Hitting the road and Motor Bikes

Well, I have not kept up like I had planned, but I am back on the job now.

Let me catch you up with the rest of the trip to Mbeya.

We left Mikumi in good time and immediately started to climb. The region we were driving through is called the Southern Highlands and the scenery is outstanding. It was hard to appreciate though as the road was quite rough - the tar dug out into rivets by the large trucks heading to Zambia. Also the truck drivers are MAD. We lost count of the number of truck wreaks we saw that day - most of them VERY bad. I think there are a lot of fatalities on that section of road.

We went though a section called the Valley of Baobabs. There are literally thousands of these majestic trees - probably hundreds of thousands. The valley is very steep with a raging river at the bottom, but the sides of the valley look very dry - thus these baobabs.

We also went up a very steep section as the road climbs the western side of the Great Rift Valley. Once again the scenery was fantastic, and the trucks driving was atrocious!

We made it into Mbeya about 5 o'clock and were able to get booked into the Karibuni Centre (Karibuni means "Welcome" in Swahili). Both of us were exhausted, but thanked the Lord for the safe journey.

Yesterday morning I had to go the the ATM and the supermarket and as I was just turning off the highway to the Karibuni Centre and piki-piki crashed into the side of the truck. Even though I had stopped, had my indicator on, this man still did not see me. I think he was going very fast. After he hit me he skidded off the other side of the road into the ditch, as I rushed up to him, I was thankful that he seemed not too badly hurt. It turned out to be just bruises and cuts - he was VERY lucky! The truck gained another battle scar on the driver's door and we lost the driver's mirror. Small things when you think about the alternative.

Yesterday - Wednesday, was the first day of our gospel meeting out of town. Brother Samuel Mwakasungula and brother Felix came to the Centre to head off to the village at about 2 pm, so I was able to have a relaxing morning.  It took nearly 2 hours to drive there, about half the way on the highway to Zambia, the rest of the way on dirt roads.

The brethren were waiting for us when we arrived and after 2 songs we went straight into the meeting. I taught on the identifying marks of the Lord's church, focusing on entrance into the church and worship. All the brethren were very attentive to the teaching and told me they were looking forward to me coming back. The plan is to go back today and Friday. This is a little congregation that has recently come out of digression - it is in Felix's home village. He told me that most of the members are related to him!

Mikumi

As I promised you yesterday, I plan to keep up to date with my blog on this trip.

We did not have a very good night last night. We thought we had hit the jackpot with our hotel but alas, this is Tanzania. The room had a really nifty mosquito net that went up and down on a string (a bit like a holland blind). It also had a bar fridge AND and air conditioner.

The problems started when we turned out the light. The hall light shone right through the gap under the curtain over the window above the door. Nothing we could do would stop that light. But hey! We could live with that. Next, in the middle of the night a bearing in the air-con went out - sounded like it was killing it self. Then it got REALLY hot! So not a lot of sleep.

The alarm went off at 7.00 am - just when it had got cooler and Anne and I found we could not move. So... we left at 9, rather that the 8 o'clock start we had planned.

The drive went well, but I was really glad that Anne was with me 'cause I was getting really tired, so her driving some was a big help.

We drove through Morogoro, where we stayed on previous trips and were making for Iringa.

The road took us though Mikumi National Park and there were several signs along the way telling us it was illegal to "game view" without paying park fees. (the park head quarters where you pay is in the middle of the park). So Anne and I tried our best to overt our eyes when there were animals around. Unfortunately we were not quick enough and saw some zebra, some gazelles and some monkeys - fortunately there were no park rangers around at the time!

We got through the park and stopped at the Tan-Swiss Lodge for a late lunch (about 3.00 pm) and by the time we were finished we both thought it might be a good idea to stop here rather than go onto a place we knew nothing about in Iringa.

So, we are staying here tonight. It will mean a longer day tomorrow, but we were both really tired out and are looking forward to a good night's sleep.

So, hopefully more tomorrow.

Keith

Heading off to Mbeya

I was supposed to be there by now, but last week when I was going to be leaving for Mbeya I suddenly came over with dizziness. Here in Tanzania they call that "kizunguzungu". Interestingly enough they call westerners in Swahili "Mzungus". I'll leave that for you to work out.

Anyway, Anne and I are now on the road to Mbeya. We left right after worship this morning and made it as far as Korogwe 350km (215 miles) and 6 hours of hard driving later. We are staying overnight in a motel in town and then plan to head off for another hard days drive tomorrow.

I plan to keep you up to date with this trip.

Keith


-- Post From My iPhone

On Safari with Glen and Reba

We took a day off our busy schedule and spent the day at Tarangire National Park.

It takes about 2 hours to drive there from Arusha and it is truly worth it. They say it has the largest concentration of elephants of anywhere  in Africa. Even though I have read of other Parks making this claim, Tarangire would not be far off.

Enjoy the photos.

A quick coffee break on the way

This was our "greeter"

This safari business can be tiring!

Two great people!

Tanangire Safari lodge - where we had lunch

Glen and Reba with Baobab

Keith and Anne

Looking down to the Tarangire River

Giraffe

Just some of the hundreds of elephants we saw

A young water buck

Warthog - they are very cute (from a distance)

This guy graduated with an A+ from Safari school!

My favourite antilope (and the smallest) - Dik Dik

One husband and one hundred wives

Elephant

Just after I got this shot - this guy told us to GO!

Makamira / Rivertrees

Today, Sunday, we had a great service at Makamira. Brother Noah Msuya had asked me to have Glen come and teach for them on his last Sunday here. So we went up the mountain again to worship with the wonderful brethren there.


It was a very nice service with everything in good order. The singing today was particularly good. Glen taught on Angels in the Gospel and did a wonderful job.

Glen teaching at Makamira

After services we went and had lunch at Rivertrees - a favourite of Anne and mine. We had a wonderful lunch and then had a walk amongst the trees.

Good friends

Keith and Glen

River trees

Two Beautiful Ladies - note the African made outfits!

The dinning room

Down by the river

Rivertrees

We had a wonderful day together - firstly worshipping our God, then enjoying His creation.

Highlights from Ephesians.

Yesterday we had a full day seminar (meeting) at Nkoaranga, which was the last of the meetings that had been organised for Glen Osburn on this trip.

The preacher there, Aminieli Mbise, had told Glen that he wanted Glen to preach on, "Ephesians, Ephesians, Ephesians". So that was what Glen did!

Glen and Mbise at work!

In his first session, Glen taught on Ephesians the 3rd Chapter and did a great job. The way it works here, we have a translator for all our teaching - as we cannot speak Swahili. Mbise did a wonderful job keeping up with Glen and the brethren were appreciative of his work.

After Glen had finished his first talk there followed a lively Q&A session, where the brothers asked Glen some great questions.

Glen preaching

For his second session, Glen preached on Ephesians Chapter four - dealing firstly with the 7 "ones". He ten moved on to the structure of the church starting with the apostles, prophets, then the evangelist, pastors and teaches. Again this was warmly received.

We then stopped for a short lunch break. The brethren supplied us with a bottle of soda and a bread roll. Previously they had the women cook for these meetings, but they found that the woman missed out on the teaching, so this is their solution - it works really well.

After lunch it was my turn and I taught on the Bible being the word of God, using Hebrews 1:1-2 as a basis. I was told to keep it short, so they received a "whistle stop" lesson.

It was a great day and the brethren there really showed their appreciation for our coming up the mountain. They are very good people and they LOVE Glen and Reba.

Tent Meeting

The Philips church of Christ in Arusha was happy to host a tent meeting with brother Glen Osburn