Back to School and National Exams

School is back in full swing and I'm not sure who is more exhausted: the kids or me. Things are picking up now because class VII is going to be taking their national exams next Wednesday and Thursday (possibly Friday, too, if necessary). It's amazing to me all of the safety measures that are being taken for this in order to prevent cheating and whatnot. I mean, I'd go so far as to say that they are being even more cautious with this than the testing that takes place in the states. No teacher is allowed on the school compound during the testing. Police officers are the ones who will be giving the testing. They even had to change the room where they will be doing the testing because Class VII's room is "too far away" and "something could happen".

I've been trying to keep the students motivated to get final preparations in, but especially Class VII seems to have run out of steam. One day this week, I entered their classroom to give them work and they began to complain, so I asked them "What did you expect? That I would just let you sit around and play when you have a test next week?" Their response was "YES!" I was floored at the response and I've been trying to see things through their eyes. They are the first Class VII at Wesley Primary School, so there is even greater pressure for them to do well because this test will "put Wesley on the map" so to speak. If they do well enough, even more students will be attracted to our school which will bring in money for the school from the school fees. They've heard it from every teacher and probably even their parents non-stop all year "you must do better. You must do better. It's not good enough. It's not good enough." It's common for the students to beat with a stick on the hand for not receiving the correct grades. It makes me sick because that's only creating fear in the students and not actually solving the underlying problem. I heard of one teacher who was giving the students beatings even the students even if they got 28/30 on a test. I just can't understand it, that was an amazing accomplishment for any student.

All of this has caused me to begin thinking about how words and actions have the power to build up or destroy others. We, the teachers and even I, have filled these young minds with these words and placed all of this pressure on them, and to what end? We've stressed them out and freaked them out, and honestly, when it comes down to it, what good is that going to do. It is known that a person under so much pressure and stress will not perform as well at a task as someone who is relaxed and focused. I hope that in spite of everything that stands against them, these students will succeed and be admitted into good secondary schools. I hope that as I continue forward, I will try to focus more on what is right and not always point out what is wrong. I want the students to know that I am proud of them and that I really believe that they've accomplished a lot over the past year.

In the rest of life, things are going well. Since I'm not taking the language classes any more, I've had a lot more free time in the evenings to relax and read a bit which has been nice. This weekend was good and I got a lot of things done that I had been putting off for a while. Things are also shaping up nicely for the arrival of the new missionary who will be landing in DAR next week on Tuesday. I'm really excited about that! I'll be moving into our new house this coming weekend so that things will be all set for her arrival.

Well, I hope that you all have a great week!

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine

Final Week of Language School and Back to Teaching

Well, this was my last week of language school. In the end, I'm so happy that I decided to do this! I've learned so much over the last 4 weeks and covered 40 1/2 chapters altogether! I kind of slowed down at the end there because I was feeling a bit less motivated as the end drew near. But, really the language learning will not end as long as I continue to live here. Now, the classroom becomes the world outside of my room. Already, I've made many mistakes talking to people, but that's the only way that you can improve. You have to learn what's wrong before you can be 100% confident in what's right. It's been so nice to be able to hold real conversations with people her in their native language.

This last weekend was super busy. Friday, I decided to take a half day at school because it was my last day. I was pretty bummed about it being my last day, but I realized that I'm still going to get to see most everyone again since they are living in Morogoro. I decided to celebrate my completion by going to Ricky's and getting a vanilla milkshake. I'm not going to lie, they're pretty AWESOME!! On my way there, I ran into a local girl that I had met in town before. She ended up walking with me all the way there. I figured that she would probably head on her way at that point, but when I went to sit down, she simply grabbed a chair at the same table. I had brought a book and had been planning to just sit by myself and read, but I guess God had other plans for me. It was a little bit awkward because I hardly knew this girl, but we got to talk a bit at the restaurant and she seems like a nice person. She's studying at a college here in Morogoro to be a business person. From the little I know about her and her personality, it seems like a really good fit for her. I hope that it works out for her. Friday evening was choir rehearsal and taking care of business at home.

