A Day In the Life ...

A typical day for the Stiles' on Sabbatical....

So I got up early and went to the University with Noel.  He had a class.  I did not.  So I spent the morning grading papers for my worship class.  Their assignment was to write about the theology and practice of weddings and funerals, and how weddings and funerals are worship services that are meant to glorify God, not the couple or the deceased.  They are so good at articulating their cultural and spiritual theologies regarding these, and so many other items concerning worship.  I enjoy reading them, and give out probably too many "100"s for grades, but hey, I've been told I'm an easy grader.  But they are so thoughtful and I want them to feel good about their work and thoughts. 

I took a break from grading papers and walked around the campus to snap some photos of the surrounding landscape.  Everything is SO green after the recent rains, and the campus at Tumaini provides some great views of the surrounding highlands.  It's really been a perfect time of year to visit Tanzania.  This period of our sabbatical - Sept. - Dec. - is the usual transition time between the dry (brown) and the rainy (green) season.  It's been cool to see the gradual change in color.

The hills of Iringa surrounding Tumaini University



The campus of Tumaini taken from 4th floor of new Science Building.

After Noel finished class, we packed up our bags and headed home.  It's not at all unusual to get held up by a herd of cattle or chickens crossing the road (no joke!).  Nor is it unusual for donkeys to stand in the middle of the road staring at you, wondering what you're looking at.  On our way home today, we saw these donkeys - not in the road, but grazing happily alongside the road - just outsidse the campus gates. 


On the way home Noel and I stopped to buy our weekly supply of beer and eggs (what a combination!).  This too, is always an adventure.  We buy our eggs from a local farmer (Simon and his wife, Cecilila) and the beer store is in the heart of the market.  Here's Noel at the beer store waiting in line for Africa's finest - Tusker, Serengeti, and Kilimanjaro.

So we got home and I helped Tobie with his math, made lunch (fried rice - my specialty), and played Kings In the Corner and Rummy with Tobie and Annica.  We've learned so many card games while being here!  All part of growing closer as a family and appreciating the time we have together.

Then Tobie, Annica, Caleb and I went to the market to get pineapple, butter, more minutes for my wireless modem (internet), and a few gifts for mama's upcoming birthday (Dec. 6).

We had a great time.  I wonder if the produce people at County Market or Cub back home will give Tobie a free pineapple every time we come in?  I doubt it.  Today, after Duma (the pineapple guy) gave Tobie another free pineapple, Tobie exclaimed proudly, "That's my 6th free pineapple!"  He's right.  But he is always good about saying, "Asante sana!" (Thank you very much!)  Duma loves Tobie.  Most of the vendors do.

Then, on to the Massai Market to shop and visit with our vendor friends, Lydia, Bono, Adan, and Adam.  It's becoming much more about the socializing now, than the actual purchasing.  They no longer beg us to buy from them.  Instead they are now just wanting to visit and ask about how we are doing and how our family is doing and when we go back to America.  I love it.  And yes, we bought a couple more things, and, as usual, Tobie came home with something free (even in the Massai Market!).

Tobie, Lydia (a Lutheran Massai!) and Annica

I am learning my way around the market, but it sure helps to have the kids with me.  They know it far better than I do and they lead me to all the places we need to go.  They would be fine going there and back on their own, but I'm not sure I'm fine with that yet.  The market is really like a zoo!  Tons of people!  Tons of traffic (pedestrians do NOT have the right of way!)  And lots of noise!  But I love it!  Just not sure I want to send the children off in it without an adult yet.

So we got home and relaxed a bit before supper.  Tonight we hosted Rev. Dr. Richard Lubawa and his wife, Dorothy, at our home for supper.  Lubawa is the Assistant Provost (VP) of Tumaini University (former Provost (President).  He has been with the University and with Bega Kwa Bega since their beginnings nearly 15 years ago and has visited the St. Paul Area Synod four times, including a nine month teaching exchange at Luther Seminary.  It was enlightening to hear about Bega Kwa Bega from his perspective and how much he appreciates the Pastor/Teacher Exchange Program that I am participating in.  We are thankful for these times to sit and eat with and get to know our friends and partners in Iringa better.

