First Full Day in Arusha, Tanzania - Jeff

It was a great first full day in Tanzania, which the locals pronounce “Tan-zan-nia”.  We went to the seminary in the morning and met Pastor Jeremiah, Pastor Robert, his family, and a number of the seminary students. They are beginning the new term this week.  What a blessing to sit in on the devotional and sing my first Swahili hymn.  The beauty of the Swahili language is that you pronounce every letter as shown.  No silent letters or combining letters for other sounds.  It's pure phonetics.  It makes the engineer in me smile in its simplicity and following simple processes.  I was also reminded of the blessings of our modern technology.  Google Translate works well in most countries.  We finished up the morning with a little drive to a local lake.  We were looking at running options for me as I try to take the opportunity to exercise on this trip.  Saying it out loud might help me manifest it…maybe…or at least have some of you hold me accountable to it. lol

After a great meal, anyone who knows Paula Naumann knows she can cook (Thank you Paula), I had the time to finish my lesson plan.  As I mentioned in a previous post, one of the great blessings of a trip like this is personal time to study.  Reading all four gospel accounts of the feeding of the 5000 along with commentaries and a study of geography brought out things I had never thought of in the lesson. Simple things like the potential location of the where the event took place and the geography of the Sea of Galilee and how it would support someone being able to see Jesus and the disciples in the boat in the sea as they tried to “get away” from the crowds.  Only then to land, in what they thought would be a desert place, to a large crowd.  Being able to put these insights into a lesson was so enjoyable.  I am looking forward to being able to present. The benefit of a Mission Helper Trip is that you can adapt your plan as you practice it daily for several weeks. 

It was great to have an additional rest day as I get acclimated to the new time zone.  We went on a hike in the afternoon to the local market and stores for some items we needed.  Walking around the area and interacting with the locals is a blessing.  Many at least here want to practice their English as they don’t often get to speak with someone that is native to the language.  English is taught in school and secondary education is all in English, but without practice, like any language, we lose it.  I took one photo of the local store's drink selection.  I am not sure what everyone expects of these trips, but it is often that you can find many of the items you have at home in other parts of the world.  The Coca-Cola company has done a great job ensuring their stuff is made similarly everywhere.  Finished up the day with another awesome meal, relaxing, and working on finishing up my book “The Men We Need”.