Saturday, I woke up around 7am and did my longer yoga routine. As I was finishing, I was surprised to hear that my piano student had showed up! He hadn't come in a couple weeks, so I just assumed I wasn't going to see him until school started. I remembered that he had mentioned that he would be going out of town, but when he mentioned it, he didn't know exactly when it would happen. So, I guess that's why he missed. Well, I just went ahead and set everything up and taught him while I got started on my laundry. I would assign different sections of the piece, get him started and give him time to work out the bugs on his own. In addition to the piano lesson and getting most of my laundry done, I managed to also eat breakfast before leaving at 9:30am for town. I'm not going to lie, I felt pretty awesome getting so much done in such a short period of time!! After arriving in town, I walked 40 minutes to SUA where the other missionaries and I play frisbee and we played for over 2 hours. I was SUPER exhausted and pretty much felt useless that evening, but there was so much still to do! When I got home, I realized that one of my sheets had flown off of the drying rack and ended up in the mud... It took me somewhere around 20 very frustrating minutes to get them cleaned up again and I still had to finish the rest of the laundry. Then I had English choir practice before I finally got a chance to kick back in my room and have some real down time.

Sunday, I ran in the morning before church. It amazes me that I've had this habit for months now and the family still gets surprised that I'm leaving on a Sunday morning. This seems to happen with a lot of things. I mean, I've been able to greet people in Swahili since no later than early February and some of the teachers still freak out when I greet them in Swahili. When one of the teachers found out I had been taking language classes over the break, all he wanted to know was whether or not I could greet people correctly. I was so confused because I've been doing that for so long no. I'm wondering if this says something about the culture and what's important to them. I mean, I know that greeting people is a really important thing here. I'm wondering if it's something about the more community way of life here. It's still really funny to me that they would get so excited about something that I've been doing for so long already.
Sunday church was good, but it was a bit longer than usual, going for 2 1/2 hours instead of just 2. And then I went to the hour long youth service afterwards, as is my usual habit. By the time it was all over, I was completely exhausted from being in the heat and trying to rack my brain to translate as much Swahili on my own as I could. I ended up taking a nice nap in the afternoon before prayer service with the other missionaries.

Today was the first day back at school. Not only has the school schedule changed once again (now we're going from 7:30am-2:30pm with only one short break and NO LUNCH!!! O_o), I'm wondering if my students have forgotten everything I taught them over the past 4 week break. It was a bit of a rough day, but I'm sure that by Wednesday, we'll be back into our old routines. I'm really working to use a lot of the new resources that were donated to us. Already, I'm using all the chapter books in class. It's a great way to keep students quiet when they finish their work early!! Also, I had some curriculum stuff donated to me, so I'm trying to use exercises from that to supplement the materials that we have at the school already. I'm really hopeful that this is going to help the students a lot!! I've been trying so hard to expose these kids to as much material and teaching methods as I can before they leave me. I just wish some of the other teachers were as motivated...

Well, I guess I'm going to leave things off here because my computer battery is starting to die and we have not had electricity since sometime before I woke up this morning at 6am (it's almost 8pm now). I really hope that it comes back on before I go to bed so my computer can charge while I'm sleeping. Oh well, just part of life here in a 3rd world country. At least the water is back on!! :D

Hope you're having a great week so far! I'll leave you with some pictures of language school. I've decided that I want to start something new for my blog. If they would agree, I would like to start interviewing teachers at school and maybe even some members of our church and post about them here on my blog. It would give you all a chance to get to know some of the people I spend so much time with!! :D

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine

Shantelle with Rachel (my last Swahili teacher at language school). Rachel recently got accepted into law school and is going to be leaving sometime at the end of this month. I'm so happy for her!! :D

The group of Germans with Dorothea, my first Swahili teacher at language school.

I <3 this group!! I'm gonna' be pretty sad when they leave Morogoro in the spring.

Agnes (the shorter one in white a black) was my Swahili teacher my third week at language school! And of course Stephanie and Shantelle are in the picture as well!! :D

Progress

Things are progressing well here. Language school was honestly one of the best things I could have done with this break time. I'm overwhelmed by the amount of progress that I've made over the last 3 weeks concerning both language and culture. Language school has offered a safe place for me to learn Swahili and practice. A lot of times I find that people are not quite so patient outside of language school or don't really know how to teach their language and customs. But, the teachers at the school are used to working with us foreigners and know how to teach and explain the material in a way that makes sense. Some things that I've learned culturally is that it's really bad to point fingers at people. If you do, it means that you are wishing bad things to happen to them. Also, if you are beckoning to a person, you should only do so with the palm down. If you turn your palm up, it indicates that you think the other person is a dog. Additionally, it is most appropriate to shake another person's hand with both of your hands, as opposed to just using one hand.

