This is a really, really, long blog entry

I hope from my photos you can tell that I have been very busy in the 3 plus weeks I have been here. There are so many places to visit. There are scenic places to go and many ministries to be involved in. I wanted to post pictures of a variety of things. There are photos of chimps, baboons, forest, etc. from the Jane Goddall Chimp Reserve. There are pictures of fishing boats as well as a picture of the boat that belongs to the mission. There is one photo of a local boat going up the lake. You probably can't tell from the photo that there are between 150-200 people in that boat. The picture of the sailboat I took because the sail is made from canvas sacks stitched together. There is a photo of one of the many villages along the lake. There are also photos from the destitute camp of me washing the peoples' hands and feet. There is also a photo of a toy that the kids at the destitute camp have built out of things they could find. There are photos of me in the classroom with the Bible College students and a group photo of the class being silly. There are photos from the Kids' Club ministry here, the womens' bible study ministry, and a photo of a Kids' Club meeting that is held in a Christian woman's yard in a village that is 99% Muslim. There are so many more photos I have taken. I have taken over 1700 pictures and I still have to take photos of the art classes I am teaching at the primary school that the mission runs as well as photos of the safari we will be going on. This past Friday was my last day teaching at the Bible College. At the end of the class I was crying. These men have become so dear to my heart. They call me "mother" or "mama" which is a term used for adult women. I do plan on going to morning chapel this next week and eating lunch with the Bible College students on Wednesday. They want to see the photos I have taken and they want to take photos of me with them. Talking about eating, one of my friends who is a nutritionist wrote and asked me what the people ate here because she will be teaching a class on Cultural Foods this winter. They eat alot of rice and beans here. Fortunately, I love rice and beans. Jim(my sister's husband) and I have beans and rice for breakfast quite often. Sometimes when the people here make rice it has vegetables in it but sometimes it is just plain rice. It looks like sticky rice. Before they cook the rice they have to sift through it first and pick out rocks, twigs, bugs, etc. Then they wash it thoroughly and cook it the same way we do. The beans look like refried beans when they are cooked but they aren't smashed. The staple food here is called ugali. It is made from casaba root which is pounded down and ground into a flour. Then it is mixed with water and made into something that looks like paste. It has no nutritional value but it does fill up the stomach. Since many people can't afford rice and beans and may only eat one meal a day, ugali at least fills them up. They also have mchicha. It is similar to spinach but looks like seaweed. I have not tried ugali or mchicha yet but I will try them before I return home. People here either grow mchicha or casaba or they buy it at the market. The market has everything imaginable. You can buy fish, live chickens to butcher, meat hanging from hooks, produce, fabric, shoes, pots and pans. You name it you can find it. The market is like a maze with narrow alleyways. If you went by yourself you would easily get lost. I love going to the market. It is a bustling place and a true adventure. I was really made for life here. The pace of life is so much slower and laid back than it is in the States. Time means nothing here. For example, my sister says if you tell the Tanzanians that something starts at 9 am, they might show up between 10 and 11. She also said if for some reason I had been late for starting class at the Bible College by 1-2 hours, my students would still be sitting in the classroom patiently waiting for me and they would stay however long the class went. It took me a while to not worry about whether I was somewhere on time. I forgot to say that they also eat chapati and mandazi. Chapati is like a tortilla. It is made with flour and water and then fried. Mandazi is like an old fashioned cake donut but not as sweet. The people here eat the same things they ate 100 or more years ago and they will still be eating it for many years to come. 

I started teaching art at the primary school last week. I will have 3 days with the kindergarten class and 3 days with the first grade class. I centered my lessons around creation, so with the kindergarten class I have taught them how to draw the face of a lion; we did tissue paper fish, and we are doing sun, moon and stars tomorrow. Tom arrives tomorrow afternoon. Then on Friday the four of us (my sister, her husband, Tom, and I) will go on safari for 3 days. When I return home I am going to put together a large album of several hundred of my photos. Also, I plan on putting together a presentation for my church. They were such a blessing by supporting me in many ways. I could not have done all of this without them. I also could not have done this with out all of you(my family and friends). I appreciate all of your prayers, support, and interest in what I have been doing here.

