Rock Art, Chaos and Dik Dik

As a way to celebrate Christmas as a team and take a little "holiday" our team drove about 2 hours to see the Kolo rock paintings. The dates on these paintings apparently are anywhere between 100 and 10,000 years old... Nice date range huh? Despite the lack of knowledge on the paintings, the day was a success. You have to take a crazy drive up the mountain, go on a gorgeous hike even further and finally you get to see rock paintings that have been there for... well, lets just say awhile. The rock paintings were cool but the adventure was definitely in getting there!

A rock painting of three women with a traditional hairstyle for celebrations.

Our family at one of the resting spots.

The fog had completely set in as the rain began. Here, Thailie and Mat have reached the top despite the rain.

Safe on Mommy's back, under my rain jacket, Nia peeks out to see if the rain has stopped.

Redefining the "Baby Bump" Kim and I kept the little ones dry as we made it back to the bottom. (Kim is carrying Gideon and Rachel's little girl Sarah.)

We had a church service at the top and shared a lunch together. It rained off and on most the day, but for us, this just added to the fun!

We sang a few Christmas songs and Gideon brought our Christmas message.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were this week but they will be in their own post.

As part of our Christmas decorations we have a cross up with the verse Matthew 20:28 "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." This has really got me thinking about what we are doing here, challenging myself as to whether or not my actions and priorities are motivated by serving. Well, after our team day, a bunch of girls came by our house and clearly wanted to hang out. Due to the busyness of the last few days our house was a mess and I just wanted to get things accomplished - I did not want a bunch of rowdy kids in my house only to make the mess worse. Then I remembered the verse and I thought about how opening my home is a way of serving. So, the kids hung out, filling our living room, I wasn't able to get anything done but really, it is fun to have them here.

Our neighbor lady stopped by to see what all the chaos was about. It definitely doesn't make sense to them that we let the kids just hang out at our house.

Thailie's let the girls braid her hair line way they do theirs.

Hmmm, somehow hers looks slightly different than theirs - and came out after 20min.

A little while later, a lot of the kids headed out but a few of the older girls returned. I was beginning to prepare dinner and trying to get a little cleaning done. One of the girls saw I had cabbage and offered to cut it, the next saw my broom and offered to sweep, they came into the kitchen and it wasn't long before my floors were swept and mopped, my table full of dishes was cleared and cleaned and my dinner was prepared and cooking! I felt very thankful and blessed. It felt like I was rewarded for choosing to serve and love rather than keep my house clean. They cleaned faster and better than I could have on my own and we built relationships in the meantime!

On Friday the team went into Kondoa for a supply run. The girls and I tagged along this time to take Nia to the doctor there. About a month ago she had hurt her arm and then just re-injured it Christmas Eve. From what I've seen I think she had a pulled elbow. Mat and I are thinking it was out for a few days but went back into place the night before. Since we were going to Kondoa, and her arm was still bothering her we decided to take her in and see what our African hospital experience would be like.

They said it seems like everything we thought was probably the case and that it now was probably just strained muscles and ligaments. They gave her a super fancy sling and sent us on our way. We were surprised to learn that it cost us nothing because children under 5 are free! Although the hospital was nothing close to what you would encounter in the States, it seemed they understood us, were knowledgable about the situation and were able to provide a course of action for us to take. Now the only trick will be getting Nia "the tornado" to keep a sling on for a whole week! Ha!

Nia with her high-tech sling and medical chart.

We found this sweet bike in Kondoa - too bad there is no way Thai could tote around Nia on the Busi roads.

There are more differences to driving over here than just driving on the other side of the road. Trying not to hit random animals and livestock is just one of the other ways that it is different. Unfortunately we are not always successful. This trip took out two chickens and a dik dik! Since the dik dik is wild game, at Peter's request we turned around to get it.

 

As he approached the dik dik, it started to jerk; it was then that Mat was able to break in his new knife by finishing off the dik dik.

 

Christmas Festivities Con't.

LET THE PARTY BEGIN!

There were no ugly Christmas sweaters, fanta instead of egg nog and not a single Christmas cookie in sight! Still, this was the best (ok, and only) Christmas party in Busi!