Also, I'm continuing to meet people from all over the world through this language learning experience. There is a group of German high school graduates who are doing a month of language school before they continue onto their different assignments. It amazes me how young they are. I mean, I'm pretty young, too, but I've at least had some experience living out on my own through college. I can't imagine this being my first "real world" experience. Also, my normal lunch group at school consists of another American, a South Korean, a German, one or two of the Tanzania teachers, and of course myself. Only the South Korean struggles with English, so we all try to converse in Swahili so that everyone will understand. It really amazes me how we are forced (in a sense) to speak in what is a second language for most of us because that is the common language in the group. I can feel my confidence growing and I have noticed a significant change when I'm out and about. Before I would zone out when people were speaking Swahili around me because I simply couldn't understand any of it, but I'm trying to change that now. I try to listen in on people's conversations to see if I can really understand what they're saying. Also, I'm trying to talk to people more and it's actually working. I had quite a lengthy conversation with an older woman on one of my daladala rides home after school. The mere fact that these words no longer sound like jibberish, but actually have meaning to me now is SUPER exciting! It's like a whole new world has opened up to me!

Another great benefit of dedicating this time to learning Swahili is that I will now be able to teach English better. Now that I'm getting a grasp on Swahili grammar and the way Swahili flows, I can better understand why my students make certain mistakes. Also, may of them have funny ways of expressing themselves, but I now understand why they write things like "You have how many years?" or "Your favorite kind of food is which?" or "The children they are playing." I already feel that I'm going to be a much more effective teacher because of this and I'm really excited about it!

In addition to language school, I've been trying to continue my other normal activities. It's been hard through because I'm very exhausted in the evenings after so much language learning. On the weekends, I'm mostly doing work and getting prepared for the coming week so that I won't be so stressed out. Also, the other missionaries have re-instated our game of Ultimate Frisbee on Saturdays. We weren't meeting for a while because so many people were out of town for various reasons; such is life. But, we've been having quite a crowd the last couple times and I don't think anyone is going to be doing any major traveling soon.

I guess that's all that's new for now! I would like to mention that after talking to others, I have decided to add the costs of language school to the total of how much I need to fundraise. As I have mentioned previously, I want everyone to know that I'm trying very hard to make sure that 100% of your funds are going to expenses that I deem necessary to my life here as a missionary. If I'm going out to eat with friends, or if I decide to do any traveling in Tanzania, that will be 100% my cost. Knowing the local language is rather essential to me being an effective missionary here, so I've decided that I should add it to my missionary expenses. Altogether added up, the four weeks of school costs about $600. In addition, because I'm there all day, I've had to pay for lunches there, which adds another $65 or so to the cost. Therefore, I will need to raise an additional $665 in addition to the previously mentioned $2,526. Therefore, I will need to raise $3,181. If you want to know how you can donate, please click on the page above. There you will find the instructions of how to donate through The Advance website. Know that 100% of your donation will go directly to me and that it is tax deductible.

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine

Well, I forgot that my dad's old iphone that I've been using as a ipod here has a camera with it. So, I went ahead and took some pictures of some more places in Morogoro for you!! Enjoy!! :D

The volleyball court at the International School where I play on Tuesdays and Thursdays!!

The little sitting areas where students sit with their teachers to learn Swahili!

This is the building where I get to have morning chai as well as lunch with other students and the teachers!!

Visiting an Orphanage and Language Learning Adventures

This past weekend was somewhat restful, but maybe not as much as I would have liked it to be. Still, I had a great time! On Saturday morning, I taught a piano lesson to one of my students. I'm amazed at how much he has progressed since March. He is so dedicated to learning how to play the piano and learns so quickly. We've been doing just about everything: scales, chords, sight reading, learning short songs, and longer songs. He's already starting to work into some more intermediate songs. I'm wondering if he's going to exceed my piano skills by the time I leave! Haha! 

