loves the Little Children" in my head. there are so many children all over the world that dont know Jesus. I dont know that i could ever pick a place to go on the mission field on my own. ive discovered this over the past two weeks ish that ive been here. Gods gonna have to do some major leading in my life. just seeing all these people who are in such desparate need of a Savior just makes me think of all the other people all over the world who need Jesus just as bad, except unlike where we were today... no one has told.

Overload

Well, the title of this blog entry really says it all. Today was an overload of culture and life. But i learned a lot. We went to the Barabag tribe to see some of their customs and way of life.
They dress in the traditional dress and their dancing is just jumping up and down as they chant. It was awesome to see. They offered us honey at one point so we went into this little hut and washed our hands. Where i had to sit was right next to this lady who was skinning a sheep. Well today happened to be the day that i wore my hair down... and everyone's hair here is short. So you know that she was reaching for my hair and touching it... while skinning a sheep. haha.
We learned a lot about their culture and ancestor worship. Just a lot about their way of life.
Because of all we experienced today, which is more than i could ever express in words that you would come to understand and appreciate, we talked a lot about it tonight after dinner. Nate and Brad just shared their heart to see this people hear about the Gospel. It just put into prospective everything that they are doing in their ministry and the big picture... their goal as missionaries in this area. Their next project is a Timothy house, where they will house young men who are in school in the area. They hope to lead these men to Christ and see them be burdened for their people. If this happens they can reach their own people in ways that Americans never could.
Everything today just made me so much more passionate about lost souls and the need for missions. There are so many people all over this world who have never heard the gospel of Christ before. They need someone to tell them about Jesus, or else they are destined to hell. I want to tell them.

Mama Frankie

Today we did visitation in Katesh. The men went to a village to visit a man of the church who was recently saved and the girls went to go visit Mama Frankie. (Frankie is her oldest child). She is Christopher's wife, Christopher is the assistant pastor to Nate Wolf who has started a church in Bassotu.

Well, Mama Frankie is pregnant and due in July so it was a blessing for her that we came out to visit her. She told us a lot about herself... through the translation help of the missionaries, Tricia and Heather. She also kind of explained to us some the ways of the Tanzanians. like the process of marriage and divorce and things like that. Apparently here it is VERY common for a man to marry a woman get her pregnant and leave her to start another family. One woman that the missionaries know deals with this but her husband comes back every now and again just to get her pregnant and leaves again. It is sad. But it happens very often.

Mama Frankie was a very nice lady, we enjoyed talking to her and meeting her children, especially since we have been working along side her husband in Bassotu at the church. She served us sweet potatoes and chai. We had to take the whole potato and just peel back the skin and eat it whole. It was good though it did not taste at all like a normal potato.
Our experience was different from the guys though... they were served cow oil and oogali. I do not envy them at all! :)
But it was a very good day.

Bassotu Again

Today we went back to the village of Bassotu for visitation in the morning and lunch and Bible study at the church in the afternoon. Lunch was interesting. We ate catfish and oogali. Oogali is corn meal that is boiled and stirred til it becomes so hard you cant stir it anymore. they serve it to you and its like a lump on a plate. it has no taste at all but they give you salt to rub on it and eat with the fish. heres the catch. you have to eat it all with your hands. but not your left hand. in tanzania your left hand is considered your "bathroom hand" so its... almost rude or gross to eat with that hand. That was an interesting meal. But a cool cultural experience.
THe Bible Study was very interesting, i enjoyed it greatly and i will tell you why. This church that Nate started in Bassotu was started about a year ago so everyone in the church is new believers who are very young in their faith. Terri, one of the men from the mission group that is here this week gave the lesson. it was about salvation, he talked about John chapter 3. And for us Americans who were there it was just a very basic salvation message. But for these people who are still young in their faith and in their doctrine it was very interesting for them. After the message Nate asked them some questions and then asked them if they had any questions. One man raised his hand and asked if you get saved and still keep drinking if you are still saved. Nate explained to us that drinking is a real big problem here. And also, another big problem that has polluted many of these people's minds is the belief that once you sin you are no longer saved. It was awesome to see their genuine interest in Biblical truth that i have not seen in awhile. Many questions followed after that and Nate and some of us americans were able to answer and help show these people the truth in Christ and Christian living. It was awesome to see. Another thing that i really liked was that even though this Bible study started at 3 and it was 5 oclock. people were still asking questions and still attentive. That is something that you would not see in america. It was exciting to see the wheels turning in the peoples heads. To see them increase in understanding even a little. I enjoyed it greatly

