Final

It's Tuesday morning. For the last couple of days half of the team has been hanging out in Dar es Salaam and the other half is on the island of Zanzibar, a 20 minute plane ride away. We are preparing for the 30 hour trip back to California. The weather on the coast is warm and humid. Temperature is in the low 90's with humidity 80-90%.

Zanzibar is a totally different experience than Tanzania. 96% of the 1,000,000 people are Muslim and the architecture and clothing reflect the religious influence. We were previleged to be able to have a couple of days to explore this very exotic island. Monday we did a tour of the slave trade that took place here which was the hub for all the eastern african slave movement. The sobering history of mans inhumanity to man was almost unbearable to listen to. One of the reasons for the abolishment of legal slave trade was due to christian missionaries who laid their lives down to stop the human trafficking.

We then took a small boat to an island refered to as "Pirate Island" to do a little snorkeling. The Indian ocean water is the warmest water any of us has ever felt. We do feel a little guilty that we are "vacationing" at this point and have had a very relaxing time. Maybe this time is for us to reflect on the many blessings that we have living in the United States and the liberties that we experience and take for granted everyday. We are very home sick for our families, friends and church families and can't wait to come home and share our life changing experiences and how the Lord had blessed us with eyes to see and ears to hear.

The people of Tanzania and Zanzibar are very warm and engaging which makes us all feel the pull to come back and do anything in our way to help. All in all another wonderful time of fellowship and serving which we humbly give thanks to God for the grace and blessings that have been bestowed on the whole team.

Thank you to all who have prayed and supported us.

God Bless,
Greg and Scott

Day 6

It's Saturday and we went on a morning and evening safari. We saw many animals including a male lion and leopard. The weather and fellowship has been fantastic, however our thoughts keep going back to Japan and the lack of information we have about the tragedy. Tomorrow we leave the park and drive 5 hours back to Dar es Salaam. Some of the group will stay in Dar and others are heading to the island of Zanzibar before heading back home on Tuesday.

Here are a few photos from our day.

Day 5

Day 5

We've gone on 3 game drives, 2 evenings and 1 morning, and saw many animals. Last night we came across a female lion and 2 older cubs laying near the road we were on. They were starting to wake up from their afternoon naps and were very playful; rolling around, climbing on trees and jumping in and out of bushes. We simply sat and observed them for over an hour until they began to head out to find food for the night.

This morning we drove out to the "hippo pool" which was a large pond covered mostly with water plants. We did spot 5 hippo inthe water who peeked out through the plants for only a few seconds at a time. We were able to get a couple decent photos of them.

We also spent an hour or so observing a herd of elephant (18?) along with a very young calf. The herd started about 100 yards away from us but ended up walking between our jeeps to cross the road we were on. One large male decided to take a mud bath 20 feet away. He started by digging in the soft mud to create puddles of water. Then proceeded to suck up trunk after trunk of muddy water and cover his entire body. It was an amazing site. We also saw many giraffe, cap horn buffalo, wilde beast, zebra, jackels, impala, elan and hundreds of different types of birds.

Around our camp there are many dangerous animals to watch out for. We are in a very lush jungle where a leopard was sighted yesterday very close to the dining room. There are also warnings of black mamba, puff adder and spitting cobra.

Day 4

Day 4

We started the day as usual with coffee and another surprise a fried egg that was delicious. We had to pack all our clothes and gear because we were leaving straight from the job site to our Tented Camp Safari. We were able to finish the job in record time. Ron Hansen ( Missionary of Tanzania) said that we are the best crew in all the years he has been in Tanzania, which are 35.

All in all, we built 28 steel trusses weighing 400lbs each, erected 4 buildings totaling 10,000 sq ft, laid 240 sheets of steel using 10,000 screws in 3 1/2 days with a crew of 15. Needless to say it was a lot of work but extremely rewarding. The District Manager of Tanzania came and dedicated the campus. He made an eloquent speech and said that" human words could not express his gratitude for our work". He also commented that the previous work that we had done had produce much fruit and many thousands of Tanzania's had come to know Christ as their savior... "Can I hear a big Amen to that", as a certain Pastor in the States likes to say. The District Manager made us all feel wonderful and humbled at the same time, if there were sign ups for next year right then I think everyone would have volunteered on the spot.

We left the site and the local men that had helped us with hope that this campus will bring the good news to all the people that visit. We believe that the differences between us might be obvious at first, such as clothing (they have practiculiy none) language, race, living conditions (mud huts with no power or running water)but that the same God that loves us also loves them just as much, and that through him they can know that there is hope beyond the grave and a peace that heaven is waiting for them if they only come to know the true and living God, Jesus Christ. This is our prayer.

We left the site and drove 2 hours further west to the Mikumi National Park. We are staying at Vuma Hill Tent camp which is situated 700 feet above the valley floor looking north. After settling in our tents we sat down for a relaxing lunch in the common dining area which is open-air with a wood plank floor and a tall grass roof over looking the valley.

We have come to appreciate the R&R not only for the relaxation after a hard weeks work but to bond with our brothers in service. We really do not see these men throughout the year but come together for a short time and reconnect for a common purpose. It has become so easy to pick-up where we left off with them a year ago like we just saw them last week.

We enjoy the hours long game drives observing God's creations throughout this land and discuss our lives, families and the purpose of why we all are driven to this cause.

