Steve and Barnabas in Tanzania

I have made the following confession before in this blog:  I often feel like I am a poor prayer warrior.  It is a part of my Christian life I feel is always in need of help.  It is not that I don't believe prayers are answered (I do believe that while all prayers are answered sometimes the answer is not yet or just no as opposed to Garth's song Unanswered Prayers ). The last 12 months have been filled with prayers and many of the answers I got were not what I wanted some were.  This kind of up and down year (and back up again) can make you take stock in things and see what is working for you and what is not.  Of course since this also happened in my fiftieth year some might call it my mid-life crisis, though it is less crisis and more a "deal with the situation" for me. My failures in my prayer life are most likely the same as many Christians face.  It is the daily routine of specific time with God in conversation.  I am always up if asked to praye...

One thing about changing locations in Tanzania, much like it would be living in a different  part of the USA, is the different weather patterns.  At my previous location, rainy season started late November or early December and lasted until sometime in April.  Quite often during rainy season you would actually have cool nights along with nights in September. In my new area the rainy season is much shorter.  In fact other than the one big rain we got last November I was beginning to wonder if there was going to be a rainy season.  Most data on rainfall for the region shows they get less than half my previous location.  So while Doug and Frank visited from the USA at the end of February and beginning of March, the rainy season here started, exactly on the first day of the month they said rainy season started, March 1st.   That leads to a pretty funny story about the goats and the house we were staying out while they were here.  Every night ...

I worry that sometimes in my effort to discuss the hardships facing life here in Tanzania and the people who live it daily, that I may be discouraging people from visiting the country.  That would be a shame as, Tanzania is a beautiful country and to her visitors the people are kind and gracious. I highly recommend coming to Tanzania on vacation and not just because I would like the company.  I like to sit and just take in the beauty of this amazing country.  From the snow capped highest peak of Africa that is actually a set of three dormant volcano cones called "Kibo", "Mawenzi" and "Shira" to be collectively called Mt Kilimanjaro.  It is a tourist favorite as it is climbable without having mountain climbing skills.  The youngest person to climb it was 7 years old, however there is now an minimum age of 10 years.  The oldest person to climb it was Martin Kafer at 85 along with his wife Esther who was 84 at the time.  The trip up can take as long a...