Home?
This last month has been busy, exciting, sometimes overwhelming and once again a beautiful reminder of the blessings I have in my life not only from the perspective of what is available to me in the states but also the love of those who support and believe in me.
Let me start with some of the reverse culture shock then I will talk more about the wonderful things that happened during my trip home.
I have been well prepared for the life I led in Tanzania because I believe myself to be very adaptable. One of the best things to come out of my military training is the ability to accept conditions as what they are and deal with them. With that said there were some definite changes in how I saw life when I came home to visit for the holidays and renew my visa. First-at no time have I ever set in my parents house and asked for a blanket to cover me unless I was deathly sick but time and again after living in Tanzania temperatures I asked for a blanket when not active and I don't even want to discuss what it felt like to get out in nearly freezing temperatures on Saturday morning to walk with my dad and friends from church along the river at Cleveland Park. There were not enough clothes to wear to feel comfortable during those walks.
I have a bit of advice for anyone spending a large amount of time in country like Tanzania where stores have such a small selection from the perspective of the minority world. Don't go to Wal-Mart on your first full day back, I don't care how much you need a pair of shoes or some clothes that fit. As I stood in the men's clothing trying to decide from hundreds of items instead of just 2 or 3, I felt overwhelmed.
Speaking of shoes and clothes being needed. If you did not keep up last year, I went through 8 pairs of shoes not including the attempted retread of one pair. So buying at least three pairs of good shoes in the States since the ones I brought over last year lasted almost half the year was a high priority item. I highly recommend Sam's club and the $25 Eddie Bauer low top hikers. Great feeling shoes. Clothes yes I needed clothes since the official weigh in taken the day I get home before going to eat out even once. I lost 39 lbs and was officially back at the weight I was after the majority of my training in the military. It was funny that I was the same weight but for some reason it just did not look the same as it did back then. Age will get you every time.
The big change at home for me was eating-big shock right. I had my list of restaurants I wanted to visit and things I wanted mom and dad to cook. I can say everything on the list was accomplished and while I don't know how much wait I put back on it was noticeable by the end of my stay. Hopefully since it went on so quick it will come back off that way once I settle back into my life here. I know wishful thinking. But in reality it was a huge change that I did not have to ration my sugar free treats because I knew when I ran out I could just go buy more and not have to wait on another care package from the states. I had forgotten how good a salad could really be, or salmon or steak or pizza but there it all was for the gluttony of the moment which I honestly indulged in more than I should have. To be able to easily get to any type of food at any time of the day and get as much of it as you could consume was also a bit overwhelming at times because honestly that is not the way it is for most of the world. You are probably wondering why this was such a big item to me a person who has lived on some pretty unsavory things to survive on. It really is hard to describe what it is like to not eat meat during the week and to savor what passes as good food in Singida (larger cities do have some good food but I am mainly talking about the areas I live in). Most of my time in the military we at least had meat in our MREs or LeRP meals and when we ran short normally I was somewhere we could hunt for food. Hunting here consists of setting traps for small birds that barely have two ounces of meat on them it just does not seem to be worth the work. So yes I looked forward to and enjoyed every meat loaded meal I took in and recharged my protein quota to attack another year.
Another interesting thing was that my parents had been recording a show for my brother who was thinking of moving into a tiny house called Tiny House Nation on the A&E network. The show is about families that want to move from 2500 square foot homes to something around 250 square feet and about not only how difficult it is to meet their needs in a house that small but about their need to reduce their current lifestyle in a way to fit into a tiny house. I laughed when I first heard it described because they are moving into homes twice the size of my house in the valley. However I am thankful for the chance to watch because I got some great ideas about what to do with my house this coming year. So sorry to everyone who is not a big fan of DYI but I will be doing regular updates on the blog about what I am doing with the house to transform it into something special in the valley.
Speaking of downsizing-I did get a new laptop while home. Something I never really considered turned out to be the best choice but those of you who know me that I keep an open mind about purchasing big ticket items. I got a small laptop that is really a convertible tablet I guess you would call it. Windows 8.1 with docking keyboard but ram and memory comparable to tablets and the touch screen. It is 10.1 inches so it is hard to type on but I do have a full size keyboard I can attach that I already owned. It came with Office for one year free so in the end it cost about the same as upgrading the memory and buying office for an older large windows 7 laptop owned by my old company. So it is small enough to travel but you have to add a real hard drive and keyboard and mouse if you want to do a lot of work but that will all stay in the house in the village so the laptop will be the only thing traveling with me on a regular basis. Hopefully this one will have a stronger screen than the really cheap tablet I previously owned that required I turn it constantly to read what was behind the dead spots on the screen. Slowly but surely I am trying to embrace the tablet generation.
