Nate and Em's Blog

Life after Africa.

2010-06-02T22:04:00.003-05:00

I haven't checked in with our blog for so long now. It's so nice to look back at the memories we have made. I thought it was about time that i updated the blog with our life since Africa. Most of you know that we received the most precious memory of our lives last year!

Miss Molly Hope Grindstaff.

She was born June 24th, 2009 at 7.55pm. Just beautiful! Becoming parents is the most amazing experience. Neither Nate or i can believe how you just don't experience the true depth of love until you have a child. It's the most precious gift.

It has been such a fun time watching her grow. She is such a character and so happy. Our little Hope is almost a year old now and we can't believe how fast the time has past!! I thought i would have a baby for so long but she is already becoming independent!

When we left Africa and came back to the States, after a visit to see everyone in England, we moved back into our home in Tennessee. It was very hard settling back into the life here. We missed Africa so much and still do. Nathan continues to regular pioneer and works so hard so that i can stay home with Hope. We are attempting our first month auxiliary pioneering this month and Hope started with a bad cold!! Typical hey!

Serengeti highlights.

2008-07-06T11:54:00.006-05:00

Our Bible Students.

2008-07-06T11:03:00.003-05:00

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 :(

2008-06-23T04:34:00.002-05:00

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!

2008-06-13T02:26:00.005-05:00

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!

2008-06-13T02:09:00.004-05:00

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.

2008-05-22T13:42:00.005-05:00

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.

2008-05-07T03:39:00.004-05:00

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.

2008-04-18T02:54:00.003-05:00

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.

2008-04-18T01:47:00.000-05:00

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)

2008-03-21T06:33:00.007-05:00

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.

2008-03-20T22:30:00.006-05:00

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.

2008-02-19T02:28:00.003-06:00

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!

2008-02-17T06:33:00.003-06:00

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.

2008-02-03T02:50:00.001-06:00

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!

2008-01-25T07:08:00.000-06:00

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!

2008-01-09T07:38:00.001-06:00

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.

Craft Market Interest.

2007-12-04T05:01:00.000-06:00

We were out in service this morning with Paul and Donna at the craft market. The African people sell their wood carvings of animals and Masai people, along with paintings, bead work and many more things. Many of the Africans speak English so there are many studies held there. The other week a local priest came walking through the market asking everyone to come to the church. We found out later that they had sent him away, telling him that, ' Jehovah's Witnesses take good care of everyone' there and that they, ' teach the truth about the bible'. So a good witness is being given.

This morning we went to do a regular study but he wasn't there. We were just showing Donna and Paul a few of the shops there when a man approached Nate and asked for us to come with him to meet his mother. He is studying the bible and goes home after every study to tell his mother what he has learned, but she wanted her own study. We walked for 15 minutes then entered a labyrinth of mud houses, trying to remember for future visits how we got there! He led us into a corner gate and more mud rooms with a few banana trees in the garden. All the rooms are owned by his family. We went into a very small mud room and Donna and i immediately started the study. She had 6 children. One son, his wife and child, died of Aids, and another daughter was poisoned by a friend.

When we came out of the room Nate and Paul were sat in the garden studying with 5 more family and friends in the garden! They are so very poor but are so happy to study. The hope that the bible gives them is so important to them. After we came out the son thanked us so much for coming to study with his mother and said how happy she was. We feel so helpless when it comes to their present situation, but it's the best feeling you can experience sharing with them the hope Jehovah holds out. It reminds us that no matter we do that's the only thing that will bring them lasting benefit.

Life In Africa!

