Rosie!

Here's some candids of Rosie from this morning. Love that girl! Precious!

 All ready for school!

Oh... and here's my delicious temporary escape from the flatland heat :)

Surprise!

Woke up at 6am to Elda gently spreading the blanket over me, as she got up to begin the day.

As you can see in the photo below, I began writing in my journal, but when Rosie woke up and came to sit with me, I decided I'd rather be making more memories with her than writing down the events of yesterday. :) 

 Elda and I, before she left to go to work. Doesn't she look nice? :)

She works a short distance away (Makanya) for World Vision.

She gave me a decorative hair tie this morning and said I can keep the kanga if I want. Told her that I'll at least take it to Chome with me, then I can tell everyone "Elda gave this to me!" She laughed. :)

Mmmm... breakfast! Godfrey and Kenedy cooked for us this morning. I jokingly said that they survived my cooking, so I had better survive theirs :)

While these pictures were loading, Godfrey said he wanted to take me to the supermarket to buy something for me (ICECREAM! WHAT A SURPRISE! I didn't know that existed here!!!)

In front of the store, parked at the gas station, was the Kilenga bus, filled with mission team members! Jerry and Bill were standing out front! What a surprise! What a reunion! So good to see some more familiar faces! Pastor Bernie, Denise... my heart was leaping for joy! :)

Think I'd better begin on the ice cream now. Would be a pity for it to melt :) I am one happy girl!

Friends, Food, Faith, and Fellowship

Here are some more photos from yesterday evening.

 Me and Rosie :)

 Elda pouring water to wash my hands before dinner. Godfrey said he really likes this picture...

 Yum, yum! What a great evening! Friends, food, faith, and fellowship!

Found out it is common practice here to bathe before eating dinner. Hence my wet hair :)

Nothing better than a cold bucket shower on a hot Tanzanian evening!

"Mzungu" Cooks Supper

Making dinner at Godfrey's house. His sister Elda had me wear one of her kangas and let me help make supper while the guys went to haul water for us all to shower. Speghetti with fresh tomato sauce, and "tangawizi chai" (ginger tea)-- delicious! Here we are, cooking the spaghetti over a charcoal stove. 

Grating the fresh ginger to boil in the water along with some "sukari" (sugar).

Have enjoyed getting to know little Rosie. Godfrey and Elda have taken her in, as she was orphaned and didn't have anywhere to go. Had some oreo-type cookies with orange-flavored filling leftover from traveling earlier. Godfrey suggested I give them to her after supper. She was very excited. As soon as she tore open the foil wrapper, she immediately handed the first one to me. Wow! We enjoyed licking out the fillings together and pretending to feed the cookies to her teddy bear. Rosie told Godfrey that she wished she could speak English because then she could talk with me. Sweet girl. Elda and I were planning on rooming together tonight, but little Rosie wants to stay with us. With all these guests, she doesn't want to sleep by herself. I don't blame her! We'll see if we can squeeze the three of us girls in one bed :)

 

Kenedy and Raphael, relaxing and enjoying time together. Kenedy told me while we were eating supper, that it was the first time he's eaten something that was cooked by a white person. We all laughed at that :) I said, "Well, at least you're still alive!"

 

Our beautiful table. Also had "chips" (French fries) and fresh cucumber and mango.

Enjoying this time with friends. Great to be together again.

Don't care if I don't sleep a wink this week. Too much to catch up on :)

It is an amazing feeling to arrive in Chome area without jet lag--that's never happened before!

More Pictures!

 Taking advantage of the speedy internet access to upload some more photos from the past twenty-four hours. Above is me at the hotel in Dar.Then one of the first sights of the Pare Mountain Range. And myself with Godfrey and Kenedy Mwai. Also met up with Raphael Msuya. Wonderful reunions!

Praise God for Godfrey!

!

 Godfrey and his fiance Sara. She is from Dar es Salaam. Good to meet her!

Godfrey purchasing bus tickets for us. So grateful he was able to travel with me from Dar!

I would not have wanted to navigate that sprawling city of four million people all by myself.

Arrived in Same

Went out on a "LIM" today: "LIM Safaris" was the name of the bus that Godfrey and I rode from Dar es Salaam to Same. Great trip. Glad to be off the bus, though I'm sitting again as I type this right now :)