Serengeti highlights.

Our Bible Students.

We didn't manage to get photos of all our bible students in Arusha but here are a couple of photos so you can put a face to the names.

Nelson

Emanuel

Fidea

Leaving Tanzania :(

Well our time here in Arusha has come to an end! We leave in a little over an hour! Tonight we will spend the night at the branch in Nairobi and tomorrow we fly to England. The only thing we can smile about today is the thought of seeing family. We can't wait to see mum and the girls and their families. Especially our little Miriam Ruth. We have missed them all so much!!!

We cannot believe how fast the time has flown here. Our experience here has exceeded our expectations and we feel broken hearted in leaving! But it's worth the sad part to have made so many amazing memories and have met such incredible friends. We just want to take the oppertunity to thank everyone here. Especially our closest friends. You know who you are!! Thank you for making our experience here more memorable and for teaching us so much. We love you all.

Family and friends in England and the U.S, we can't wait to see you soon and share all our experiences with you. We can't say enough how valuable this experience has been to us.

Dad, Mom and Casey Visit!

We were excited to have another visit from family and friends. Casey has joined us for the rest of our time here. We are happy to have a 4th room mate for a few weeks. Dad (Alan) and Mom (Charlotte) came for 10 days. This was dads first visit to us here so the boys had lots of fun taking him out in service on their bible studies, as did i with the girls. The joy we get from service here is unbelievable. We are all so excited to share that with others when they visit, so we put in some good days together.

After a few days service then the boys, along with a few from our congregation hiked Mount Meru (The sister mountain to Kilimanjaro), while the 3 girls went for a 3 day safari to Serengeti! Personally i think we got the better half! We certainly didn't look as tired as the boys after the 3 days. Each of the events deserve their own posts so i will save the details for later!

After a couple of days back in town we went to Zanzibar for 2 days then stopped at Dar to visit the branch. Martin and Ineke were very hospitable to us. The bethel family have just moved to the new branch office so there are no tours yet arranged, but they invited us to their room for a drink and gave us a personal tour. The branch is beautiful and has ocean views!

After the branch visit we said our goodbyes for a few more weeks to dad and mom and we went our separate ways. We are now back in Arusha and half way through our circuit visit!

WHAT A LIFE!!!!

How Important Are Meetings To You!

A sister told me this experience a few weeks ago and i thought i would share it with you. Her and her husband were visiting in the South of Tanzania and attended the assembly there.

At lunch time a local sister noticed another sister sat under a tree looking ill. She approached her and asked if she was ok. The sister looked up at her and said, "I'm ok. It's just that i gave birth this morning." She pulled back her kanga (colourful wraps worn here) to reveal a tiny baby! She continued, "I could not miss the assembly today. But as soon as it is over i will go to the doctor."

It certainly makes us think twice about missing our meetings and assemblies!

Pioneer meeting and Circuit Assembly.

We made another trip to Dar Es Salaam for our annual pioneer meeting and circuit assembly. Since the English congregation from Arusha travels so far, (a 10 hour bus ride) the brothers there accommodate us. We were happy to stay with a sister from Austria who has lived in Dublin for the past 6 years, and is now spending 2 months in Africa. Judith was very welcoming and looked after us very well.


We had an interesting (!) experience on our way to the pioneer meeting on Friday! We called a sister to ask for a ride and they told us that we could jump in the back of the truck they were taking to the meeting. This is a normal mode of transportation in Africa so we were happy for the ride. The only problem being, that the minute we got into the back of the truck, the heavens opened and it down poured! Nate, Aaron and i were soaked. It rained so hard it was pouring off us! Again, we are in Africa so we must accept these things. The only problem was that I had an interview on the pioneer meeting! Needless to say we made it through and laughed about the experience afterwards!


The 3 days were so encouraging. Nate did the soliloquy about maintaining a balanced view of alcohol which went really well. The funny thing was that he was helping in security and parking and because of the rains they gave him a huge Kilimanjaro beer umbrella to carry around both days!! The D.O reassured everyone in his concluding talk that Nate was only acting in his part!