Afterwards, we proceeded to his orphanage. He had asked me the week before if I would like to visit where he is living because his grandmother wanted to meet me. Of course, I said yes! I didn't realize at the time that he was living in an orphanage and that the kids call the woman who runs the orphanage "grandmother". But, it was such an uplifting experience for me. Many of my students at Wesley are living in this orphanage, which from what I saw, is clean and well kept. I also made a mental note that the mass majority of those kids are my best students, so they must be doing something right at this orphanage. I was SO happy to see them all and my heart overflowed with joy as each familiar face joined us in the common room. We took our chai (tea) together while we watched a cartoon movie about the life of Jesus. After the movie, I joined the kids outside as they played. They had connect 4 at the orphanage and I played with just about everyone at least once it seemed. It was such a wonderful experience getting to see how some of my students are living and I hope that I will get to return sometime! :D

This week, I have continued with my Swahili studies. Already, I am on unit 21 out of 30 and I've only been going for 2 weeks as of today! I think that I will be able to finish Book 1 sometime next week and I'll get to move on to Book 2! Even if I don't finish Book 2, that's OK with me. My goal is to learn as much as I can while I've got the time to really dedicate myself to language learning. I'm finding that I am a lot more confident when I'm out and about. I can actually carry on a decent conversation in Swahili which is most certainly encouraging! As I've mentioned before, my goal is that before I leave, I will be able to preach at least once in Swahili. After the last couple weeks, I'm feeling pretty confident that it will happen, even if I have to write everything down word for word beforehand! :D In the evenings, I am continuing with my usual activities, however, I'm finding that I was much better prepared this week. After all the chaos of last week, I knew what to expect and I tried to prepare last weekend so that I wouldn't be so overwhelmed. Thus, though it has still been an exhausting week, it has not been overwhelming. Bwana asifiwe! (Praise God!!)

I also would like to update everyone about my financial situation concerning my mission project. Altogether, in order to remain in Tanzania and have a flight back home at the end of my time here, I will need to raise $4,800. So far, I have managed to raise almost half!! The total of donations through the end of July is $2,284 and I still need to raise another $2,516. I pray that you all know just how much I appreciate your support. I hope that you can see through this blog that God is changing lives over here and the work is not finished yet!! The students and I have a long ways to go, and there will still be more that needs to be done when I leave. For now, I know this is where I am called to be. If you would like to donate, please click on the page at the top that is marked "How to Donate". On that page, you will find all of the information that you need to be able to donate directly to my cause.

Well, I believe that these are all the updates that I've got for now. I'm going to leave you with some pictures (yes, that's right! Pictures, even though my camera was stolen!!) With the permission of our visiting mission team, I have downloaded some of the pictures that they took and am posting them here for your enjoyment!! :D

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine

A very rickity old bridge that we crossed very carefully on our fateful mountain climb.  This picture was taken before my camera got stolen. And yes, I chased after a motorcycle wearing exactly what I'm wearing in this picture.

At the Agape Children's Village making balloon dogs.

Some ladies from the church, one of the visiting missionaries, and myself!

All the Craziness and Language Learning Amazingness!!

I've been so busy that's it's been hard to find time to do anything, much less update my blog, but it's Sunday morning before church and it's raining, so I can't do my usual Sunday morning run.

 I'm not really sure where to start because it's been so long since I wrote last!! The day before the mission team left, I took a couple of them to the Agape Children's Village that I had visited previously. My plan was that we could teach the kids some of our songs from VBS and then we could make balloon dogs with them. We encountered a problem when we realized that it was a public holiday for the NaneNane (8/8 referring to the eighth of August), and we couldn't access the balloons and pumps in the office at school. But, we decided that we would just teach the songs and maybe do a game. When we arrived, we explained what had happened, but amazingly enough, the director of the orphanage told us that a Korean team had come and left them balloons and pumps, but they didn't have the least idea what to do with them. It was such an amazing God moment!! It was great getting to teach the adults and the older kids how to make their own balloon dogs! Though, many of them took the dogs apart and got creative with hats and one kid had a set of headphones. Many of them just wanted to use the balloons as swords. It was GREAT! :D

