All in an Unexpected Week

Well, it definitely wasn't a week we expected. The unexpected death of Martin was a sad shock to all of us. We had not expected to be packing a bag and going back to the airport parting ways again, before we had even finished unpacking! There were many phonecalls and quick plans made on Tuesday. We were sorry we could not all go, but thankful that Tim could fly out to Dar es Salaam first thing on Wednesday, and attend Martin's funeral on Thursday, taking our condolences and sympathy to Esther and also Martin's sister, Penny. Martin will be much missed by his church family at Victory Christian Centre. As his body is returned to the UK, our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends there, as they prepare for a funeral.

Family gather to honour and remember Martin

Even though it was only three days, the girls and I were very pleased to have Tim home again on Friday and on picking him up from the airport went and enjoyed a late meal out. It was the first time to eat out since begin back in Mwanza, and Tim and Louisa introduced Amisadai and me to a restaurant new to us - The Copenhagen Burger House! They do a great pizza combo! The other bonus with him being back was that he was able to deal with the dead mouse in the kitchen this morning, as I had started the a battle against the mice while he was gone!

Mamas Good News

While Tim was away, I met again with the Upendo wa Mama Group and was so happy to discover that one of the women had become a Christian and was happily sharing how wonderful she feels with a peace that she has never known; Jesus is with her and there to help her! Fantastic! It was also encouraging for the group to receive the proceeds from selling some of their products in the UK and Canada. They banked half of it and the other half was divided amongst the group. They then all gave contributions from their profits for gifts. And the rest of that story was today...

The mamas all arrived at our house this morning (Saturday). After chatting over chai with sweet breads and fruit, they gave us a gift, especially for Amisadai, to contribute to our expenses to help her get better. After praying for her for so many months, they were so pleased we were all back and so happy she was better, they wanted to give something to "their daughter" in honour of that. We are so blessed by and thankful for these lovely ladies!

When a Land Cruiser Has Limits!

The mamas then all piled up in the land cruiser and I drove us to Mama Laurensia's house. Always an adventure! Trying to get directions from a car full of passengers who have never driven a vehicle can get confusing! I think we turned around at least five times! Attempting to drive up steep rough tracks without being able to get into second gear because of the crowded front seat blocking the gear shift! Being assured that of course we can find the house driving down a particularly rough and rocky narrow path ...been there, done that, got stuck! So I firmly suggested we left the car at the top of the hill and walked on foot down the track to find the house! A good move, I soon realised!

Twins!

It was so very wonderful to see Laurencia again! In April, she gave birth to twins! I had known she was pregnant, but it was a great surprise to find she had two babies! We all had a cuddle with these adorable babies, a boy called Elisha and a girl called Esther! After a refreshing glass of avocado juice, we prayed God's blessing on them and their family. It was so special for us and also Laurencia was so thrilled to have the whole group there at her house with her children!

Mama Laurencia with her precious babies!

All the mamas with Elisha and Esther and their older brother and sister

The showering of love gift-giving continued as we all trekked back up to the land cruiser and drove to the market to purchase another gift. Then we arrived at Samantha and Joel's house! Samantha has been a good friend and support to the mamas and they were so happy about little Ethan's arrival and wanted to bless them. We enjoyed sodas with the family and the mamas were able to give their gift and pray for little Ethan and his family!

With Samantha and baby Ethan and his big sister

Truly they demonstrated we are blessed to be a blessing to others! From what they have received, they gave out in love!

Time

We have now been back in Tanzania for a week! Time is such a strange thing. While at times I can't believe a week has flown by, I also can't believe it was only a week ago we were at the Basingstoke TKS Celebration before heading to the airport; it feels like another life an eternity ago! It is great to be back home and it's been a very busy but good week of meeting up with people and starting to unpack the house and sort everything out! Time to enter another season! After leaving in such a hurry at the beginning of the year, it was so strange finding all these things just left abandoned so many months ago, so many things left undone! Where did that time go?!

The girls were happy to get back to school and reconnect with all their friends! Louisa has started Secondary School and although she was a little concerned about missing the start of the year, is now all caught up and apart from the greater load of homework, enjoying being a Year 7 student! And early on our first day back, Tim started teaching again at the Bible College.

There seems so much to catch up on! While much remains the same, time changes things. So much has changed as people have moved away or moved in, babies have been born, there are new roads ... and far more expensive bananas!

It has been great to have our "team" all together for the first time. We were able to share a meal together at the Ewings home on Tuesday, attend Mkuyuni church yesterday, where we were all warmly welcomed and able to share another meal together with their leaders and then today we had our first Monday morning team meeting all together!

The EI team with leaders from Mkuyuni Church

Warmly welcomed by Mkuyuni Church

(Their building has progressed amazingly in our absence!)

Amisadai and I were happy to finally meet Simon and Victoria and their two children, Tabitha and Reuben! And it was so wonderful to meet little Ethan, the new addition to the Newby family! And it was lovely to have Esther visit with her baby girl, Praise! Born the day before Ethan in May, she too is no longer a little newborn! Esther is doing well and hoping to start doing a couple of days a week for the agriculture project.

With Esther and baby Praise

Peter is doing a great job carrying the Agriculture Project! More on that another time, but just to say he is very busy this week with four days of training in two villages with over forty farmers! We have already had a little rain here and are praying for good rains this year!

I met with the Mamas Group on Saturday for the first time in many months! It was wonderful to see everyone again ...and discover Mama Laurencia has given birth to twins! More on that later too!

But today has been a difficult and sad day. We are grieving the loss of a good friend, Martin Shaw who died very suddenly in Dar es Salaam last night. Martin, like us, moved to Tanzania from Tadley. His wife Esther, in Dar es Salaam, and his children in the UK are much in our thoughts and prayers at this difficult time. As our pastor in Tadley, Greg, said so well, "We are grateful to God for Martin's clear Christian faith, his commitment to God's kingdom, and his sure hope of eternal life. Martin was a man of boundless optimism and confidence in the future, a man who always made big plans, followed where God led, and who saw many of those plans come to fruition. I will certainly miss his enthusiasm, can-do attitude and practical outlook." We will all miss him.

This photo was taken before either Martin (centre) or ourselves moved to Tanzania,

but here we are with our good Tanzanian friends Huruma and Zakayo at John and Tania's house in England!

And so I end up reflecting on the fragility of our time here on Earth. The priorities we set and those things done or left undone. Those things that time changes and what remains the same. What will I do with my time? And I am left thankful for a solid hope, eagerly anticipating an eternity without time.