June 25

We arrived home yesterday at 1 pm to find our house and yard in great shape. It is good to be home, even though there is a bit of jet lag to deal with.  This trip was amazing and we hope to share more details with those who would like to hear. We'll publish the date and time of an informal presentation once we figure out what will work best.

Thanks again for your prayers. We are convinced that God was strengthening us and directing our steps throughout the two and a half weeks.

June 22

Marla and I were able to visit with another ministry here in Pune yesterday that my brother has been connected with for many years. They do many things for the poor and those needing justice, including trafficked women and children not able to go to school because they are forced to work for their parents.

Last night the international food party was a smashing success. There were 18 of us altogether, singing, eating, sharing stories and playing games. Here are Marla and Analia preparing food for it. Marla made an apple crisp and mashed potatoes to represent US food.  We had people from Turkistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iran, Bolivia, India and, us from the good old USA.  Things started winding down by 1:45 am. We went to bed at 2 and there were still three visitors here, talking with M & A.  Sohel was the life of the party until he went to bed around 10.


It is now about 12:30 pm and our taxi arrives at 2:30 to pick up the 5 of us with our luggage for the trip to Mumbai. Marla and I have a very inexpensive hotel reservation where the Clarks will hang out until their taxi comes to take them to the airport for a flight leaving at 1 am on Sunday, the 23rd.  Marla and I will stay until Sunday evening when we will also take a taxi for a 1 am flight on the 24th. We hope to find a church Sunday morning that is in the Hindi language.

Thanks again for your prayers. Lord willing we will see you soon.

June 21

Today is our last full day in Pune. We will travel tomorrow with Michael and Analia to Mumbai by taxi.  They leave early Sunday morning for Thailand for a few days, fulfilling their visa requirement of leaving the country every six months. We will stay in a hotel in Mumbai and leave early Monday morning. Because of time zones, we actually arrive at SeaTac at 11:30 am that same morning,  22 1/2 hours later.  This may be our last entry, though I will try to do one tomorrow morning if there is time.

Yesterday was an amazing day. I fixed pancakes for us all, including a friend who had come to join us for breakfast and a time of worship.  The most exciting "event" of our trip happened during that time, but you will have to ask us  about it when we see you in person due to the sensitive nature of things here.

Please pray for the international food party tonight and for Marla and Analia as they prepare dishes for it today.  Everything takes twice as long here as it does at home -- ask me sometime about showers. Pray also for preparations and travel for both families as we leave Pune tomorrow.

June 20, 2013

The days fly by so quickly and it takes so much time each day to do very basic things here. Yesterday, Michael and I spent a lot of time looking in hardware shops for several items, including some hardware to help baby-proof the kitchen. Hopefully we will be able to finish the project today.

Many other more exciting things happened yesterday as well.  We went to the "Neighbor" Center which is a training site for those wishing to work more effectively with their Mlm neighbors. They have a very large library there as well as some dedicated prayer warriors and trainers. Michael led a time of worship and I shared a devotional thought with a group of eight people.  Following a tour of the facility and stories from the lives of some of the workers there, Michael and I did some shopping (see above) while Marla and Analia went to a coffee shop to visit with a sister who was born in Iran. Later, when Michael and I joined them, this sister, M, shared her a amazing story of how she became a follower of Jesus and the difficulties she went through as a result.  We were blessed to hear another story of God's love and faithfulness.

After some down time in the afternoon, we all did more shopping for hardware and other items, followed by a meal we treated Michael, Analia and Sohel to at an Iranian restaurant they really like. Everywhere we go, Sohel is the main attraction for those we see. He is a blast to be around, but don't take your eyes off of him.

Please continue to pray for this family of three as they represent Jesus in this community. Pray for our international food party tomorrow night (it will start at 3:30 am on Friday for you in case you can make it.)  There will be many Mlm friends there.  God has healed a major problem in my jaw and Analia is doing much better. Both Marla and I have been free of cold symptoms for several days. Thanks for your prayers.  Pray that our final three days with the Clarks will bless them in special ways.

A special shout out to K, M, M, C and C!  We love you.

June 18

What a day we had yesterday!  We took care of Sohel in the morning (what a blast!) as Michael took Analia to the doctor's office for results of her tests.  She is still having liver problems and stomach pain but they have given her some good advice and some medications. In the afternoon we drove through horrendous traffic to meet with and have a late lunch with Q and his two Mlm brothers, along with two other roommates that are also Mlm. They all came from Afg...stan and have been living in Pk...stan for many years. Currently they are here as students in Pune.  Michael has been meeting with them for several months and has known Q for many years.