In the afternoon, I went to the NaneNane celebration. Basically it was like a state fair. There were tons of booths where people were selling vegetables or things to help your vegetables grow better. Sokoine University of Agriculture here in Morogoro had a pretty big setup inside a building with all kinds of information about crops and things you could purchase. There was an area where there were some rides, but I didn't ride on any of them. (I'm not sure that I trust rides in Tanzania...haha) Also, the visitor's center was opened for people to come in and see the animals and bones of animals. They were giving out brochures on different parks in Tanzania. It was mass chaos in that area because everyone wanted a brochure. I'm not really sure why, though. Maybe because it was free? A student that I had run into was with me and made sure that I got copies of every brochure. I felt bad because everyone else only got one, but maybe they figure that a white person is more likely to visit all of the different national parks. There was one brochure with a lot of really beautiful pictures and I gave it to my student. Although it would have been nice to keep it, I thought that he and his family would really enjoy the pictures.

The next day, I started language school at the Lutheran Jr. Seminary. It's been a WONDERFUL experience so far. In some ways it feels as though I've learned more Swahili in the last week and a half than I have in my first six months of being here. Because of my previous exposure to Swahili, I've been able to more rather quickly through the lessons. At first I was getting through about 3 units a day. But, now I've slowed down to about 2 units per day which still is not bad. There are 30 units in the first book and 30 in the second. So far I'm half way through the first book!! So far, I haven't made too many big mistakes. However, I did at one point tell my teacher Kula nymba kubwa "Eat a big house" instead of Kuna nymba kubwa "There is a big house". As you can imagine, she was quite confused. Haha! :D

A normal day of attending language school starts with me waking up at 5:45am. I do my 30 minutes of yoga, get dressed, eat a quick breakfast, make sure my bag is packed properly for the day, and race off to the daladala stop at about 7:15am. It takes about 10 minutes to walk to my daladala stop and then I take the Mjini/Kihonda daladala for about 5 minutes to the big bus stand. Then I have to walk around the big bus stand to the Mikese/Mjini stop. Usually, I have to wait on that daladala bus for a while (up to 15 minutes) before it takes off. From there, it takes about 15 minutes to get to the Lutheran Jr. Seminary. Altogether, a journey that could take about 20 minutes has taken me anywhere between 45 min-1 hour (but it only costs $0.50!!). Language school usually goes from 8am-4pm, but a couple days a week I opt to work through the lunch break and get done at 1:30pm because I have other things I need to get done. We get a 30 minute Chai (tea) break at 10am and then we get a 2 1/2 hour lunch break at 12pm. I'm not sure why lunch break must be so long, but I think it's because some of the language teachers go home (I heard one walks 30 minutes home one way!). It's a SUPER long break to me. On the days when I stay until 4pm, I have discovered via a fellow missionary/language student, that I can get a key to one of the rooms at language school where I can read or take a nap. It's been a wonderful discovery for me!

My evenings have been full to the max. On the days when I stay until 4pm, I don't get back until about 4:45pm and then I have homework to do, emails to check, laundry to wash, work for Class VII to grade, I usually do some kind of workout, etc. Even though the students are out of school for the census break, Class VII is still meeting, so I've been sending work every day with Nathan. He writes it up on the board, the students do it, he brings the work home in the evenings and I check it. Also, in addition to everything stated above, on Mondays I'm teaching my English class at 4pm (so I have to do a short day), and on Wednesdays I'm still going to the prayer service at 5pm. Tuesdays and Thursdays I haven't been getting back until 7pm because I go straight to the International School so I can run and play volleyball. Honestly, last week wasn't working for me (seriously, washing clothes in my bathroom at 10:30pm is not ideal), so I'm going to have to figure out how I can change what I do this week.

Well, I'm going to end here for today! I've still got a ton of stuff to do to get a head start for the week. Please pray for me that I'm able to do everything that I need to get done with joy in my heart!!