2007-12-01T04:52:00.000-06:00

Well we have just passed our 2 month marker and life is becoming familiar. We enjoyed such a wonderful visit with Marni and Tiff. We had a week in between then Donna and Paul arrived yesterday and we are happy to have family here.
There have been a few weird and wonderful things happen since we last wrote. The wonderful of course being our ministry. We have a few studies that are making good progress. Justez, whom I wrote about earlier in the blog is still going through a hard time with his sister being so ill. On the other hand he is happy to have a beautiful baby girl. He text me a couple of weeks ago asking me to text verses from the bible that show we shouldn’t accept blood. We text back then he sent another requesting scriptures about idols. Afterwards he explained that he was going over what he had learned at the meeting with his girlfriend. Amiram is another study who is very humble and meek. He appreciates us studying with him so much. We have to travel for almost an hour to get to him on a Sunday. There isn’t a direct bus so it requires a lot of walking but he is well worth the effort. He came to his first meeting last week. We have also started a study this month with a man called Emanuel. He works in the craft market. We really enjoy our study with him as he really speaks from his heart. He has so much faith and trust in Jehovah, he just lacks knowledge. When we discussed the first chapter of the book where it talks about religion teaching that God is to blame for bad things, he said that people can only believe that if they don’t really know God.
Our brothers here also add to the ‘wonderful’ happenings in our life. It’s very dangerous for white people to be out at night here. We live 15 min’s walk from the kingdom hall. Marni, Nate and I were the only ones walking home a couple of weeks ago so a brother from our hall drove behind us shining his lights in the road so we were safe!
Nate had his first No.1 talk. He did a really good job. He has been assigned as a conductor for field service once a week, and often has parts on the meetings. The brothers are really using him and he is happy to help the congregation as well as in the ministry and gain the experience.
Now to the ‘WEIRD’!! We visited the snake farm while Marni and Tiff were here. It was here that we saw the famous black mamba and green mamba. They are very poisonous and live here in Arusha. On our way to the meeting for field service this morning we came upon one in the next street to where we live! It had been killed in the road. It did freak us out though as we walk this road everyday!
At Nate’s request I also have to sadly report that some of our dear friends have succumbed to round worm and larvae! All those who are a little squeamish should probably stop reading! Amoebas and worms are common here. They live inside and feed off what you eat and can be ingested in a number of ways. They are however treatable when found. One poor sister here was infected with larvae from fly’s that lay eggs on your clothes. If you have a cut on your skin and they get inside and form big infected boil like bumps. You can take anti-biotic or the other option is to soften the skin and squeeze them out! Mmmmm!!
On that note I will tell you all that we miss you and will be back soon with more news.

Safari.

2007-11-21T08:22:00.000-06:00

Needless to say our safari was an incredible experience! Even though we aren't in the best season right now we were fortunate to see 4 of the 'Big 5'. Rhino, Lion, Elephant and Cape Buffalo.
The first day was in Tarangire, famous for it's quantity of elephants. We were fortunate to have a very close encounter with a group right by the side of the jeep! We saw lots of Giraffe, by far the most interesting of animals. They are fascinating and completely surreal! Tiff and Marni had an encounter with a very large and hungry baboon. We were stopped for lunch and just as i handed out the lunch bags to the girls, a huge male baboon attacked them and literally fought them for the food. The girls were very protective over their food and refused to give up! That is until he began to bare his huge teeth and growl at them. It was still quite a challenge to convince Tiff to let the bag go but reluctantly she agreed and the baboon feasted on a huge tub of veggies right in front of us!
Baby elephants are the cutest! We watched one walking along with his trunk in his mouth as if it were a dummy (pacifier)!!! Soooo cute!
Our hotel was out of this world with the most spectacular view! Each room had an indoor balcony with ceiling to floor windows. We woke up with the sun rising over the Ngorongoro crater. Just stunning! We enjoyed a huge breakfast then an early game drive. The highlight being just a few feet from 2 lion cubs! They certainly challenged the baby elephants cuteness! We also saw 2 black rhino, one quite close which is rare. Among the ones already mentioned we also saw impala, flamingo, gazelle, monkey, wilder beast, zebra, hyena, warthog, dik dik, eland, jackal, hippo, hartebeest, topi, and antelope.
What made the whole experience so special was sharing it with Marni and Tiff. The 3 of us were like little girls, very excitable! Nathan certainly had his hands full!! It was a memory that will stay with us always. We can't wait for the day when we can all enjoy Jehovah's creation to the full.

Our First Visitors!

