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.