a first little report.

earth to my fellow family and friends. i am now alive and well in tanzania. communication is looking limited. but i want so badly to keep you posted.

my time is running slim on the internet, but in the next five minutes i will do my best to watercolour and little illustration for you...

we arrived safely and happily about twenty four hours after departure from perth. beate, a german midwife and her kenyan husband have been our amazing hosts. they are helping melisa (my trusty sidekick co-leader) and i to set up work in the hospitals and in surrounding chu*rches. the past week has been full of becoming orientated, fighting in pra*yer for our work permits, settling in the second lecture phase and for me--learning to lead.

some exciting highlights have included seeing a tarantula (like memeseeku's) in our classroom, becoming distracted as a class during inter*cession as the monkeys chased each other in the trees and eating a guava off a tree while washing my clothes.

i felt as if i arrived at home when we were bouncing along the road back to the base for the first time. oh how my heart loves east africa.

the village we are living in is primarily muslim. the call to prayer echos through the mango trees of the base every couple of hours. many women cover themselves with a full burka while others just a full head covering or small scarf. we have been diving into friendships this week. one exhilarating moment was when a small team of four girls returned back to a house they had visited the previous day, when they arrived, the woman asked "where is the fifth? i know there were five of you yesterday." there was a moment of confusion when they tried to communicate to the local translating that there were only four, the four that there right then. she was adament. it was clear that G*od had been with them.

We are bringers of his presence. Our value is in his love for us. Not what we do, what we complete, in his love for us.
Let us together, carry this message to the nations.

bless you my friends.