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!!