Last day at the University

Our last day at the University campus is here :( It is a sad day - we must say goodbye to the friends we've made here. Tonight there will be a goodbye dinner for us here on campus. We were each to challenge 3 students to be involved with life ministries in September. We gave out invitations to those students who were interested in life ministries to come tonight. It's mid exam time right now, so it's very difficult to go out sharing this week because the students are busy studying. It's been a good week though- God keeps bringing people to us who are so ready to recieve him.

Suzanne and Casey have been sharing with 3 Jehova witness girls- well, they've been getting weekly visits from a JW. These three girls have all prayed to recieve Christ and Suzanne has met with them 3 times now. Last tuesday Suzanne and I prayed that this JW lady (Katherine) wouldn't show up that evening. And, praise God, she didn't show. On Wednesday when Suzanne met with the girls she felt compelled to share verses and points that explain the difference between Christianity and false beliefs of JWs.

The weather here has turned from very hot and sunny to cloudy and rainy. Today we've had a nice cool breeze. It's going to be quite a change to go back home and not be sweating all day long. It's still hot- I'm not sure what the temperature is.

This morning a few of us went to the supermarket- more like a wallmart. I walked in and had to reminde myself that yes, I was still in Africa. I lot of the items are the same price as at home. A few things are way cheeper and some things are quite a bit more- depending on where it comes from. I bought a box of Tanzanian tea for 50 cents and some african spices so that I can make real Tanzanian dishes when I go home. I broke down and bought a jar of raspberry jam. I don't really like the jam that they serve at the Msimasi centre- everyday we have white bread (not toasted) or crepes- if you're lucky. Every morning I ask for pancakes- sometimes they have them, some times they've stoped making them already. And boiled eggs everyday- sometimes they fry the egg, which is a nice change. I'm looking forward to some tasty raspberry jam with my bread and egg tomorrow.

Last Sunday we had quite the time at Church. Helawi took half of us to his Pentecostal Church- which was actually just a basement- no building. Helawi is from Etheopia and works with life ministries now. He has quite the gift of Evangelism. I went sharing with him last week and wow, what passion and excitment he speeks with. He quoted about half a dozen verses- which I looked up and read to the students we were sharing with. Every time he goes sharing he uses different verses and different analagies depending on who he's sharing with and what the holy spirit puts on his heart to share and what verses pop into his mind.
Anyway, those who went with Helawi had a real pentecostal experience- actually etheopian pentecostal. Some objected to the preacher shouting at them and the not organized singing... (there was a bit of a discussion Sunday afternoon about this) my group is going there this Sunday. I think it's important not to judge the way in which people worship- (as the bible says) and just take in the experience and learn whatever it is that God is teaching you.

My group went with Josephate- 13 of us fit into his van- 2 rode in the very back- to the International Baptist Church. The airconditioning invited us into the big clean building. Many mazungues (white people) were in attendance. Josephat went to the baptist semanary to be a pastor, but now he works full time for life ministries. The church made us feel very much in Canada- everything was in English. AND then they invited us to stay for the potluck with food that we eat back home! Brownies and chocolate chews were very tasty! The potluck was for the new pastor and his wife who just came from Kansas. They've been without a pastor for 6 years. I met a man who was origionally from the states. He told me that he visited BC and remembers eating a plum there. 40 years later he still remembers the taste of that plum. I'm supposed to send him some...

On Monday some of us visited an orphanage. There are 2 orphanages located on the ground of the Msibasi centre. It's quite a big compound. I wasn't sure what to expect at the orphanage- but I was happy to see it was very clean and the nuns and ladies that work there are very loving towards the children. We went to the building where the babies were. We saw some babies sleeping and then got to play outside with the 1.5-2 year olds. When we got there they were still doing potty time- all 15 of them were seated on wooden potties and had to sit there until their bussiness was done. They only wear diapers at night and to go to bed, so some of them had to have their shorts changed while we were playing with them. They were so shy at first- to see so many mazungues at once! Then one little girl ran into Joanna's arms. Slowly they became less shy towards us, and then all us girls were holding babies in our arms. It's not possible to know if a child has HIV because he/she can only be tested at age 14 months (don't quote me on this it might be more like 18 months). It was fun to hold the babies and play with them. I brought my bubbles to blow, but they were a bit scared of them and couldn't quite figure out how to make bubbles themselves. The older kids that we saw walking to the orphanage got a kick out of the bubbles.

Monday night 9 of us went to Anne and Dismuses (he's the national director of life ministries in Tanzania) and their son Joshua for dinner. 9 others went on Sunday night. I wasn't going to go, but last minute, Anet wanted to stay back to sleep, so I went. Very good food- samosas, mango/passion fruit juice, rice made with coconut milk, chipaties, peas and stew. Anne told me how to prepare all the dishes the other day- I wrote down all the ingredients and directions so I can make it at home. Homemade still tastes way better! (by the way, Anne decided that Suzanne and I are to stay back in Tanzania and stay in their extra bedroom- I told her that she'd have to break the news to my parents herself. HAHA (Anne has a great sense of humor)) Desmus told us of how difficult it is to raise support in Tanzania. People are very non commital here- for instance, we never know if an appointment will actually show up. They have to constantly reminde their supporters to give them the money they promised. When Desmus became national director, their support droped to 20%. They live in a very very small appartment on the 6th floor. Great view of the city from the roof. Joshua is 5 years old and goes to school everyday- they have to pay for his school.

They still haven't told us where exactly we're going and with whom. The staff will be going south of Dar to a new area. The rest of us will be devided up in teams to go to 6 different areas. We will be accompanied by Life ministries staff who will translate for us at the Jesus film site. The different teams will go to Tanga, Arusha, Daruso and Mambosa and 2 other places.

We're going for R&R on Monday- I hope it's a nice place. I'm not sure if we will actually go on Safari- I hope so. See some wild animals in their natural habitat. I hope to go shopping at the market on Saturday (tomorrow) and buy some Kangas and jewelry and other cool authentic Afrcan artifacts.

My time's almost up on the internet-
God bless you all! Mungu Akubariki!

Louise