A month? .... NO only a WEEK ! ! !

A month. No only a week!!!
Travel and more travel. Four different 'homes' in one week.
Johannesburg - smooth transition, one night stay, good service, safe location. Stone Town Zanzibar - hot and sweaty, narrow streets, Jambo!!!(hello) called at us from everywhere, a candlelight dinner by the sea on the evening before Valentine's Day.
Jambiani Zanzibar - white sand, blue water, swimming, walking, poor fishing village, friendly locals, fruit and fish, cold showers, relaxing, fun, the start of understanding the culture.
Dar es Salaam - large city, good sized Salvo compound, welcoming (karibu), enjoyable Sunday worship at Kipunguni Corps (small poor corps), prawns garlic, early start for 12 hour bus ride. Bus trip - many small villages, drop toilet, glimpse of lions, zebra, giraffes, elephants, roadside stalls.
Mbeya - rainy arrival, good meal and warm welcome from David and Chris, more than adequate accommodation.

A Dream Come True

A dream come true

This time next week Graham & I will be enjoying the seaside village of Jambiani in Tanzania! WOW! It will be humid and hot but we will be fulfilling part of our dream.
After a few days there and in Dar es Salaam we will head for our home for the next 8 weeks, Shukrani Business College at Mbeya, Southern Tanzania. We will be involving ourselves in ways that Major Chris Watson, the principal, believes will be helpful for them. This part of the dream isn't about enjoying a holiday but engaging with people of a different culture in their setting, serving them and learning from them. I hope I won't make too many culturally inappropriate blunders! (I'm probably quite capable of that even in my own culture.) We are grateful to them all for allowing us to be part of their lives for a short while. As for the next few days...... The list of 'to dos' is tooooo long and the excitement (and a degree of anxiety) is beginning to set in.
A few more days of goodbyes in Victor Harbour and Melbourne and we are on our way.
The more difficult realisation is that our daughter Cheryl will have left for another few years of learning and ministry in China by the time we get back. Regardless I thank God for her and her willingness to be responsive to God's direction for her life.