Busy, Busy, Busy
Thursday, Janet and I worked on the ditch which has our pipe that is going to bring water to our house. We still need one more roll of pipe to bring it to the house, but in the mean time we needed to get the pipe level. We will get air locks in the pipe and the water will not flow properly or not flow at all. Anyway, Janet used the transit and I had the measuring stick. About every 8-12 feet we would measure and I would either put dirt under the pipe or take some out. If you can picture this, (which I did get a picture of us both at the end of the day), but if you can picture – the ditch ranges from about 3’ deep to approximately 5’ deep. The width of the ditch is barely 8-10”. First, we measure; most of the time I have to shovel dirt into the ditch on top of the pipe. Then I stand in the ditch so that I can bend down to lift the 2” pipe up on top of the dirt. Remember that the ditch is barely 10” wide and I am bending sideways into the ditch. Most of the time I am standing on one foot the other is somewhere in the ditch behind me but some of the time I have to have both feet behind me because the ditch is so narrow. From my head to my feet I am in the ditch. I was so filthy at the end of the day that if I worked much longer you would think I was a native of Mago, Tanzania. Janet wasn’t too far behind me. She was in the ditch some, but it just didn’t work for her. We did this most of the day and my back was hurting when we got home. I had a catch in my right hip area that finally went away by Sabbath evening. A day of rest really helped. Janet thanked me for the work and I told her it was a dirty job but, someone had to do it. We both laughed.
Sunday and Monday I spent filling in the ditch under the pipe in between the dirt piles that we had made. This was also a hard and dirty job. It was hot during the midday and so I quit on Sunday until late afternoon and then worked until sundown. Monday morning she sent 3 of her workers out to help me. I was very thankful for the help. Surprisingly, my back bothered me some on Sunday and I was expecting it to hurt on Monday when I went back out to shovel, but it wasn’t too bad. I praised the Lord!
Some of the fundis are framing for the 8” concrete “starter” for our bricks for the school and that doesn’t take all 11 of them; so one of the fundis is building a brick sofa/loveseat in our house. It sounds crazy but it really looks nice. I have pictures and will have them in my presentation for you to see. Another group is working on our septic tank. They are building it with bricks and then putting a plastering on both sides of the brick to seal it. So there is a lot of stuff going on. Oh, also we had 3 of the fundis build our dam out at the springs and it is done. All we are waiting on to get water to the house area is one more roll of pipe which Jason got today from Dar and we should be getting it sometime this week (hopefully).
With all of this going on, this blog was late getting written let alone getting posted. I am writing this Monday night after I went to bed. Hopefully I can post it tomorrow.
Hope all is well where you are… Bye for now from Mago…
Deniece
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Am I Lonely?
Lonely – as described in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (I don’t have Webster’s Dictionary, which I prefer) describes lonely as “being unhappy because you have no friends or people to talk to. That does not describe me because Janet is here and we talk sometimes, Baraza who is our translator – I talk with him sometimes and his wife, Mariam, also speaks a little English. So in that manner I am not “lonely”. I am lonely when I think of my friends and family that I would talk to regularly and I miss them and that is when I get “lonely”. I think reminiscing is good for the soul if you don’t let it control you, and maybe it sounded like I have been. My apologies for any misunderstanding, yes I am lonely for my friends and family, but I don’t think I am “lonely” to the point of despair. I have been here only one month and I am sure that in time I will adjust. When I was at Andrews, I remember seeing a sign that had a picture of someone by themselves and it said something along the line of - I may be lonely, but I am never alone; meaning that Jesus was always there. This is how I feel. I have been talking more and more with Him because I am by myself a lot. In this manner, this is a good thing.
Enough of that “philosophy” and on with other news; construction has started on our school and I am getting pictures but I can’t include them in the blogs. I will be putting together a power point presentation using them to show to when I come home. Anyway, the ditches for the footers are pretty well dug and now the rest of the ground is being leveled. Once the footers are poured and the bricks are starting to be laid, I was told that these guys are good and that the building will go up fast. We need to get water to them, so Janet has just left to go get some “inexpensive” piping to tie into our current water system that we drink to get water to the construction site. We have to go to Dar to pay and get the better kind and we just don’t have time now, so we are doing something temporary until we can.