Our family with Lubawa and his wife, Dorothy

Lubawa, Dorothy and the Petits

Now home to shower, take our malaria meds, vitamins and calcium pills (Tobie disperses them for us), and maybe play a game of Skip Bo, Clue, or Hearts before bed.  Tomorrow we get to sleep in and rest up before another night of intense volleyball with our European friends at Kibebe Farm.

It's hard to believe that we head for home in two weeks - just in time to enjoy Christmas with our families and to switch gears before returning to my ministry at Fish Lake Lutheran.

Advent Blessings to you all, from East Africa!

Dale

Always Advent in Africa

Usually, at this time of the year, I am all jazzed up for Advent - but not this year.

I'm not sure what our Advent season will feel like this year.  I've been wondering that.  Advent is always one of my favorite seasons of the church year.  I think, because like during Lent, our community of faith at Fish Lake Lutheran gathers on Wednesday evenings for a meal and quiet, reflective worship together.  It's a time of year that really brings our congregation together in very good ways.  So I have been thinking how I will miss those worship opportunities.  Not only do they provide a time of G.R.O.W.ing in Relationships, but they also provide me, personally, with an opportunity to prepare my heart and mind for all that awaits us at Christmas.  That time of preparation for me is so important, in order to stay focused and concentrated on "the reason for the season."

What will Advent look like in Africa?

Well, beyond a small Advent craft night at a local cafe', sponsored by a local non-denominational church, that we've been invited to, I'm not sure we are going to feel the full effect or power of Advent this year.  And I've realized that's okay.  Because I've learned a greater lesson about Advent while living here in Iringa the past two months.  And that is - In Africa, it's always Advent!

I've learned, through my times of worshiping with the Tanzanians, and while spending time with students in my classes, and while visiting with other pastors and faculty at the University, that the need for spiritual preparation is not only an Advent message in Africa, but rather, a weekly message!  I like it!

I think we can learn a lot about preparing ourselves for Christmas, for Jesus' second coming, and for each and every day that the Lord blesses us with, from the Africans.  In general, the African churches are pretty law heavy - they focus much on, and emphasize mostly, the law of the Old Testament, leaving not much room for God's grace and mercy and forgiveness.  So, as you can imagine, the feeling that they have to "be ready" (Advent) is pretty significant.

Interestingly, I've learned that in African Lutheran churches, the pastor will announce that "in two weeks (or next week) we will be celebrating Holy Communion during worship.  We are telling you now so that you have time to prepare for this holy sacrament."

Wow!  I think that is so cool!  Can you imagine me saying in church on any given Sunday morning, that we will be communing next week (or in two weeks) and I'm telling you today so that you have adequate time to prepare?  How many of us take the time to prepare to receive God's gift of grace at Holy Communion?

I love the concept of preparing to receive such a gift (Advent).  Your question might be "why?" or "how?" do we prepare?  The same question was asked of John the Baptist as he proclaimed, "Prepare the way of the Lord!"

The Africans believe so much in the sacredness of Holy Communion and respect it a great deal (not that we don't), that they believe they need time to prepare themselves fully to receive it.  This preparation might involve time spent in prayer, devotion, worship, or confession.  Great!

Now, we spend this time in preparation as well, but we do it during the worship service at which we are communing.  Usually at the beginning of a traditional Lutheran worship service we will spend time confessing our sins and hearing God's life-giving words of forgiveness, enabling us to then freely and wholly worship God with pure and clean hearts - including recieving holy communion.  Thus, we too, have prepared.  So, theologically, in this sense, we tend to agree.  However, in practice, we differ.

Although, our theological similarities quickly fade.  The unfortunate part of the African's eucharistic theology is that, on the downside, if you haven't adequately prepared to receive the sacrament, you will not be allowed to participate.  And sadly, the church elders and pastor are able to make this judgement call.

In my worship class, I've had to bite my tongue as a way of respecting the cultural and theological differences, but it doesn't always work and I guess I don't always bite hard enough, because I can't hear that and not share my thoughts (which is fine ultimately, because it's all part of the cross-cultural experience for them -and me).

