More ramblings!

Hi Everyone!

I’m sorry that it has been a little quiet on here lately. The truth is that I am still loving it out here but the more that this becomes my life, the more I find it harder to write about what i am getting up to, as for me it is now just my everyday life. But here goes...

Since my last blog I have been with the Go Mad team to Kyamajoje church for a Sunday service. It was great to see the progress the team have made on the health centre and it was great just to be back in that village and see some familiar faces. The church was different to the last time i saw it, they had hung material from the trusses and it was fascinating to watch a boy climb up and take them off at the end of the service! It wasn’t so great when the Pastor asked me if i remembered a certain song and when i said yes he asked me to sing it! Fortunately I could shift the attention away from me and when the congregation started singing I could then just join in! I think it is much better for everyone that way! It was good to be able to take Mtani to church and to see his happy face!

Last Sunday i had an awesome day and spent pretty much the whole day with Go Mad. We went to Church in the morning and then in the afternoon the boys had arranged a football match with some of the guys in the village. It was fun just to play with the children and watch the match. We cheered on the ‘wazungus’ whilst the kids cheered on the Africans! It then poured with rain so we ran for shelter whilst the boys played on. A yummy dinner at a place in town and then back to Eagle Lodge where we listened to an awesome sermon on Jeremiah 1.

We have had some cool storms recently and an amazing one on Monday night. We had just put a pizza in the oven when the power went off. Typical! The thunder was the loudest i have ever heard and the lightening was so bright it lit up the whole area.  It was an awesome display of God’s power and Chris Tomlin’s song ‘Indescribable’ came to mind.

Exciting things are happening at Rehema. The pedicure training is going really well and it is exciting to see the women improving and enjoying the work. I never thought that i would be sitting at work having a pedicure! I am always happy to volunteer when they need feet to practice massaging and nail painting and can’t wait until they start learning manicures! I do have to try and restrain myself when they do my feet as i am very ticklish and don’t want to look in pain in case they think they are doing it wrong and are hurting me!

The Rehema Easter fair is coming up soon and I am loving planning this next event. I had great fun making a big sign with fabric letters for the event with a girl on the team and it is great that doing crafty stuff that i enjoy is my job! Prayer that all this planning continues to go well would be great and that i can be organised but not stress out about it!

Nat and I had a fun day out last week. Andrew needed to go to Mwanza and we needed to buy some stuff for Rehema so we tagged along. It was a very early start (5am!) but it was totally worth it! Before entering the supermarket I was told not to act like a kid in a sweet shop and i just thought yeah yeah whatever it is just going to be a supermarket. However i have to admit i did go a little crazy! The first thing i saw was Old El Paso taco shells and i just couldn’t believe it. Not that i am a massive fan of those but i was just so surprised that i would find them here in Tanzania! There was just so much exciting stuff in that supermarket, including marmite and toffee crisp bars! I bought both and made a complete mess on the bus eating my melted toffee crisp but it was so good that I didn’t care about the horrified look Nat was giving me as if I was an embarrassment to her! We went to a bathroom store to buy some tiles and it was just like being back in a bathroom store in England which was really strange and surprised me as much as the taco shells! I also got to try a banana pizza which was unusual but good! It was exciting to have treats and a little taste of home which we had been craving. There is nothing more exciting than the anticipation of a parcel coming in the post! We are becoming friendly with the people at the post office as we keep checking in for parcels...we live in hope!

Swahili is still coming along slowly. Nothing really to say about it except I just want to be fluent! I still have lessons each week and had a good lesson this week learning another noun class. There are 12 noun classes and I think we have now done 3! It all makes sense but my trouble is remembering it all!

The puppies are still adorable (and covered in fleas) and Kipwriggler is getting bigger everyday! They are now moving around the garden at eagle lodge and this week Nat and I started planning the building of a fence ready for when Kip moves in! On our day off this week we had guys round to talk fences (we had no idea about anything!)  and also had to get someone in to sort out our drains (we had no idea about those either!) so it wasn’t a relaxing day off!

In a couple of days I will be heading off to Lukuba Island for a women’s bible study weekend away! I am really excited and it will be nice to get away and have a break and just have time to reflect and get to know the women in my bible study group better. I will be sure to let you know how the weekend goes and how beautiful the island is!