The days were all full of encouraging talks and experiences. We left feeling very encouraged and ready to start back in our assignment. One highlight was attending with many of the international servants that have been serving here and helping build the new Branch in Dar. Now that the branch is just about finished they have all received their new assignments and are leaving Tanzania. They were all interviewed and spoke about their different assignments. Many of them have served many years in many different countries. It is encouraging to see the adjustments they continue to make to fit into their new assignments.

Zone Visit.

Following our trip to Rwanda we spent a week in service in Arusha then we headed to Dar Es Salaam for the zone visit. Brother Ellison from Brooklyn gave a very encouraging talk, "What Do You Seek?" He has been travelling around Africa and Tanzania was his 4th stop. Here are the notes from his talk..........


He gave the illustration about looking in a mirror. When animals look in a mirror they don't recognise themselves. But humans do. Perhaps at times we aren't happy with what we see and we walk away and try to forget about it. Or perhaps we don't notice negative things about ourselves. We don't want to look within. It takes someone else to tell us our faults before we recognise them. So is it nesessary to to make a personnal examination? If the answer is no, it's like saying that we would be willing to live without a literal mirror! Yet, as humans, we are glad we can look at ourselves and check ourselves so that we know what others see.


Everyday this system is a rainy day for Christians. If left unchecked, we can quickly become unrecognisable as a Christian. Heb 4 v12 tells us that, 'God's word is alive and exerts power'. We must use the bibles light to reflect our spiritual image so that we can check ourselves as with a mirror. How does it shine? How do we view the light? Are we quick to make changes? It's important to makes changes quickly as small problems are easier to solve than large ones. To illustrate, a ship must take a course to get from A to B. In order to arrive the captin must use a compass and stick exactly to the course. If he allowed the ship to drift just 1 degree off course, the further he travels the further off course he becomes. What if we walked just 1 degree off Jehovah's course?


How do we make decisons? Do we think about how they affect Jehovah? Do we have to be mature to make good decisons? Consider the example of Karen a 7 year old who lived in Cuba. The custom to enroll 7 year olds in the communist army was in effect. When the official entered her classroom and announced that it was a 'happy day for the students' because they would all become members, she raised her hand and said that she could not accept. The official was stunned and took her to the principals office. The principal yelled at her saying that he wanted 100% enrollment and he would have it, and asked why she would not join. Karen explained that she meant no disrespect but that her loyalty was to Jehovah. The official told her that if she refused to join he would have her parents thrown into prison. Karen responded, 'What do my parents have to do with this. It's my decison. Put me into prison.' Impressed, the 2 men took her back to the classroom and told the class,"we want all of you to be as zelous in your convictions as Karen is." Karen was able to see how her stand affected others. She proved that she was concerned about how her decisons affect her relationship with Jehovah.


As we continue to test ourselves we become mature. Jehovah does not provide a list of 'do's and dont's'. He provides principles that make it easy to make decisons. To illustrate: If the doctor tells you that you can't eat pie and icecream due to health problems, then a friend offers you a piece of chocloate cake, how do you reason? "The doctor didn't specifically mention chocolate cake!" Just as the doctor didn't list every single thing we should not eat, so to, Jehovah does not list all the things we should avoid. But, he gives us principles and guidlines to protect ourselves. We only benefit if we listen!


Does the fact that we are elders, pioneers, missionaries mean that we are spiritual? We must understand God's way of thinking and not allow fleshly thought to control us. For example, John, a young publisher lives next door to an inactive family. Stevie, the young boy of the family, and John sometimes play together. One day Stevie invited John for dinner. He asked his mum and she said he could go as long as he came straight home afterwards. John sat at the table with the family and they all began to eat. John just sat there. After a few moments he asked, 'aren't you going to pray?' The family replied, 'we don't do that here.' To which John replied, 'But that's what my dog does!' A dog does not show appreciation for food, he just eats. What do we do naturally?