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,
~Christine

VBS, Mountain Climb, and the Not so Mysterious Case of the Stolen Camera

On Monday of this week, the mission team began Vacation Bible School for the kids of the church and any other kids who wanted to come. I was in charge of planning the music for the students, and we decided on the songs "Rise and Shine", "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands", and "Deep and Wide". We didn't have to much trouble with "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" or "Deep and Wide", but "Rise and Shine" has a lot of verses and I think the kids were having a hard time with that. But, I think we managed well enough. Afterwards I taught Class VII English since they are still meeting even though it is a government break. Then I returned to the house where I taught a piano lesson and did some catching up with my laundry. Right after lunch, two of the missionaries and I made our way to town where we met up one of my local missionary friends and his gard, Costa. Costa guided us along the mountain trails to the Bahati Camp and we made our way back to town. Althogether it was only about a 2 hour hike. It was really nice and clear outside and although it was quite warm. I was able to carry on a decent conversation with Costa and I have to say that I rather impressed myself with my Swahili abilities (of course there is ALWAYS room for improvement). When we returned to Boma road, where we had met with Costa, he turned off to go home and we decided to save some money and walk the rest of the way back to town. We stopped in Emmanuel Church where I had attended a service once before and kept walking.

When we were just on the outskirts of town, a most terrible and alarming thing happened. We were walking on the left side of the road, in the dirt, as in completely off the road. (it is also important to note that people here drive on the left side of the road). Well, I had my camera out because I had just been taking pictures of the Emmanuel Church and I hadn't wanted to put it back in the missionary's backpack in case I wanted to take some pictures in town. (as I've mentioned before I've been trying to take more pictures of the area so you can get a broader mental image of the area). Well, a pikipiki (motorcycle) going in the opposite direction that we were, swerved across the road and passed me in the dirt on my left side. I was carrying my camera in my left hand (the hand furthest from the road) and I was holding it by the hook on the camera case. Well, the passenger of the pikipiki swooped in, grabbed onto the hook and pulled. I was a bit surprised and pulled back, but then I let go. I quickly turned around, shouted "HEY!" and ran with everything in me after the pikipiki. The only problem was, another pikipiki passed me at about the same time and I couldn't figure out which one had my camera and my phone (the phone was in the camera case). I had a 50-50 chance of getting it right so I followed the one that turned off the main road first. I went straight up to the house and demanded my camera back and even managed to pull out some Swahili phrases in the midst of the chaos. They denied having the camera and the pikipiki driver started to leave, but I pretty much yelled at him "YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!" We developed a bit of a crowd with my ravings, and I found someone who spoke English and Swahili to help me. However, it was all to no avail. (by this point the missionaries who had been on the hike with me had already caught up with me and had been trying to help). It was pretty tough trying to keep it together after the incident, but I had enough sense to realize I needed to get a new phone right away (which I did in town before we headed back). At home, I told pastor immediately what had happened and we contacted Baba Sesi who is a police officer here in Morogoro. Pastor and I went to the police station to make a report, but I don't have too much hope that we'll find it. Today, I went to the police station and they took the lady I had interrogated on Monday back to the station for further questioning (seeing as it's the only lead we have). Personally, I don't think that was the pikipiki that had it. Someone who had just stolen something probably would've gone down the road further before turning off. But, at that point in time it was my best bet. 

Honestly, in the end, I'm just glad that the other missionaries and I are OK. Since the incident I've heard of many women with hand bags that pikipiki drivers just pull off their shoulders. The same is true for backpacks or another other kind of carrying case. Honestly, I'm not sure that there is a completely fool-proof way of protecting my possessions here, or anywhere in the world for that matter. I'm just thankful that I did let go and that I didn't get dragged around by a pikipiki, as has happened in other instances. And, as much as it completely sucks to have my camera stolen from me, I know that it's just a thing and all things can be replaced. In the end, my faith is my most important possession and I know that that can never be taken away from me. I know that God knew what would happen before it did, and I trust Him to take care of me through it all. Honestly, the worst part  is that my personal space and possessions were invaded. But, one thing that makes me feel a bit better about the situation (though this is terrible) is that my camera requires a very specific charger, so the thieves won't get much use out of it anyways (it's like my own secret revenge). Also, because of my "slightly" intimidating approach to the situation, there were a lot of jokes with the missionaries about "Don't mess with Christine" afterwards.

Tuesday, I did the music for the VBS again and, much to their dismay, I went to Class VII to give them English work to do. I'm trying to get them the rest of the way through the curriculum book before their tests in September. There's no way we're going to make it unless they continue to do work during this census break. In the afternoon, I had quite a bit of free time, so I finished the laundry and I got to hang out around the room. In the evening, I went to run and played volleyball. For dinner, Baba and Mama Sesi invited the missionaries and the rest of us over to their house for a feast. It was a great time of fellowship as believers. 

