We have not had access to internet very much for the last two days so I haven’t been able to post to the blog. Sunday was one of those days where your heart is pierced so many times. Longida arrived to give us his greetings. He is currently not working at Mwangaza and has not yet secured a new job. That is troubling to hear as he has three children. He touched my heart when he said, “my heart was beating so fast when I heard of your arrival to Tanzania”. It is so humbling to realize the love that the workers of Mwangaza have for us. Andrew is still refusing to discuss our leaving. Next Sunday will be a very hard day for him. Loyishe spent the day taking pictures using Alexa’s camera. He loves posing everyone and he really has a knack for it. We discussed on Sunday again the baby coming late July or early August. I brought up having a baby boy’s name since Mama already has Laura picked out for a girl. Loyishe said,”Boy name?” I gave an example of Benjamin and that was it for Loyishe. If it is a boy, it will be Benjamin. Hopefully, Mama likes that idea. Salome and Allen drove us back to Peace House mid-afternoon. It was a very quiet journey as Alexa and I were beginning to realize the enormous task ahead of us this week. We did make Allen check the house for Bui Bui before leaving us. If there had been a tarantula sighting, I was heading back to Mwangaza. Luckily the house is for the most part Bui Bui free. We walked down the hill after I made a delicious meal of spaghetti. Unfortunately, we did not have internet access which was really disappointing to us. We really look forward to any emails from home. On the plus side, we were able to meet up with Timothy and Peter and were able to see all the progress that was made for seminar. This was wonderful!! Timothy was so ready to present! He has truly become a leader this week and a treasured friend. Parting with him will be very difficult for me. We had student helpers arrange desks, chairs, clean marker boards and carry our teaching supplies back up the hill. As we were unpacking the suitcase, one young lady reached into the suitcase and pulled out the Koosh squishy ball that has the tentacles on it and jiggles. The look of absolute horror on this child’s face when the ball moved in her hand was priceless. She thought the ball was alive. What an experience for us! We re-assured her that it wouldn’t hurt her and we began to play catch with it. This became an impromptu game of catch in the classroom with several students.. Alexa and I finally went to bed re-assured that we would be ready for the morning.
I’m not sure how to describe the first day of seminar. First, the alarm clock went off at midnight instead of 6:00 am. No big deal – roll over and go back to sleep. Can’t sleep because the mind starts to wonder. What if the teachers do not come? What if more teachers come than we planned for? I haven’t yet learned to just give those worries to God but certainly TZ is a good place to begin and try. We made sure we were fortified for breakfast and then off we went. We sang all the way down the hill, “ This is the day” to give us courage and to prepare our spirit for any challenges that we would encounter. Peace House is not centrally located so transporting teachers from their schools is an issue. Teachers will need transport each day. This is a problem in logistics but luckily William has worked very hard to find a bus to bring the teachers to Peace House. Unfortunately the teachers did not arrive when expected. Teachers were even late on African timetables so we had to adjust our plans. Flexibility is the key for the first day of seminar. The good news is that we were prepared for this and adjusted our plans. I know that I can not adequately describe the joy and wonder of being part of this project. I will never be able to thank those who gave of their gifts so freely to make this happen. We are truly walking in God's light and even though we are a tiny ripple, we keep those ripples going. We had such positive feedback from day 1. The credit goes to Timothy, chemistry teacher at Peace House, and now a treasured colleague. We were filling that teacher toolbox today! William had us sing the children's hymn - Give me oil for my lamp, keep me burning. WE were burning today! Alexa, Steph and I might never know the outcome of today's seminar but we were given a glimpse of God's plan for Tanzania today. It is in the development of these teachers that hope continues to burn brightly for Tanzania.
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