Ariving in Dar es Salaam and on to Zanzibar

Our trip to Dar Es Salaam was worth it. They have a Subway there!!!! We arrived late on Saturday night so nothing was open but after church on Sunday we were the first customers at Subway. It has never tasted so good!

On a beach in Dar.

Playing in the Indian Ocean in Dar. Baxter, Luke and our professor's sons.

Jumping waves. I didn't know Emily could jump so high!!

Tracy and Dinah (professor's daughter) buried in the sand.

On the 2 and 1/2 hour ferry ride to Zanzibar!

Our first glimpse of Stone Town in Zanzibar.

More Stone Town.

More Stone Town.

We made it to the house we would be staying in. At first we thought it was the tent but then we were told it was the house in the back. A big house by Zanzibar standards but not finished yet on the inside. It gave us shelter and we had a nice time there. I'm not sure Ryan thought the first night was fun as he was eaten alive by fleas. The second night, Emily was eaten alive by mosquitos. She had over 120 bites and we wondered about malaria. She doesn't seem to have been affected. This is a wonderful blessing and we are very grateful.

More views of the house and the area (below) that the house was in.

Beautiful Zanzibar sunset complete with a Dhow. This was our treat the first night we were there. God is good!!

Journey to Zanzibar

The kids got out of school on November 26th for their vacation between terms. The new term began January 6th. We were invited to go to Zanzibar with our Professor from Moffatt Bible College. Zanzibar is an island off of the coast of Tanzania. Tanzania is south of Kenya. We all decided that driving would be a fun adventure so on December 12th we started our trip. The total distance one way was about 700 kilometers (420 miles). We always measure a trip in hours in Kenya because the time is totally dependent on the condition of the roads not the distance. We weren't sure what the roads were like in Tanzania and much to our surprise they were great. They even had a center line which is something you don't see much of in Kenya!





This is a picture out of the car window as we headed out of Nairobi and toward to border of Tanzania. The majority of the road was dirt or full of pot holes until we got to Arusha, Tanzania, a distance of about 285 km. or 6 hours.

As we were traveling through one small town, we had to pull over because a parade of people were passing. We never did quite figure out what the parade was for.

We passed a herd of camels before we got to Tanzania. Apparently they are common closer to the coast of Kenya but we had never seen them until now so we thought it was interesting.

This is another sampling of the roads. At this point we were wondering how long this trip was going to take. You can't travel fast on roads like this!

Even when the roads smooth out, there are other things to watch out for like a whole herd of cattle. The Maasai move their cattle wherever there is water and grass.

Crossing the border into Tanzania. Everything went so smoothly at the border and we were very thankful.

This is Tanzania! Beautiful countryside.

More views of Tanzania.

Mount Kilimanjaro is in the background. It is a bit hard to see.

Finally we arrived at the Lutheran Guesthouse in Moshi, Tanzania. Notice the Lorena shirts!!The kids were glad to get out of the HOT car. It is definitely an adjustment getting used to a car without air conditioning. It's not too bad until you are in the city and have to leave your windows rolled up so that you are safe.

We found an ATM machine so that we could get Tanzanian shillings and then could get something to eat. We ate the the Salsburg Restaurant and the power went out in the whole city about 5 minutes before we got to the restaurant. It took about one hour to get our food because they had to cook everything in small batches over jikos or open fires. The food was very good! The power didn't come on until we were heading back to the guesthouse.

Leaving Moshi the next morning on our way to Dar Es Salaam. We stopped and got a picture of Mt. Kilamanjaro on the way out.

The whole group we were traveling with (except Philip taking the picture). The family on the left is our professor from Moffat's family. Ryan is the guy on the right. He was in our candidate week and came out with us in June. He is also Tracy's school teacher. He is part of our family in Africa now!

More scenes from Tanzania.

A restaurant we stopped at on our way down to Dar. It was nice food and we all enjoyed the break from driving.

Ryan the navigator!

A village in Tanzania.

We were going over a bridge and notice this guy in a canoe down below. He appears to be fishing.

Cheptabo Wedding

Our family was invited to attend the wedding of a couple that we met during our home stay in Cheptebo. You may remember reading about our attending their engagement ceremony during our home stay. We got to know them and felt privileged that they asked Tracy and Emily to be flower girls in their wedding. The wedding was December 6th. We left Kijabe on December 5th and returned on December 7th. All in all it was a very rewarding experience. We did have quite an adventure again in the house we were staying in. It was the same house where we spent the last week of our home stay in August. The first night I came out of the bathroom and nearly stepped on a little mouse. We killed the mouse and put it outside hoping we wouldn't find anymore. The girls slept in one room, the boys slept in another and Philip and I slept in another. At around 12:30 a.m., Philip and I were woken up by something gnawing on wood. We sat up in bed and listened and determined that it was coming from the dresser. It sounded like it was huge! We contemplated opening the dresser to see what it was but I told Philip that I was sure I would scream when I saw it and wake everyone up. We sat there for a minute trying to decide what we should do. We finally opted for leaving the room and shutting the door behind us hoping to trap the creature inside the room. I slept with the girls and Philip went into the boys room. In the morning we didn't find anything in the dresser. The next night after Luke got in bed he shouted "a mouse" and then he got up and started chasing it. The mouse ran out of the boys room and down the hall past the bathroom. Luke shouted "a snake". We all came running and sure enough there was a small snake in the bathroom. Who knows what kind it was. We just killed it and threw it outside. I was pretty sure that there had to be other snakes but we never saw them. We ended up killing the mouse also. We started out sleeping with the kids and just kept that bedroom door shut where the huge gnawing animal lived. The next morning the girls and I were woken up by the boys killing the big rat that was gnawing the dresser. They heard it when they got up and decided to see what it was. They were able to kill it and we were all thankful. Despite all of our adventures during the night we had a good time and were thankful that we got to visit with the people in Cheptebo.
When we first arrived at the church on Friday evening, we blew up balloons for about an hour. The kids had a blast and our jaws hurt the rest of the evening!