They will deny the sacrament to a worshipper in their church if that worshiper has publicly sinned or not adequately prepared their hearts to receive it.  I say to that, that is exactly the reason we have the sacrament - because we are not adequately prepared and because we have sinned!  They struggle with that understanding - they believe that we are sinners and that Christ died to save us from our sins, but they also respect the sacrament so much, that they feel a strong need to protect it - from sinners!  Ugh!  Nonetheless, these theological differences are far fewer than our similarities, and they lead to good, thoughtful conversation, learning and reflection.  Such differences exist between our churches at home as well, don't they?

After preaching on Matthew 24 last weekend at Nduli Lutheran, all about the last days and the return of Jesus (Advent!), I realized that I will just begin my Advent preparation early this year.  After all, in Africa - it's always Advent!

Just some random theological thoughts tonight.  All part of the reason I'm here.  It's all good!

Advent blessings to you all,

Dale

Cooking School

Happy Thanksgiving from Tanzania,

One thing I have wanted to do before we leave, is learn about how to cook some of the common East African foods that we have been fed in the time we have been here, but I have no idea how to make. Some of the great skills we have acquired:

Caleb has learned to crack a coconut with a rock and grate it using a coconut chair. Granted, he is not nearly and fast or efficient with the coconut as Miriam (our housekeeper) or Grace (Petit’s housekeeper), but he is much better than any of the rest of us Wazunga’s (white people).

Mandazi  Grace has made mandazi for us a couple times. These are basically donuts made with white bread and fried in oil on the stove. What’s not to like? You will see women with their little kerosene stoves sitting on the edge of the road cooking mandazi in special pans that remind me of an egg poacher and selling them right there in the street. I wonder if that would pass food safety inspections in the US?

 

Caleb and Tobie enjoying Grace's mandazi-ohhhh hot!

Chapati Today was the day for Chapati. Miriam had volunteered to show me how to make this East African Flat bread. It is mostly flour and oil, with a little salt and sugar thrown in.  From what I can tell, it is pretty similar to a tortilla-except a lot more oil.

It was fun to cook with Miriam and learn from her. She was telling me about how her son Abraham knows how to make Chapati and can make beans, ugali and eggs and has supper ready for her when she comes home. I told this to Caleb and he told me to not get any ideas. I am not sure how much she understood, but we did have the universal language of two mother’s laughing together.

Next up is Dale’s favorite-Samosa’s. These are little deep fried triangles containing meat and maybe a few veggies for flavor.

 

Miriam teaching Annica to roll Chapati

 

 

Check out the knife Miriam gave Tobie!!

 

As for Thankgiving: We will be trying to have Thanksgiving, American style with only Tanzanian ingredients.
So-the rolls are made (thanks Grace), two apple pies are made (thanks to Sharon the expert  apple peeler) and Tobie the champion eater. No wonder he is never hungry by the time the meal rolls around he has grazed his way through the kitchen. The chickens are in the fridge thawing. Hopefully all goes well (and by that I mean that we have electricity so it can all be done approximately the same time.)  I asked what was important to each person. For Dale, I couldn’t find all (read-most) of the ingredients needed for corn pudding. So he will have to wait for Christmas to get it. Caleb loves stuffing, and he is please that I can’t find anything resembling celery since he picks it out of the stuffing anyway. Noel wanted pickes, we are hoping Mango pickles will suffice.

Carrie

Volleyball and Stuff

Hey everyone!

Last Saturday at Compassion I had a “friend”.  Actually, he was more like a leach.  Well anyway, he was asking about my braces and Noel told him that they were an FM radio and he knew what that was. He actually believed him and was like “REEEEAAALLLYYY.” It was so funny!

Me at Compassion International

Kibebe farm is really fun! I’m getting to be pretty good at volleyball. Getting to know some kids that go there. Figuring out how to score and how we rotate too.

 

Caleb

Blessings and Challenges

The last few days have been full of the blessings and challenges of African life.  Some of the challenges…

No electricity: It appears Iringa is in line for hours of rolling blackouts to manage the power supply. On Friday the power went out about 8:30am and stayed out until 7:30pm at night. While we have been having blackouts off and on for the last couple weeks, it usually is only for a couple hours at a time. This was our longest stretch. The plan for supper was Fried Rice and some Samosas from the cooking school. So we fired up the kerosene stove that is in Noel and Sharon’s apartment (now we understand why it is there) and made the fried rice and heated up the Samosas in the well ventilated laundry room.  Saturday morning, again the power goes off at 7:30am and comes on again at 1:30pm for two short hours until a rain storm comes through, and then off again until about 8:30 at night. I guess we will see what tomorrow brings. Sharon and I are coming up with two meal plans per day-what can be cooked/heated on the kerosene stove and what could be prepared on a real stove.  I really am not complaining, because most people cook outside with little charcoal stoves close to the ground. I am not sure how this works in the rainy season???

