ARUSHA COMMUNITY FAIR

Today we had the opportunity to attend the annual Arusha Community Fair.  This is a huge event for the community and was a nice opportunity to interact with a lot of people.  The church had a booth set up and was distributing free Bible study materials.

It also was a great chance to sample local fair and shop for crafts.  Coincidentally, it was Tiffany's birthday.  I claimed that I had called ahead and arranged the fair in her honor.  She may or may not have believed me...

It even offered our kids their opportunity to see Santa Claus in Africa.  He may not have been exactly what we would have found in an American mall, but hey, this is Africa!    :)

MEET OUR NEW FAMILY DOCTOR

Today we took a trip out to beautiful Monduli, just down the road a little way, to see Tanzania Christian Clinic.  This is a clinic run by Dr. Smeltzer from Florence, AL.  Our coworker, Stephanie Stafford, does volunteer work as a nurse there a few days each week.  We feel very fortunate to have an American doctor close enough to provide regular care for our family.  

Tanzania Christian Clinic

Tiffany and the boys meet Dr. Smeltzer

 

Tiffany was also excited to meet Penina, a Tanzanian midwife

BEAUTIFUL SINGING IN ANY LANGUAGE

Enjoy a clip of the singing at Arusha this past Sunday:

THE JOURNEY

Last Friday night we put the finishing touches on our packing.  We then went to bed with our hearts and minds filled with a wide variety of thoughts and emotions.  Over the next few days we would leave family and familiar behind and move to the other side of the world.  We had been planning the journey for what seemed like an eternity, and now it was finally here.

(It took 3 vehicles (Janie's, Bambi's, and Jared's) to get all of us and our stuff to the airport.)

Saturday we went to the airport and said our goodbyes.  

(Kids, the device in the background is called a payphone.  They were once quite common)

Finally back at the gate we sat to wait for the plane. Out of caution we had given ourselves an abundance of time, so now it was time to make a couple of toddlers wait in the airport for a couple of hours.  Fortunately, God was already looking out for us.  Just as the boys were getting restless we found a playground inside the airport just a little way from out gate!  What a relief it was for the boys to get to burn a little energy!

 

(Flying to "Afka!")

 After 12 hours in the air and plenty of time in airports, we were glad to have an overnight layover in Istanbul.  This gave us a chance to relax, recharge, and regroup a little bit.

(There's nothing like gorging on Halloween candy after a long day of flying!)

It also gave us the chance to see a few sights as we stretched our legs.  The hotel was within walking distance of some beautiful and historically rich scenery. Such as the famous "Blue Mosque":

And the Hagia Sophia:

Then it was time to check-in for the final leg of our journey.  Moving a family of 5 take A LOT of luggage!  I thought you might enjoy seeing the mountain of stuff that we had to keep up with during this trip:

Relieved to have most of our travel logistics behind us, we took one more 8-hour flight to get to our new home.

We landed in Tanzania a little after 3:00 a.m. and our teammates, Cy and Jimmy, were there waiting to pick us up.  Our son, Josiah, proclaimed, "It's Afka!  I finally found it!"  All in all the trip went about as well as we possibly could have hoped.  The babies were great, logistics went smoothly enough, and we were safe and sound. God has taken good care of us so far.  I can wait to see what he has planned for us next!