Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Our time in Moshi came to an end today. We decided to leave Larry in Moshi to check on a few other details with one of the members here, while Russ and I rode to Arusha for the conference there. We walked into Moshi carrying our bags to board the bus for Arusha. By the time we arrived at the bus, our arms were about ready to fall off! It was quite a hike, and it was already very warm, even though it wasn’t yet 8:00am! The bus we boarded was a small one, only three seats wide (two on one side and one on the other with an aisle in between) and about 15 rows long. An evangelist from one of our churches was already on the bus and helped us get on and settled. The cost to take the bus from Moshi to Arusha (about a two hour trip) was 2,000 Tanzania shillings (about $1.50) per person. This is much less expensive than renting a car, and much quicker than taking the smaller local buses.
The scenery is quite beautiful along this route, with all kinds of agricultural diversity. Coffee, bananas, and corn are grown, and goats and cattle are herded. I had my book unpacked to read, but never opened it. Even though I have traveled this road many times now during my trips to East Africa, I still find new things to see and enjoy. I had to smile when we passed the Dik Dik hotel, which Bruce had made a big deal about when he was here last year. Bruce, I hope you were able to get that picture to your brother!
The ride went smoothly until we arrived in Arusha. The bus was supposed to stop at an intersection near the hotel we were staying at, but they must have been in a hurry. We told them they had missed our stop and they pulled over so we could get out. I had two bags, and Russ had two bags, plus his suitcase which had been put in the boot. As I hustled off the bus started moving, and Russ almost didn’t make it off. As we crossed the street Russ realized that he had left one of his bags on the bus. We turned around and the bus was gone! I grabbed his suitcase and told him “GO, I’ll take this!” Off he ran to catch the bus with plenty of Africans laughing at the site of a Muzungu chasing a phantom bus! At one point he grabbed on to the window of a moving Dala-dala, to get a ride after the big bus. It was here that he was assisted by a young lady named Margaret who was on her way to work.
I checked into the hotel and went up to check on preparations for the conference which was scheduled to start at 11:00am. When I came back down, Russ was back, but he still didn’t have his bag. He was talking to people to see what could be done to find it. In a matter of minutes it seemed like the whole city of Arusha (as well as all the people who had come to Arusha for our conference) were out looking for Russ’s bag! Finally, with quite a bit of help from Margaret and conference attendees, the bag was recovered. It did end up costing him about $30, but it was worth it. His camera, printer and other items were in there, and would have cost more than that to replace. His ticket to Arusha ended up being a bit more expensive than $1.50!
After everything settled down we began the conference. We had 16 people in attendance from all over the area. There were pastors, evangelists, and Sunday School teachers there. Once again I went through the study on the church year calendar and pericope, and Russ went though a study of the Second Article.
Our time in Moshi came to an end today. We decided to leave Larry in Moshi to check on a few other details with one of the members here, while Russ and I rode to Arusha for the conference there. We walked into Moshi carrying our bags to board the bus for Arusha. By the time we arrived at the bus, our arms were about ready to fall off! It was quite a hike, and it was already very warm, even though it wasn’t yet 8:00am! The bus we boarded was a small one, only three seats wide (two on one side and one on the other with an aisle in between) and about 15 rows long. An evangelist from one of our churches was already on the bus and helped us get on and settled. The cost to take the bus from Moshi to Arusha (about a two hour trip) was 2,000 Tanzania shillings (about $1.50) per person. This is much less expensive than renting a car, and much quicker than taking the smaller local buses.
The scenery is quite beautiful along this route, with all kinds of agricultural diversity. Coffee, bananas, and corn are grown, and goats and cattle are herded. I had my book unpacked to read, but never opened it. Even though I have traveled this road many times now during my trips to East Africa, I still find new things to see and enjoy. I had to smile when we passed the Dik Dik hotel, which Bruce had made a big deal about when he was here last year. Bruce, I hope you were able to get that picture to your brother!
The ride went smoothly until we arrived in Arusha. The bus was supposed to stop at an intersection near the hotel we were staying at, but they must have been in a hurry. We told them they had missed our stop and they pulled over so we could get out. I had two bags, and Russ had two bags, plus his suitcase which had been put in the boot. As I hustled off the bus started moving, and Russ almost didn’t make it off. As we crossed the street Russ realized that he had left one of his bags on the bus. We turned around and the bus was gone! I grabbed his suitcase and told him “GO, I’ll take this!” Off he ran to catch the bus with plenty of Africans laughing at the site of a Muzungu chasing a phantom bus! At one point he grabbed on to the window of a moving Dala-dala, to get a ride after the big bus. It was here that he was assisted by a young lady named Margaret who was on her way to work.
I checked into the hotel and went up to check on preparations for the conference which was scheduled to start at 11:00am. When I came back down, Russ was back, but he still didn’t have his bag. He was talking to people to see what could be done to find it. In a matter of minutes it seemed like the whole city of Arusha (as well as all the people who had come to Arusha for our conference) were out looking for Russ’s bag! Finally, with quite a bit of help from Margaret and conference attendees, the bag was recovered. It did end up costing him about $30, but it was worth it. His camera, printer and other items were in there, and would have cost more than that to replace. His ticket to Arusha ended up being a bit more expensive than $1.50!
After everything settled down we began the conference. We had 16 people in attendance from all over the area. There were pastors, evangelists, and Sunday School teachers there. Once again I went through the study on the church year calendar and pericope, and Russ went though a study of the Second Article.
After the conference I scheduled meetings with different pastors and groups of pastors to talk about their work and individual situations. This was especially important with those who we would not be seeing again on this trip. These meetings went on for about two hours and we wrapped up at about 5:30 – just about the time Larry finally arrived from his adventure in Moshi. It was another good day, with a lot of worthwhile work accomplished.
After a short break, Russ, Larry and I sat down to discuss the events of the day over supper. Supper itself is usually an adventure. The menu is pretty limited, and you don’t always get what you order. Larry ordered fish one night, expecting a battered fillet and instead was given a full pan fried fish - head, tail, eyeball and all! To his credit he ate it, but said that it was more work than it was worth! I won’t even eat fish the other way!
Tomorrow we are off to visit one of our Masai stations outside of Arusha. We are all looking forward to it. May the LORD continue to bless our visitations and strengthen the believers here though the study of His Word!
In His service,
Nathanael Mayhew
“For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13).
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