Today we went to a Tanzanian church service. Everything is done in Swahili. One of the mission staff members and his wife go to church there so they translated for us. They have 4 different choirs and they all got up to perform. There was the church choir, the womens' choir, the youth choir, and the childrens' choir. They really know how to sing and dance. The music is so beautiful. I couldn't understand all of the words but it didn't really matter. The church service was 3 hours long and we sat on narrow wooden benches that are low to the ground. I got up and went outside to stretch for a minute. There were mothers and children out there and one little girl about 2-3 years old. She took a shine to me and came and held her arms up. I picked her up and she was looking at my skin, my eyes, and my teeth. She chattered away, kissed me quite often, and played peek-a-boo. When I went back into the church and sat down she came to me and sat in my lap. Her mom came to get her because she was worried the little girl was bothering me. I let her know it was no problem. She stayed on my lap through most of the service. When the service was over she went to her mom. Her mom brought her over to kiss me good-bye. There is so much more I could write, but this is quite long. I probably won't write again until after I get home. Once home, I will create an album of some of my photos and post them on Facebook. I hope you aren't bored with all I have written. Love, Shawn

What Amazing Experiences

I arrived safely in Dar Es Salaam on Thursday night Tanzanian time. My sister met me there and we spent the night. The airport in Kigoma was closed to big planes so we had to fly a smaller plane to Mwanza. We had a 5 hour layover there and the only place we had to sit were hard couches outside the little airport there. Then we took a 12 seat plane to Kigoma and arrived at 3:15 pm their time. From the time I left Portland to the time I arrived 
in Kigoma, it took a total of 39 hours. Saturday we were 
up early to take the boat 2 hours north to the Jane 
Goodall Chimp Reserve. It was the only day it fit into my 
schedule. It was a beautiful ride on the boat. The sun was just coming up and the orange rays were streaming across the water. As we got close to the dock at the reserve there were thirty or more baboons on the beach. Some were sitting and staring straight ahead, some were grooming each other, some were chasing each other, and some had babies on their backs or sheltered against their breasts. I got wonderful pictures of the sunrise and the baboons. We then started our hike. The trackers had not spotted the chimps yet so we hiked up through the forest. Our first stop was at Jane Goodall's feeding station and we heard part of her story. Then we 
continued our hike up to a beautiful waterfall. We saw 
some redtail monkeys, beautiful trees, and colorful 
butterflies. Because my camera has a small view finder it 
is hard to see if I have captured good pictures. As we got 
down from our hike one of the trackers called and he had
 spotted 3 chimps. We had to walk a long way to get 
there and then had to walk into the forest through vines 
and bushes. The first chimp we saw was in a tree right 
above us sucking water out of leaves. I got some great 
photos of that chimp. The second chimp was swinging 
from tree to tree so I hope I got some good photos of 
him. The third chimp was climbing down from a tree. 
When we were under the first chimp our guide pulled out of the way in the nick of time. The chimp was peeing and I would have had a yellow shower. We spent 6 hours there. On Sunday we went to church. The entire service is run by Tanzanias. The signing was wonderful. Two men played guitars. The guitars were electric guitars. One young man played the keyboard. What joyful worship. Here nobody has inhibitions about clapping, raising hands, dancing, etc. They freely worship the Lord. Then one of the pastors preached in Swahili while a young man translated into English. There are 2 men in the Bible college who are working for degrees instead of a diploma.To get a degree you must do everything in English(tests, papers, reading the Bible out loud, preaching, etc.) it is very difficult to earn a degree.  They have really high standards here. On Monday a group of the women who are here from the states went to a market to buy fabric. I got 6 yards for $16(U.S. dollars). On Tuesday we went to the destitute camp where the poorest of the poor live. We took soap, water and towels to wash their feet and lotion to put on their hands and feet. We also took nail polish to paint the nails of the women. They like bright red and hot pink. There were 5 of us who went. Another lady and I washed their hands and feet. One put on lotion, and two others painted nails. Many of the people who live there have leprosy and they were missing fingers and toes. I loved washing their hands and feet. It made me realize Jesus' love for his disciples when He washed  their feet. At the end we passed out toothbrushes and biscuits. The people there were smiling and they were dancing and singing loudly during the music worship time. My first class was that afternoon. I had 20 students and they are so eager to learn and share. They have already learned two heart stories. Our class is very interactive. Sometimes I don't finish my plans because so many share about the treasures they found in the stories and how the stories have touched their lives. They are sharing their stories in the dorm or with their families. This weekend their homework is to into the town and tell a story to 2 people. On Wednesday, I rested in the morning as I am still adjusting to the time change. I fall asleep easily but I wake up many times in the night. I am usually up by 5:20 when the Muslim calls to prayer begin. They use a loud speaker and each group does their call to prayer one after the other. So you really can't sleep through them.I am so thankful for the opportunity to come to Kigoma and learn so many new things about how Jesus is working through the lives of people here. i may not get to blog very much because someone cut the phone lines near my sister's house and stole the copper wire. My sister and her husband have Internet sticks and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. Hopefully there will be Internet soon. Thanks for all of your support and prayers.