Super Safari at Mikumi Wildlife Park with Whit

About 4 hours Southwest of Dar is Mikumi National Park and Wildlife Camp.  It is the Northern tip of the Selous, the largest Game Reserve in Africa.  It is a surreal experience to be driving down a highway and have giraffes, baboons, zebras, ALC's (Antelope Like Creatures...many, many varieties here) and a warthog, visible just out your window. Once inside the Park we saw all sorts of African wild life cross right in front of our car.

Giraffes are elegant creatures!!

Whitney trying her hand driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road.

A Visit to Zanzibar with Whitney!

Seeing that Zanzibar is just off the coast of Dar es Salaam in the Indian Ocean, we thought we'd check it out while Whitney was here. Zanzibar is known for it's spices, the rare Red Colobus Monkey, and the last place the slave trade was active. Stone Town, an old Arabic portion of the city of Zanzibar has narrow stone streets and beautiful carved wooden entry ways. It is quiet and the pace is slow and relaxing. It was a perfect day.

We are in the Anglican Cathedral, dedicated to the end of the slave trade and built on top of the former slave market.

For many years Stone Town in Zanzibar was a major center for the slave trade. Slaves were taken from mainland Africa and traded with the Middle East. The Anglican Cathedral is built on the site of a former slave market and shows these statues, by sculptor, Clara Somas. It is a haunting reminder of man's inhumanity to man.

"Thinking of you, Avery", Love Auntie Whit

The Colobus Monkeys have no predators and are very friendly to humans.

Whitney's first step in the Indian Ocean

Dad, Whitney & Mom at the end of our day in Zanzibar

Merry Christmas from Dar es Salaam!

Christmas Day Dinner at our home away from home with the great Elders of Ubungo and Kinondoni Districts.

We enjoyed having the Elders for Christmas Dinner and Devotional.  It is always a pleasure to have everyone together for transfers and Holidays! Our daughter, Whitney, was supposed to have been in this picture but instead spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in a Hotel in Istanbul because of a flight change.  She made the best of the situation and found a branch of the Church and attended a Christmas Day service. Thankfully, she arrived early the next day, and were we glad to have her safe with us!

So good to hug our girl!! It's 4am!

Mbagala Orphanage

At Christmas time all of our Zone missionaries had the opportunity to do a Service Project for an orphanage in Mbagala, on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam.  The Elders first helped cut down a huge old non-producing Cashew tree then chopped and hauled it for firewood for them. The Elders then played a great game of soccer with the older boys.  After that we got to play and sing Christmas carols with their delightful children.  They take care of over a 100 darling children who are amazingly loving and happy. They play well with each other and the older children are so kind and helpful to the young ones. We had a delightful day and felt they gave us much more joy than we gave to them. 

Sister Worthen is being taught how to count in Swahili by Jasmine.

An Afternoon at the Beach

There are 14 letters in Merry Christmas, and there are 14 Missionaries in the Dar es Salaam Zone! What could be a more perfect Christmas Card? We are at Coco Point on Coco Beach in Dar where Elder Russell M. Nelson dedicated the country of Tanzania for the preaching of the Gospel, November 18, 2003.

Dar es Salaam Zone, Coco Point, Coco Beach Tanzania

Ubungo District: Elders Nyazungu, Jimu, Mulondo, Mpahlele & Elder and Sister Worthen

A Beaufiful Family

Jennifer, Grace, Elias, Clayton, John and John Jr. Mwingira

 The John and Grace Mwingira family has been a great blessing in our lives here. They have a delightful family and are wonderful examples of the dedicated and loving African Saints here. Their first son to go on a mission, Elias, bore his testimony in church this week before leaving for the South Africa, Cape Town Mission. This will be his first plane ride and he is very excited. He will attend the Johannesburg Missionary Training Center before he travels to his assignment. We had the pleasure and privilege of having Elias and two other soon to be missionaries, Romanus (South Africa, Durban Mission) and John (South Africa, Johannesburg Mission) to our home for dinner and a "movie". We showed them the inspiring DVD of Elder Jeffrey R. Holland speaking at the Provo MTC Devotional about Christ-like qualities of a missionary. These young men have been best friends since childhood and have encouraged each other  along the way to fulfill their dream to be missionaries.  Elias and Romanus came to the Chang'ombe Music class every Tuesday wanting to learn how to conduct a hymn before they went on their missions.  They both learned quickly and were great students. They will be incredible missionaries. We love them all so much and will miss their endearing personalities. Our loss is South Africa's gain!

An evening with Elias Mwingira, John Komba, and Romanus Gidemi.

Three handsome boys, soon to be men.

Life in Dar es Salaam and a Little History Lesson

Dar es Salaam is the largest city in Tanzania and is located on the east coast of Africa on the Indian Ocean. The name Tanzania is a combination of two names..."Tan" from Tanganyika (the former country) and "zan" from Zanzibar (the island nation off the coast of Tanganyika).  On April 26, 1964, the two nations merged into the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The name was changed to Tanzania six months later.  The people here are beautiful and friendly and we enjoy living among them everyday. Even though they are a third world country the people are bright and hardworking and desire to become a first world nation. Education is the key and we are so excited for the first PEF "Planning for Success" class to start next week. More on that later. We wanted to show you some pictures of what we see on our streets each day.

The women can carry amazing things on their heads.

Beautiful smiles!

We pass by this junction everyday. It's called Ubungo Junction.

How could we refuse to buy a drink from such a happy guy?