With campmeeting going on, either Baraza or Janet fixes breakfast and I have been getting lunch. There are only four of us eating so that isn’t too bad. Supper is generally leftovers or Baraza will fix something for him and Disma. Janet and I generally do not eat supper.
Some of you who have my gmail account please email me. I have recently set up Outlook and the contacts did not carry over. So I need to reset them up. Thank you. Also, please do not send pictures, that just slows down the system and also takes a lot of megabytes to download which turns into money lost with my system over here, just text please.
Bye for now from Mago…
Deniece
Lonely – as described in the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (I don’t have Webster’s Dictionary, which I prefer) describes lonely as “being unhappy because you have no friends or people to talk to. That does not describe me because Janet is here and we talk sometimes, Baraza who is our translator – I talk with him sometimes and his wife, Mariam, also speaks a little English. So in that manner I am not “lonely”. I am lonely when I think of my friends and family that I would talk to regularly and I miss them and that is when I get “lonely”. I think reminiscing is good for the soul if you don’t let it control you, and maybe it sounded like I have been. My apologies for any misunderstanding, yes I am lonely for my friends and family, but I don’t think I am “lonely” to the point of despair. I have been here only one month and I am sure that in time I will adjust. When I was at Andrews, I remember seeing a sign that had a picture of someone by themselves and it said something along the line of - I may be lonely, but I am never alone; meaning that Jesus was always there. This is how I feel. I have been talking more and more with Him because I am by myself a lot. In this manner, this is a good thing.
Enough of that “philosophy” and on with other news; construction has started on our school and I am getting pictures but I can’t include them in the blogs. I will be putting together a power point presentation using them to show to when I come home. Anyway, the ditches for the footers are pretty well dug and now the rest of the ground is being leveled. Once the footers are poured and the bricks are starting to be laid, I was told that these guys are good and that the building will go up fast. We need to get water to them, so Janet has just left to go get some “inexpensive” piping to tie into our current water system that we drink to get water to the construction site. We have to go to Dar to pay and get the better kind and we just don’t have time now, so we are doing something temporary until we can.
With campmeeting going on, either Baraza or Janet fixes breakfast and I have been getting lunch. There are only four of us eating so that isn’t too bad. Supper is generally leftovers or Baraza will fix something for him and Disma. Janet and I generally do not eat supper.
Some of you who have my gmail account please email me. I have recently set up Outlook and the contacts did not carry over. So I need to reset them up. Thank you. Also, please do not send pictures, that just slows down the system and also takes a lot of megabytes to download which turns into money lost with my system over here, just text please.
Bye for now from Mago…
Deniece
Monday, September 21, 2009
Fundi’s Are Arriving
Today is Monday, September 21, and I have been in Tanzania for 1 month and 2 days. Come the 24th, Thursday, I will have been here in Mago for 1 month. It really has not been as bad as I had thought it would be. The Lord has given me strength each and every day and He has been with me this month also. When I am by myself (which is quite a bit) I find myself talking out loud to Him. I was doing that the other day going to the springs and a donkey sounded off just as I walked past him. He was loose in the brush and I didn’t see him. I knew it wasn’t the Lord answering me, but it did startle me and I didn’t know what it was at first.
We are starting at digging the footers on our Industrial School. The laborers (fundis) are starting to arrive yesterday from Kibidula. Some are coming by bus and others arrived with Janet. She went down there Sabbath so that on Sunday she can pick up some things for the project and load up with as many men as she can from there. They will be digging the footers and also laying the bricks. It should go up quite fast. They will also put in our septic tank and our sofa (made from bricks and then we will put cushions on them).
We laid out the 2” pipe in our ditch on Friday, but we ended up short about 100 meters. We are trying to locate some so we can finish the job. So far we haven’t found any we can get a hold of. We can order from Dar but it will take longer than we want to get it. We may have to anyway. When we get that pipe we will bring water to the house and also pipe it down to the construction site for their water needs during construction.