Our team graciously excused us from the prep work of the party in order to allow us to have time as a family to celebrate Christmas. Here they are hard at work!

Dawn, Kim and Megan doing some early morning prep work.

Ruthi, our team leader's wife and Florencia (our home stay Mama and now good friend) headed up the preparations.

You can't have a party here with out a goat roast!

We had to have a Muslim butcher the goat so that it would be "halal" otherwise our guests couldn't eat it.

Dawn gets "hands on" with the meat.

 

The food was great but the message was the highlight. Jared shared the reason why we, as Christians, celebrate Christmas. It was a great opportunity to share the gospel!

(If you would like to read Jared's perspective, check out their blogpost about it here.)

The men and women always remain separate at social events - men to the left, women on the right.

Although we still can't communicate a whole lot, it is good to just be together.

The guys taught the men how to play the card game "Spoons" - there were a lot of laughs!

Our guests: Jordan and his wife, Alima, Amani and their baby Shazma.

We are looking forward to a great new year to see what God will do!

 

Christmas Festivities

"We couldn't imagine a better way to spend our Christmas..." those were words spoken by our team member as she closed our Christmas meal in prayer. I have to admit that I immediately disagreed.

Our first Christmas in Africa was very different than what we were used to. It just didn't quite feel like Christmas with temperatures in the 80s, singing Christmas carols while roasting marshmallows and definitely the absence of loved ones made this Christmas feel incomplete.

Is that really what Christmas is about though? A white Christmas filled with holiday cheer, the hustle and bustle of Christmas shopping, good food and time with those you care for most?

"...than sharing the gospel with those who have never heard." Megan finished her prayer. Ouch! Reality check. It's about Him, not me. As part of our family's Christmas preparation we put up a cross that says "The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." Matt. 20:28 His example is why we came to Africa; not to be served (and have everything our way) but to serve.

In light of that, we had a great Christmas!

Papa and Grandma sent the girls Christmas jammies and a Christmas book. We let them open them Christmas Eve. You can see they were thrilled!

Thailie squeals as Mat turned the last page to reveal twinkling lights on the star.

"Too bright!" The girls declared as we tried to get a picture of the matching pjs.

I guess this is the best we'll get!

Not quite Christmas cookies, but definitely delicious!

Thanks to awesome people who send care packages, we had a few Christmas crafts - the girls loved it!

Even Daddy joined in!

Our decorations include a manger and a cross. Each year Mat builds both, then every night during our family worship he tells part of the Christmas story. Mat draws a picture to illustrate it on the manger and then the girls color it. This has been a great tradition for our family - we all love it and the girls are able to recall the story following along with the pictures they colored. We keep the cross up to remind us the reason Christ came was to die for our sins. Around Easter time we begin telling the story of Easter and drawing the pictures in the same way.

Even Daddy joined in!

Thailie working hard to color the next part of the story.

Even Emily (our cat) and Tank (our turtle) love it!

The girls cleaning off the rocks and stick Thailie picked out for Daddy's Christmas gift - perfect to add to the chameleon cage he is building.

Three gifts in, I ran out of wrapping paper, switched to newspaper, ran out of that and had to use black plastic bags.

Looks pretty good considering what I had to work with! You'd never know the backs of those are wrapped in bags!

He's here! The whole scene was set - Christmas Day we added baby Jesus to the manger.

Our completed nativity scene.

After breakfast and family worship we opened our gifts - here are a few of our favorites.

I carried on the Erickson tradition of Cinnamon (or orange) rolls for breakfast. Kinda wish the Pillsbury dough boy would have showed up - I had to make mine from scratch. You can tell they didn't disappoint by the fact that we couldn't get a picture before some went missing!

Nia showing off the bracelet her sister made.

Thailie was very excited to receive her first "Big Girl Bible" - which is just a regular Bible, but the cover does have girly swirls on it.

Thailie made me a fabulous necklace that boast a purple lion bead at the center.

Clearly, the girls were SO excited about giving Daddy the rocks and stick they picked out and cleaned for the chameleon cage!

 

A Week in Africa - Saturday

We spent most of the day packing up and preparing for our trip to Arusha. Our team has a week vacation next week as a time to rest before the everyone starts teaching in January. We needed to leave our house at 2:15a to be ready to catch the bus. I didn't keep track of the play by play today, but by now you should be getting a better picture of how daily life goes.

