Tanzania Day 6

Trevor with kids

Market

Today was a day of worship and rest.  We all piled in a bus and headed to a local church where several of the men we have worked with go to church.  It includes the pastor that is going to live in the ministry centre we are building.  It was neat to see the men in their life setting and with their families.

The drive was a trek.  It is amazing what a little bus can do without 4 wheel drive.  A morning rain shower left huge puddles (some might qualify as ponds) we had to navigate through.  We thought we would get stuck several times, but we made it through.

The church was very ordinary.  Four simple sand block walls and a cement floor.  There were pews that doubled as school desks.  The church sat about ninety people, including the twenty or so little children seating at the back.  The music was extraordinary. Even in Swahili, you could feel God's presence in every note.  Voices and clapping with no instruments.  Amazing.  The women turned around and walked around the church as they sang.  They children added their voices freely.  

The pastor their gave a short sermon as did our youth pastor.  We are all one body and one church.  Despite the translation challenges that was clear.  

After church we gave the children little bracelets, some candy, and a few little balls.  It was Christmas for them.  And as church broke up, the children multiplied quickly.  The neighborhood, if you can call it that, was 90% Muslim.  People were staring, but the kids ran over.  We loved on them as best we could.  Many dirty, but smiling faces as they consumed their candy and played the the little balls.  My impression of Donald Duck was a hit, even though none of them knew the character.  I even started an impromptu game of soccer again.  The competition was fierce.  :o)  

I think God is going to do amazing things in this community based on the people I met.  

After church, we went to lunch....at an Italian restaurant.  Keri would love that!  Let's just say it was no Sauce or even Olive Garden.  I ordered a T-Bone off the menu (curious mainly) and it game out a filet that had been pounded, breaded, and put in a sauce that reminded me a Kung Pao chicken.  :o)  Thankfully the tomato salad was amazing.  Tomatoes are huge here.  Who knew?  

After lunch...the market.  The team has nominated me at the lead negotiator after my purchases today.  One man even ran to the bus to complete a deal. He started at 30K Schillings and I got it for 6K (about $4).  Lets just say the rest of the team was not as lucky.  Several made donations to Tanzanian college funds based on the prices they paid.  Love capitalism!  After the touristy stuff we went to the food market.  Wow.  Sardines, tomatoes, bananas, hanging meat w/ flies at no extra charge.  This is their Super Walmart.  The people were a bit wary of the white folk, but were friendly.  Many of the women bought fabric as well.  It was great to see the people in their real element.  I now appreciate Country Market even more.

Well...the rest of the day is rest before three straight days of more back breaking work!  We're excited to get the roof on the ministry centre!

Blessings from Africa,

Trevor

Adrian Day 5

Enjoying another day with Grandma GG and mom. Mouse traps were empty this morning, but we heard another mouse messing with the trap tonight. Ugh!!!

Tanzania Day 5

Trevor playing soccer with kids

Blocks

Complete 3' of wall today.

Handing stuff to the locals.

Today was a day of blessed work.  The weather turned warm...probably 85 or so, but also more humid and the sun was in full effect.

We started at 7am.  Most of the crew went to making bricks in the Tanzanian fashion.  A few were painting and a couple working tile.  I worked with three other guys helping some local workers to add three more feet to the top of the building.  One by one we lifted bricks (well more of blocks...about 60lbs each) and buckets of mortar up to the local men.  Yes, we were the grunt labor!  It made me appreciate my education all the more.  Well, in the end we lifted a total of 240 blocks....about 16,000 lbs of material to the roof.  Needles to say I'm glad to have a day off tomorrow.  No problem with calorie burn today.  i didn't find anything in myfitnesspal.com with lifting 4,000 lbs over your head.  :o_  It was a great day and everyone worked hard.  The rest of the team completed a good portion of the tile and produced over 300 blocks (make from sand and a bit of cement in these custom machines).  

The highlight of the day was a bible school held on the property.  Even without the buildings completed, they are already using it for ministry.  About 20 children were there.  They live in the local dump believe it or not.  They are the poor of the poor, but you would never know it.  Their clothes were clean and bright and the their smiles were wide.  Listening to them sing and worship was like listening to angels.  One little boy led the worship and it was amazing as they all followed along.  We even took a break and played soccer with them for about ten minutes.  Their ball was made from plastic grocery bags and twine, but it worked.  We had a great time...and yes, I scored three goals.  Two assists from Jon.  I think we lost though.  :o)

We are getting to really know the workers.  Some are from the local church and others are hired.  Many of the hired workers are Muslim.  It is fun to get to know them.  We're learning a little Swahili along the way.  They love our pronunciation.  :o)  The Christian workers are witnessing to these Muslim workers along the way at breaks and lunch.  We look forward to bonding with this team over the next week.  They all have great stories.

Some of us have been walking back and forth to the job site (it is about 1.5 miles).  It is a new experience to have people rubberneck because a group of white guys are walking down the road.  Everyone is extremely friendly...we are usually told "Good Morning" even in the afternoon.  :o)  My favorite is Daniel.  He works in dress pants and a dress shirt and ruddy old sandals.  He has a smile all the time and laughs.  He might be 90 lbs and lifts the blocks and mortar with ease.  Amazing.  He always positive.  

Well that is all today.  Looking forward to worship in Africa tomorrow.  It will be lively.  Pastor Mike (our youth pastor) just got the call that he is preaching in the morning.  Should be interesting!

Blessings to all,

Trevor

Adrian Day 4

Awoke to find Mouse #1 in his trap. Trevor recommended setting another trap and mouse #2 met his death late tonight. Trap #3 and #4 are in place...

