Steve and Barnabas in Tanzania

Before I actually get started this week I am going to deviate-I know I do that a lot- and make a request for assistance. Rev. William Makali and his wife Martha would like to come stateside to see their daughter graduate college.  This is not an FDM USA sponsored trip so he has to raise his money for the tickets.  He currently has raised $1200 and needs $1800 more.  If you can assist, please arrange to give your money or check to William while he is in the USA from May 12 to Jun 10.  Thank you in advance for your generosity.  Just because they are not on an official FDM USA trip they would still love to meet with friends and groups that have supported them in the past, just contact me to see what we can arrange.   One of the fun parts of my life here in Tanzania is the visa process.  You cannot get a residence work permit in the USA, you have to apply for it in Dar Es Salaam which is no where near where I am.  I have found out recently you can h...

Just finished a month of activity trying to get a post office box in Singida-well almost finished.  This is a pretty good example concerning some of the difficulties in doing business here.  So I wanted to get a post office box here in town.  The first thing I checked was if I could use the Hotel's post office box to receive packages or mail but it turns out they don't have a mailing address or post office box.  I guess I should note there is no home mail delivery here. So I enlisted William's help to get the box because many times my visa does not entitle me to do things of that nature (like I cannot cash a check at a bank using my visa).  Between traveling attempts were made to get the forms for the post office box and get a price.  Every time the person in charge of the boxes was not in the office and no one had the forms to give us.  They all offered prices but every time we got a different price like 11,800 TSH, 28,000 TSH, 32,000...

As I am two days late with this blog and part of that is due to falling sick to some very small sardine like fish in a soup that was absolutely no fun while traveling from Yulansoni to Singida and then a day later to Arusha, I am not doing a normal blog but instead a couple of small items I thought were interesting.  Please feel free to comment if you run into similar situations. First a note about traveling while having a stomach problem-they don't stop for bathroom breaks or at least nothing that would help.  It used to be they stopped at a midway point for a significant amount of time but since they finished paving the roads they no longer do that on the 6 hour trip to Arusha.  They did make one very quick stop-not nearly long enough for me to risk getting off the bus for.  The second travel day while not pleasant was much better than the first that was at the height of my problems. Speaking of traveling on buses:  It was interesting that a policewoman ca...

It is hard to believe I am already a week in and as promised I am not going to let too much time get by without giving an update.  The biggest problem this first full week is what I should include because there is so much to tell everyone about.  I hope not to bore those who have been here or other parts of the world on mission trips because some of this will seem old hand maybe but for those whose ministry is the support of those who go to these locations I feel called to share some of my life here.  First for everyone asking:  Barnabas is fine, his hibernation state is over and he is out and about in town.  We will start with him as a matter of fact.  He was worried because bears are not native to Africa (look up why Paddington Bear had to come from Peru-because the author first wanted him to be from Africa until they learned Bears are not native to Africa so poor Paddington got an address change). At William and Martha's trying to work the deve...