Day 3

Wednesday was similar to Tuesday, breakfast at 6am (dis-colored hot dogs we did not eat). We just drank some coffee and fresh mango juice then drove 30km to the job site. We had another productive day. Weather was sunny with a little cloud cover and a nice breeze in the morning, then afternoon became very warm as the typical cloud cover did not roll in. With a steel roof the length of a football field to lay, the heat reflecting off the metal sheeting became unbearable for half the crew and they had to come down off the roof as heat stroke was setting in. We were successful in completing one side of the last building and will wrap up the rest on Thursday. We will complete our project 1 1/2 days ahead of schedule. This will provide us a little extra R&R at the end of our trip. After the exhausting start and aggressive work pace, we are very thankful for this.

We did have an unexpected visitor to our job site today, Grant Carmichael was moving a piece of steel when a very large Green Mamba slither out. We all thought he was having an melt down when we saw him throw his hammer and running in circles, it could have been a disaster.

We got back to our guest house with still a little sun light and a few hours before dinner. These times are the best for fellowship as a bunch of the guys gathered in our room for a few laughs and stories about their lives. The time that we all spend together this I believe to be the most blessed, because guys are tired, uncomfortable and vulnerable we tend to be very honest and open, it's great. Dinner was a suprise, we drove to a nice hotel (nice for Morogoro) and was able to order off of a menu. The food was Indian, and was a nice change from beans and rice, the only problem is they never brought my order (Scott). No problem the granola bar back at the guest house was just as good.

Tanzania - Day 2

Day 2
Alarm went off at 5:00 am after a restful night of sleep. Breakfast consisted of hard boiled eggs, white bread with syrup jelly and instant coffee a perfect start to the day. We arrived at the job site a little after 7:00am and started right in with the second building. The morning was cool as we had cloud cover for a few hours. Once the clouds leave the heat and humidity get unbearable. We worked until 5:00pm and finished the second building and got all the steel up for the third. Everyone is exhausted from a tough hot day.

We believe that the buildings we are constructing will be an attraction for the locals as they are the best structures for many miles around and that the Gospel will be heard and many lives will be saved. We do get our share of on lookers during the day and we especially love the little kids who are so cute and love to laugh. We are thinking constantly of our families and friends back home and are praying that they are safe and that they know that without their love and support none of us would be here.

Tanzania - Day 1

After 30 hours of travel time with little sleep, we arrived in Dar es Salaam at midnight Sunday. Going through customs and the drive to our guest house took another hour, we got to sleep at 1am. The wake-up call was bright and early ... 5am. We loaded up 4 landcruisers and wound our way through the Monday morning Dar es Sallam traffic heading west to Morogoro.

We stopped for breakfast 1 1/2 hours out of Dar es Salaam, at a roadside, thatched roof, open-air cafe adjacent to a petrol station. We had a nice breakfast. Some had the Tanzania breakfast custom of chicken soup which consisted of broth and a boiled chicken leg (Scott). Others settled on the safer American favorite of scrambled eggs and toast.

Another 1 1/2 hour drive brought us to the town of Morogoro. Turns out this is a failry large town of about 200,000 people. Driving through the city to get to our hotel was difficult with a combination of trucks, cars, motorcycles, bikes and pedestrians sharing the same space.
Our accomodations are very clean and comfotable. It is a walled compound with 4 large single-story dorm type cement buildings. We are about 1/2 mile down a dirt road from town. It is very lush and tropical and the grounds are well landscaped.

Because if the humidity and jungle landscape, this is a very active area for malaria. Most of us are on medication but even with this, there is no guarantee. The malaria misquitoes are out from dusk until dawn. We ask for prayers in protecting us all from this dangerous disease.
We spent an hour unloading our gear and gatting our rom assignments. We then headed out to the job site, a 30km drive west of town. The job site is located in a large, remote open field away from town because of the lower cost of real estate.

Our morning job site ritual is to have a team member pray for our safety and for our family at home. This morning's prayer was given by our senior missionary Ron. We held a moment of silence for our long-time fiend and team member Jack and his wife who went to be with our Lord last year. Ron then gave a moving prayer for Jack's family and for healing hearts for all who came to know him. This was a very moving moment as we all loved Jack and miss his leading us in our morning worship song.

Job Site
The locations of the 4 buildings were excavated and a couple of the team members flew out a week earlier to layout the foottings for the metal trusses. This enabled us to hit the ground running by building trusses and setting up scaffolding.

It was a very warm and sunny morning and there is no shade at the site. A few hours into our work day, several team mebers were over taken by heat exhaustion. All recovered well after an hour or two of rest and rehydration. The afternoon brought cloud cover, a breeze, then a cool driving thunder storm which lasted 30 minutes. We continued to work through dusk then packed up for the 30km drive back to our lodge.

We had a productive day completing the smaller of the 4 buildings, a 45 x 30 ft structure for the pastor's home and completed truss assmebly of a 70 x 30 ft dining hall which we will erect and roof tomorrow. The other two building are a 150 x 30 ft dorm and a 60 x 30 ft classroom.
Needless to say, we were all exhausted and barely made it through dinner consisting of rice, potatoes, cabbage and chicken. After showers most retired by 8 to rest for Tuesday's 5am wakeup call.