Our car was part of the processional so it was decorated like the other cars. The bridesmaids were in our car. We drove to the church from the little house that all of the girls in the wedding dressed at. It was only about 3/4 of a mile. Someone was standing in the back of a pickup in the front of the processional line videoing the drive. As we got closer to the church, people who were going to attend the wedding were lined up on the side of the road cheering and dancing.

This is the little house that the girls got dressed in. I put Tracy and Emily's hair up and then sprayed it with glitter spray from Texas. They were all fascinated with the glitter spray and so we sprayed many of the other girls hair including the bride. They were so happy to have that special treatment!

This is the dress rehearsal for the wedding. It was right outside that little house they all got dressed in. It was also right before the wedding! After the rehearsal, the entire wedding party marched down the hill to the cars that had been decorated. They sang and celebrated the entire way.

This is the processional going to the church. We are driving along dirt roads up in the mountains. It is very pretty and very bumpy! Tracy and Emily are in the car that is just crossing the water.

Tracy and Emily walking down the aisle. They are throwing confetti instead of flowers. After the ceremony, the preacher who officiated the ceremony said he was surprised when two white girls walked down the aisle.

This is right before the wedding began. The wedding party is gathered in front of the Church getting ready to march in. The two ladies singing are close friends of the family. Purity, the one wearing the pink dress was raised by Sally and Joseph. She is currently attending college in Eldoret. She helped keep the girls in the right place and doing the right things throughout the day.

After the pictures with the bride and groom's families, we all drove to an overlook area and took even more pictures. This is our family with the groom, Pastor Walter and bride, Sally. It was so hot and when we got back to the car Emily said that she was just forcing her smiles because she really just wanted to cry. The dresses they were wearing were so thick because they are all bunched up on top. There were many yards of taffeta in each dress!

After pictures at the overlook area, the girls were seated at a table to eat the meal. Everyone except the wedding party and those who went with them to take pictures had already eaten. This is the table of honor because you got to sit down and were also given soft drinks. It is a big thing in Kenya to serve an honored guest soft drinks. They always come in bottles and most of the time they are hot. We have learned to ask for "soda baridi" which is kiswahili for cold soda.

Entire wedding party. The lady on the top row on the left is Sally who was the wife of the couple who hosted us during our home stay.

Philip is taking pictures and video during the gift giving portion of the wedding. This happened right after the meal was eaten.

Luke had taken his flute with him to Cheptebo so that he could practice while he was there. He ended up playing 3 or 4 songs in front of all of the people at the wedding. He didn't miss a note and didn't seem nervous at all. We were proud of him. I don't think I would have done this in front of so many people when I was 12 years old!

More dancing and celebrating after the wedding.

This is a picture of a portion of the crowd of people at the wedding festivities. I know that they didn't all fit into the church. The crowd seemed to grow and grow. I am amaze.d at the beauty of the people of Kenya

Outreach Clinic in Maasai Land

Sorry it has taken us so long to update the blog! The Internet here can make things a little difficult. We are not complaining! We are very thankful that we have a connection that allows us to keep you updated on our journey!

On November 29th the Hospital held another outreach clinic in the Great Rift Valley. The area were the clinic was held was about 80 km west of Kijabe. The land here was very flat and dry with a few out cropping of hills. The Maasai tribe live in this area. This tribe has largely managed to stay outside the mainstream of development in Kenya and still maintain large herds of cattle along the Tanzanian border. They are nomadic and move their herds to where ever there is grazing. They even enter the large cities looking for grass.
Our whole family went to help with the clinic. We traveled with the group from the hospital on Friday evening. We arrived after dark and set up camp. The clinic was being held in a small school. As we were setting up the tent several kids from the area came to see what was going on.
The next morning we helped set up the clinic rooms, pharmacy and the shade structure used as a waiting area. Baxter helped direct people to different areas. Linda helped in the Pharmacy. I helped get people into and out of the exam rooms. Tracy and Emily played with the local children and Luke explored the area with some of his friends from school. Over 600 people were seen! All services and medicines were free. There was a worship and praise team singing and worshiping with the local people all day! Several people gave their lives to Christ on this day!
After a long and hot day we enjoyed a cool evening watching the stars and reflecting on Gods awesome creation!
Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Many of the patients were small children. It is not uncommon the see very young children taking care of babies.

This picture was taken on Sunday as we were leaving. The local children did not want us to leave! They enjoyed playing with our children.

This was the sun rise over our camp on Saturday. It was very beautiful!

Here is one of the dentist from the Hospital pulling teeth. The chair the patient is sitting in is a desk.

Here are two local elders from the area. The Maasai are know for the blankets they wear. Because they are nomadic they use them as covers at night and as clothing during the day! No bags to pack!

Here is Linda with two of the ladies who prepared the meals. The Maasai wear all types of beads. They wear very large ear rings and necklaces. Linda is wearing a bracelet that one of the ladies wanted her to try on.

This is the inside of the kitchen. Notice the large spoon being used to stir the pot!

This is one of the exam desks. There were seven in one room! Notice the large knife the father is wearing!

This was the worship and praise area!

Emily is playing with the local children. They loved to feel her hair and play with her doll!

The local men slaughtered four goats over the weekend! The man in the red hat ate the heart of one of the goats shortly after it was killed!

This is our car and our tent was the gray and blue one.