This guy is selling water and soda as we are stopped at Ubungo Junction.

Our new Ubungo District: Elders Nyazungu, Mulondo, Jimu and Mpahlele on the street where they live.       
Our newbies Elder Mulondo, from Uganda and Elder Mpahlele, from Port Elizabeth South Africa. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

This week we went up to Nairobi for a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner at the Mission Home with all the Senior Missionaries and President and Sister Broadbent of the Kenya, Nairobi Mission. Everyone brought something to contribute to make our Thanksgiving as traditional as possible. I signed up in October for our family favorite "Apple Cinnamon Yams".  I thought they would have yams by November but I was wrong and no one I asked  from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi had even heard of them. The best we could do was Sweet Potatoes, but I have to tell you, they are not a very good substitute for yams. All in all, they turned out ok and people still enjoyed  them. 

Sisters Pam Worthen and Julie Broadbent with Elizabeth in the Kitchen at the Mission Home in our African Scarves. 

Kenya Nairobi Mission Senior Couples

On Friday we enjoyed the Quarterly Senior Couples Conference at the Mission Offices. We enjoyed meeting four new Senior Missionary Couples, The Babcocks, Pugmires, Kellems and Schwabs...all serving in Kenya. We received training on the new Temple Patron Assistance Fund and other valuable information and discussions. We had the opportunity to present a short presentation on developing Christlike attributes. It was a great conference!

Our First ZoneTransfer Dinner

We had the opportunity to have all the Elders in our Zone over for dinner prior to Mission Transfers. This has become a tradition in Dar and the Elders look forward to being together as a Zone and saying goodbye to those that are going home or being transferred to another area.

 

 Elders Chimbetete, Mudubanya, R. Jimu,  Bywater, Dlepu and Nyazungu,

Dar es Salaam Zone Elders Mudubanya, Anievas, Chimbetete, Dlepu, Bhala, R. Jimu, Bywater, B. Jimu, Huskinson and Nyazungu

  Elders B Jimu, Huskinson, Bhala and Anievas

A VISIT FROM THIMBENKOSI PEF COORDINATOR FROM SOUTH AFRICA

Thembinkosi and Bruce

 The area Perpetual Education Fund Coordinator, Thembinkosi Mkhize, came for a three day visit to Tanzania for the final phase of Country approval before opening PEF here.  On the first day we arranged to visit three different schools to assess their willingness and ability to have students funded by PEF loans.  All the schools admissions officers were very willing to talk to us and had many questions about why a Church would want to do such a thing.  This of course lead to other questions, which we were more than happy to answer. All the schools visited met the PEF criteria for participating in the program.  On the second day we visited the Tanzania Commission on Universities and NACTE , the organizations tasked with certifying all Universities and vocational/trade schools in the country to make sure they meet the national criteria.

Branch Presidents Mwaipopo and Qorro, Pres Ramat, District President Balilemwa, Pres Mhungo, Branch Presidents Komba and Kachuchuru

On the third day we met with The District Presidency and Branch Presidents to explain the program and train regarding criteria for selecting potential PEF students. Thembinkosi felt the visit was a complete success and only had to finish the paper work and acquire signatures from the Africa Southeast Area Authorities to send on to Church Headquarters for final approval which should be complete by the first of the year.

Bishop Edgley comes to Dar Es Salaam

Last weekend there was a special Priesthood Leadership Training for the Africa East Area. On Sat. 29 October, Elder Russell M. Nelson, Elder Cook from the Seventy and Bishop Edgley from the Presiding Bishopric held a special training in Nairobi for all Stake/ District Presidencies and Ward/Branch Bishops and Presidents.  The next day here in Dar we were blessed to have Bishop and Sister Edgley and Elder Usi our Area Seventy Authority speak at a Special District Conference. Afterward the Nolls and Worthens hosted the Edgleys and Elder Usi for lunch before they left to fly back to Nairobi.

The Dar Es Salaam District Choir

Bertin Ngindu, Choir Director and Returned Missionary

Worthens, Edgleys, Sister Kapinga, Elder Usi and Nolls.

Our First Visitor

We enjoyed our first visitor from the US this past week, Mike Flegal, from Atlanta, GA and son of our dear and longtime friends Teresa and Doug Flegal.  Mike works for Delta Airlines and was working in Paris and thought he’d do a quick stop over before he went on Safari with some friends to Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda. He was a great sport and came along willingly as we went about our work.  It was so fun to have him here!  

Dinner at Mamboz with Elders Huskinson and Dlepu and Mike

Pam and Mike standing in the Indian Ocean.

Music class at Mbezi Beach - thanks for the picture, Mike!

We did get to take a quick trip up to Bagamoyo, a beach town up the coast and one of the oldest towns in Tanzania.  It was the main terminus for the East African slave trade going east to India and north to Arabia.  For decades during the 1800’s many thousands of slaves, captured in the interior, reached Bagamoyo after a long march to the coast, chained to one another, in long lines. Our visit to the Bagamoyo Catholic Museum  was informative and sobering.  Bagamoyo means “lay down your heart” and our hearts certainly ached learning the atrocities that were done here. There were many influential abolitionists most of whom were multinational missionaries that you have never heard of, who were influential in stopping the slave trade in Babomoyo.   Two of the most famous are England’s William Wilberforce, a Member of Parliament, and Dr. David Livingston, a medical missionary of the Anglican “London Missionary Society”.

Inside the Bagamoyo Catholic Museum

 Mike and Agnes our friend and Swahili translator.