Rain: Also, not a complaint. The rain is beautiful and the greening that is happening all around us is amazing. God’s goodness can be seen in this life giving water. African rain is not a gentle sprinkle, but rather a rushing torrent. Caleb said, as we looked out the window at the sheets of water coming down, “No wonder all the African’s run like crazy at the first drop!”

View from Kihesa of Iringa in late-September - BEFORE rain

View from Kihesa of Iringa in mid-November - AFTER some rain

Sukoni (Market): Since we were in need of more fruit and a few other staples to get us through the week-end the boys nicely volunteered to head to market (this was before the rain!). Since Noel and Dale are rarely with us on our market trips, the two veteran shoppers were Tobie and Caleb. It was fun to hear how they showed Noel and Dale exactly what to do (although Noel is still not sure how he had two cucumbers on his list and came home with 5!) Tobie walked right up to our pineapple guy and told him, “One big one-kshow (for tomorrow)” and then paid for it. It is fun to watch the pineapple guy sort through his hanging pineapples to find the perfect one that will be ready for tomorrow and then chop off all the leaves with his enormous knife. They did get a “sana moja kubwa”-a very big one.

Compassion: We headed back to the Compassion International project today at Kihesa.  Since Pastor Kinyoa (one of the pastors at Kihesa) has been Dale’s translator for a number of Sunday’s we have gotten to spend time with him. He was very eager to introduce us to the kids, have us speck to them and encourage them, and be introduced to the teachers. It is amazing how well the program is run and how dedicated the volunteers are. We meet a wonderful woman named Grace. Grace is a teacher by trade, and leads the group of volunteer teachers. The students get help in many school subjects and also learn about health, relationships, life skills and the Bible.

Of the 260 or so kids that are part of the Compassion Project, many have sponsors, but there is always a need for more sponsors to help a child with cost of school, clothing, and sometimes even food. On Saturday the children are given two meals, breakfast and lunch. We meet the women in the kitchen cooking up large vats of rice and beans.

The cooks making lots of rice and beans for the Compassion Kids!

Beans!

Many of these kids are in the Compassion International Program because of a variety of challenges in their living situation. They might be orphaned and living with extended family, or have a single parent. Their parents or guardians might be sick with Aids or Malaria and unable to work or support them.

The kids were very sweet, loving being near us, checking out our skin and hair. They wanted to hold our hands and touch (or pull) our hair. Even the hair on Dale's arms was facinating to them. They would lay their skin next to ours and then run their fingers up and down our skin like maybe this strange color would rub off.

Me playing hand-jive with kids at Compassion Int'l

Dinner Out: After playing Volleyball out at the farm with a large group of Europeans, Americans, and Tanzanians we decided to have dinner up the hill at a very nice restaurant that has a generator (it was very crowded). Halfway through our dinner a large group of people came in and were seated near us. They were a group of Peace Corp volunteers, mostly newbies in the middle of their training. They had come into the Southern Highlands of Tanzania to check out the sites they would be living at and assess their needs before starting mid-December. One girl who was from Hudson, WI was very excited to connect with other mid-westerners. We had a delightful conversation about what we were doing here with our family, what she would be doing, and life in Tanzania. I asked her if she went to Hudson High and if she remembers my Uncle Richard teaching there, which she did so it was fun to hear about him as a teacher. We exchanged contact information and I hope to hear more about here two year and what she is doing during this time.

Can you see how it is hard to separate out the blessings from the challenges? Long bumpy, muddy or dusty roads full of animals (oh no, goats/cows/donkeys crossing the road), men on bikes or women carrying large loads or sticks on their head, might make for long, uncomfortable road to travel. Yet, there is no way to not see God moving in the challenges, to see God moving in the smiles of the children, to see God blessing us each day we are here.