On to some of the wonderful things that happened while I was home.
First was some great times with my family and close friends including a chance to join some for a game night that was a lot of fun. Seeing the full family was great and was truly fun to hear them talk about my blog. I always wanted to be a writer (dream job) so maybe this is my inroad into that.
Second would have to be the fact that when I heard about a month and half before I went home that my parents Sunday school class was taking over getting the funds raised for the truck I knew it was going to get done. There are folks you know you can count on in this life and groups like the Action Class and United Methodist Men are those types of folks. With that said, I never in my life thought they would be able to do it so quickly. After I think 2 1//2 months they took the fund from the $5000 raised before I left to go to Tanzania and increased it to over $28,000 which is enough for the cost of the vehicle and the estimated first year's operating expense as well as some of the second year's operating budget. What a great blessing for the ministry to have an ambulance and vehicle to move materials on a regular basis. William and I have already started searching for available vehicles and hope to have a purchase before the end of the 1st quarter.
Part of that blessing was put together by Jackie Cooper and a fabulous spaghetti supper which made $1600 for the truck fund with about 140 people who came out. It was a whirlwind night that I had the privileged of getting to speak to almost everyone there. Several folks I have never met before but that have been following my blog or our ministry. Great Friends are a real blessing of the communal nature of being a Christian.
Another big blessing were all the opportunities to have meals with supporters, old friends curious about my new life, talks with groups supporting me or Full Dimension Ministry. It was a wild ride for those last 2 1/2 weeks with somewhere around 23 events total. It was especially great to hear new and renewed interest in the ministry here in Tanzania through those events or from folks who have been following the blog. Hopefully we will be able to capitalize on much of that enthusiasm to generate mission teams and fundraising for some of our bigger goals in the future. If you are interested in helping us achieve some of those goals like: A complete playground with creative and educational areas as well as energy burning activities that will also be a safe area; Saturday reading programs leading to a library and hopefully a future computer lab that will encourage better study habits for kids in school but also for adults as well as reading something other than a newspaper; Solar powered refrigerator for immunizations at the medical clinic; Community bus stop that will provide a safe resting area for the elderly (currently they sit on the ground where they come into contact with many parasites) that will also function as a bulletin board area; Tree Nursery; Expanded Teaching Training and Evangelism (TTE) for church leaders in remote areas; Vocational training programs for adults; Health Outreach programs to include disease prevention but also reproductive health and more newborn child programs.
These are just some of the things we want to add in the future to our facilities and I know many of you want to be a part of those programs so please just contact me at steveintanzania@gmail.com to discuss how you can become involved. If you want to stay up to date on the ministry https://www.facebook.com/fulldimensionministry or sign up for the email newsletter at http://www.fulldimensionministry.com/sign_up.html or for the twitter folks at @fdmusa
One of the great experiences was meeting with the Girl Scout troop that started the eyeglass collection that has spread around town. Last year they sent 60 pairs of glasses for the clinic to distribute. This year as I was doing the sermon at LIVE we blessed over 200 pairs of glasses they will be sending soon. Every time we talk the number just grows. What an amazing tribute that three girls and their troop leaders have made such a huge impact on the lives of folks in Tanzania.
Unfortunately I just finished typing this whole blog in my tablet app which of course crashed so now I am finishing up online and am afraid I am going to miss some things that are important because it was two paragraphs since it last saved.
I cannot tell you what a blessing it is when your message is well received as a missionary or just as a public speaker. The number of events that went over on time because people were engaged with the subject and asking questions was amazing especially at events where people don't normally like you to go more than 15 minutes and they are still actively listening after an hour. This time from the pulpit I did something I have never done and probably will never do again, though everyone has been commenting on it as one of my better sermons. I did not write any of it down before I got up to speak. I had a totally different idea for that sermon when I first chose the verse but when I look back at it the sermon I was planning was specific to an event and never would have really worked so I scrapped it totally and even the night before I got up I could not figure out what I was really going to say so I just got up and let God have it and I am thankful I did. You can hear the sermon here http://www.mauldinmethodist.com/content.cfm?id=213&download_id=1511
Thank you an Elephant. I said that a lot and I meant it. There are not enough words in my vocabulary to properly express how I felt about my very short homecoming.
Home? where is it now for me. Yes South Carolina will always be home and I feel even stronger about that now than before. But Tanzania is home also. I missed it. Even as I sweat typing in 87 degree afternoon I am happy to be back. It is not my South Carolina home or my friends that have shown me so much love over the last month during my visit but it is where I have been called to do my ministry and I look forward to getting back to it. Day to day relationships both here and stateside and Peru and Germany. Even the mission oriented tasks that sometimes get in the way of the relationship side of things, those I miss because they are what I am normally best at.
