My birthday was about a week ago. I remember my first birthday be being hard. I'd only been away from home a few months and really wished I had my family and friends to celebrate with. I honestly can't remember what I did last year. This year's birthday was relaxing. It happened over the Easter weekend and since the office was closed it felt like having 3 Saturdays in a row! I was able to catch up on cleaning and laundry without feeling so rushed. I also finally got around to painting my kitchen. Linda will be so proud when she gets back to Morogoro and I tell her! The paint color was a definite mistake. It's called Fireball and I'm not really sure what I was thinking when I bought. I bought it last year and between being busy, tired or not having water on good days to paint the project kept getting put off. I remember showing Sue the color before I bought it because I wanted a second opinion. We talked about how now was a good time to experiment and try something different but we both must have been a little crazy to think a dark reddish orange color would work well in my tiny kitchen. The color is starting to grow on me but at night my one pathetic little light struggles to work well. Last night when I was washing the dishes I had to give up because I couldn't see the pots well enough to tell if they were clean! After Linda has a chance to look I'll probably head back to the paint store and start over with a much lighter color.
I've also had the opportunity to try out some new recipes. Since I'm pretty much housebound after dark and it's dark between 6 and 7 year round cooking helps keep me busy. I been trying new recipes with pumpkin and beans since pumpkin seems to be in season and there are always lots of beans! If anyone has good recipes to try please pass them along. Anyway I found a great pumpkin taco recipe. It was really good and I even served them to 2 Tanzanian friends who liked them. I think they were surprised they liked them too since tacos isn't a normal food here and many people seem to eat the leaves from pumpkins more than they do the actual pumpkin.

Chamwino Kid's Club

My sister pointed out that I rarely blog about my work. Mainly I just tell stories about things happening or what I'm learning about the culture. So today I decided to share more about the kid's program. If the connection holds I may even be able to upload some pictures too. My kid's club is going well. In January we added a day so now every Monday and Wednesday afternoon we meet together. It's a lot of extra work getting 2 sets of lessons prepared in Swahili each week but it is also very fun. We've even worked out a routine of sorts where we have math lessons every Wednesday and rotate Monday lessons between health, geography or history. Every Monday and Wednesday we have a Bible and English lesson. I've also been blessed to have another volunteer begin helping this year. Her name is Mama Mwasu. She is Daniel's assistant. Daniel took over the job of lead teacher in October when Tisho started university. He has done an amazing job and really enjoys teaching each week. Having 3 teachers has made English lessons so much easier as now we are able to divide the kids up into various groups to work on different skills.
Last year we had over 100 kids enrolled in the club. This year our numbers are closer to 40. January was the start of the new school year so schedules changed. Some of our regular students are now in class until close to 5 and so are unable to attend. Sadly 2 girls who regularly came last year have stopped attending. They always say they are too busy but I think their parents may have made them quit coming. They are both Muslim and my one rule on attending is to have parental approval. I still see them most weeks after the club but it isn't the same.
Surprisingly not everyone I work with think the Muslim children should be invited. I usually point out that my best Bible student is Muslim. I also remind them of the call for Christian to share the Good News with everyone, not just other Christians. However overall most people are supportive of the program.
This year I have plans to expand to 3 other churches. I will train the volunteer teachers on using the curriculum I'm writing and then they will lead the weekly clubs. So far I've talked with pastors or evangelists from 4 churches but things are moving slowly. I may have to readjust my plans and aim for just 1 new program! I will keep you updated on any progress I make towards starting another kid's club.

Upendo's graduation

Jacob's graduation

Weddings

My friend Paulo got married at the end of December. I was at the back of the church so I didn't get very many good pictures. The bishop came back from Arusha to preach. My neighbors Raymond and Flora stood up with Paulo and Paulina. If I understood correctly they took on the responsibility of mentoring Paulo and Paulina in their marriage and will be the mediators in any disagreements.
In January Tisho and I went to Leena's wedding reception in Dar es Salaam. We studied Kiswahili together at the Lutheran Junior Seminary. She and Mark had already gotten married in his family's village in Kenya on New Year's Eve, but they had a reception in Dar for all of us that were unable to travel to Kenya. The reception was a lot of fun. I was able to see a number of Finnish missionaries (Leena's from Finland) that I met at language school. The reception was very similar to receptions I've been to in the States. I did learn 2 interesting and fun Finnish wedding traditions. The first is that games are always a part of the reception. Erne and Hannah had us play various games throughout the reception just like they would play in Finland. Also during the cutting of the cake the bride and groom are supposed to fight to have his/her foot on top. If the bride wins, then she will be the 'powerful' one in the marriage. If the groom wins then he has the power. Leena won, but I'm not sure Mark knew he was supposed to step on her foot!

Water Troubles

Having water issues is normal for Tanzania. This fall we received more rain then usually so I didn't experience many of the difficulties I did my first year living in town. Not having water really affects every aspect of life. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to wash my hands, have squeezed soap into them and then went to turn on the faucet only to remember or discover that there isn't any water! This year my water problems usually involve problems with the pipe. I've been told the water comes through the pipes with lots of force from the mountain and that when it reaches the church the pipe gets too small too fast and the pressure damages the pipes. There must be some truth to that since we've been mainly without water since Wednesday morning(it's Friday afternoon now). The pipe is broken right outside my fence. I can see the water coming out and pooling next to the road...it broke in the same spot in December. Raymond, my neighbor and pastor of the church, has called the city so there is really nothing we can do not except wait. When they decide to come, they'll come. When we do have water often it comes through dirty, muddy or a strange whitish color that I've been told is a chemical added to purify the water. The picture I posted isn't coffee; that's the water I had coming through the pipes a few days last week! So far I haven't decided if it is worse to have no water or to have it come through so dirty that it is practically useless! I'm praying for the day that when the church follows through on their promise to put in a water tank next to my house!

Bible Study

Wow, it has been a long time since I've updated my blog! I have lots of stories to share but will space them out instead of writing pages today. Last night I joined a women's Bible study with some other missionary women. Since my closest friends left in June and the death of a teammate in November which led to his family returning to Germany I've been thinking about how eventually I may not know any other missionaries in town. I have to admit that meeting other foreigners hasn't been a priority before so I have never gone out of my way to get involved in missionary activities outside of Lutheran church. Maybe some of you are wondering why that is even important. It is really nice when you've had a bad day to be able to talk about it with someone. If the reason you've had a bad day concerns cultural issues or misunderstandings it is sometimes difficult to share that with a Tanzanian...I don't want to sound like I'm bashing the culture but I need someone to talk to who understands. That is where having a good missionary friend can be so important. Or maybe I want to go out for a 'Western' dinner or on a vacation. Most Tanzanians can't afford these things. Then my choices are not to go or invite a friend and pay for everything. Those aren't great options. So with this in mind I've begun making more of an effort to get to know other missionaries in Morogoro town.
Last night I went to my new friend Dena's house to join a Bible study. Dena has been here for a few months and is a single missionary like me. It seems easier to connect with other singles, regardless of age, because we don't have family commitments like everyone else. She had me over for dinner before the study so we could catch up on what's been happening since we saw each other last week. Right now the women are reading and discussing the book "Expectations and Burnout: Women Surviving the Great Commission". I just got the book last night and am excited to begin reading it to catch up with the others. There is also a monthly prayer breakfast that I went to last month and plan on attending again this month. It is great to be able to get together once in awhile to pray and worship in English.