If we were to imagine our spiritual and fleshly sides on a see saw, which would be higher? We must maintain control. So the next time we look in the mirror, ask, 'how do i look?' Be quick to make corrections. Allow your spiritual person to remain in control and develop a relationship with Jehovah that will last now and forever.

Family Visit.

We are very happy to have had a visit from Nates momma and Aaron. They arrived at the end of March. Aaron has now joined us here until we leave at the end of June and we are very happy to have him here with us. We were overwhelmed with goodies sent to us from our wonderful family and friends in the States! Our Sis and Clint, Miss Casey, Al and Tara, Jake and Jen, the Nolettes and of course momma Charlotte, you are all so sweet and we thank you all for thinking of us.

We had an amazing experience together. Nate and I had to leave the country to renew our Tanzanian visas so we decided to take a trip to the neighbouring country of Rwanda to visit the mountain gorillas. What an experience! Only 700 mountain gorillas remain in the world. They can also be visited from 2 other countries, Congo and Uganda. We visited them in the Volcano's national park. There are a number of different groups to visit but we wanted to visit the largest group called ‘Susa’. It has 39 members!

Our day began very early at the park head quarters. We were divided into groups and assigned a guide. No more than 8 in a group. We drove 1 hour from there to the edge of the volcano where our group live. We were very fortunate not to have rain as it is the rainy season! We were also fortunate because it can take up to 5 or 6 hours to reach the Susa group but they decided to head down the mountain towards us making our hike a little over one and a half hours.

After hiking for a while through thick forest our guide received a radio call from the trackers to tell him that the group had changed directions. They can travel up to 40km per hour! We turned around and followed the guide along the path until we stopped and suddenly started in a direction where there was no path. The guide used a machete to clear the way for us. Before we knew it we were pulling our way through thick bamboo shoots. Then suddenly we stopped, and the guide told us to be quiet. We looked up and just a few feet away was a huge female sat eating bamboo! We were so excited we could hardly contain ourselves. I was shaking so much from excitement i couldn't hold the camera still to get a picture! The guide then began to grunt at the gorilla and she replied! Apparently it was a series of calming noises to let them know that we were no threat. He then led us right up to her! We walked just a couple of feet from her. We then were led past a mother nursing her young and then out into an opening where about 28 of the family were lazing around and playing! What a sight! It really was amazing. Mothers feeding their young, adolescents play fighting, little ones rolling down the hill over and over, silver backs beating their chests. For a whole hour we stood in awe watching these amazing creatures in their home just enjoying life! INCREDIBLE!!!

Memorial.

As is always expected the memorial was a great success this year. We had 77 in attendance at our own, which was a very good result, especially since we had the later of the 2 held in our Kingdom hall. It began at 8pm which is quite late and many don’t like venturing out at night. The Swahili congregation that shares our hall had 168 in attendance.

But out of all the experiences we have heard thus far the most encouraging has to be from one of the 2 English congregations in Dar es Salaam. During the tract campaign the brothers visited a school and invited them all to attend. Much to their surprise 77 students arrived in full uniform! They were all 18 years old! The congregation only has 35 publishers and the total attendance was 211. The brother’s courage was certainly rewarded.

Friends (Part 2)

Ai and Arisa (Japan)

Luke and Nathalie (Alaska and Spain)

Rosalie, Ulrika and Ninnette (Sweden)

Steve and Avril (Scotland and Yorkshire, England)
The Mora Family (Switzerland)

Mike, Terri and Taso (Greece and Canada)

New Friends.

We know how much you all like pictures. So, we thought we would post a few of the many friends we have met since we arrived in Arusha. Some are still here and some have left. We really have met some incredible people. Now you can all put a face to the name!In order........
Steve and Cathie (California)
Martin and Anita (Missionaries from Wales and Yorkshire, England)
Sunny and Jessica (California)
Sayona (California)
Arik and Agata (Poland. Now living in London)
Conrad (California)
Charles and Sonia (California)
Sam (Newcastle, England)

Since the Assembly.