Let me start with some of the reverse culture shock then I will talk more about the wonderful things that happened during my trip home.
I have been well prepared for the life I led in Tanzania because I believe myself to be very adaptable. One of the best things to come out of my military training is the ability to accept conditions as what they are and deal with them. With that said there were some definite changes in how I saw life when I came home to visit for the holidays and renew my visa. First-at no time have I ever set in my parents house and asked for a blanket to cover me unless I was deathly sick but time and again after living in Tanzania temperatures I asked for a blanket when not active and I don't even want to discuss what it felt like to get out in nearly freezing temperatures on Saturday morning to walk with my dad and friends from church along the river at Cleveland Park. There were not enough clothes to wear to feel comfortable during those walks.
I have a bit of advice for anyone spending a large amount of time in country like Tanzania where stores have such a small selection from the perspective of the minority world. Don't go to Wal-Mart on your first full day back, I don't care how much you need a pair of shoes or some clothes that fit. As I stood in the men's clothing trying to decide from hundreds of items instead of just 2 or 3, I felt overwhelmed.
Speaking of shoes and clothes being needed. If you did not keep up last year, I went through 8 pairs of shoes not including the attempted retread of one pair. So buying at least three pairs of good shoes in the States since the ones I brought over last year lasted almost half the year was a high priority item. I highly recommend Sam's club and the $25 Eddie Bauer low top hikers. Great feeling shoes. Clothes yes I needed clothes since the official weigh in taken the day I get home before going to eat out even once. I lost 39 lbs and was officially back at the weight I was after the majority of my training in the military. It was funny that I was the same weight but for some reason it just did not look the same as it did back then. Age will get you every time.
The big change at home for me was eating-big shock right. I had my list of restaurants I wanted to visit and things I wanted mom and dad to cook. I can say everything on the list was accomplished and while I don't know how much wait I put back on it was noticeable by the end of my stay. Hopefully since it went on so quick it will come back off that way once I settle back into my life here. I know wishful thinking. But in reality it was a huge change that I did not have to ration my sugar free treats because I knew when I ran out I could just go buy more and not have to wait on another care package from the states. I had forgotten how good a salad could really be, or salmon or steak or pizza but there it all was for the gluttony of the moment which I honestly indulged in more than I should have. To be able to easily get to any type of food at any time of the day and get as much of it as you could consume was also a bit overwhelming at times because honestly that is not the way it is for most of the world. You are probably wondering why this was such a big item to me a person who has lived on some pretty unsavory things to survive on. It really is hard to describe what it is like to not eat meat during the week and to savor what passes as good food in Singida (larger cities do have some good food but I am mainly talking about the areas I live in). Most of my time in the military we at least had meat in our MREs or LeRP meals and when we ran short normally I was somewhere we could hunt for food. Hunting here consists of setting traps for small birds that barely have two ounces of meat on them it just does not seem to be worth the work. So yes I looked forward to and enjoyed every meat loaded meal I took in and recharged my protein quota to attack another year.
Another interesting thing was that my parents had been recording a show for my brother who was thinking of moving into a tiny house called Tiny House Nation on the A&E network. The show is about families that want to move from 2500 square foot homes to something around 250 square feet and about not only how difficult it is to meet their needs in a house that small but about their need to reduce their current lifestyle in a way to fit into a tiny house. I laughed when I first heard it described because they are moving into homes twice the size of my house in the valley. However I am thankful for the chance to watch because I got some great ideas about what to do with my house this coming year. So sorry to everyone who is not a big fan of DYI but I will be doing regular updates on the blog about what I am doing with the house to transform it into something special in the valley.
Speaking of downsizing-I did get a new laptop while home. Something I never really considered turned out to be the best choice but those of you who know me that I keep an open mind about purchasing big ticket items. I got a small laptop that is really a convertible tablet I guess you would call it. Windows 8.1 with docking keyboard but ram and memory comparable to tablets and the touch screen. It is 10.1 inches so it is hard to type on but I do have a full size keyboard I can attach that I already owned. It came with Office for one year free so in the end it cost about the same as upgrading the memory and buying office for an older large windows 7 laptop owned by my old company. So it is small enough to travel but you have to add a real hard drive and keyboard and mouse if you want to do a lot of work but that will all stay in the house in the village so the laptop will be the only thing traveling with me on a regular basis. Hopefully this one will have a stronger screen than the really cheap tablet I previously owned that required I turn it constantly to read what was behind the dead spots on the screen. Slowly but surely I am trying to embrace the tablet generation.
On to some of the wonderful things that happened while I was home.
