The girlfriends have arrived

Finally, we write! We've been unable to write due to power often being turned off because it's the dry season, so much to do in so little time, road construction, and understanding African time. It's a good thing -- much more time for talking than for looking at a watch.

Our group is Sandy Furlong (Tom's sister), Kathy Olson (Beth's sister), Sandy Tibbits (friend of Kathy's from Glencoe), and Shari Hamilton (friend of Beth's from Mahtomedi). We are now all sisters and have many more sisters from this part of the world.

We arrived last Thursday. We're heading on safari today for two days but we're pretty sure we already were on one with all of the animals we saw on our 10 hour trip from the airport to Iringa (the city where Beth and Tom live). Even a lion pride!

Our weekend was spent in a very small village about 4 hours away in the hills. As everything is so far, it's all been such an eye-opening, heartwarming, and amazing adventure. We had a Tanzanian retired pastor named Israel with us to help communicate. He and Tom are quite the comedy team and loved by the people. Tom preached to a packed church and people were still on the road walking to hear the Word. As you all know, our group are talkers and that certainly helps with the conversation even though we're not speaking the same language. Add the music, the singing, the dancing, and ................words just can't describe!

We've been to a hospital, two secondary schools with all of the students singing and welcoming us, been fed in local homes, traveling in a Land Rover many many hours on not so great roads with Tom managing it all well, and of course, still finding time for shopping in the local markets. Yesterday we had two Tanzanians, including a mom from Dar Es Salaam who was looking for a school for her child, in the LR for a total of eight. That left Beth, Sandy T and Kathy all sitting in the trunk! Imagine that as Tom braked frequently for goats, cattle, little kids, banana carts and lots of bikes! We are loving almost every mionute of it and grateful to God for safe journeys!

We're getting used to lots of beans and rice, and meals everywhere we stop. It's much like our Scandinavian heritage -- feed the guests well. We are learning to pace ourselves after the five meals within 6 hours.

And of course, each night, we pull the netting down around our beds and continue to be in awe that we are on the other side of the world.

Love to you All. Blessings,
Tanzania Travelers