Maisha

Well, our time in Kigoma is officially over… unfortunately a little sooner than expected. The plan was to leave Kigoma on Saturday or Sunday, but as we have learned over the past 6 months, things rarely go as planned in Tanzania. Our original arrangement was to head from Kigoma to Dar es Salaam, but when the only airline servicing Kigoma cancelled all their fights (for an undetermined time period) we had to come up with another plan. Road travel is not very safe- between bandits, speeding trucks, and the thick wet season mud- so we were trying to avoid it (you’re welcome mom). Fortunately, a small, chartered plane stepped into the transport vacancy and offered (ridiculously over-priced) flights to Mwanza- a town on the shores of Lake Victoria- only a short hop away. From there we could get to Arusha the start of our mini-vaca. We decided to dig deep into our pockets and take this option, planning to still leave Kigoma Saturday or Sunday. Wednesday late afternoon we got word that there has been a change of plans- our plane leaves TOMORROW! Maisha…That’s life!

Saying goodbye was difficult. We had made many friends during our time here, and between rushing to get packed and tying up the loose ends of our work, I didn’t feel that we had enough time for proper goodbyes. We were able to have one Tanzanian family over for a “traditional” American dinner- deep-dish pizza (made entirely from scratch, of course!) and took some of our other friends out for one last lunch. I even preformed with the choir and our friends sang us a “good bye song” at church…. But unfortunately we had to leave before our last game night with Kim & Daniel and our special restaurant dinner with Lowell and Claudia. I wasn’t able to finish the library, and we were about a week shy of seeing the completion of the new Ministry building.

… I guess we will just have to come back some day!

As for now, we are in Arusha. We have a few “touristy” things planned before we leave Tanzania- including a camel safari, a visit to Mount Kilimanjaro, and relaxing on the beaches of Zanzibar.

Hopefully we will also be able to use this as a time of reflection. That way we can share one last blog with you about our final thoughts and overall perception of our experience. Unfortunately, words cant describe some of our experiences (although we are trying our best!) so I would also like to share with you a video I made of our children’s ministry… so please stay posted!

In the mean time we ask that you pray for us for safe travels; we have 3 more flights, many buses, and even a boat ferry before we arrive in the states on April 5^th.

And of course, a few pictures..

I decided to be a little risky before we left (much to Paul's dismay) and took a few pictures at the market.... and it was totally worth it! Don't worry, nothing happened except a few dirty looks.

Stalls at the market where they sell fabric ... hope your not carrying a wide load!
mmm...yummy fruits and veggies! I am really going to miss the delicious produce here.
We buy our potatoes, onions, flour, rice, etc here. Everything is sold out of big sacks.