Kilimanjaro, preaching, teaching and a week of showering over the toilet!

After arriving back in Nairobi from Kilifi there was no time to sit back and relax. In fact there was barely enough time to organise ourselves for the next flight which was leaving bright and early just a day after our return. Pastors and congregations in Australia had raised a significant amount of money to enable Lutherans in Africa to run a seminar for pastors and evangelists in the new diocese based around Shinyanga in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania. Pastor May invited all of us to accompany him - an invitation that I'm sure added more stress than help to his plate!

Flying to Tanzania made a whole lot of sense as the alternative was to spend 2 full days in the car at each end of the seminar. However it also meant we had to somehow get 15 cartons of books onto the plane! I can't remember now what time we actually left home for the airport but I have a feeling it was about 5.30am. Once at the airport we queued for a good while and then sent the luggage and book boxes through the x-ray machine. If you think pastors are only able to preach then you haven't seen James May in action! After patiently waiting for the boxes to be processed as checked luggage, he then negotiated a reduced excess baggage charge with the check-in staff to make sure the donors and recipients get the most value for their dollar! We would see this same skill being used when we arrived in Tanzania and customs wanted to charge import duty on the books! In some places in this world being a pastor and a Lutheran is actually an advantage - but that's another story!

The flight in the 70 or 80 seater was fantastic especially as we flew above the clouds and had a spectacular view of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Photo taken by Darcee on her iPod through the plane window

We landed in Mwanza and once we sorted out immigration and customs we were greeted by staff from the bishop's office and on our way to Shinyanga - but not before enjoying the first of many fried tilapia on the shore of Lake Victoria!

The drive to Shinyanga was hot and crowded (luggage, books and six of us in the back of the troopie) but a great way to see the countryside between snoozes. We arrived at our hotel and settled in for the night, looking forward to what lay ahead. 

The next day it became apparent that Laryssa and the girls didn't have suitable clothes for church on Sunday and so the search began! The girls eventually found long skirts that were deemed suitable, but Laryssa was advised to have an African dress made complete with head covering as befits a pastor's wife! Once the material was purchased she met with the dressmaker at the cathedral (about 1pm) where about 6 ladies debated the design - once settled the dress maker went off and had the job done by about 7pm! How's that for efficiency?

Lutheran Cathedral for the East of Lake Victoria Diocese

The following day I had the privilege of preaching at the cathedral with the Bishop translating for me. The pulpit is big enough for half a dozen at once so it was no problem to fit us both in! He picked me up from the hotel at 6.30am after what must have been 3 or 4 inches of rain overnight. There were two services on the Sunday - first at 7.30am and second at 10.30am - each service was around 2 hours in length with loads of singing and a sermon that had to be preached twice (once in translation). We met many delightful people and rejoiced to sing the liturgy together. Laryssa looked a treat in her Tanzanian dress and her and the girls did a wonderful job of greeting the congregation and introducing themselves!

On Monday we began a seminar for pastors and evangelists of the diocese introducing them to the Book of Concord and Luther's Small Catechism. With the help of our donors the Lutheran Heritage Foundation gave copies of these books (as well as 'God's No and God's Yes) to all the participants and I could write volumes on the week's experience. It was one of the great highlights of our entire time away. To keep costs at a minimum the seminar was being held out in a village where there was no power or water, but where the church had access to rooms for the participants to sleep in. The sessions were held in a tent with the very welcome breeze helping us keep from overheating!

I'm getting lazy so I'm going to simply paste what I wrote in an email to some friends at the end of our week in Tanzania and hopefully it gives you a glimpse of what our week was like. 

"After a week in Tanzania, we are preparing today to fly back to Nairobi. It's been a busy week with preaching in the Shinyanga Lutheran cathedral last Sunday and then teaching for most of the week. I haven't had a chance to resolve whatever is stopping me uploading photos to the blog so I thought I'd send a brief update.

The week of teaching has been an amazing experience. Despite a five year seminary course, most of the pastors have never seen the Book of Concord or even the Small Catechism. Their theology is influenced by the worst of manipulative Pentecostal tv preachers but they have such a love for the scriptures that after four days, they were rejoicing in the way true Lutheran theology proclaims the gospel! Laryssa and the girls met with Sunday school teachers and confirmation students who begged them to come back and teach them more. Thirteen year olds were so excited to see children's bibles that they pleaded to have a copy each.

The area we were teaching in is one of the hottest and poorest in Tanzania. The bishop told us that yearly droughts cause famine for the villages every single year. We were fortunate to have "moderate" temperatures because we were in the wet season, but life is so tough there. Despite hardship - or maybe because of it - the people recognise heir need for God and rejoice in His saving work but so much more teaching needs to be done.