Conversations over lunch (they insisted on paying) and then afterwards on a long walk in the misting rain for 4 kilometers (God granted me special use of my feet for that walk) were enlightening and, I believe, God-directed. They are all wonderful young men and are very open to talking about Jesus.

After the walk they invited us to the apartment they share, for green tea.  It was wonderful. By now it was 8:30 and when Michael explained that we had to get the baby home, they offered a spare room for him to sleep in so that we could stay for a meal they would prepare and for games and more discussion. We respectfully declined, and after praying for all of them, we returned home.

This is an example of the kind of ministry the Clrks are involved in on a regular basis.

We invited them to a party on Friday night. They all plan to be there. Please pray for this time. Please continue to pray for Analia and her health problems. Thanks for your prayers for us during this trip. It is obvious to us that many of you are bringing us before the Throne.

June 16: The Rest of the Story

First, we got a wonderful rest last night. It is hot here, but not extremely hot, and a ceiling fan did the trick.

Sohel is opening up to us and is really relaxing around us this morning. Yesterday he woke up from a nap to find his parents gone and these two relatively strange people taking care of him. He cried for a while until I took him for a walk in the neighborhood.  We found one of my favorite things, a bakery, which sold popsicles, besides bread.  I found out later that it was his first popsicle. It did the trick: we are now friends for life.

On an earlier walk, I watched these boys playing cricket in a rather junky lot.  A few meters down the road I found a large dead rat in the gutter, but didn't take a picture.  My next discovery was this walk- through loo (toilet for you non-British).  They have them in the poorer neighborhoods where many families do not have their own toilets.  These are gents only, none for women.

Last night after supper, Michael, Marla, Sohel and I walked to Sohel's favorite park.  He fell asleep in the back carrier on the way there, but dad woke him up and the two of them played tag even though Sohel was obviously not fully awake. He had a ball, especially when he got to splash in mud puddles. (I lied about the mayhem, but needed to say something exciting to get you to check back.)

We attended church at Naga Christian Fellowship this morning with the Clarks. It was a large group (over 300, I'm sure) and was a wonderful time of worship.  The theme was Fathers' Day with lots of appreciation expressed for the fathers in attendance, along with some challenges to be a father like God is a father to us.

Michael and I went swimming this afternoon and I had a chance to talk with a couple of men in the office while he finished his laps.  Please pray for Amrisch, a Hindu- in- name- only atheist.  He gave me permission to pray that the God I worship would reveal Himself to him.  I'm asking you to gang up on Amrisch by praying that God would do just that.  God is taking care of our health concerns. Thanks for your prayers.  Please pray for Analia who is experiencing stomach pain that is somewhat severe.  Pray also for me as I prepare a devotional for Wednesday morning for a group of believers in the office that the Clarks are linked with.

June 15: True Exhaustion

Well folks, this is not jet lag, but just lack of sleep over the two nights that it took to get here. We arrived safely with our bags intact and made the taxi connection in Mumbai for the long ride to Pune. It is great to be here with the Clarks (sorry Bill and Julie). I'll write more details and upload a few pictures in the morning if I have a chance, but right now I'm going to bed to sleep before I write anything crazy in the state I am in. Marla is in the same shape. I will say that today there was a cricket game, a dead rat,  Sohel's first popsicle and mayhem in the park. Tune back in about 12 hours from now for the "rest of the story."

Abi with our tour vehicle

June 13

We slept well last night after a long day of travel and viewing African wildlife.  Bordens had encouraged us to do at least a one day safari while we were here. We went with our guide/driver, Abi, to Ngorongoro, one of the game parks here in Tanzania.

Cape Town Buffalo

We learned much from Abi and had great fellowship with this brother in the Lord. In some ways it seemed like a divine appointment as the three of us traveled to Ngorongoro, through it, and then returned to Arusha.                       While there we saw: ostriches, lions, giraffes, buffalo, zebras, gnus, hippos, elephants, hyenas, jackals, warthogs, flamingos and many other birds. The thousands of animals in this caldera are all there naturally. This is not a zoo.

Elephant on the move

Simba

                          Please pray for the details and connections as we leave here at 1 am tomorrow morning for the airport and then fly out at 4:20 am (6:20 pm on Thursday for you) beginning our long journey to Pune, India. Pray for continued health needs and for our time with our Muslim friend, Emre, in the airport at Istanbul.

Toasting our 43rd anniversary with pineapple juice

June 12 Quick prayer request.

It is 9 pm on Wednesday and we just returned from an exciting day that started at 4 am. We are worn out and I'm very congested. Marla and I leave for India in the middle of the night tomorrow night (Friday am). I'm asking for prayer for a great final day with the Bordens and for a touch from God so that I do not have to fly this congested. I experience major ear pain upon landing in this condition, and we have two 8 hour flights to get to the Clarks, a six hour layover in Turkey, and a four hour taxi ride to Pune from our landing site in Mumbai. Thanks for your prayer.  I'll try to get pictures and details of today on when I get up in the morning.