2007-11-08T05:03:00.000-06:00

Marni and Tiff have arrived! We are so happy to have them here with us. They had a good journey, even spotting a camel on the way from Nairobi! We took them out in service for the first time this morning. They are quickly learning their Swahili greetings and enjoyed talking with the locals. We also introduced them to the local craft market and now they have a good idea of what souvenirs are available here.
We are all very excited to be going on safari next week for 2 days! We leave on Wednesday the 14th November. Nate has been before with the family of course but this will be my first time also! I never imagined i could go, but there is a lady here who has been associated with the truth for some time now and she gives the witnesses such a good deal. It is definitely going to be a trip of a lifetime, especially being able to do it with the girls. We will send photos as soon as we can.

A Special Thank You!!

2007-10-31T07:39:00.000-05:00

Emma and I were having a drink the other night and talking. This is when we came onto the topic of how we got here to Tanzania. As we sat there thinking and talking we realized that we would never have got here without the encouragement and support of our parents. I can remember that even when we were young my dad and mom were always telling us to do the most we could in the truth. They took the challenge of showing us just how large the organization was and truly showed us how true the scripture in Psalms 34:8 is where it says to “taste Jehovah and see that he is good”. The same is true for Emma’s mum, without her example Emma’s life could have been totally different. She is a zealous example of how one can give their all to Jehovah despite circumstances.
Truly without the support of our parents, Emma and I would probably have never reached this important goal in our life. After being here for just over one month how appreciative we are to our parents for there help. So we are taking this time to send you a big “THANK YOU” for being such shining examples for us all these years, and for taking the time to ensure that our love for Jehovah becomes as powerful as yours is.

Last Night's Meeting!

2007-10-27T03:35:00.000-05:00

We just thought we would write to tell you about our meetings here. We only have one microphone for the speaker and those who give comments shout out their answers. The sound system we have is run off a radio frequency which obviously causes interference. In the middle of the talk you will hear, 'Gooooooooooooooooal', when they are broadcasting a football match!
The electricity is very unreliable so sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. When it's not working we sing the songs without music and it is amazing to hear. Everyone sings very loud. When there is no sound the speaker has to talk very loud also.
The problem last night was that while the sound was off it began to rain very heavily! You can see from the picture of the Kingdom Hall on the Blog that the roof is made of tin!! Our poor missionary sister, Anita, just got up to give the demo and down came the rain! Her voice got louder and louder until it was just impossible to hear. After a few moments it subsided but then the wind began to blow and randomly started to blow the doors open. Needless to say we all had a very interesting meeting.

1 Month.

2007-10-26T05:57:00.000-05:00

Today we have been here for 1 month. The time has flown! We didn't imagine that we would settle into the way of life so quickly here, but it's already starting to feel like home. We are surrounded by wonderful brothers and sisters from around the world. It's incredible to hear their stories and experiences and how they ended up in Africa! There are so many varied personalities yet the thread that runs through everyone is the desire to serve Jehovah more fully. No matter how different we all are, that's what brings us together.
We are still trying to get our studies into a regular routine but if all goes well the rest of the month, we should be able to count 8 between us. One thing that struck us about the people here is the way they think. At home when you show people out in service the questions in the front of the Bible Teach book and ask them which one they would like to know the answer to, most would say, 'Why does God permit Suffering?". Here not one person has asked that. Instead everyone here asks, "What happens to the dead", and "How can i make my family life happy?". The religions here teach all kinds of crazy things about the dead and it leaves so many people afraid and confused. Also, family life is very important to people here so they are very eager to learn how they can be happy as a family.
We haven't moved yet but we are set to move this weekend. I'm glad we were able to stay this week though as i haven't been well. I'm getting better now thanks to the anti-biotics and I'm finally getting some energy back. It's been nice having other people around. You always miss home more when you are poorly!
We have a few exciting theocratic things to look forward to in the new year. There will be a zone visit in January, and the new Branch dedication, both in Dar Es Salaam! We also have an English Circuit Assembly scheduled for May there too, so we are very excited about that. There's certainly lots to keep us busy.

Last Week.