Well, it is about 1:20am here (which if you know me at all is probably not a surprise) but I should get this posted, because who knows when we will have power or internet tomorrow. At least dinner will be at the church after worship-beans and rice. 

Blessings to all our family and friends who I know are keeping us in your prayers! Thank you-we can feel them!!

Carrie

Life in Africa from Caleb and Annica

Hello from Africa- 

It has been a wonderful time here. It has been fun playing soccer at the International School. I’m starting to get the hang of it.  Yesterday I went to soccer and ran killers for about 1 hour! That’s the most exercise I have gotten since baseball. I have met a lot of kids my age here.

Me and Tobie playing soccer (football) at International School

Tobie and I were playing soccer out in the parking lot. He kicked the ball under a car. And this guard named Stillwater came and start telling us that “we were going to have to pay” and “if we have money” and “to be very careful.” He showed us this back corner that is really small and has a low fence the ball would fly over.  So I don’t know where we are going to play anymore. It maybe doesn’t matter since our ball got a big thorn in it and now is flat. I wonder how long a ball bought in Tanzania would last. 

Caleb

Hello everyone (from Annica),

We are all doing fine here and having a great time.  Market has been good too, this man named Solomon always tells me to come buy from him. So one day we did and he said, “Thank you for remembering me” and gave me a free green pepper. The first time I met him he told me about Baobab fruits (Baobabs are very very large trees) and he asked if I wanted to try one. I had tried one before and not really liked it so I said no. He is very nice (and has good green pepper for stir fry) we like to always go back to him for pepper, onion, carrots, and tomato.

Just yesterday I got to go RIDING; I never thought I would do that in Africa. The breed is an Australian stock horse (Farasi in Swahili). The horses only know English riding though, which was really weird. I had to get used to no neck reigning (a different kind of steering). They post when they trot and I’m used to sitting the trot which is almost impossible with an English saddle. I did not really know what I was doing at first but I got the hang of it pretty good. I rode a beautiful chestnut named Galaxy; he is only eight so pretty young. 

Galaxy.  Isn't she beautiful?

We rode through what they call the woodland.  It was just beautiful and amazing, no path and a million different kinds of trees. Everything was green and lush.  One of my favorite parts of riding is taking care of the horse, grooming and tacking up, which I could not do this time since I did not know how to tack up with an English tack. I did not bringing my helmet, so I wore theirs which was an English velvet covered one-so weird. I also did not bring my riding boots so I had to wear my tennis shoes which were terrible. The whole thing was super fun! How many American kids can say they rode an English horse on an English saddle with an English woman in Africa? Not many!  I am so thankful!

Me and Galaxy all tacked up and ready to go.

Bye bye everyone for now.

Annica

Faith In Action

I don't think I have ever known of a time when a sermon of mine inspired an entire congregation, collectively, to take action.  It happened yesterday at Mlendege Lutheran Church in Iringa.

I spoke boldly about the assigned ELCT (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania) calendar (lectionary) text from Matthew 25: 31-36, where Jesus is speaking about the final days when we will all be separated like sheep and goats.  The sheep, on the right, will spend eternity with Jesus in Heaven, and the goats, on the left, will be doomed to eternal damnation in hell.

This is normally a troubling text to preach on, however, not in TZ.  They are used to sermons and biblical texts that are challenging and that lift up expectations of the law and themes of judgement and condemnation.

However, as always, I preached both the law and the gospel.

I pointed out how, in this text, it is clear that Jesus does care about our lives and the way in which we live them.  It is clear that we are called be sheep, and to treat one another with acts of kindness, love, mercy and forgiveness.

So I introduced the sermon with a story that my friend, Pastor Tom Hanson, shared in a recent Bega Kwa Bega newsletter article.  It was about an experience he had, while in Iringa, when he preached at Ifunda Lutheran Church.  A young stranger was present in worship that morning.  He was not from the congregation or even the community.  He had polio, was unable to use his legs, and got around on a pair of crutches.  In the middle of the service he asked the pastor if he could speak.  He was invited forward.  He shared his story about how his parents had both died and how he could not work and was now asking the congregation for money to pay for his medical expenses.