We are waiting on a quote from a guy who came the other day that is going to do the plumbing in the house. We want water here by the time he is ready to start so that when he is done we will have indoor plumbing. We have a 9 foot deep hole ready for septic tank construction also. So there are a lot of different things going on.
Janet has been meeting with our Bible Workers every morning at 7:00 to get a run down on what they are doing. There are several bible studies going on and lots of visitations. Today begins campmeeting in this area and some of the Bible Workers have gone to it. Two of the men have stayed for they are translators for us and with the new workers coming we needed at least one of them. They both decided to stay. Both our cook and the house boy (who cooks also) have left so we are trying to find another cook. We may be doing our own cooking, which will be alright if I can cook on the stove in the kitchen in the house instead of over a fire in the outside kitchen. We’ll have to see.
Bye for now from Mago…
Deniece
Today is Monday, September 21, and I have been in Tanzania for 1 month and 2 days. Come the 24th, Thursday, I will have been here in Mago for 1 month. It really has not been as bad as I had thought it would be. The Lord has given me strength each and every day and He has been with me this month also. When I am by myself (which is quite a bit) I find myself talking out loud to Him. I was doing that the other day going to the springs and a donkey sounded off just as I walked past him. He was loose in the brush and I didn’t see him. I knew it wasn’t the Lord answering me, but it did startle me and I didn’t know what it was at first.
We are starting at digging the footers on our Industrial School. The laborers (fundis) are starting to arrive yesterday from Kibidula. Some are coming by bus and others arrived with Janet. She went down there Sabbath so that on Sunday she can pick up some things for the project and load up with as many men as she can from there. They will be digging the footers and also laying the bricks. It should go up quite fast. They will also put in our septic tank and our sofa (made from bricks and then we will put cushions on them).
We laid out the 2” pipe in our ditch on Friday, but we ended up short about 100 meters. We are trying to locate some so we can finish the job. So far we haven’t found any we can get a hold of. We can order from Dar but it will take longer than we want to get it. We may have to anyway. When we get that pipe we will bring water to the house and also pipe it down to the construction site for their water needs during construction.
We are waiting on a quote from a guy who came the other day that is going to do the plumbing in the house. We want water here by the time he is ready to start so that when he is done we will have indoor plumbing. We have a 9 foot deep hole ready for septic tank construction also. So there are a lot of different things going on.
Janet has been meeting with our Bible Workers every morning at 7:00 to get a run down on what they are doing. There are several bible studies going on and lots of visitations. Today begins campmeeting in this area and some of the Bible Workers have gone to it. Two of the men have stayed for they are translators for us and with the new workers coming we needed at least one of them. They both decided to stay. Both our cook and the house boy (who cooks also) have left so we are trying to find another cook. We may be doing our own cooking, which will be alright if I can cook on the stove in the kitchen in the house instead of over a fire in the outside kitchen. We’ll have to see.
Bye for now from Mago…
Deniece
Sunday, September 20, 2009
God Is So Good
Since I have been here I feel that my health has improved. I do a lot of walking. Sometimes walking up the hill my heart rate gets up around 150 but the recovery rate is good. The exercise strengthens my heart so that most of the time my resting heart rate is in the 60’s. I enjoy the weather here. I think I have worn a long sleeve shirt only 2-3 times and that was early morning when we had a frost over night. While working it does get hot although it really isn’t – it is probably in the 70’s. I remember talking with a friend of mine back at EVI and remember saying that if the Lord was sending me I would be happy here. I have heard that happiness is a mind set. I can choose to be happy in the worst situation; or I can choose to be miserable in the best situation. So in that case, yes I am happy although I do sorely miss my friends and family.
When I pray I pray for patience. In answer to my prayer the Lord brings situations and trials to test my patience. I have been tested and tried everyday and yes I fail some, but mostly at the end of the day I can see times where the Lord had strengthened me at the right time and the victory was mine. I still have a long way to go for trials still come, but I have prayed for the Lord to change me to make me ready for heaven; I feel He is working on me still and praise Him for it. The victories bring happiness to me also.
I believe that the Lord brought me here and I can see myself staying here longer as long as the Lord is keeping me here. If I didn’t have contact with family and friends it probably would be harder. Also knowing I have friends praying for me helps. I know that as long as the Lord is with me there is nothing too hard to stand.