Nia took a break in the hammock Mat set up in our storage room.

Thai wanted to cover her hair the way Megan, Kim and dawn do.

 

If you leave the door open very long this is what you get - a few crazy kids hanging out.

I needed to wash diapers so they were all clean for our trip.

 

We needed a snack for the 8-10 hour bus ride - I made soft pretzels.

Mat uses the car to get on the roof in order to take down the solar panel.

 

We were told as a matter of fact that our panel would be stolen if we left it up while we were gone!

 

Our neighbors came by to wish us a safe trip. Mt offered to take their picture and have it printed for them. A family picture is something most people don't have.

 

We're packed. Two backpacks and an action packer - Arusha or Bust!

 

A Week in Africa - Friday

Its a pretty typical morning today although we had two exciting things:

1. We had bread with breakfast - which is always a treat.

2. We have our first egg!

Nia triumphantly holds out the first egg from our chickens.

8:30a - Florencia should be coming so Mat has to get water for laundry. I let the girls do some water painting while I finish up a few things.

The girls working hard.

9a - Mat goes to meet Peter for prayer and we decide to start school early.

10:45a - After a short day, we finish school.

11a - Mat comes back with news that we are causing division in TZ. Apparently the man whole welcomed the original TIMO team in Pahi served as an "informant" of sorts to the head Islamic leaders. The article talked about how white people are taking over the Kondoa district and hundreds of people are converting to Christianity each day (a nice thought although not actually happening). The article talks about how these people come as learners, they help the poor and the sick. It says they are building schools and helping with water issues etc. The article talks of these white people trying to convert their people to Christianity. Well, some of the things they are saying is true and we do live in the Kondoa district. A lot of the work they are mentioning is due to success in Pahi from the original TIMO team. They have started a church and school there. The Christian school boards hundreds of girls, some of them being Muslims wanting a good education and finding faith in Christ as a result. The article mentions there is a division among the Muslims who accept these Christians and those who don't.

This was interesting news to us because we have notices there has been less interactions with our neighbors this week. We really don't know if it is due to this article but it seems coincidental timing that our neighbor, who is an elder among the Muslims, has stopped coming by our house everyday like He usually does. We know God has everything planned and we will wait and see if there are any positive or negative affects of this.

One other thing Mat returned with was Thailie's Birthday dress. Back in October we let her pick out material to have Ruthie, Peter's wife, make her an African dress. Well, she has finished it and Thailie LOVES it!

Ecstatic little girl in her new dress.

11:30a - Florencia comes to do laundry. Our tank is running low so we were hoping for some rain, with no rains Mat has to get more water.

Florencia makes use of Mat's tarp shelter to keep her out of the sun. Also, I did not catch her in this position, this is how they stand when they do just about any housework - laundry, dishes, sweeping, moping etc. It is back breaking for me!

I see a bunch of girls holding baby Shazma, our neighbor's baby, so I come out to hold her. As I take her I have in mind the fact that they are some of the people we haven't seen much of since the article came out. The girls see Thai playing with puzzles and want to know how they work so they come in. Meanwhile, I get Shezma to sleep and one of our neighbors comes with change for us. We tell her we're going to Arusha for a week and she tells us she wants a coal cooker - yep, it's totally normal here to ask for a gift when someone goes somewhere.

I just prayed yesterday for Thailie to have some girls to play with!

After awhile, Thailie wanted to hold Shazma. The other girl in the picture, we found out, is the daughter of the man who owns our house.

Even missionaries have to have fun, Jared comes to pick us up, we get the Mashauri's and head to the girls' house for football, Cheetos, a fire and roasting marshmallows - We are all thankful for the things we find in care packages!

 

Jared's brother has been sending him all the Bears games so we get together to "be American"

Teaching the Africans how to roast marshmallows.

 

The marshmallows were a fun treat - the Africans had never tried them before.

I think they liked them! Sarah gives us a gooey smile.

Something just didn't seem right when Jared pulled the guitar out - to play Christmas songs!

 

Time to go home. It was a fun, but late night. Nia in her pjs and Thailie fell asleep in Megan's lap.