We have arrived - Arusha, Tanzania

The trip to Arusha was quite an experience. As we left town we were diverted to the side of the road due to construction and I mean THE SIDE OF THE ROAD! A couple of times we thought we might tip over. Then in a few miles we were back on the road. Not a great road but not bad. The countryside was just as I (Rich) had expected for Africa. Rather dry and lots of flat topped trees. But beautiful country to say the least. 

The border crossing was quite an experience. We were sent to all sorts of buildings and asked to fill out all sorts of paper work.

After a few miles we were in a sort of hilly area and all along the road were these very large plants and flowers. We finally decided they looked like enormous morning glory. 

The view of Mount Kilimanjaro was obscured by clouds, which we are told is usually the case. 

But the view of Mount Meru was quite nice. Arusha is on the other side from this view.

Along the way, out in an area that we could not see any buildings of any kind for as far as we could see in all directions we stopped near this beautiful Masai woman walking along the road.

We arrived in Arusha mid afternoon on Saturday, checked into our hotel and went to meet the Elders for dinner. (there are 2 sets here in Arusha).

The next morning we attended church. Getting to the church was like backroad 4 wheeling in the mountains. The roads off the main roads are not maintained at all. There are deep ruts on the sides and in many places they are very muddy. And people walking along the road everywhere. We had no idea that vehicles and humans could occupy the same space on a very narrow, rough road and not hit each other. Then to pass another vehicle was terrifying to say the least.

This is entrance to the church yard.

The church

But the spirit at the meetings was wonderful. These are truly strong members of the church. They all walk to church and some of them from several miles away. The meeting house was packed. Chairs were so close we could not even wiggle. We tried to make a count based on the sacrament trays (which had to be filled a second time) and we came up with about 85. There are about 14 young people hear in Arusha on a humanitarian service type thing from the Provo, Utah area. Not affiliated with the church but all members. It was great to be with the saints here and feel of their love for the Gospel.

The next day we spent running all over town with the Nevin’s to get our phone, banking system and post office box set up. and to check on our flat (which will not be ready by June 1st as we had planned). So we will be in another flat until ours is ready and then we will move again. We are really getting tired of living out of suitcases. 

Then on Tuesday the Nevin’s left to go back to Nairobi. We were feeling pretty terrified at that point. We went up to the church for a Swahili lesson at 10:00 and after that we attended a discussion with 2 of the missionaries and a couple of investigators. That was quite an experience. It was all in Swahili and we actually could tell what they were teaching about. Then we were able to bear our testimonies in english. We hope they felt the spirit and will continue to study. Then we spent the afternoon wandering around town trying to find the place we ate at last Saturday. We never did find it so we just went back to our hotel and ate there.

In the morning we will try to get moved from the hotel to our apartment building. Not into our flat but at least into the building.