2007-10-18T12:07:00.000-05:00

Hello family and friends. It has been a few days now since we last wrote. The week has been busy and probably the most realistic we've had so far. I haven't felt too well this week. Hopefully i will avoid having to be tested for all the wierd things that you can get here, and it will pass. Nate is doing well though. We are happy to find how well his health is here. We had worried about the dust but he feels great here and has had no problems what so ever. Our routine is working out well and we are settling into our responsibilities. Nate has a huge assignment with the territory. We have been given a large amount of territory from a Swahili congregation and it is his responsibility to map it all. We have made arrangements with the missionary couple to go out every Saturday afternoon to map it all.
Tomorrow we move house. The house here is very busy with visitors so we are going to live in a house that a Greek couple have rented. They are back in Greece selling everything and hope to be back by the end of the year so we are moving in until then. It's a nice house with 2 bedrooms. Marni and Tiff will stay there with us at the beginning of November and then Donna and Paul will be with us until we leave the house.
It's also Kingdom hall maintainance day tomorrow. We worked very hard last week to move plants from one side of the property to the other to form a fence for security. We also cleaned part of it up too and it looked really nice when we finished. Nate however worked with barbed wire! They had to stretch out huge rolls and nail it to the posts for added security.
Our study Justez is having a hard time at the moment. His sister is dying and there is nothing that the doctors can do. As you can imagine he is very upset. Our ministry otherwise is going very well.
We miss everyone very much and would love to hear from you so please feel free to email us when you can.

Last Few days.

2007-10-10T05:52:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone. Just thought we'd write with an update on the last few days. We are settling into our new life more and more each day. Of course the ministry is the highlight of each day and our great experiences just keep adding up. We are managing to stay healthy with nothing more than a few stomach cramps so far, probably due to the change in diet. We are getting into the routine of boiling water, washing all our veg' and fruit in detol, and keeping the tap water out of our mouths in the shower and when brushing teeth! We truly appreciate why Jesus and his disciples needed their feet washing! The roads are so dusty and when we get home after service our feet are black.
A little info about our congregation. It's called 'Arusha Central'. We have 31 publishers, 9 elders, 7 pioneers, and 2 missionaries! That doesn't include the need greaters who come for a short time to help out but don't move their cards. We also have 11 children that aren't yet publishers so there is lots of potential within the congregation also. Our territory is big as we cover all the English speakers.
Nate has just been appointed the territory servant. The maps are quite interesting as none of the streets have names! Most are named by a landmark within the territory. As you can imagine taking NH's is a nightmare. We are starting to imitate our missionary sister in the hall and draw maps of the streets and write the NH's on there. Otherwise it gets too confusing.
The missionary couple in our hall are from Whales and England. Martin and Anita Muxlow. They are very down to earth and have made us feel very welcome. They have been serving in Tanzania for 10 years now.
Here the public transport system is as many other third world countries. The little vans are crammed full until people are literally hanging out of the windows! The most we have counted so far in one is 24! When you stand waiting by the side of the road for one to come by, they still pull up overflowing and try to squeeze you in. We have already had some very close encounters! The other day some of the sisters serving here were waiting for one, it arrived packed and the guy shouted, "You can sit on an African!"
This was the setting for a good experience i had the other day though. I was just about sat on the lady's knee, so i apologised to her and she started to talk to me and ask what i was here for. I explained and she asked how she could learn. I explained the bible study program and she took out her phone and took my number. We made contact the next day and arranged to meet in town and had a great study. She is a single parent with 2 girls and no other family here. She works a lot so meetings may be hard for her but we'll see what happens.
Nate and Sam (a brother visiting from England) had a good call last week. They met Jonas on the street. He was raised as a Muslim but about a year ago changed to be a Christian He was worried about losing Gods favor due to smoking marijuana. He got emotional and said how much he wanted to gain God's approval again. They started the study on the first call in the Bible Teach book and returned this week to study again.
We hope that you all enjoy reading of our adventures here. Please leave a comment or send us a private email to negrindstaff@hotmail.com It really is so nice to hear from our friends. We miss you all very much and keep you in our prayers.