Byron and Lisa

June 11:  Chai, Chapates and Camping

Mostly rock, little road

We just returned today from a time of fellowship, excitement and rest. It started with packing the trailer and hooking it up to the Land Rover. Prosper, a Tanzanian believer who works with Bordens, did much of the packing and came along to be our cook. We then headed out on a three+ hour trip to Maasai Land, north of Arusha.  The paved road lasted for a bit over an hour and then the real adventure began. For a while the dirt road was  fairly nice, having been recently graded for the first time by the government. Then the rocky, rutted road became the norm. We stopped for lunch a ways off the "road" after traveling literally cross country. Then we hit the road again.  A bit later it got worse.  We joked that this form of travel would replace our need for a chiropractor since everything was moving!

Our arrival at the campsite was a pleasant surprise. Although a bit rustic, this was a beautiful, peaceful place located on a large, dried up riverbed surrounded by lush greenery. Setting up camp meant three tents, aluminum tables, a hand washing station, two fires, a portable shower and a portable pit toilet. Soon we drove down river to meet Peter and his family.  Peter is a Maasai pastor who has been a friend of the Bordens for many years.  He and Byron had plans to discuss and we all got to see the progress on Peter's new house.We had a wonderful supper that night, and then sat by the large fire and talked missions, followed by a good time of prayer.

The next morning following breakfast we travelled on that rocky road again to a Maasai village an hour away. There we drank chai and ate chapates at a local cafe while we waited for James, a longtime friend of the B's and a district commissioner who is working on a deep bore well project in that area with Byron.  From there we bounced over to check out a well pump that had sunk into the ground during a very heavy rain in the spring. Byron had hoped to retrieve it until we found that it had been literally swallowed up by the earth.

Dik Dik seen our our night safari.

                                                                          That night after a wonderful supper cooked by Prosper, we got into the Land Rover with our headlamps on our foreheads and our cook on the roof with a powerful spotlight and began a nighttime safari to see if we could spot some wildlife along the dry, sandy riverbank. After seeing many bush babies in the trees and several dik diks (the worlds smallest antelopes) we were thrilled to come upon 4 large giraffes.  We chased them for half a mile at speeds over 25 mph before we gave up trying to get a picture in the dark.

This morning we packed up and returned to Arusha, rested and full of exciting memories of the greatest camping adventure of our lives.

Maasai women carrying firewood

July 9

This will be just a quick note to let you know that the suitcases arrived this morning at 7 am, two and a half days after we did.  It was good to learn some lessons on flexibility and patience through this process.  The bad news is that there were a couple of items missing, one of which was a serious loss, but overall there is joy this morning as we have clothes to wear and all of our toiletries.  I was also excited to receive the two harmonicas that I packed and my Swiss Army knife that may come in handy on our camping trip up to Maasai Land.

Please continue to pray for Marla who is very congested. Also I would appreciate prayer for a jaw problem that has escalated in the last two days.  Be sure to comment so we know you are there.

June 8 -- The Sequel

Yes, this is the second blog entry of the day, but there is a reason. We will be leaving tomorrow morning for Maasai Land and will have no access to the internet there. Hey! They don't even have McDonald's.  Get over it!

Today was a day of preparation for this adventure up north where we will be camping. It was also a day where Byron spent much time trying to figure out why our luggage still hadn't come.  At one point he was told that the customs people wanted us to come to the airport (over an hour away) to go through the luggage with them because their xrays showed questionable items. We couldn't figure out what they would be.  He eventually called Holland to speak to a person at KLM about it and we think they must have called the airport to straighten it out. We've now been told that the two suitcases will be here at 10 tonight, an hour and a half from now.  We are hoping.

Faith with some of her many chickens

Rich with 7 month old, Jess

We had a wonderful visit with Faith and Benson today. They are a Tanzanian family of five that are good friends of the Bordens.  Benson works for Compassion International and Faith works for Wild Hope, the organization that the Bordens were serving with before this recent change.  They also raise chickens for meat, something that the Bordens gave a micro-loan for to help them to grow the business. After our tour and discussion, Faith invited us to have a plate of fruit with the family, a Tanzanian custom.  While there I got to do one of my favorite activities,  holding a baby.

Continue to pray for the arrival of our luggage, our health and opportunities to connect with some of the Maassai while we are up north.

June 8

Yesterday was a day of getting to know a bit about the ministry of the Bordens, meeting amazing brothers in the Lord, and feeling jet lag effects.