We left the town of Shinyanga yesterday and after a 3 hour trip in the back of the troop carrier we arrived in Mwanza which is on Lake Victoria. It's a lovely city and we are just resting here until our flight tonight. Laryssa had a sizable gecko fall in her lap at dinner last night and a large bird (a kite) snatched her breakfast as she was walking to the table this morning! Lots of fun!

We just got news that 2 days ago there was an explosion at Nairobi airport where we are headed today, caused by an improvised explosive device. That's life in Africa but it's a hard reminder of the need for the gospel to be urgently proclaimed because that's the only thing that is going to change peoples hearts. The west keeps throwing money this way but it just breeds corruption and greed. Your prayers for safe travel are very much appreciated."

Enjoy some photos from our week in Shinyanga and a night in Mwanza and I'll do my best to finish off our last couple of days in Africa before too long!

Oh, and that showering over the toilet thing....you'll have to ask me about that!

Time on the Kenyan coast

After a couple of days at Voi Wildlife Lodge we headed back out onto the Nairobi-Mombassa road to make our way toward Kilifi on the northern coast of Kenya. According to Google maps we were only 88 miles from our destination, but that doesn't mean much in Africa!

After settling back into the chaos of the road, we turned off the main road in order to avoid going through Mombassa. All looked good as we travelled on relatively quiet country roads and through palm lined valleys. Unfortunately the first road we were looking for was closed and half an hour later we were advised that the next road was impassable as well! So after our nice little detour, it was back to the main road and on to Mombassa!

I can't say it was a particularly pleasant drive but it sure was an experience. Road works heading into Mombassa slowed the traffic to stand still as cars, trucks and buses competed for every little bit of space - including the 'footpath'. Fortunately we were communicating with the Mays via walkie talkie and so got a heads up to turn off before we got really stuck. This turn took us through some rather interesting neighbourhoods and left a few in the car feeling a little anxious, but thanks be to God we got through Mombassa and on to Kilifi without further incident. That 88 miles only too us 5 hours to drive but man, was the drive worth it!

The view from the room shown below

The view from the balcony outside three of the seven bedrooms.

Pastor May only gets about a week of holidays per year and he and Tiina had been kind enough to invite us to come along and join them for this break. Together we rented this amazing house, complete with cooking, housekeeping and security staff. It is situated on the Kilifi Creek which opens into the ocean, but don't be fooled - this creek is no trickle!

Our days at Kilifi were marked by lots of relaxing, swimming, reading and a little exploring. We enjoyed some of the local seafood delivered direct to our door by local fishermen, as well as goat and some other local treats.

Like most of Africa, Kilifi is marked by extreme contrasts with local people trying to simply survive selling mangos or vegetables or their day's catch, while others enjoy the natural beauty and the 'toys' their imported wealth can buy.

It is a beautiful part of the world and we are so grateful for the time we had to be blessed by our new found friendship with the May family. On our second last day there we headed out - all 12 of us in the Landcruiser - and ventured down some dirt tracks that appeared to be going nowhere. At the end of the track we came to the Kilifi Boatyard where we had booked for lunch - ordering local oysters which they went out to pick just for us! At 7 cents a piece, we spent up big and ordered 50! Stunning views, great food and even better company - what a great way to finish up!

Armed with local knowledge we left for Nairobi determined to avoid Mombassa at all costs! It turned out to be quite an adventure as we went off road and travelled through remote villages for a couple of hours. Fortunately we came across a man sitting on the side of the road quietly hoping for a lift to the town we needed to find and with his directions, we were soon back on the Nairobi Road again and contending with the chaos. The next 6 or 7 hours were filled with dodging crazy buses, overtaking ridiculously slow trucks, seeing the remnants of the those who were not so lucky and then successfully negotiating Nairobi traffic just prior to peak hour. (We do have some photos from that part of the trip but they're all on Laryssa's iPad so if you want to see them, you'll have to come visit when we get home!)

After nearly 12 hard hours on the road any sense of bring refreshed was long gone. I can't imagine how Pastor May does it year after year. Sure Kilifi was a wonderful place to stay, but the stress of the drive home had certainly undone much of the refreshment we all need to survive. We have to come up with something better to support these guys in their tough ministry.

While at Kilifi it was decided that we would fly to Tanzania a couple of days after returning to Nairobi for the teaching seminar that had been planned. We had previously planned to drive but another two days on the road each way seemed a little foolish and risky. So once back in Nairobi we had time to wash our clothes, pack the books and bags, and head off to taste a bit more of Africa!

Back online!

Well after a few frustrating weeks of not being able to upload photos, I've finally got things back up and running. It's amazing how quickly you can resolve issues when you're not limited to an iPad!