3 Day's Progress!

2007-10-07T11:20:00.000-05:00

We have to write to tell you about a special call that Avril and i had last Thursday morning. We were doing first call and met a young man called 'Justez'. He spoke excellent English and works as a guide for Kilimanjaro. He's been up the mountain around 160 times! He is also a guide for Mt Meru and Mt Kenya. He invited us in and we had an incredible discussion. He fired questions at us faster than we could answer them!
He has just moved to this house due to the fact that his girlfriend is 8 months pregnant. That is a very big disgrace here and some of the local churches will actually disfellowship you! That has happened in their case and they are not even allowed to enter the church. He asked if they would be allowed into our Kingdom Hall so we explained that it is a situation that Jehovah doesn't approve of but that since they are learning the truth they would be able to attend.
He wanted to know if we believed in Jesus, what happens to us when we die, how we worship, if we repent, if we believe the trinity, just to name a few things. We explained that the best way to answer his questions was for him to have a bible study. He quickly accepted and told us that a number of years ago he came very upset with local religions when he saw so much hypocrisy. He knew about the 'Jehovah's Kingdom' church and told his girlfriend that he was either going to join them or the baptists. Then his family put him off saying that we only prayed at night and that we worshipped the devil. They also told him that we never worked and that all the foreigners here just picked any house they wanted and the organisation paid for us to live here! We were quick to put him right there!!
He was very eager to come to the meeting but we could still detect a lot of fear. Anyway he agreed to come the next day. During the discussion i had told him that i would leave him the Bible Teach book. At the end i was putting my bible back in my bag and accidentally gathered the book up too. He stopped me in mid sentence to tell me off for telling him he could have it then taking it back!
Friday i called him to see if he was still coming to the meeting, to which he replied, "Yes I'm here waiting for you, but i don't know what to wear." When we went to meet him he was very smartly dressed! On our way to the meeting (a 30 min walk) we asked if he had told his girlfriend about us calling and he said yes. When he told her about coming to the meeting she got really scared and told him that if he came it was possible that he wouldn't come home because we sacrifice people! Apparently we also run around naked while praying to Satan also!
We arrived at the kingdom hall and everyone was really welcoming. He looked up the scriptures and listened intently. He was very nervous though. He kept looking over his shoulder like someone was going to grab him! Half way through the service meeting he had to leave but he told Nate how much he'd enjoyed the meeting and asked us to come to his house the next day to study!
Saturday we went and had a great study. We were there 21/4 hrs! He started by telling us how much he enjoyed the meeting and then he said how he doesn't know how he will ever feel ready to comment or get up and give a part on the meeting! He was so impressed with a young brother in our hall that gave the talk on Blood transfusions. He couldn't believe that someone so young could know so much about what the bible said. He had come home and tried to find his bible to show Annette (his girlfriend) all the scriptures we had looked at. He was going to his parents the next day to find his bible. The questions again started coming thick and fast and we tried to answer some but kept trying to direct his attention to the book, which we eventually got into. He is very sceptical and won't just agree easily with things, which we told him was good because he needs to know himself that it's the truth and not just because we tell him it is. He couldn't make the meeting today because his family were coming to see him but we set up the study for next week.
It's so hard not to get overly excited when you get such a good call! I just pray over and over that if his heart is right that Jehovah will draw him and help us to teach him well. We'll let you know what happens.

Photos!

2007-10-03T03:10:00.000-05:00

At last! Here are a few photos for you.

Nate and Steve on a bible study at the craft market.

Our house mates.

From left to right......

Nate, Emma, Cathie, Sayona, Steve, Sunny, Arisa, Jessica, Conrad, and Ai.

Our new Kingdom Hall.

Our New Schedule.