I was so eager to return to Fidea since she attended the assembly. We went to do her study on Thursday and it went so well. She told us how much she had enjoyed the day and asked when there was more! She also told us that when she had her stroke she thought that she was going to die and she felt guilty because she didn't know God well enough. She prayed and told God that if she survived she would find the truth. Then we arrived at her door!

She told us that she realises how important it is to study and that from now on she will be at every Sunday meeting. She lives almost a 30 minute walk away from the kingdom hall and she is quite frail so i aked how she was going to get to the meeting. She said with determination, 'my feet will take me'! I made an agreement with her that if she made it to the Kingdom hall that i would find her a way home. I was trying not to get my hopes up too much but sure enough on Sunday her feet brought her! After the meeting she told a few different ones that from now on she would be here every Sunday. What a joy!

The Sunday meeting was such an encouragement to us all this week. We had 81 in attendance! Only 14 less than the special assembly day!! 21 bible students attended!

Nate has had a wonderful experience with a bible study also. Jamali came running down the street to catch us when we were out in service a few weeks ago. He explained that he studies the bible in his home town but he's visiting Arusha for a few weeks and wants to continue his study. He recognised us as Jehovahs Witnesses and knew we could help him. He's such a kind person who really appreciates the truth. Nate has had some wonderful studies with him and he also attended the meeting on Sunday. He goes back to his home tomorrow where he plans on finishing the book.

Special Assembly Day!

It goes without saying that our assembly was a huge success. 95 were in attendance which is excellent for such a small circuit. We had a member of the branch commitee, the C.O and a few visiting brothers who gave parts on the program. Nate did 2 interviews. One was about making spiritual progress in the ministry and the other was about families and how they encourage and support their children to pursue spiritual goals. Both went well.

A huge highlight for us was having our bible studies attend. Fidea (photo above) was there before we arrived and sat and listened intently. At lunch i thought that she would want to leave because she was tired but she stayed the whole day. Donna studies with twins that live next door to Fidea so they also came along with her and her son, William. I had made pasta salad for lunch which is good because we ended up feeding many more than intended!

When the program was finished i asked Fidea if she was tired and she said, "no is that all there is, i could listen to more"! The brother from the Dar branch came to talk to her afterwards and asked how she felt about us travelling all the way from the States to study the bible with her. Fidea replied, "i prayed and she came."

Before Nate and i came to Tanzania we made it our goal to try to find one study each that we could leave making good progress. I really think i found mine!

An Encouraging Week.

We have had such a busy week full of lots of encouraging things so we thought we would take a few minutes to tell you about some of them. Tuesday Nate and i were out in service together. We had Emanuels study at the craft market. When we arrived he had a friend there who wanted to join in the study with us. We had such a good study. He had so many questions and it was awesome when Emanuel started to answer them! We had done the part in the bible teach book about prophecy and Emanuel explained it all to his friend. He studied us so closley when we spoke, just absorbing the information. He told us that his parents had sent him to the craft market to help Emanuel to 'keep him out of trouble'! We told him that he could join in every Tuesday if he wanted to. He asked about the meetings also as he wants to attend. So we'll see how that goes. It is just such a pleasure to help young ones understand the bible and see their enthusiasm for the truth.
Later in the morning we were stood in the street waiting for my afternoon partner to arrive and a young man walked up to Nate and asked for a bible study! Arrangements were made and they had their first study the next day! He wants to study twice a week so Nate will be kept even busier.
Wednesday Nate and i were doing some NH's over lunchtime. We called at a house and spoke to a young man. As we were leaving the house his brother, Timothy was coming down the drive way. He stopped us and asked us if we were Jehovah's Witnesses and told us that he used to get the magazines and talk about the bible with a witness and was very interested in what we believe. We offered to return to his home and start a study but he explained that his father was opposed to religion and would be very upset if we studied at the house but told us that he could come to our meetings and we could study afterwards! We left him directions and hope that we will see him soon.
Thursday morning i worked with Avril (from England) and we did a study of hers in Swahili. We squeeze into a little shop and study with the lady there. In the middle of the study Avril starts to look at the floor and talk and point. Anyone who knows me also knows how afraid i am of mice and rats and when i saw her do this my heart about stopped! I asked her what it was on the floor and then felt really stupid when she explained that she was describing how the angels look down upon us and take an interest in our lives. Needless to say we all laughed when she explained my fear to the student!!
Later in the morning i took her on Fideas study. (The lady i mentioned in a previous entry.) Fidea has been doing so well with her study and it was so nice to have Avril there so that she could speak Swahili with her and see how much she was really taking in. We had a very good study and Afterwards Avril commented on how well she does at absorbing the information. I also found out that just round the corner from where she lives there is a bookstudy group. She was eager to attend so after the study we took her son to show her the house so that he could take her.

