Travel...

So its been a while since we last wrote and we know that lots has happened to try and fill you all in on. To try and do this effectively I will attempt a kind of ‘diary’ type approach and adapt as I feel necessary. So, where to start…

Saturday July 5th:
Friend from language school (and from Knoxville Tennessee – for those who read this and that fact is interesting!) came up to Mbeya to visit us and to see a different area of the country. She (another Liz!) is only in Tanzania for 5 weeks so we wanted her to have the opportunity to see a little more than just language school! We were fortunate to be able to ‘host’ her on a couch in the temporary house we were staying in and had some good times together.

Monday July 7th:
We boarded the bus for Dar (at 7am) (dropping the other Liz off in Iringa on the way) to go see a doctor about Liz’s eye. Bus had a big shida (problem) on the way, never really found out what, and so we limped into Dar at 9pm… over 2 hours later than hoped! It is a looooong way!

Tuesday July 8th:
Were fortunate to be offered a place to stay at our branch director’s family home (he was already up at Conference but his lovely wife (Cindy) and kids (too many to name here!) were there), and so it was very easy to get settled. We spent the day with them going to the doctor and having Liz’s eye problem confirmed as Iritis, and then exploring Dar a little more (Matt even got to eat a ‘pain au chocolat’ and we both had a ‘Subway’!).

Wednesday July 9th:
We ventured into downtown to explore a little more. Was nice to get to see things at our pace though there’s not a lot to see! We visited the fish market (phewee!) and bought a British newspaper to read on our upcoming journey! We noted some interesting architecture and lots going on but I guess in the end its just another capital city!

Thursday July 10th:
Matt drove us (Liz, Cindy and kids) part way up country towards conference. We left at 4:15am so it was an early start! We had already arranged travel plans with people from Mbeya before we knew we would have to go to Dar and so we stopped off at a guesthouse at Segera where the others would stop that evening. Cindy and kids carried on to Kenya and we waited the rest of the day for Mbeya people to arrive.

Friday July 11th:
Traveled on to Malindi (Conference destination), just north of Mombasa, with Mbeya friends, finally arriving at 5pm… having managed to survive one of the wheel bolts snapping off and the wheel coming loose! Thankfully it did not come off and so we were able to stop, re-tighten the other nuts, and carry on.

Saturday July 12th – Saturday July 19th:
Uganda Tanzania Branch Conference, with 89 adults and many children in attendance. Had a great time of sharing and fellowship, meeting lots of new people and catching up with some old. A group came from Northern Ireland to do the talks, lead worship, and organize the kids stuff and it was a very encouraging time. We also had some time of reports and business meetings, which was interesting for some (Matt!), and useful for all! Part of the time was taken electing the branch’s ‘Entity Committee’ which looks to assist the director, help with branch policy, and represent the members to the Africa Area team. Matt was elected by the membership to be the ‘first alternate’ (1st person to step in if one of the 5 regular members cannot be at the meetings) and so that should be an interesting position for him to be involved in.

Sunday July 20th – Tuesday July 22nd:
Traveled back from Kenya! The journey is something in the region of 1300km and so on the varying quality of the roads here it is possible to do it in 2 days, but more comfortable in 3! We also stopped at a large supermarket in Mombasa for a couple of hours (so much choice was bewildering!)… picking up some important stuff for our new house that is hard to buy in Mbeya!

Tuesday July 22nd:
Arrived back in Mbeya around 4pm… and are currently staying at some lovely friends of ours, Katherine and Karin, until our house is finally ready! We are told that the next couple of days will do it! It has been a LONG time since we’ve had a place of our own, and a lot of disappointments on dates, so please do pray that we actually can move in by Saturday! We cannot wait to finally get a home and base properly established. Obviously once we have set it up a bit we will get some photos online. Until then, you will have to make do with some pictures of the last couple of weeks – they are here!