My co-worker, Janet, is actually my boss and she is doing what she does best. She gets things done that needs to get done in her way. She is good at what she does and accomplishes a lot.
have a variety of work that she gives me to do and I enjoy the variety. I like keeping busy and there is plenty of that here. But….
I am beginning to befriend the village kids. In one of my blogs I mentioned something about 5 girls that sat with me while I worked on the computer. Well we decided I would teach them English and they would teach me Swahili. Ever since then, I believe they have told most of the kids in the village. When a group of kids see me, they call out my name and wave. If I am close enough they point at something and ask what it is in English. These aren’t even the girls I originally talked with. This is exciting for this is how Jesus worked. He befriended the people, healed their bodies and souls. When I work with the kids, yes I feel like a missionary. I feel like I am accomplishing something and it is coming naturally, not something that is planned and I have to make appointments and the like. It just happens any time of day. I know the other work I do is important and needs to be done; somebody has to do it and I do enjoy it; but, when I work with the people I really enjoy it, especially when I don’t plan it and it just happens. Please pray that my Swahili will steadily improve. I have started reading a condensed book about the Swahili language and I am praying that it will happen soon.
I hope this puts peoples mind at ease. Love and miss everyone. I could be happier if some of you were here.
Good bye for now from Mago…
Deniece
When I pray I pray for patience. In answer to my prayer the Lord brings situations and trials to test my patience. I have been tested and tried everyday and yes I fail some, but mostly at the end of the day I can see times where the Lord had strengthened me at the right time and the victory was mine. I still have a long way to go for trials still come, but I have prayed for the Lord to change me to make me ready for heaven; I feel He is working on me still and praise Him for it. The victories bring happiness to me also.
I believe that the Lord brought me here and I can see myself staying here longer as long as the Lord is keeping me here. If I didn’t have contact with family and friends it probably would be harder. Also knowing I have friends praying for me helps. I know that as long as the Lord is with me there is nothing too hard to stand.
My co-worker, Janet, is actually my boss and she is doing what she does best. She gets things done that needs to get done in her way. She is good at what she does and accomplishes a lot.
have a variety of work that she gives me to do and I enjoy the variety. I like keeping busy and there is plenty of that here. But….
I am beginning to befriend the village kids. In one of my blogs I mentioned something about 5 girls that sat with me while I worked on the computer. Well we decided I would teach them English and they would teach me Swahili. Ever since then, I believe they have told most of the kids in the village. When a group of kids see me, they call out my name and wave. If I am close enough they point at something and ask what it is in English. These aren’t even the girls I originally talked with. This is exciting for this is how Jesus worked. He befriended the people, healed their bodies and souls. When I work with the kids, yes I feel like a missionary. I feel like I am accomplishing something and it is coming naturally, not something that is planned and I have to make appointments and the like. It just happens any time of day. I know the other work I do is important and needs to be done; somebody has to do it and I do enjoy it; but, when I work with the people I really enjoy it, especially when I don’t plan it and it just happens. Please pray that my Swahili will steadily improve. I have started reading a condensed book about the Swahili language and I am praying that it will happen soon.
I hope this puts peoples mind at ease. Love and miss everyone. I could be happier if some of you were here.
Good bye for now from Mago…
Deniece
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Completed But The Lids
Hello to everyone. Today is Monday the 14th and Janet has gone to direct our guest to our location. Steve Grabner, his mother and two other women will arrive this afternoon for a two day stay here. They will be looking over our operations here. On Wednesday they will arrive back at Riverside for their board meeting. We hope their stay here is uneventful and yet full of events.
We completed yesterday our water containment system at the beginning of our spring. We completed at least all but the lids. It was a little rough going yesterday. I built the boxes so that the boxes can be taken apart easy after the cement dries. Well they were put together a little too easy and they started coming apart while putting the cement in. We nailed put to no avail. We ended up bracing it on all sides with boards going up against the embankment and then other smaller boards going perpendicular to them, hammering down until they are tight. When we left last night it was still intact. Prayer is now what we are using to keep it together. This was a learning experience for me. This was the first time I had built a form for cement like this one. When I saw it coming apart, all I could do was pray hard. God is so good! We were able to get it done by a prayer.
