A Hot Landing

From sub-zero temperatures and falling snow in the UK at 5pm to the stifling, humid heat of Dar es Salaam at 7am. A shock to the system! Hard to believe that less than a week earlier we'd been in Canada. Hard to believe that it had been over four months since we last touched African soil. We didn't adjust very quickly to the heat which was soaring into the 40's. Even in the air conditioned tent where the church met on Sunday, although cooler at 7am when we arrived, by the time the service finished at 1:30pm, it was up to 32! Whew!And driving back to Iringa, we were very disappointed that our air conditioning didn't work as we seemed to melt into our seats!

Fun with Geoff on the Pod at Heathrow Airport

But despite the heat, it has been great to see friends again! We were with Huruma and Joyce Nkone in Dar, and then visited Matt and Amy Dixon in Morogoro on the way home. And then warmly welcomed home (and stocked up with food!) by Andy and Angela and the Wingfield family on Tuesday. It is great to be back with the EI team again and catch up and join in with all that is going on! It is also great to be back in our home as a family again! It felt really strange and quiet being just the four of us - I was getting too many knives and forks out! We were all in bed and fast asleep ridiculously early, enjoying the chance to catch up on some much-needed sleep. And then the unpacking ... the girls have been excited, unpacking all the stored boxes of clothes and toys and books. And as well as unpacking the contents of our house, we have been unpacking the bags and boxes we brought with us. With school set up, the kitchen sorted, the supplies of toiletries and "treat" foods stocked up, all that remains is to sort out the clothes ... the girls seem to have grown a bit too much since we left this warmer climate! So we are adjusting well ... even to the shower problems! Louisa's rash on her feet has cleared almost completely for which we are very thankful. We are enjoying our fresh cow's milk again and have tucked in happily to our Tanzanian beans and rice.

I am putting my teacher hat back on again, and have been pulling together plans for this first half term. We will start on Monday ... bring on the Vikings with force and motion! A little daunted but ploughing ahead!

It is exciting to be back and we are so looking forward to this fresh start with perspective gained from our time away. Tim and I have taken some time these past few evenings to talk through and reflect on what we have learned and gained from the past number of months and how we work things out in the coming weeks and months.We know God is ahead of us, and just want to step out and follow! And the exciting thing is that we never really know where that will land us!

We celebrated Impelo's birthday at VCC on Sunday

In true Tanzanian style, Tim is fed some birthday cake

Louisa enjoys her first soda and chapati since last summer!