I have been back in East Africa for 2 weeks and feels like I never left. Things are moving quickly, but I see God’s hand in the midst of it. Soooo good!
Here are some pictures from my life here in Tanzania since being back.
Lovely Tanzanian plant life – brilliant colors
Natasha and Me – this little one brings me joy! 
The front of my new apartment
View from my front door
Me and my friend, Nadine. We are at my former neighbor, Alice’s, new home… got my hair cut too
Mt Kilimanjaro is as beautiful as ever… had to take an hour and 1/2 bus ride just to see ‘her’
with my former dog, Saja. he remembered me
Will put up more pictures later on.
5 months ago today I was leaving Nairobi, Kenya to head back to a very wintery Indiana. Oh how the time has flown. I have had a great time seeing everyone and reconnecting with so many that I hadn’t seen in 3+ years. I am on one last trip here in Texas before I head back to Indiana and then fly east to Africa! I got to visit with Pastor Dan and Maria and the fam in Oklahoma. I am Midland, TX spending time with my friend Angie. We go way back to when we both were at our Calvary orientation in Jacksonville 5 years ago. Tomorrow I head out to Houston for my dear Abby girls wedding. Can’t wait! 2 weeks from tomorrow I fly!
Here are some pics from some of my most recent travels.
Here is a video I put together to show the transition between what I have been doing in Tanzania these last three years and what I will be doing these next three.
Just some notes to help you follow along with the video:
1. The very cool intro was not created by me even tho I wish I could say I was that talented. It is the standard Calvary International intro. The second part with the world moving and Africa coming out of it was created by a fellow Calvary missionary, Tyler Croyle, who works in Burkina Faso.
2. In the pictures where I talk about our team growing, there is a photo with our entire team and my parents. My parents aren’t actually a part of our Tanzania team, even tho they are very much a part of ‘my’ team I didn’t have a good picture with just our team so I used the one with them in it as well. So those of you who know my parents… no, I haven’t convinced them to move to Africa yet. I am still working on that tho.
3. The movie clip in the middle is from our conference in Mbeya this past summer. We encouraged all of the pastors to memorize 2 Timothy 2:2. That was them saying it back to us from memory.
4. I absolutely love my Pamoja family in Tanzania. Sig and Joy have been working in Tanzania for 18 years. You can read more about their ministry on their website www.pamoja.info
5. In the picture of Jeremy & Family – Jeremy is the director of operations for Pamoja. What I couldn’t fit that slide is that his lovely wife, Christine, is the manager of Human Resources and Hospitality… which she is VERY good at. Their fabulous childrens’ names are Jacob (3) and Natasha (1).
6. You can find out more about ISOM, International School of Ministry, online at www.isom.org
7. The Maasai group who formed the choir are called, MAPED. Pamoja just released a book documenting the work they are doing. It is amazing. You can find out more about their work and the book at www.en-kata.com
8. The Nipe Jibu logo was designed by Cynthia DeWit. She is a great designer. You can check out her work at inspireling.com
9. All of the awesome music throughout the video was by The Sowers Group. They are a group who love Jesus and are creating and producing powerful, annointed and quality Christian music in swahili. You can see one of their music videos here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAYORfkVtpM
10. I am excited to be partnering with a ministry that is established and working relevantly within the Tanzanian and African context. I look forward to doing my part to make sure that the materials they are working so hard to create are effectively distributed in Tanzania, East Africa, and Africa as a whole.
I would appreciate your prayers as I dive in to this new work. Please feel free to comment and ask questions.
In continuation of the picture catalog from my time home, here are pictures from my mom and dad’s birthdays at the beginning of February
Joy & I, at Pestos for my mom’s birthday dinner
mom & joy
mom & i
me & joy
joy & mom – out at Billy Jack’s for my dad’s birthday
my dad & steve
steve & i
from my dad’s second birthday dinner
we decided to match
mom & joy
dan & joy – the second birthday dinner was so that my brother Dan could be there
me & dan
steve & joy
steve & i – he’s learning to tolerate me
dad & us two girls
the girls
the boys
dad & dan
The week before my trip out west I took a road trip about six hours northeast of my parents home. I had a great time reuniting with some friends that I had met in Tanzania last year. Here are some pics from my time out there.
While visiting with my friend Laura, we went for a walk to a near by waterfall.
woods around the falls
below the falls – the normal walkway was under water because of a recent storm
me and laura – notice the icicles on the tree limbs behind/beside us
with the falls – it was pretty cold
on the way to Kitchener/Waterloo
visiting with Brad and Angie – she had their second little one a week after our visit
me and their firstborn – Boston
my friend, Cynthia, with Boston
me and the fam (including Quazi, their dog)
me and Cynthia, at her birthday dinner
scrunched in the car after her birthday dinner
very cool house that we walked past after getting off the subway in Toronto
inside the Royal Ontario Museum – interesting chairs
one of the few living things found at this museum the lady said i would get a sticker if i found at least ten of these frogs in the tank. i found eleven and then she mentions that only kids can get the stickers. i felt jipped
“that all men may know his work” – cool ceiling in the ROM
part of a display in the minerals section – i took a picture of it for our friend, Davin, who is from Namibia
“queen of kilimanjaro” – from their gemstone exhibit – worlds largest faceted tanzanite (242 carats) not to mention 803 garnets & 913 diamonds – beautiful
display of other gems
carving made of quartz
i took this pic for my mom – she loves opal
richard and cynthia – i made them take all kinds of silly pics that day
ice sculpture outside of the ROM
cool building next door to the ROM
part of the outside of the ROM
me and cynthia posed with the same ice sculpture
me and richard at ‘the rex’ – a great little place with live jazz and good eats
cynthia at ‘the rex’