2007-10-03T01:57:00.000-05:00

The new week has started our new schedule. Mondays are our day off, Fridays our day to help on the kingdom hall landscaping and the other 5 days are for service!
We had a great time in service yesterday. Nate and i worked together. We met a group of men working at a school. One of them was Islam but asked us what he needed to do to change his religion. Nate explained the bible study program and gave him the meeting times. He said he would try to make it this Sunday. The need greaters here try to direct interested ones to the kingdom hall asap. If they come to the meeting it usually shows that they sincerely want to study. It helps to distinguish them, especially as there is so much interest.
We walked further up the road and a man stopped and asked us what we were doing. Nate again explained the bible study program and arranged to meet him there this morning. Even further up the road a young woman stopped us. She is called Naomi. She speaks very good English. She works as a house girl for some foreigners here and was running an errand. She couldn't stand for long but asked if i could study with her. She was even more interested in coming to the meeting though. I wrote down the times for her and gave her directions. A few doors down we met another house girl named Elizabeth. She too wanted to come to the meetings and study but she only gets one Sunday off a month but was going to try hard to come this week.
We were working in the street with with Sunny, Jessica and Sayona and throught the crack in the gate they saw a huge turtle in the driveway. No one was home so we all stopped to look and took pictures! I'll try to post it so you can all see.
We have written basic Swahili sentences in a book and we use it all the time with the locals. We met a group of children yesterday who got all giddy when we asked if we could take a picture of them with us. They laughed and jumped around like they had just won tickets to Disneyland! We have such a desire to learn the language! There are so many people hungering for the truth.
Steve and Cathie left yesterday for the annual meeting in New York. They will be gone until the 19th. Charles and Sonia, a couple from California came in late last night, so they are our new house mates. We will be moving to a new house in a couple of weeks. It's not too far away. On the same street as Avril and Steve. There are 2 bedrooms. We have Marni and Tiff coming for a little over 2 weeks in November, then on the 27th Donna and Paul arrive for 3 months! We are very excited to have them here with us.
We are working on posting some pictures for you all to see. It's not easy to do here because of the internet connection, but hopefully we'll have some for you soon.

Our First Ministry Experience.

2007-09-29T14:14:00.000-05:00

We have had our first taste of ministry in Arusha! The people here are so incredibly humble and eager to learn about Jehovah. Friday morning we spent the morning at Arusha's craft market where the local people sell souvenirs to visitors. Many speak good English, which makes them part of our territory. We worked our way around the stalls stopping to talk with anyone who spoke English. It's not even a question as to if they will study, only when! They welcome us into their stalls, turn over a bucket for us to sit on, take out their studied books and eagerly wait to hear what we have to say! It's so refreshing! Nate got 1 study Friday and another today!
I worked with Avril this morning, which meant 2 Swahili studies! You don't even have to understand the language to read the peoples hearts. It's evident in their tone and body language. Avril made sure i felt included and asked me to read in Swahili for the first time! It is so frustrating not knowing the languge. You can't help being drawn in and just wanting to help them understand the bible and see the hope they can have for the future. They live with so little and yet they smile constantly. And the babies!!! They are adorable. The children stand in the street and repeatedly shout any english words they know in a desperate effort to get your attention. Their huge brown eyes and beaming smiles are impossible to ignore!
We really are so blessed to be where we are. We have met so many lovely people. Steve and Cathie have become our African parents and take care of us all so well.
We went to our first meeting last night and the brothers were so welcoming. They want to meet with us tomorrow after the meeting to officially welcome us and advise us on what to do, and not do here.
Well it's late so i will sign off for now and try to post some photos asap. Thanks for keeping in touch!

We Have Arrived!

2007-09-27T04:30:00.000-05:00

After a long journey we arrived in Arusha, Tanzania! The flight yesterday went well. The bus was an hour late from the airport but we felt safe. The first tradition we noticed is that all the men hold hands walking along! Nate is thrilled at the prospect!! The bus ride was rather exciting! We spent 4 hours playing chicken with on coming traffic in an effort to avoid pot holes in the road! However we saw Impala, ostriches, and lots of Masai people. We were met by Avril, Steve and Cathie. It was lovely to see familiar faces. Avril and Steve took us back to their house for chili then we came back to our new home, at least for the meantime. We are here with 8 other witnesses. It is beautiful and made such a difference coming to stay with friends. We had a good long night's sleep and both feel great today. We spent the morning settling in and now it's almost lunchtime. Homemade pizza is on the menu today! This afternoon Steve and Cathie are taking us to town to show us around. Then tomorrow will be our first day in service. We'll let you know how it goes.

Welcome to our Blog!

2007-09-23T11:08:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone!
We have just set up a blog so that we can keep you all updated with our adventures! We will try to keep you posted with all our news so please check back regularly.