Hi! I arrived safely in Tanzania just over a week ago. I have heard it can take about 1 hour to upload 1 photo...so it may be awhile before I have a lot of pictures online. A new friends has promised to show me a faster way this week. Tanzania is such a beautiful country. The people are very friendly and welcoming. I feel blessed to have the opportunity to to be here. The Lutheran Junior Seminary is about 3 hours from Dar es Salaam and it is 6 miles outside of Morogoro. It is amazing how much the area has grown in the last 2 years. My Swahili class begins this afternoon. I actually thought it started this morning. I woke up excited to start learning. I walked over to class with some of the short course students who have been here for a few weeks. They had been teasing me about how excited I am. I have even turned down an overnight trip to Mikumi (the nearest national park) because I do not want to miss the first 2 days of class. So we get to the classroom and have morning devotions together. Then they leave for their individual lessons. It was then that I learned class does not actually begin until this afternoon! While it is a bit of a disappointment I am glad to have the opportunity to be online. The Internet was not working for the last few days.
Yesterday I went with Rob and Linda to one of the village churches. It was a fun experience. We had 13 people stuffed into their jeep. We were so crowded that Pastor Leonard had to take the piki piki (motorcycle taxi) out to the village instead of riding with us. I was excited to see Leonard again. When Jessica and I visited 2 years ago his daugher had just been born. He gave us the honor of naming her. I hope to make it to his village soon to see her and the rest of his family. There is something amazing about music in Tanzanian churches. The only instruments were a bucket and a homemade cymbol, but the music made from them was incredible. The cymbol was a piece of wood with 3 pieces of metal at the top. It was played with 2 sticks. I wish I had taken my camera along so that I would have a picture to share.