We will be using the water at our house and also at the industrial school at least for the construction right now. We now have to string out the pipe line from the containment system to here and onward to the school. We need the connectors and more pipe which Janet will be ordering soon if not already.
There is so much needed to get done that one just has to do what they can. Our house needs painting, door knobs put on doors. All the doors squeak terribly. Kitchen cupboards built and bathroom, kitchen and laundry room set up. We did have someone here who is to give us a price on doing the plumbing which needs to be done. So things are slowly getting started.
The church ceiling still needs completed, but I needed to work on something else first. In time it will get done.
Don’t know when this will get posted, today hopefully, if not by Wednesday for sure. Love every one and miss you too.
Goodbye from Mago….
Deniece
Hello to everyone. Today is Monday the 14th and Janet has gone to direct our guest to our location. Steve Grabner, his mother and two other women will arrive this afternoon for a two day stay here. They will be looking over our operations here. On Wednesday they will arrive back at Riverside for their board meeting. We hope their stay here is uneventful and yet full of events.
We completed yesterday our water containment system at the beginning of our spring. We completed at least all but the lids. It was a little rough going yesterday. I built the boxes so that the boxes can be taken apart easy after the cement dries. Well they were put together a little too easy and they started coming apart while putting the cement in. We nailed put to no avail. We ended up bracing it on all sides with boards going up against the embankment and then other smaller boards going perpendicular to them, hammering down until they are tight. When we left last night it was still intact. Prayer is now what we are using to keep it together. This was a learning experience for me. This was the first time I had built a form for cement like this one. When I saw it coming apart, all I could do was pray hard. God is so good! We were able to get it done by a prayer.
We will be using the water at our house and also at the industrial school at least for the construction right now. We now have to string out the pipe line from the containment system to here and onward to the school. We need the connectors and more pipe which Janet will be ordering soon if not already.
There is so much needed to get done that one just has to do what they can. Our house needs painting, door knobs put on doors. All the doors squeak terribly. Kitchen cupboards built and bathroom, kitchen and laundry room set up. We did have someone here who is to give us a price on doing the plumbing which needs to be done. So things are slowly getting started.
The church ceiling still needs completed, but I needed to work on something else first. In time it will get done.
Don’t know when this will get posted, today hopefully, if not by Wednesday for sure. Love every one and miss you too.
Goodbye from Mago….
Deniece
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
What Do We Eat?
This question has been asked a number of times. Well, here is the answer:
Yes, I do eat rice and beans, but not every meal. Sometimes I eat beans with potatoes or with spaghetti. Sometimes we have a “gravy” sauce with TVP in it to put over our potatoes, rice or spaghetti – which ever is being served. Sometimes the rice has potatoes in it, sometimes it don’t. We have spaghetti with chopped onions and chopped Roma tomatoes in it. Mariam, our cook, bakes bread most every night so that we can have bread for breakfast. We put honey or jam on the bread. Sometimes we have avocados to put on our bread. We have cabbage to eat. She cooks the cabbage with tomatoes and onions in it, which is very good. We also eat the cabbage raw, which also is very good. This morning we had conde; which is something like our hominy with beans mixed in it and had some bread to go with it. Sometimes we have potatoes cooked in a kettle, sometimes boiled, sometimes baked. As far as fruit goes, right now we eat bananas and sometimes oranges. Right now there is not a lot of fruit in season.
I don’t eat supper right now for two reasons. One - is that they eat later than what I would like and, two - sometimes it is too heavy of a meal. I am planning to buy some popcorn and make some of that at night. Right now on some nights I just make me a cup of hot carob drink around 6:30-7:00 to drink while I am reading a book before I go to bed. Sounds cozy, huh? Janet has made some biscuits a couple of times for breakfast and I am thinking that the next time she does, I may make some gravy.
So there is variety in our meals and I am satisfied with what I am eating. Yes, there are some things that I miss, but the Lord is good and has supplied my needs when it comes to the variety of food I eat.
Love and miss each one of you and hope is well at your side of the world.
