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!