We started the day eating a pleasant breakfast with Byron and Lisa, getting to know more about their family and their daily routines. Later in the morning we went with Byron into town and had lunch with Scott and Elisha. During lunch we heard the stories of these two men and how God has led each of them to work together with Byron on the BUV project.  This Basic Utility Vehicle is being manufactured here in Tanzania by Tanzanians and for Tanzanians. It is actually a franchise from a firm in the US who designed it to help the poor of this world in many countries, but this is the first place in the world outside the US that has picked up the "baton" and run with it. After assembling some prototypes, these three men requested the engineers from the US office to redesign it out of materials that are completely available in this country. As you can see, I was given the opportunity to take one for a test drive. Fun!

Although we had slept well on Thursday night because we were so tired from a thirty hour trip (door to door), jet lag struck me several times during the day. I would start to zone out and crave sleep but fought it off.  Marla did not have as much trouble with it, but she did feel some effects. We ate supper on the patio outside the Bordens' house, enjoying the heat from a wood "stove".  You might think that is crazy, this close to the equator, but since we are at 4,500 ft elevation it gets down to the low 50's here at night this time of year.  We listened to stories of ministry, raising a family here in Africa and other interesting things that go on in this part of the world.

Yesterday I told you about the dogs and rabbits the Bordens have, but I didn't tell you about their six tortoises. Five of them are very small and live in their strawberry patch. This big one, about the size of a small+ dog, roams the yard slowly, at will.

We're hoping our luggage arrives today. Please pray for our health and that we can be used by God to bless this family.

A special "Hi!" to M,K,M,C and C.

June 7

We are here in Arusha, Tanzania, in the welcoming home of the Bordens. Lisa and Byron met us at the Kilimanjaro Airport last night at about 7:45 (9:45 am your time).  Our arrival was marred a bit by the frustration of lost luggage, but the fact that we were here after a looooong trip, and the joy of connecting with the Bordens and starting our adventure in East Africa was more than enough to compensate for that disappointment.

The trip from the airport was in the dark so we could not see much of the countryside or even the city of Arusha, but it was a good time as we began connecting with our hosts. After a restful sleep last night in a guest room behind the garage, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast and a time of learning more about the life and ministry of Lisa and Byron.  Today we will meet with some of their friends in town, exchange some US$ into TZ shillings (1,600 shillings to the dollar) and enjoy a relaxing day as we get to know them and their ministry a little better.

The weather today is a bit like a very nice late spring day in Edmonds. It will be sunny and in the upper 70's. Even though we are just a bit south of the equator, we are at 4,500 feet in elevation so we avoid the extremes of temperature that one might expect at this latitude.  Byron told us last night that this is the cool weather season, which suits us just fine.

Please pray for a quick arrival of our luggage (by tomorrow) and openness on our part to accept whatever plans God has for our time here in Tanzania.

Adam takes care of the yard, dogs and rabbits.

Marla with two of the five dogs

Thanks for checking back even though nothing has been added for two weeks. We leave tomorrow morning so if you see this today, Tuesday the 4th of June, please pray for last minute details and that we will be able to meet our luggage weight limits of 20 kg and still get everything we need to take in the suitcases. Another specific request is that we'll be able to sleep on the plane on the leg from LA to Amsterdam to help with jet lag.

Here is our flight schedule for the trip:

June 5:  Lv SEA @ 9 am;  arrive LAX @ 11:33 am;  Lv LAX @ 1:55 pm

June 6:  Arr Amsterdam @ 9:05 am;  Lv AMS @  10:05 am (yes, pray!); Arr Kilamanjaro @ 7:35 pm

June 6 - 13 with Bordens in Arusha, Tanzania

June 14: Lv JRO @ 4:30 am;  Arr Istanbul @ 1:05 pm;  Lv IST @ 7:35 pm

June 15 Arr Mumbai @ 4:30 am; taxi to Pune, India (4 hours)

June 15 - 23 with Clarks in Pune, India

June 24: Lv BOM @ 1:10 am;  Arr AMS @ 7 am; Lv AMS @ 10:25 am;  Arr SEA @ 11:35 am

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We will be attempting to add stories, pictures and prayer requests every day or two so keep checking in.

 Marla and I  are leaving for Arusha, Tanzania, and Pune, India in June to visit with two of our missionary families for a time of fellowship, encouragement and education. This is another chapter in our desire to visit with each of our CCF missionaries where they are working. We would love to have you praying for us on this adventure with God. As we have opportunities, we'll update this blog with stories of what we discover along the way and even a few pictures. If you have a letter you would like to get personally delivered to either the Bordens or Clarks, be sure to get them to us by Sunday, June 2.