Until next time…
Deniece
This question has been asked a number of times. Well, here is the answer:
Yes, I do eat rice and beans, but not every meal. Sometimes I eat beans with potatoes or with spaghetti. Sometimes we have a “gravy” sauce with TVP in it to put over our potatoes, rice or spaghetti – which ever is being served. Sometimes the rice has potatoes in it, sometimes it don’t. We have spaghetti with chopped onions and chopped Roma tomatoes in it. Mariam, our cook, bakes bread most every night so that we can have bread for breakfast. We put honey or jam on the bread. Sometimes we have avocados to put on our bread. We have cabbage to eat. She cooks the cabbage with tomatoes and onions in it, which is very good. We also eat the cabbage raw, which also is very good. This morning we had conde; which is something like our hominy with beans mixed in it and had some bread to go with it. Sometimes we have potatoes cooked in a kettle, sometimes boiled, sometimes baked. As far as fruit goes, right now we eat bananas and sometimes oranges. Right now there is not a lot of fruit in season.
I don’t eat supper right now for two reasons. One - is that they eat later than what I would like and, two - sometimes it is too heavy of a meal. I am planning to buy some popcorn and make some of that at night. Right now on some nights I just make me a cup of hot carob drink around 6:30-7:00 to drink while I am reading a book before I go to bed. Sounds cozy, huh? Janet has made some biscuits a couple of times for breakfast and I am thinking that the next time she does, I may make some gravy.
So there is variety in our meals and I am satisfied with what I am eating. Yes, there are some things that I miss, but the Lord is good and has supplied my needs when it comes to the variety of food I eat.
Love and miss each one of you and hope is well at your side of the world.
Until next time…
Deniece
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The Work Begins
Janet arrived back today from Kibidula with her son, Jason. We went down to the site where our industrial school will be built. Jason, his co-worker Eric, Janet and I laid out the first building with stakes and string. We will probably start digging the footers as soon as Janet gets back. It is happening! She just left to take Jason and Eric home. They should arrive at Kibidula somewhere around 11:00 tonight.
While working on my computer, to get internet I go up the hill and sit on a section of a tree lying down next to a stump. I use the stump as my table. This set up lies near the path that the students take to go home from elementary school. Well, yesterday 5 girls stopped by and watched me work. In “talking” with them (me English them Swahili) we decided I would teach them English and they will teach me Swahili. I got their names and they mine. Well, they saw me coming from the bathroom and called to me. I went over to the path and talked with them. I remembered their names, Praise the Lord, and they even remembered mine. We went through some items such as house, machete, and bucket – them learning English and me Swahili. Am I learning, well, some but it sure is slow going. We also went through the face features such as eye, ear, nose and mouth and a few other items. We will probably have to go through them every day for a while. But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I have a older mind that is getting older by the day and has slowed down substantially.
Anyway, things are still going on to keep us busy.
Tomorrow, Lord willing, I will tell you about the food we eat here. Some have wondered before I left and my sisters have inquired on Skype.
Until tomorrow…
Deniece
Janet arrived back today from Kibidula with her son, Jason. We went down to the site where our industrial school will be built. Jason, his co-worker Eric, Janet and I laid out the first building with stakes and string. We will probably start digging the footers as soon as Janet gets back. It is happening! She just left to take Jason and Eric home. They should arrive at Kibidula somewhere around 11:00 tonight.
While working on my computer, to get internet I go up the hill and sit on a section of a tree lying down next to a stump. I use the stump as my table. This set up lies near the path that the students take to go home from elementary school. Well, yesterday 5 girls stopped by and watched me work. In “talking” with them (me English them Swahili) we decided I would teach them English and they will teach me Swahili. I got their names and they mine. Well, they saw me coming from the bathroom and called to me. I went over to the path and talked with them. I remembered their names, Praise the Lord, and they even remembered mine. We went through some items such as house, machete, and bucket – them learning English and me Swahili. Am I learning, well, some but it sure is slow going. We also went through the face features such as eye, ear, nose and mouth and a few other items. We will probably have to go through them every day for a while. But Rome wasn’t built in a day, and I have a older mind that is getting older by the day and has slowed down substantially.