The pastor immediately saw that his need was real and invited the congregation to come forward for a third offering.  39,000 schillilngs ($25) was received, and given to the stranger, from their heart.  He was delighted!

One other detail about the man - his name was Mohammed, and he was a Muslim.  That did not matter to the people of Ifunda - they loved this man that Jesus loved.  They had compassion for this man.  They showed kindness to this man.  And they did not question his religious affiliation or beliefs.

I shared that story with the people of Mlendege and challenged them to give of their offerings as a means of changing their congregation and their community.  I reminded them of the power of their offerings and how their offerings could literally transform lives within their church and community.  I challenged them to also "give from their hearts" and allow God to use what they had to offer to meet the needs of their changing church/community.

And it is when we give from the heart and love as Jesus loved, that we are like sheep, who tend to the needs of one another.  Although, I pointed out, as much as we want to be, and strive to be, like sheep, we so often act like goats (stubborn, resistant, and selfish).  But God's grace is real and points us back to the right when we begin to stray to the left.

After my sermon (at both services), Pastor Mangulesa spoke, in Swahili, to his congregation.  Kinyoa, my translator, informed me, that the pastor was inviting the entire congregation back on Monday, with offerings ready, to be distributed to the needy people in their church and community!

Think about this!  The entire congregation (at least 1000 people were in attendance between both services and show up routinely I'm pretty sure, to all church events) was invited back the following day to reach out to the less fortunate, the needy and the strangers in their community, with what little they might have to offer.  I couldn't help but hum the tune in my head after that invitation, "They'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.  Yes, they'll know we are Christians by our love."

"By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

-John 13:35

Faith in action, indeed.

I hope to follow up with Pr. Mangulesa to hear how it went.  The sheep of Mlendege Lutheran Church are faithful to their Shepherd.  Thanks be to God!

In Christ,
Dale

The Age Old Question

"Pastor, I know we are forgiven of our sins in baptism, as you say, but how?"

After a two-hour lecture this morning on the Theology and Practice of Holy Baptism in our Lutheran Church, Meshack, a young evangelist asked me this age old question.

It was perfect.  The perfect question to end the lecture with.  The perfect question to help answer Helena's earlier question about why we baptize infants and other denominations do not.

It was perfect because I could reiterate and emphasize the point of NOT UNDERSTANDING how we are forgiven or why, but that it is simply a gift to be received - regardless of age or understanding.

These students are literally like sponges - they hang on every word I say - and write hurriedly to keep up with me.  However, they do stop me when they do not agree or when our cultural practices/traditions seem to clash.  I am thankful for this accountability as it provides me with an opportunity to clarify and explain why we do as we do in our western culture of Lutheranism and why that practice may or may not work or be perceived as appropriate in their Tanzanian culture.

They have many questions about different denominational practices and theologies and they are very well read in their Bibles.  When I stated how it is at Baptism that our journey of faith begins (or is initiated) and when we are named as a Child of God, Goodwin, another young evangelist from his village, kindly corrected me and stated that the prophet Jeremiah was named and called before he was even born, as he went on to quote Jeremiah 1:5, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

I stood corrected and clarified, that yes, we are a Child of God from the moment we are conceived (if not before), but it is at our baptisms when we formally and symbollicaly acknowledge the beginning of our journey of faith and relationship with God.

They certainly keep me on my toes!  And for that, I am grateful!

Now, onto research for Herson's question - one for which I had no answer:  "Pastor, what is the connection between circumcision in the Old Testament and Baptism in the New Testament?"

Hmmm...another great question.  I'll get right on that :)

In Christ,
Dale

To Matema and Back - Our Children's Perspective

Our children's thoughts on Matema, starting from oldest to youngest.

FROM CALEB:

This weekend we drove down to Matema Beach. It’s a beach on Lake Nyasa down on the very southern part of Tanzania. This is how the trip went.

Day 1(Thursday): we left Iringa at about 1:30 drove to Mbeya which is about a 6 hour drive. We slept in a hostel that night.

Day  2:  We left Mbeya at 7:30, then about 2 hours into the drive we turned off the main road to this very bumpy road that looked like a cow path that only 2 cows could fit on. The road was very rocky, and at the end was the trail going up to Ngozi Crater Lake.