I think that I shall end here for now, but soon to come: taking the missionaries to the Agape Childrens' Village, my trip to NaneNane, and also the start of language school. As you have probably noticed, I've been quite the busy bee over here! But, for me, this is good. I'd rather be busy than be sitting around with nothing to do!! I'll leave you with the rest of my pictures of town that I got to upload to my computer before my camera got stolen. I lost all of my pictures of the hike and I wasn't able to get any of the VBS, or anything else, unfortunately. I'm not sure when I'll get a new camera, but I hope I can manage to get one soon!!

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,

~Christine

This road leads to the police station. Little did I know when I took this picture that I'd be walking it many times in the next few days.

Old Morogoro Road heading towards town center.

Town Center is just straight ahead.

The daladala stand where I am known to be found coming and going from town. Just to the right is the town center.

Piras: my lifesaver here in Tanzania. It's a tiny "supermarket", but it's packed full of western-type goods.

Mission Team, Mikumi, and Masai

Well....I was hoping to get this entry finished much earlier than I have. But, it's been SOOOO crazy and I have hardly had any free time to think or even hardly breathe!!

Even though it gets a bit crazy, it's been really fun having this mission team from Texas here. I'm not going to lie, it gets really lonely here sometimes, being the only white person at my site and not having anyone to talk to who really understands and can relate to what I'm experiencing on a daily basis. It's been really fun showing them around our area and the town. It's the first time I get to truly share my experience with others through more than words and pictures.

On Friday, the students pretty much had a free day for the whole day, which was fine since it was the last day before our next break. The mission team and I went around to each class and made balloon dogs for them. It was SOOO much fun. We taught the other teachers how to make the balloon dogs, so they got to help too! One teacher, Sir Gustave was a master with the balloon pumps and just kept pumping and tying while we made them into dogs. We even got to break up classes 6 and 7 into groups and taught them how to make balloon dogs. It was SUPER fun!! The only problem was afterwards when the kids would take their dogs apart or pop them and ask for a new one. It was a bit overwhelming. But, I still think we all had a great time! :D

Class 1 with their dogs!!

Making the Balloon Dogs

Handing out the balloon dogs

A student and the balloon dog she made!

On Saturday, the team and I left in the wee hours of the morning to go to Mikumi National Park. We had a pleasant drive there and got to talk a lot. One of the missionaries has been on longer term missions like me, and he told me about his experiences in Germany and Zambia. It was really cool getting to hear about similarities and differences in mission experiences. Once at the park, we got to see some animals, but not nearly as many as the first time I had gone. Right now, it's "winter" here, and the grasses are all dried out. They're doing a lot of burnings at the park right now too, so things were scenic in a different way than last time. The park also connects with Selous (sp?) Park and a lot of the animals were there, apparently. It was fun, none the less.

Afterwards, we visited a Masai village where Pastor Umba has also set up a church. When we pulled up, the women and children were standing outside of the church/school building, singing. It was quite an amazing welcome. We were brought inside the building where we were warmly greeted by many of the women and the children sang more songs for us. After the welcome ceremony, the mission team went outside where they painted two of the outside walls with white paint. There were only 3 rollers, and I hung back so that they could do their work. I got to talk to some of the children using my limited Swahili. I'm finding that I'm surprising myself more and more with my ability to communicate with others. And, it's been really nice to have these kinds of opportunities to practice and become more comfortable with it. I'm really looking forward to language school because I think that it will help bring me the next step beyond what I already know and understand.

Before we left, we were told that the men were preparing some meat for us. (in the Masai culture, the men do the cooking. How awesome is that??!!) We were amazed that the village was so excited that we were there that they had provided food for us. After our meal of rice and meat, the women presented us with all kinds of beaded gifts: bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. It was a bit overwhelming, the out pouring of love. It truly is amazing how excited people here get and how appreciative they are, even if it is an act so small as painting a couple of walls white.

A Masai village elder

Painting the walls of the church/school building

Masai children.

Well, that's all I've got time for for this entry. However, keep tuned for another entry (hopefully soon) with more about the exciting (some not so good) events that have been happening here in Morogoro!!

May the Lord Bless You and Keep You,

~Christine