Anyway, things are still going on to keep us busy.
Tomorrow, Lord willing, I will tell you about the food we eat here. Some have wondered before I left and my sisters have inquired on Skype.
Until tomorrow…
Deniece
Monday, September 7, 2009
Hello again from Mago,
I know I had said I would post a blog every night; and I know that I had said I would email. Well, I did not know the whole picture over here regarding internet. If you can imagine living in a remote area on a mountain in Tanzania, Africa, a 3rd world country, you will understand that we don’t have cable, we don’t have high speed (like I thought with satellite), nor do we have a land line. We have a “gadget” that we load a cell phone card on and it gets converted to megabytes. It is considered dial up. Anyway, to make a long story short – access is not as easy as anticipated. I even have to walk a distance of about a football field up a hill to get good access.
I have been talking with my sisters on Skype at night (that is my time) and that is about it. I can’t get email yet with out it costing a lot. I am trying to set up Outlook, but I am getting an error message and can’t figure out the problem. Hopefully I will find out soon. Steven Grabner and family and friends will be arriving and I have hopes that he might be able to assist in the matter.
Janet is out getting the lumber for an industrial school project today (Friday) and she already has brick, gravel, and sand. She was going to get the cement last week and she did get some, but she only got 20 bags and this is for our septic tank. She needs to order something like 200 plus bags for the school project. She has laid the plans out on paper and we should probably start digging for the footers this next week.
Yona (one of the Bible Workers) and I have been putting up the tongue and groove ceiling in the church foyer. We have about a foot left in the foyer to do plus the hallway and pastors study before completion. Pictures will come. Right now the conference pastor is using our church for meetings with all the Bible Workers in this district/area and so our work has come to a stand still until next week.
Today is the 7th and Janet has gone to Kibidula for a few days. I got water from the ditch to do laundry and also to water gardens. Such a blessing, water that is. Tomorrow we continue with the ceilings at the church.
More later,
Deniece
I know I had said I would post a blog every night; and I know that I had said I would email. Well, I did not know the whole picture over here regarding internet. If you can imagine living in a remote area on a mountain in Tanzania, Africa, a 3rd world country, you will understand that we don’t have cable, we don’t have high speed (like I thought with satellite), nor do we have a land line. We have a “gadget” that we load a cell phone card on and it gets converted to megabytes. It is considered dial up. Anyway, to make a long story short – access is not as easy as anticipated. I even have to walk a distance of about a football field up a hill to get good access.
I have been talking with my sisters on Skype at night (that is my time) and that is about it. I can’t get email yet with out it costing a lot. I am trying to set up Outlook, but I am getting an error message and can’t figure out the problem. Hopefully I will find out soon. Steven Grabner and family and friends will be arriving and I have hopes that he might be able to assist in the matter.
Janet is out getting the lumber for an industrial school project today (Friday) and she already has brick, gravel, and sand. She was going to get the cement last week and she did get some, but she only got 20 bags and this is for our septic tank. She needs to order something like 200 plus bags for the school project. She has laid the plans out on paper and we should probably start digging for the footers this next week.
Yona (one of the Bible Workers) and I have been putting up the tongue and groove ceiling in the church foyer. We have about a foot left in the foyer to do plus the hallway and pastors study before completion. Pictures will come. Right now the conference pastor is using our church for meetings with all the Bible Workers in this district/area and so our work has come to a stand still until next week.
Today is the 7th and Janet has gone to Kibidula for a few days. I got water from the ditch to do laundry and also to water gardens. Such a blessing, water that is. Tomorrow we continue with the ceilings at the church.
More later,
Deniece
Hello from Mago, Tanzania!
Sorry for the delay, this is what I wrote 1 ½ weeks ago. Also, no pictures until I get Outlook working.
After leaving Denver we landed in London and had about a 6 hour lay over Wednesday the 19th. We were met by Bill and Irma at Dar es Salem early Thursday morning. We then traveled about 10-12 hours by Land Cruiser to Kibidula where we were warmly welcomed by Janet’s son Jason, his wife Antonette and their two daughters Trulisa and Emily. Their third daughter, Shilo, was sleeping. We spent the weekend and left after breakfast on Monday for our last leg of our journey.