Bassotu

Today we traveled about an hour away... on the extremely bumpy roads again... to the village of Bassotu. Nate Wolf, one of the missionaries here has started a church and him and Brad scheduled an outreach ministry to the community as well as an event for the people of the towns of Katesh, Arusha, and Bassotu churches. There was a big soccer game that a good majority of the village came to watched. almost 1,000 people.
we arrived in the morning to pass out invitations to the game. and after that Nate took us to one of the member's of his church Mama Moses to eat lunch. The custom in Tanzania is when you first come to someone's house there is a big greeting, you ask how they are doing, how the wife is, how are the kids, hows the farm, etc. Nate said it usually takes about a half hour. then they tell you that you can sit down. its rude to sit without being told.
when we got to their house they greeted us with "Karibuni" which means welcome everyone. which we replied "asante" which means thank you. then they introduced their family. and brought out what we were going to eat. The Mama served us heaping portions of rice and meat. probably three or four times what i could normally eat. but it is considered rude to not eat it all. so i tried. very very very very hard to eat what was put in front of me. it was difficult to say the least because there are little pebbles that you sometimes find. and most of the meat is fat and i dont even want to know what else. im pretty sure i got a piece of the throat. but i ate as much as i could.
after lunch we went back to the field where the game was to be. I didn't really know what to do because I dont really enjoy sports. But there were so many children running around. and like all the other tanzanians they seem to enjoy watching the Americans. so at one point i sat in the shade of the Safari car and about ten came over and tried to talk to me. that's where it started. an hour later i had probably 50 little kids all trying to hold my hand. all trying to be next to me. some pet my hair. when i sat they sat and stared at me. i taught them the word tickle by demonstration. then we skipped around the soccer field. with many of the Bassotu people watching me. haha i loved it though. they were adorable little children.
and they love getting their picture taken :)

From karibu to kwa heri

Well, this post wont be very long.
Im going to try and post everyday but i have to use brad and tricia's laptop and i dont really want to take up too much time on it.
Today was really cool. I went to the school i will be working at this summer. And enjoyed something called "chai time" chai just means tea here. Well during this time they eat something called ooge which is like corn meal and milk with a little sugar in it. it kinda tastes like cream of wheat. it wasnt too bad actually. i got to play with the kids and talk to them. that was really cool
this afternoon we went to a huge open market that they only have once a month. there were so many people there. we were the only white people so we got stared at a lot.
it was really cool though, because there were a lot of tribal people there selling their things. they were dressed in their traditional dress. with the wraps and huge gages. some of the woman had markings on their faces. so it was cool to walk around and try and buy things from these people.
i bought a kanga which is a wrap that the women wear around their waists. and i also bought a stick of sugar cane. that was interesting! :) it tasted good. it was just hard to eat. i just sucked on it and spit the stuff out. but they all sit around and eat it.
we get stared at everywhere we go, walking or driving. everyone looks at us.
but im really enjoying it here. the view is amazing!

First Days

Well, I am officially about to spend my first night in Brad and Tricia Henderson's home. I arrived at the airport at about 9 last night and we stayed at a hotel in Arusha.

This morning we visited a missionary couple in Arusha who have an established church and have started a school and medical clinic. They had about 150 kids at their school.

When we were taking the 5 hour trip today to Katesh we stopped in a town and witnessed a a group pinning a man down in a cart. I thought at first that they were in a fight, on oddly a cart being pulled down the road, but Pastor Brad said that they were taking the man to jail, probably for stealing. Groups of people were along the road cheering them on and running along side the cart. It was interesting to see. Apparently loyalty to each other in those circumstances is a big thing.
The road to Katesh was crazy. Probably the first hour was paved, and after that was all dirt.
But it wasnt just a plain old dirt road. It was extremely bumpy. You had to constantly brace yourself. It looked like ditches in the middle of the road that Brad was constantly going around. In some parts it was so bad that you couldnt drive on the road at all! No wonder they drive Safari cars. All safari means in Swhahili is journey.... and boy, was it a journey. I will never complain about American roads again.
So long for now.

First Post

Well, I really started this blogging business to write out my thoughts and feelings this summer as I'm in Tanzania, Africa. I want to be able to remember and look back on what happened. I also want other people to be able to see what I'm experiencing as well. Prayer is important. This will help I think.

I leave in a week.

Pray for safe travels!!