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Published: August 29th 2008
Hello Everyone,
We just wanted to let you know we had a very smooth trip from Tanzania to California, with no problems at all. We left the Kilimanjaro airport around 9 pm Tuesday evening, and after a brief stop-over in Dar es Salam, we made our way to Amsterdam - about a nine hour flight. We had a four and a half lay-over in Amsterdam, so we found a place to camp out, and like many other travelers, tried to catch a few winks. After freshening up, we made our way to our gate, stood in line, waited some more, and then finally we were on our way again. After a little over ten hours later, we finally arrived in San Francisco, CA. George's brother, Dan, arranged to have a 15 passenger van to pick us up, along with our pile of luggage. We got our stuff loaded up, and had another one and a half hour trip to Stockton. We relaxed for a little while, got cleaned up, and headed to Wednesday Bible Study. We realized that we've been in Africa long enough so that we do have a few adjustments to make here and there. For example, when
we turned onto a certain road, most of us temporarily panicked, when we thought Dan was driving on the wrong side of the road. We soon realized that we had briefly forgotten which side we should be on! Another reminder was at the conclusion of the Wednesday evening service, when after the invitation, all of our family sat down, just like we do in Africa! As mentioned in a previous blog, in Tanzania, after the invitation song, those who have prayer requests, etc., remain standing, and everyone else sits down. Well, we momentarily thought "Wow, there are a lot of people responding tonight!" Haha, the joke was on us! I think we gave a number of people a good laugh. 😊
The few days previous to our departure were very busy ones. I really wanted to get a blog entry done before we left, but just didn't have the time to sit down and write one. I had planned to entitle one "We Drank the Water!" The girls and I went on ladies visitation, to visit a lady who is a new convert. She was so excited that we were coming to visit her. After our devotional, she served
us a fruit drink. It is made from a concentrate mixture, and diluted with water to make the drink. We had no idea whether or not the water was safe to drink, but we did not want to risk offending this kind woman, and so we decided to take a chance and drink it. Fortunately, there were no negative side effects, as least that we know of. 😊 We were especially appreciative of that, since we were planning to get on a plane a few days later.
Sunday, our last worship time in Tanzania for a while, was full of good-byes. We have truly come to love our brothers and sisters in Christ here, and we will miss them. Julia and Lindsey have a small following of children who always like to sit with them. There is a particular little boy, who may be two or three, who looks for them and sits with them every service time. Lindsey is particularly sad to know that the next time he will come looking for her, he won't be able to find her. He is too little to understand about us leaving, and then coming back later.
We are still
Flying Over Greenland
What a great view we had!a bit weary from our travels, but after a few days of a little rest and relaxation, we should be good as new. We spent our first full day doing a little shopping for some needed clothing, and enjoyed the time spent with my Dad and Mom. Tomorrow, the 29th, is my Dad's birthday, and September 1st will be Lindsey's 16th birthday, so Saturday we will have a combined celebration.
We are thankful to be here, and look forward to seeing many of you during our travels over the next few weeks.
In Christian Love,
Joy
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Robert Russell
non-member comment
ABJ
Another beautiful job! Glad you made it safely home. I hope to see you before you return. Happy sweet sixteen, Lindsey. Love you all, "MR" Robert