We finally made it through the final leg of our trip and arrived on Monday evening, I think somewhere around 5-6:00. We received a warm welcome from Baraza, Mariam, their sons Abraham and Isaiah. We had a good nights rest and then all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning we were running all over lining up deliveries of sand, gravel, lumber, brick and cement. In fact right now (Wednesday afternoon) Janet has left to go to order cement and have it delivered tomorrow. Soon we will be starting our industrial school. We will get pictures as we begin the project.
Another project we are working on is getting water to the house. The ditch is being dug a good 600 meters from the spring to our house. They hopefully will be done very soon. They have a short distance from behind the church and then continue to the back of our house. I am not sure, but I think also when the water gets to the house we will also get our septic tank made for our indoor plumbing. To be honest, I don’t mind walking out to the bathroom/outhouse nor do I mind bathing and washing my hair with water in a basin, I enjoy camping; but it is the convenience of having everything close at hand in the house that I miss, if you understand what I mean. J
Anyway, we are doing well, just keeping busy. Today, Wednesday after lunch, is the first time I actually have done any accounting work or blog entries. This blog was typed the Wednesday, August 26, after arrival here and it is getting posted on September 4.
Most of you might remember Desima, the young man who has epilepsy that keeps falling into the fire. Well, we saw him two different mornings sleeping on the side of the rode. This morning Janet stopped and inquired about him and we out that he keeps running away from his step mom and also his grandfather and uncle. We brought him home and he evidently has had another seizure and fell into the fire again and has his left knee and left shoulder burnt real bad. Janet cleaned the wounds and they gave him a bath and clean clothes. He will stay with us for a while.
There is so much to write but I don’t want to write a book right now, so I will write more hopefully tomorrow.
Bye for now.
Deniece
Sorry for the delay, this is what I wrote 1 ½ weeks ago. Also, no pictures until I get Outlook working.
After leaving Denver we landed in London and had about a 6 hour lay over Wednesday the 19th. We were met by Bill and Irma at Dar es Salem early Thursday morning. We then traveled about 10-12 hours by Land Cruiser to Kibidula where we were warmly welcomed by Janet’s son Jason, his wife Antonette and their two daughters Trulisa and Emily. Their third daughter, Shilo, was sleeping. We spent the weekend and left after breakfast on Monday for our last leg of our journey.
We finally made it through the final leg of our trip and arrived on Monday evening, I think somewhere around 5-6:00. We received a warm welcome from Baraza, Mariam, their sons Abraham and Isaiah. We had a good nights rest and then all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning we were running all over lining up deliveries of sand, gravel, lumber, brick and cement. In fact right now (Wednesday afternoon) Janet has left to go to order cement and have it delivered tomorrow. Soon we will be starting our industrial school. We will get pictures as we begin the project.
Another project we are working on is getting water to the house. The ditch is being dug a good 600 meters from the spring to our house. They hopefully will be done very soon. They have a short distance from behind the church and then continue to the back of our house. I am not sure, but I think also when the water gets to the house we will also get our septic tank made for our indoor plumbing. To be honest, I don’t mind walking out to the bathroom/outhouse nor do I mind bathing and washing my hair with water in a basin, I enjoy camping; but it is the convenience of having everything close at hand in the house that I miss, if you understand what I mean. J
Anyway, we are doing well, just keeping busy. Today, Wednesday after lunch, is the first time I actually have done any accounting work or blog entries. This blog was typed the Wednesday, August 26, after arrival here and it is getting posted on September 4.
Most of you might remember Desima, the young man who has epilepsy that keeps falling into the fire. Well, we saw him two different mornings sleeping on the side of the rode. This morning Janet stopped and inquired about him and we out that he keeps running away from his step mom and also his grandfather and uncle. We brought him home and he evidently has had another seizure and fell into the fire again and has his left knee and left shoulder burnt real bad. Janet cleaned the wounds and they gave him a bath and clean clothes. He will stay with us for a while.
There is so much to write but I don’t want to write a book right now, so I will write more hopefully tomorrow.
Bye for now.
Deniece
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