First was some great times with my family and close friends including a chance to join some for a game night that was a lot of fun. Seeing the full family was great and was truly fun to hear them talk about my blog. I always wanted to be a writer (dream job) so maybe this is my inroad into that.
Second would have to be the fact that when I heard about a month and half before I went home that my parents Sunday school class was taking over getting the funds raised for the truck I knew it was going to get done. There are folks you know you can count on in this life and groups like the Action Class and United Methodist Men are those types of folks. With that said, I never in my life thought they would be able to do it so quickly. After I think 2 1//2 months they took the fund from the $5000 raised before I left to go to Tanzania and increased it to over $28,000 which is enough for the cost of the vehicle and the estimated first year's operating expense as well as some of the second year's operating budget. What a great blessing for the ministry to have an ambulance and vehicle to move materials on a regular basis. William and I have already started searching for available vehicles and hope to have a purchase before the end of the 1st quarter.
Part of that blessing was put together by Jackie Cooper and a fabulous spaghetti supper which made $1600 for the truck fund with about 140 people who came out. It was a whirlwind night that I had the privileged of getting to speak to almost everyone there. Several folks I have never met before but that have been following my blog or our ministry. Great Friends are a real blessing of the communal nature of being a Christian.
Another big blessing were all the opportunities to have meals with supporters, old friends curious about my new life, talks with groups supporting me or Full Dimension Ministry. It was a wild ride for those last 2 1/2 weeks with somewhere around 23 events total. It was especially great to hear new and renewed interest in the ministry here in Tanzania through those events or from folks who have been following the blog. Hopefully we will be able to capitalize on much of that enthusiasm to generate mission teams and fundraising for some of our bigger goals in the future. If you are interested in helping us achieve some of those goals like: A complete playground with creative and educational areas as well as energy burning activities that will also be a safe area; Saturday reading programs leading to a library and hopefully a future computer lab that will encourage better study habits for kids in school but also for adults as well as reading something other than a newspaper; Solar powered refrigerator for immunizations at the medical clinic; Community bus stop that will provide a safe resting area for the elderly (currently they sit on the ground where they come into contact with many parasites) that will also function as a bulletin board area; Tree Nursery; Expanded Teaching Training and Evangelism (TTE) for church leaders in remote areas; Vocational training programs for adults; Health Outreach programs to include disease prevention but also reproductive health and more newborn child programs.
These are just some of the things we want to add in the future to our facilities and I know many of you want to be a part of those programs so please just contact me at steveintanzania@gmail.com to discuss how you can become involved. If you want to stay up to date on the ministry https://www.facebook.com/fulldimensionministry or sign up for the email newsletter at http://www.fulldimensionministry.com/sign_up.html or for the twitter folks at @fdmusa
One of the great experiences was meeting with the Girl Scout troop that started the eyeglass collection that has spread around town. Last year they sent 60 pairs of glasses for the clinic to distribute. This year as I was doing the sermon at LIVE we blessed over 200 pairs of glasses they will be sending soon. Every time we talk the number just grows. What an amazing tribute that three girls and their troop leaders have made such a huge impact on the lives of folks in Tanzania.
Unfortunately I just finished typing this whole blog in my tablet app which of course crashed so now I am finishing up online and am afraid I am going to miss some things that are important because it was two paragraphs since it last saved.
I cannot tell you what a blessing it is when your message is well received as a missionary or just as a public speaker. The number of events that went over on time because people were engaged with the subject and asking questions was amazing especially at events where people don't normally like you to go more than 15 minutes and they are still actively listening after an hour. This time from the pulpit I did something I have never done and probably will never do again, though everyone has been commenting on it as one of my better sermons. I did not write any of it down before I got up to speak. I had a totally different idea for that sermon when I first chose the verse but when I look back at it the sermon I was planning was specific to an event and never would have really worked so I scrapped it totally and even the night before I got up I could not figure out what I was really going to say so I just got up and let God have it and I am thankful I did. You can hear the sermon here http://www.mauldinmethodist.com/content.cfm?id=213&download_id=1511
Thank you an Elephant. I said that a lot and I meant it. There are not enough words in my vocabulary to properly express how I felt about my very short homecoming.
Home? where is it now for me. Yes South Carolina will always be home and I feel even stronger about that now than before. But Tanzania is home also. I missed it. Even as I sweat typing in 87 degree afternoon I am happy to be back. It is not my South Carolina home or my friends that have shown me so much love over the last month during my visit but it is where I have been called to do my ministry and I look forward to getting back to it. Day to day relationships both here and stateside and Peru and Germany. Even the mission oriented tasks that sometimes get in the way of the relationship side of things, those I miss because they are what I am normally best at.
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