Steve and Barnabas in Tanzania

It is difficult to believe I have already been in country for over a month.  It has been strangely fast paced in overall time despite the slow pace of the individual days.  There are still a lot of things to talk about which I am shocked over because I figured I would have run out of things to say by now, but I actually have a list of topics to cover in the coming weeks at least as I try to keep this blog current and hopefully interesting.  On that note I apparently had some very interesting articles at the beginning of February  because those got a viewership of between 85 and 130 but the last couple are back to averaging right around 60.  I hopefully can find some more interesting topics to cover in the future like communication/banking (yes they go together), solar energy topics, changes in the 13 years since my first trip to Tanzania, and the close community with those of differing faiths. This week I have been back to the Full Dimension Ministry site in Y...

This one will be a bit long as there are a lot of things to cover about the trip out to Singida and Yulansoni this first time as an individual.  While I have had the pleasure to go to both and to use local transportation to get to Singida in the past this trip as you will see had a lot of new adventures.  For those not familiar with the geography:  Singida is a town and a district in Tanzania.  It is the nearest town with things like hotels, "regular" electricity and so forth.  It is 324 Kilometers (201.3 miles) from Arusha where I had been before.  In the past this trip was only partially paved, but now it is almost completely paved (mainly repair areas you have to go off road).  Yulansoni is the village the Full Dimension Ministry site is located nearest to in the valley area, so we don't actually go to the village but to the site.  (BTW site is located at -4.381468, 34.572284 and can be found on Google Earth where you can see the buildings...

One of the many questions I was asked before coming here is what will you eat.  So I thought I would like to share a little about what I have been eating here, but please understand this is what I am eating at William and Martha's house and around town in Arusha, it may change some later and I will let you in on that if it happens. For Breakfast I have a variety of meals that include scrambled eggs, breakfast sausages, a piece of bread with jam, or porridge.  Scrambled eggs and the bread with jam is pretty much what you expect.  But the breakfast sausage is actually just a hot dog wiener and the porridge is difficult to explain.  It is somewhat like cream of wheat but just a little.  It is much more fine ground and I believe it is made of corn or maize flour.  It is normally served very runny and allowed to thicken as you eat it.  There is very little actual taste or texture to the meal itself and it is dark in color unlike cream of wheat.  Like...

Ok so I promised more information on getting around in Arusha.  I want to start by trying to paint a picture for you.  There are two main roads in the city proper and one section paved connecting the two.  There are some paved side streets and some dirt ones.  The main road, Sokoine (pronounced so-ko-ee-nay) has the most stores and buildings line the street and for about 80% of the in-town part a sidewalk.  The sidewalk will have holes and grating and drainage sections exposed you must be careful to navigate when walking in addition to vendors who lay their goods out on the sidewalk everywhere and the traveling merchants who carry everything they are selling.  This is especially fun with those selling luggage as they carry about 30 bags at one time. On the other streets these vendors set up on the road edges with all their product laying about 3 feet into the road which to start with is about wide enough for two lane traffic.  About every 100 feet or...

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...

I am not one to normally write about everything that happens in my life-hence the reason I am not a great blogger.  I have made a commitment to do better both on Facebook and here on the blog to "talk" more.  That being noted I have been here in Arusha, Tanzania with William and Martha Makali for three days now and am getting into the swing of things.  Normally when I make these trips it is go, go and more go because we only have two weeks to accomplish a lot of tasks.  This trip is slower from the perspective that I am not working on tasks as much as a way of life change and that does take time. When I first got here after a full 24 hours of flights and layovers I was welcomed by 80 degree F temperatures at night after having a daily high of 40 at home.  The first day I spent getting adjusted to the heat and getting on the right time schedule which really meant falling asleep throughout the day as I tried to study my Swahili text.  Needless to say my n...

It is hard to believe that just over a year ago, I found out there may be a need for a full time missionary with Full Dimension Ministry in Tanzania.  A lot has happened since that moment. From being trained as a United Methodist Individual Volunteer Missionary, to our first public announcement in April 2013 at the annual banquet.  Just in the month of December I topped out on my fundraising need and the first third of the truck money needed was raised.   Pastor Smoke had a wonderful message today from the sermon on the mount talking about those who are blessed.  It is a word I have used a lot lately as I write thank you notes.  I have felt it too!  The wonderful support of my extended church family to get me funded so quickly.  The encouragement of my friends has been such a great boost to my life.   If all of this was not enough to make me feel completely assured that I was on the right path to do what God wants me to do, the send off ser...