I know that I’m due a blog post, but it’s been hard to work
myself back up to a blog. I went home in August for just a short three weeks
total (travel included). The first week was spent adjusting back to America and
preparing for my sister’s wedding that Saturday. (The wedding was beautiful,
and it was great to catch up with friends and family I hadn’t seen in a while!)
The second week was recovery from the wedding, and the final week was preparing
to return. All in all, it was a crammed few weeks, and unfortunately, not much
of a break.
I flew back to Tanzania on the 28th via London
and Nairobi. I met Karen in the London airport, and we traveled the rest of the
way together. When we arrived in Nairobi, we grabbed our bags and headed out to
spend a very short night at some missionary friends’ home. Just a few hours
later, we were back in the airport before we finished our trip back to Mwanza.
Karen and I definitely jumped right back into things—that first
week back, we had to get all the payroll details together. A usually simple
process can turn into a rather complicated one in Africa, especially when
dealing with sending and receiving documents over email. Slow internet
connection just tends to slow everything down. But, we survived the first
payroll day (and have survived another one since). The kids, of course, were
very glad to see us back. Ferdinand and Mama Nestori had done a great job
keeping everything running smoothly!
In September, the kids were home from school for about a
week. Karen had had some health difficulties just a few weeks prior, so we
entered survival mode for that week. God was very gracious to provide us with
two short-term volunteers during that time. They jumped right in and helped us
out. We were alive and the end of the week, and the kids’ minds had been engaged—a
success in my book!
Karen and I have taken on a project since we’ve returned. We’re
working on reorganizing the container—repacking and relabeling every box,
carefully sizing and recording every item. Our goal is to have a very
functional list of every item (and its location) on the container. We’re hoping
to be able to update our list as we pass out items from the container. So far,
we’ve finished most of the girls’ clothes and a good bit of the boys’ clothes.
Next on our list: shoes! (That’s a scary thought because first we have to match
the shoes…)
Suddenly, we’re at the end of October. Somewhere, somehow,
September and October have both nearly disappeared on us. Some days, it really
doesn’t feel like we’ve done much, but God has a way of using the more mundane
days of life to change us and grow us. We have a bit of excitement coming up in
the next few weeks: fumigation spray in all the buildings, doctor’s visit,
placing a school clothing order, preparing for the end of the school year! It’s
exhausting to think about, but God gives strength and grace. Please pray with
us that all of these events go well and that God continues to work in hearts
and lives here at Tumaini.