Of course that now means I've got loads of catching up to do but we'll be back in Australia in a week and I'm not going to spend our final week away in front of a computer the whole time - so get ready for a whirlwind tour of the past 3 weeks!

First of all, here are a few more photos from our time at Voi Wildlife Lodge in Kenya - last time I was posting the photos got cut off half way through...

A beautiful African sunrise at the beginning of our safari.

A couple of vultures sitting in a tree...

 The way these birds fly together is quite amazing

 We were looking for elephants off in the distance and came around a corner and these two guys were within a few metres of the van!

Pesky baboons! We saw lots of these on the side of the road as well as in Nairobi

How does Google drive do that??

A family of mere cats ran across the road in front of us - very fortunate to see them

Breakfast with a view - with 3/8ths of the May family!

Our first week in Africa

So much has happened since we arrived in Nairobi on December 30 and I only have a short time to update things now before we leave for Tanzania at 5.30am tomorrow. So I'll do my best!

After a 5+ hour flight from Munich (minus 2 degrees) to Dubai (30+ degrees); a 4 hour stop over in that metropolis of an airport; and then another 5+ hour flight to Nairobi (25 degrees), we arrived weary but excited. Along with the throng of other passengers we were ferried to the arrivals 'lounge' by bus as the airport is a bit of a mess after burning down a few months ago.

We were welcomed in true Kenyan style thanks to the 'SUCKER' sign that was apparently plastered to my forehead! A lovely lady with an official ID tag answered some questions I had about visas and then promptly took all the unfinished paper work and rushed to the front of the queue. She kindly informed me of the correct cost of the visas in euros, gave some instructions to the man behind the counter and then even received 'a little something' for her help. Trouble was she told me the cost was 50 euros per person instead of 40 and then got a tip to boot! Oh well, I guess it must have looked like we paid our way through immigration and to the front of the line!

All that was quickly forgotten when we were greeted by our friend, Pastor James May who was patiently waiting for us despite the tiny car park being over run by Red Cross tents that were set up in response to the conflict in South Sudan. After a typical drive through the Nairobi chaos, errrr, I mean, traffic and spotting a giraffe off in the distance, we arrived at the May household and met our wonderful hosts. James' delightful wife Tiina has welcomed us with open arms and wonderful hospitality and their six children have been a real joy to be around and get to know.

We spent a couple of days in nairobi which included celebrating New Year's Eve in front of a fire and making fun of each other's 'incorrect' pronunciation - imagine that, an American telling us we articulate poorly! ;-)  We were also privileged to visit a giraffe sanctuary close by where all except Darcee got a kiss from these long necked beauties!

It wasn't really that bad Laryssa!

Georgia with Sophie and Jonas

No time to find the copy where Georgia had her eyes open, but you get the picture!

After enjoying a couple of days at the May's home - which also doubles as the Mission Centre for Lutherans in Africa - we joined the family on the Kenyan coast for their only week of leave for the year!

We travelled via the Nairobi-Mombasa Road which is really not for the faint hearted. Trucks travel as slow as 20 km/h and others up to 130 km/h. To survive you have to dodge and dart around vehicles, overtake at every opportunity and keep your eyes open for what everyone else is up to. What an experience! Where else would you get to dodge crazy buses, stop for giraffes to cross a major highway and see baboons, zebras and ostriches on the way?

Our first stop was two nights at the Voi Wildlife Lodge - about 5 hours from Nairobi. Lots of stories for another time but it's enough to know that it was a great stop and our 3 hour safari at the neighbouring national park gave us a chance to see just about all the animals we could hope to see.

I think he's been taking lessons from Miley Cyrus in how to pose for a photo!

We were very fortunate to see a lioness after only about 15 minutes in the park. She was clearly on the look out for some food and relatively unbothered by the traffic jam she was causing only 50 metres away!

I've got loads of other photos I was hoping to share for the rest of this post, but thanks to some hiccup with Blogger and Google Drive, I can't access them at the moment. I've been trying for the past hour or two and so I think I'm going to call it a night and simply say...to be continued!

We fly out for Tanzania tomorrow morning where I'll be preaching in a town called Shinyanga on Sunday morning and then assisting Pastor James May in leading a seminar with local pastors and evangelist through to Thursday. As with all things African, there's always a bit of fluidity about the details and so the seminar topics have changed a little - the first day will be introducing the Formula of Concord and then the next days will be exploring the Small Catechism. Lutherans in Africa will supply both books to the pastors and we're told they are all desperately wanting to receive more training so they can better serve their flocks.

So until I can get the hiccups sorted....you'll have to wait for me to finish this instalment (more photos, a delightful time on the coast and an adventurous trip home) and then start on the next!

Until then, God bless!