What makes for a good week in Tanzania

I got back in Singida around noon on Thursday local time and meant to get right on a blog entry that afternoon.  But have you ever stared at a blank  page with so much to say at one moment and no clue how to condense it all down to one writing or where to start.  That has been me these last two days.  After being restricted to town by the doctor for two weeks after just getting back to the village from the same injury, I was running out of stuff to talk about but now I still look at this page with unease to come up with some way of getting it all out.  So here is what I am going to do.  A list of all the things that have made this past week (maybe week and half) good and I will limit discussion on the major topics in hopes I will cover them in the coming blogs.  So here goes:

1. Getting back on the road again and not having to get wrapped all the time from the rib injury. 
2. Seeing the crochet work done by those I was teaching to do it. (www.theyarnsover.blogspot.com will have the entire story of that hopefully tomorrow)
3. Road work leading to the site.  This is definitely a complete topic, but they were grading and compacting dirt from the bus stop to the site.  This is huge!!!!!!!!!
4. The DC lights I installed are still working and burning most of the night though I did ask they turn them on and off.  The previous lights they had were florescent and took a long time to come on but since these are LED they start up almost instantly.
5. There is still a little water in the river which is very unusual for this time of year.
6. Finished fixing the swing set and hauled sand to the playground area to make the play area a little safer.  Good test of the ribs since it is over 1/2 mile to the river bed and I was carrying 30-40 lbs of sand at a time.  Again this will make for a good whole blog later.  But no issues with the ribs doing this.
7. Completed around 95% of the site inspection and grading of maintenance issues
8. Got to participate in Zachariah's birthday party (the doctor's young son).  A good chance to play with the kids is always fun.  Video of them dancing is linked here.  Zachariah is front and center towards the end.
10. Found out that news of the crochet class had spread and the places where William was going to set up Teaching, Training and Evangelism sites (TTE) were hoping I would come do them at their location in the valley.
11. There was NO bee activity at any of the buildings where I had been fighting their hives.  
12. Was able to repair three doors that had hardware problems now that I had some WD 40 knock off spray.
13. Found out the new pruning shears I bought would cut the thorn trees better than hacking at the soft springy branches with a machete.  Though it does still tear your hands up.
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16. While I thought the pruning shears were the best buy the guys William hired to help me with grass cutting thought the metal file I bought was the best thing in the world.  All the machetes and grass cutting blades have bad burrs caused by hitting hard objects that damages the sharpening stone.  The metal file removes those and they were excited to get one in the valley.
17. The teacher, Sarah, was very excited by the number flash cards made by Lynda and Hillary at church.  Each card had the number and Kiswahili name of the number as well as picture of that many bears.  Each set went to 10 so I explained she could use them to do adding and subtraction as well.
18. In addition to all the engineering and maintenance work I was able to make a frisbee, beret and newborn hat in dog theme in my spare time.
19. I have finished Romans on my read through from cover to cover so I am still making good time there.
20. On the trip back I got to sit in a seat on every bus.  No one climbing over me the entire trip.
21. I got back to Singida and TVs in time for the USA soccer match against Germany the only one to be played before midnight here.  Ok side not here-I am ok with soccer but seriously if the announcers keep talking about being happy losing or taking it to a draw I am going to scream.  No professional athlete should ever feel that way even if it gets them to the next stage.  They should always want to win.
22. The emails when I got back were all positive news that we have some funding to go forward with projects in the 3rd quarter like solar power generation for the medical clinic and lighting the whole clinic. Screening all the windows and vent Blocks on site as well as sealing up for bats.  As well as money for ladders and a wheelbarrow.

So this was a good week or week and half in Tanzania.  I would love to tell you they were all this great but they aren't.  They are all worth it though.  Everyone makes sacrifices and I am afraid I sometimes focus on the ones I make here a little too much because I know people find them interesting.  But to remember the people here don't even know they are sacrifices, and to do what we can as a group to make anything better is worth it all including the ribs.

Sifu Mungu-Praise God