Steve and Barnabas in Tanzania

I realize many of you will not realize what a big deal that is, but is Mt. Kilimanjaro big.  For my entire six years as a missionary, I have had to travel to a larger town and type my blog in while I was somewhere that either had wifi or at least cell phone service.  As of this week we now have cell phone service in Kiruani.   This comes with some ups and downs as well.  First the government moved ahead with their promise to cancel all  phones not registered using their new national id system (yes that is a thing here).  Since I only have a visa I could not get an id and my phone number I have been using was cancelled.  The local pastor is letting me use one of his extra phone numbers (most Tanzanians in any real position have 4 or 5 phone sim cards and numbers).  Using that phone card and the new tower, I have made a phone call home from the site without having to stand on one leg over the sewer pit like I used to do at my other site tha...

Before I get started on this week's blog entry, let me thank everyone who helped make the first Barnabas Bear Newsletter a huge success.  I am hearing stories of a Chick-Fil-A in New York that printed the newsletter at their cost and gave it to customers purchasing a kid's meal.  Another story from California is a church kindergarten that sent printed copies home with all the kids.  Thanks to all the folks who sent encouraging words concerning the newsletter.  We will continue to do them and I will look at doing them more frequently if we continue to get such great feedback.  Those events happened because you, my friends, shared the newsletter with others and shared it with others, but it started with you. Now to this week's blog.  Yes Communication and Banking do go hand in hand here in Tanzania.  You see while there are real banks here, they charge for everything.  The reason is that unlike more developed countries, where people get loans for ...