We had a relaxing day at home with Grandma GG and mom. We began working on a 750 piece puzzle ironically with mice all over it. God has such a sense of humor...

Tanzania Day 4

Trevor knocking down a wall.

Today was fun, but I am wiped out.  I will be really sore tomorrow.  We started at 7am.  The first task for me was knocking down a block wall with a hammer.  Having the right tools is pretty important.  :o)  Then we hauled cement bags with 50 kilos.  That is about 90 lbs.  Ugh.  That all took a couple hours and then we spend time hammering nails on roof tresses and making bricks.  Some of the women painted window frames and a group of locals tiled a floor.  It was pretty much physical work all day.  Definitely not worried about our calorie burn.  It has been really hard to count calories here as well so I am abandoning that effort.  Still not overeating and avoiding dessert.  Getting hydrated is a challenge because they don't seem to always have enough clean water.  Hopefully that will change tomorrow.  Eating lots of peanut butter.  

We worked right along side local men all day.  Only a couple spoke English.  Starting to learn a few Swahilli terms.  Jumba is hello. The men could definitely use a little deodorant.  :o).  They are definitely hard workers.  A pastor and his family live there right now in one room.  I think 6 people live in a space of our master bedroom.  They cook and clean their dishes outside.  The toilet is a hole in the floor.  Thankfully, I didn't have to use it.  They had two younger boys and one was teaching me how to use his homemade sling shot. 

A group of kids...probably fifty or so in total came by on their way from school.  We had a great time.  They were shy, but I brought them over with animal noises and acting scared.  It as fun and they were very playful.  They had nice little school uniforms, but beat up shoes and some had just bare feet.  Some of their teeth looked like they had never brushed....plaque was built up, but it didn't seem to effect their smiles.  We were told not to give them anything until the last day because it could create chaos.  Fifty kids could turn into 500.

We actually walked home from the site.  It was about a mile and a half.  It was kind of an adventure because no one really knew the way.  It was neat to be out in the town.  People actually set up food stands selling all kinds of produce to their neighbors.  There were even guys having a makeshift car wash.  Funny, because most the roads are dirt.  There are few cars here actually.  Many people are on bikes.

Alright...got to go to dinner.  Love ya all!

Trevor

Adrian Day 3

The kids and I had a nice dinner out and then the girls and I had a slumber party after Trace went to bed. We had fun telling silly stories, painting nails and falling asleep together in my big bed.

After a brief sleep, I awoke to greet my mom and Grandma GG who arrived from Iowa @10:30 PM. Upon their arrival a mouse popped his head out from underneath our refrigerator. Apparently he wanted to greet them too. I'm terrified of mice, so am so thankful my mom and grandma are here to offer their moral support. Thankfully we already had two mouse traps set in our garage due to finding small holes in our garbage bags the past few weeks. Mouse traps are now in the kitchen so mice beware...

Tanzania Day 3

Jack Fruit

Inside bus on drive to Dodoma.

Locals selling things.

Cars driving through lots of water.

Today we left from Dar Se Salaam, Tanzania.  It was raining and the streets filled immediately.  Cars, bikes, and motorcycles were going by the hotel in a foot or more of water.  Guess we have to appreciate our sewer systems back home.  We had about an hour drive on a small bus to get to a big bus.  The bus station was crazy.  People were everywhere, selling virtually everything.  I had the opportunity to "train" some of the team on not being overly friendly with the locals until the missionaries give them clearance.  One almost had their cell phone stolen off their hip.

The bus ride to Dodoma was long and the two lane road was fairly rough at times.  We left at 10am and arrived here at nearly 5:30pm.  We were crammed like sardines, but the air-conditioning was working.  They had a TV playing ridiculous Tanzanian music videos and shows.  The front of the bus was locals and the back was our team.  We had one stop in a little rest area with mud everywhere and again people selling everything.  The road along the way quickly transitioned from city dwellings made from tarps, blocks, wood, and sheet metal to rural plots of grass.  The farmers were working their fields with only a hoe....no tractors or machinery. Their houses were made from bricks and some had pens for their animals made from sticks.  Lots of kids running around everywhere.  Some that were Trace's age were just running around with no mommy's or daddy's.  Crazy!  Lots of hills and small mountains on the drive.  Very scenic despite the rain.  Dodoma is actually at ~3500 feet of elevation.

Dodoma is more rural than Dar Se Salaam.  It is the countries' capital, but not much else.  Dar Se Salaam had over 5 million people.  Commerce was everywhere, but also lots of garbage and trash everywhere.  Even the river was full of garbage.  Yuck!  Dodoma looks much cleaner, but still has many dirt roads.  We'll see more the next few days.  Supposedly the people here are nicer as well.  I'll have more to report.

The place we're staying is decent.  We have several houses.  I'm staying in one with five other guys.  The swimming pool is a little sketchy.  Tonight at dinner we had a beef stew and rice.  Then for dessert we had a Jack Fruit.  It weighed over 30 lbs and was prickly on the outside.  It had a sticky, fleshy middle.  We had to wash our hands four times to get the stickiness off. The swimming pool looks a little green. Ugh.  It was actually really cool here anyway, which will be great when we work if that stays.  I already almost stepped on a big toad and a large bat flew over my head.  Crazy!

Tomorrow we start work on the ministry centre.  I'm ready to get to work after 2 days of travel.  We'll be tiling floors, making bricks, and doing carpentry work.  Hopefully it doesn't rain too much.  It is still in the forecast each day.

Well, those are the highlights. 

Trevor and Daddy