It's almost February!

How fast time flys! Just a couple more weeks and it will be our circuit assembly here in Arusha at the new Kingdom/Assembly hall. It's on the 10th. Nate has received 2 assignments! An interview about making spiritual advancement and helping with the baptism! We will post pictures as soon as we can.
A few weeks ago the first assembly was held there in Swahili. There was a nice experience that we want to share with you. A man from a village in the country far away from here somehow got hold of one of our tracts. He was so impressed by what he read that he decided to go and find the witnesses for himself to bring them back to his village so that they could teach the bible to them all. He walked for 6 whole days and when he arrived at the kingdom hall you can just imagine how happy he was to find the assembly in progress! He listened to the program and the brothers are making plans to go to his village and contact the people there also. It only goes to show how much more work is left in the field!
We were away with a group of our friends for a few days in Dar Es Salaam and Zanzibar last week. We all took the bus down to Dar together and on the way we played 3 of the societies videos for everyone on board to see! It was interesting watching peoples reactions! 'Mzungus' (white people) as we are known, often baffle the locals here i think so it was a good witness for people to see how normal we are!
Our studies are doing well. There really seems like there is no end to the interest. Sometimes it feels overwhelming and we wonder how everyone will be able to learn. It's comforting to know that Jehovah and Jesus are heading the work and will make sure the sheep are gathered. It's also exciting that they use us to help. There really isn't a more satisfying feeling than coming home at the end of a day in service, after teaching people about all the wonderful things our God promises along with the benefits that serving him now brings. These people are so desperate. Living on a dollar a day with so little to their name. They need Jehovah so much in their lives, and when they start to know him it's so evident that this is the truth.

We're Back!

We can hardly believe that it's been over a month since our last entry! We just got back a couple of days ago from the Grindstaff family trip to Cambodia and Thailand. Needless to say we had an incredible time! It was so nice to see the family and spend time with them. We saw and did so much. The highlights were.... hugging tigers, riding elephants, Angkor Wat, floating markets, flower markets, night markets, the food, the smiling people, river boat rides, local school visits, sunrises and sunsets, massages (Nate had 5 and i had 4!!), tuk tuk rides, bridge over the river Kwai, the Thailand branch, a day at 'The Oriental' hotel (WOW!). So many good memories. There will be photos posted asap. Most of all we enjoyed sharing it with family, catching up on each others lives and making up for lost hugs! It pulled at our heart strings to leave everyone again but arriving back seemed comfortable and familiar. Now we are back into the swing of things. After a day of laundry and unpacking we had our first day back in the ministry and another study was started! A lovely man named Lazarus. We will keep you posted as to how the first study goes.

We would like to thank everyone for their concern due to the problems in Kenya. Things seemed to settle down a lot the days leading up to our return so we decided to take the bus, and the journey passed without any problem.