Last Part of July

Seems like lately we live at the immigration office. This process of getting a group ready to attend the Temple has turned out to be a real challenge. But with the Lord’s help and pushing the people at the immigration office we think we will make it. As of the 2nd of August we have all the applications turned in and we are just waiting for the passports to come back.

Our precious Sister preparing for a mission 

has had so many obstacles placed in her way that we have worried that she might give up on the process. The story could make a very interesting novel if we just had time to write it all down. She came to us right after her birthday (which made her old enough to serve) and was ready to go. That was in February. We finally got all her paperwork sent off to the Mission President on July 16. They have found that a lot of the Sisters that are called from Africa have had problems with hemoglobin count being too low. We had received notice of this and were advised to have any Sisters preparing to serve a mission start taking iron pills. But we asked her and she said her doctor had okayed her. We got notice back that the hemoglobin count was missing on the missionary recommendation. We had overlooked that box. So we asked Tausi and she said she didn’t think it was that important. (Again the language/comprehension thing). So we took her into a clinic and had her tested. And sure enough, the count was low. Another hurdle to get over. We went straight to the pharmacy and got her some iron pills. And Sister R. told her to eat lots of vegetables. She said she doesn’t like vegetables. She said her mother gets after her for not eating enough vegetables. Another lesson on the value of a good mother. But now the iron pills are making her sick. So we are hoping she can get over this hurdle and on toward her mission. She is such a sweet girl, she will make a great missionary.

We had another wedding this month. 

Again just to satisfy the legal things for the passport application. The father of the family lives and works in Dar Es Salaam and his family lives here in Arusha. He tries to get home at least once a month but it’s very hard for him to plan ahead because of the company he works for. We got notice on Sat. morning that he was here so we had to squeeze the wedding in on Sunday. And as it turned out it was a very busy Sunday. When we arrived at the church we noticed the baptism font was being filled. We had not heard anything about a baptism so we wondered what was up. We have 2 children in the Branch that are 8 years old and not baptized yet. So we have been talking to the Branch Presidency about the need to have children baptized soon after they turn 8. As it turned out the father of one of the children had decided this was they day. So he had come to the church early to fill the font. It takes about 5 hours to fill the font due to the low water pressure here. The problem was that he didn’t tell anyone else about the baptism. So we had to explain to him that there was another child that needed to be baptized and we needed to set a date for both and plan a program. 

The highlight for us this half month was our trip to Mwanza. We look forward to our visits there with great anticipation. The Branch President and his family are very strong in the Gospel. We really enjoy our visits there. Elder Rydalch has been asked to do the financial audits for Arusha and Mwanza so we needed to get that done before the end of August and this was the only time we could squeeze a trip in. The Branch there now has a computer with the MLS System on it but the power was off the day the Brother from Nairobi was there to train. So Elder Rydalch volunteered to do that while we were there. We usually stay there for 3 days but with all the things we needed to get done we decided to go a day early. We fly there which Sister R. really enjoys. And the weather there is much warmer than in Arusha. So she also enjoys that.

The view from our hotel room is always interesting.

We have watched a new addition to the hotel being built for the past year as we have visited.

The first day there Sister R. spent time making visual aids for the Primary while Elder R. did the audit.

Then that evening we walked down along the bay to another hotel to have dinner.

Then on Sat. after the training on the MLS System we were invited to the Branch President’s home. He has spent several years building it so that he has no debt on it.

He has a large garden all around the home. He told us that since he started growing a garden most of the neighbors had also started growing gardens.

We learned something we didn’t know before. Banana trees only bear fruit once and then they die. Before they die they start a new tree from the roots along side the old tree.

While we were there in Mwanza Sister R. wanted to take photos of a boat being built to use in the Primary movie we are making. We had Abel, our taxi driver take us to see if we could find one. We did find one 

and along with it an interesting tour of the family’s fishing business.

They put lanterns out on the water on these buoys at night and that attracts the fish. 

That's Abel our taxi driver on the right.

Then they drag a net around the fish and pull them into their boats.

We also learned that they grind up the fish bones after the fish have been filleted and use it for chicken feed.

Here is the fountain at one of the roundabouts.

As we were driving around, Abel said. "The people here in Mwanza are lock people". We could not figure out what he meant until it dawned on us that he could not say the letter "r". So he was saying they are rock people. That's because the hills around Mwanza are covered with rocks and the people build their houses right in among the rocks.

On Sunday we attended their meetings. The instructors were well prepared. We just wished we could understand more of what they teach. But the spirit in all their meetings was great. After the meeting we reviewed the missionary recommendations of the 2 missionaries preparing to serve missions. The Branch President has 4 children and 3 of them will be serving at the same time. This is the family that has been raised without any church there in Mwanza for their whole life. They will all be great missionaries. They are very well prepared.

Monday we flew back to Arusha.

We received word while we were in Mwanza that 2 of our Elders would be transferring out. 

We hate to see them go but realize their talents are needed somewhere else in the Mission. They are both going to Dar Es Salaam so they will be able to continue to use the swahili they have learned. We are looking forward to getting to know the 2 new Elders that will be transferring in. More on them next month.

As we draw closer to the end of our mission we are really getting panicky. We have so many things we want to get done before we leave and we seem to be getting less done in a day than we used to. It is so hard to plan our days. We seem to get interrupted with unplanned things every day. Helping the group to get ready to go to the Temple has been one of our goals and that is taking much more time and effort than we ever dreamed it would. The bureaucracy here in Tanzania, especially here in Arusha, is something we have never before experienced. The stories we are recording in our journals will be something that most people will never believe. But with the help of the Lord and the hard work of these members we will overcome. Every day we see how Satan is trying to stop the Gospel here in Arusha. But the members are strong and they will win in the end.