Me overlooking Ngozi Crater Lake

The trail was pretty much all steep up hill, right in the middle of a rain forest! After that we got in the car again and another 4 hour drive to Matema Beach. We drove to Matema Beach in pouring rain almost the whole time

Day 3: It thunder stormed during the night and rained pretty much the entire day. We drove to the market and bought this pottery they make there. Then we got to swim and this lake is the 8^th biggest freshwater lake in the world. The water was so warm and there were HUGE waves! We would sit in the shallow water and waves would come and hit us and knock us over. It was really fun! One of the people we were with was named Gillman and he knew how to swim really well. He wanted to teach Tobie how to swim and so he showed Tobie how to kick and then he said,”You try.” Well, Tobie swam right to him, since Tobie has had 6 years of swimming lessons. Gillman said, “Tobie it took me 1 week to learn, it took you one day!”

Day4: well we left at about 7:45 and we drove for about 11 ½ hours home!

It was a fun trip, but we are all done with the car for awhile. 
                              

Caleb

FROM ANNICA:

Hello everyone we went on a trip this weekend to Matema beach. We went to a place where we hiked called Crater Lake witch was amazing but to get there we got to hike up a mountain rainforest for an hour. It was so cool and I never thought I’d do that in my life!  On the way back down the mountain rainforest I got the camera and I love photography so I loved to take photos in the rain forest. I came across a small group of bamboo and got the coolest photos ever! It was a very rough trail that was about two feet wide. We had to climb high and one place you had to climb a tree to get to the trail above. Some saw a monkey, but I did not.  My dad got a zoomed-in photo and it looked super cool. We walked up the mountain in a cloud the whole way. When we got to the lake it was surrounded by cliffs that were super tall but we did not know how tall. The clouds covered the top when we left, so we could not see any of the lake because of the clouds!

Me in the Mporoto Rainforest

When we got to the Matema Beach the lake was huge, almost like Lake Superior. It stormed that night, the waves where huge the next morning and it rained or misted most of the day. We were supposed to go on a hike on the ridges of the lake but the trail was too wet and we were supposed to boat to this place they make these cool clay pots but the water was to rough. We did go to the market nearby where they sold the clay pots so we did see them but not see them make them. The market was very different then the big one in Iringa. There were lots of kids everywhere, boats made out of trees and fish drying on the shore (worst smell ever!).  We walked back to where we stayed by the lake and we got caught in the rain at the end, but it felt sort of good!

We drove for eleven  hours and I was squished in the back seat-maybe the worst car ride ever.  But it was cool we saw rows and rows of banana trees as far as I could see. There were tea fields too! Everything was very green and we have not seen much of that yet.

Well, now we are back in Iringa it seems like home now. We are glad to be home and back in our not-so-normal life in Iringa.

Annica

FROM TOBIE:

Hi.  This is Tobie.  I went to Matema Beach and there were really big waves.  But before we went to Matema, we walked in the Mporota Rainforest.  All we saw for animals were funny looking monkeys.  There was this one place that looked like a rock climbing wall.  And when we got up to the view, we got there just in time before the clouds moved in.  You could see water, mountains – a lot and a lot of water!  They said it (the hike) would be 20 minutes but it turned out to be an hour and a half!  And then we walked back down.  That was only like 15 minutes! (so it seemed to Tobie).  Then we had to ride in a really long car ride.  And when we were on this really bumpy road in the jungle, we almost tipped over!  And then we went to Matema Beach.  Noel got a free Pepsi but I didn’t.  We bought about a hundred mangoes!  They are awesome!  And then we bought four pineapples.  And then we bought an avocado.  And then we bought a bunch of passion fruit.  Gilman taught me to swim even though I’ve had six years of swimming lessons.  It rained a lot, and a lot, and a lot, and a lot!  You wouldn’t believe your eyes!  So, guess what.  I ate my first sardine!!  We tried ugali.  You might not know what that is, but you couldn’t really taste it, but Heidi might like it.  I saw how they make flour.  They pound it with a big stick and then they strain it.  

This is when I was swimming with Gilman

And that’s my story for today, folks!  See you next time on the Tobie in Africa Blog Show!

Tobie