Hello, This will be my last blog on this trip and I wish to thank so many people for reading it and sending comments and messages. Our second day in Dubai, we wandered over to the beach which was quite beautiful, but much too hot to enjoy. On the way through the hotel, they were offering a class on vegetable sculpture, but I had no time to go to it. At the beach, we hung out under a cabana and looked at the view while getting hotter and hotter. July & August are their hottest months which was good in some [View Full Entry]

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Hello again, We arrived home about midnight on the 29th of July - a long, long time on the airplanes, but how else to you get around a 1/3+ of the world in less than 24 hours? We thoroughly enjoyed being in Dubai. It is an amazing experience and I don't know where else you could go to even compare the dynamics that are part of this planned city. Jim was not able to find a room that would accommodate three people and two rooms didn't seem practical because of the cost. So, he looked online and found the Oasis Beach [View Full Entry]

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Hello again, We are having a fabulous time here in Dubai, but let me finish our African Safari saga. We had arrived at our lodge on the rim of the Ngogongoro Crater at what seemed to be sunset, but we couldn't be sure since we were engulfed with clouds. The driver said that we must hurry through the lobby if we wanted to get pictures of the crater because of the fading light. The pictures came out quite well. We probably should have been noticing that the staff were all wearing multiple layers of sweaters, sweatshirts and jackets. Their boiler for [View Full Entry]

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Hi, everyone! We are still here! I'm sorry that I skipped yesterday, but we seemed to need a day of adjusting- we were experiencing culture shock - temperature shock- and luxury shock! I don't know if we have recovered, but there cannot be a better place to try. First, I must write about our safari in the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. We started Tuesday for a 3 day - 2 night safari in 2 vehicles so we had plenty of room. Our first unexpected (this is Africa) event was a flat tire in Mwanza about 20 [View Full Entry]

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It has absolutely amazed all of us on how we have gotten so attached to the Howells in such a short time. Their graciousness has been unequaled on our behalf. We have all enjoyed the children individually and collectively. Now, we are all sad that we have to say goodbye in the morning. The work they are doing here and the impact on this community is just mind-boggling. Rob shared with us tonight their mission beliefs and how the work has progressed with the four churches, Bible Institute and Tumaini, the orphanage. The Lord has blessed them so much and they [View Full Entry]

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I can actually only tell you about our services here in Sweya, but Jim took lots of pictures of their overnight trip to Nyakaliro and Lusalelo. We arrived at church a little after 10:00, the starting time, but didn't really get into the church and the service started until about 10:15. We began with only about 20 of us, but swelled up to 45 to 50 by 11:30. The service was very well ordered and conducive to worship throughout the whole time of 2 hours and about 20 minutes. We had one long sermon from one of the Bible Institute students [View Full Entry]

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Saturday has been another beautiful warm day. Chrissy and I decided to stay here in Mwanza and not go to Nyakaliro because it sounded a bit rough and there were already 9 people in the Landcruiser. Ella wanted to stay with us, but Jeremy and Jordan so wanted to share their parents with the people there and have them see where they spent a whole week. They left at 12:30 pm to catch a ferry that takes about an hour and then a 2 hour drive to go the other 50 miles to get there. They should have some good stories [View Full Entry]

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Today was the distribution of the soccer equipment, and it went very well. First, though, Pastor Jon & Rob zoomed off on the motorbike to complete the study on Acts. Don't miss their picture when the study was finished. Very impressive, Pastor Jon! Sorry, maybe tomorrow, I'll be able to include this picture The soccer crew, Ron Leach, Jeremy, Jordan and Nate, had to be t their first appointment at 10:00am. The rest of us were going into town to do some shopping and have lunch. So, 10 adults piled into the Landcruiser with 3 bags of soccer gear on top. [View Full Entry]

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Today was the distribution of the soccer equipment, and it went very well. First, though, Pastor Jon & Rob zoomed off on the motorbike to complete the study on Acts. Don't miss their picture when the study was finished. Very impressive, Pastor Jon! Sorry, maybe tomorrow, I'll be able to include this picture The soccer crew, Ron Leach, Jeremy, Jordan and Nate, had to be t their first appointment at 10:00am. The rest of us were going into town to do some shopping and have lunch. So, 10 adults piled into the Landcruiser with 3 bags of soccer gear on top. [View Full Entry]

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Thursday has been a quiet day for us, but a very busy one for Ron and the boys. The mayor arrived about 10:00 am and looked at all the soccer gear we had and was mightily impressed. They were visiting some secondary schools and having a little fun with the school children and arrived home about 4:00 very hungry after no lunch. The three boys had actually left at 6:45 this morning to have the local doctor that is a friend of Rob's take them on his rounds at the hospital. Thank goodness, he didn't ask for their medical opinion on [View Full Entry]

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