The Paul Hefft Salon

After moving to Dodoma one of my burning questions was this: "Where do I get my hair cut?" I expected the answers I received (knowing a little from friends and family about the typical missionary experience), but secretly I was hoping for a much different reality. If you are a mzungu (white person) here in Dodoma, your best option for hair cutting is to either do it yourself (and, really, how does one cut the back of their own head in any sort of straight line?) or have a trusted friend do it for you.

Last night, I reached the end of my rope. After five months without a haircut, washing my hair in dirty river water for four of those months, and general dissatisfaction with the style of my hair, I asked Paul if he would be willing to try and cut it. Being the "go-getter" type, he agreed.

The before picture:

First, we did a little research on the internet - a simple, medium-length bob didn't seem so difficult. Then, I wet my hair down, we grabbed our hair cutting scissors and clips, and he gave it a go.After half an hour or so, the work was done. My hair was shorter and healthier. And, personally, I think he did a really good job. He even gave me some basic layers.

I guess we have one more talent to add to his long list of abilities. (Although, he's made me promise that I won't offer his services to any of our friends.)

The First Real Meal

One of the things I missed the most in the last 6 months of transition was having my own kitchen. Sure, it was great to have every meal catered and to not have any dishes to clean up, but Paul and I both love to cook. So by the end of language school, we were both in a serious state of cooking withdrawal. How does one medicate a serious state of cooking withdrawal? Well, get in that new kitchen and cook everything you've been missing for many, many weeks and months, of course.

In our first week in our new house, we've made spaghetti sauce (starting from fresh tomatoes), chocolate cake, buttermilk biscuits, cinnamon rolls, pancakes, beans and rice, and pigs in a blanket. Everything has tasted so good, but I must say that our first real dinner created in our new kitchen was the best!

Mexican food, a family favorite, is hard to come by in Tanzania, so our first home-cooked dinner in our new house had to be Mexican. We had great fun creating a chicken fajita feast.

Anna and I made flour tortillas from scratch. Paul then used a few of them to fry up some homemade tortilla chips.My master chef hard at work:

We also made guacamole and fresh salsa. Washed down with a bottle of cold coke, we were all quite satisfied at the end of our meal. Yum!Cooking is good medicine!

Our New Home

After many months of transition (since June to be exact), we have a real home again!

We arrived in Dodoma last Thursday (after 2 flat tires on our way here from Iringa) and have been working on unpacking and settling in since then. We are living on a housing compound of another organization working in this area, and we feel blessed to be here. Our neighbors and colleagues have been extremely helpful and welcoming, which has made the moving in process a bit less hectic.

I'll post pictures of the inside of our house once we get a little more settled.

Graduation

Today, we graduated from language school. We're in no way fluent in Swahili, but we have the foundation we need to communicate on a basic level and continue to progress in our ability to speak and comprehend.
It's hard to believe that we have been studying Swahili and living here for 16 weeks now. We had the privilege of studying with 3 other members from our organization, Jacob, Tine, and Ellen. We have become good friends during this time, and it will be difficult to say goodbye to them. At least we know we'll get to see each other again at our branch conference every year.

We've also enjoyed getting to know Kay and Les, the Riverside Campsite directors. They have made us feel so welcome here, like family. We'll miss them.
We're grateful for our nanny, Mama Gretia as well. The kids have grown to love her, and they will miss seeing her every day.As I look back at the whole experience, it really has sped by. In the last 4 months, God has taught me a lot about myself and revealed Himself to me in many ways. I keep thinking of that old hymn I Need Thee Every Hour. Boy, isn't that the truth? Without Him, I cannot get a word of Swahili out of my mouth or understand anything that is said to me. Without Him, it is impossible to parent my children in a godly manner. Without Him, I can't be the wife my husband needs. And the list goes on. I'm so grateful for the power and strength God provides His children through the Holy Spirit. I am blessed.

And so it begins...the part of the journey we've been anticipating for months and months. In the morning, we'll get in our car (which is loaded to the gills) and make our way to Dodoma. All of us are excited to begin unpacking our things, making friends, and finally settling in to our own home. Paul is looking forward to starting his ministry with the language project, and Josiah can't wait to start school in January.

I'm excited to see what God has in store for this next phase.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. And once again this year, we have so much for which to be thankful. We serve an awesome God. We have amazing kids, great families and friends, and wonderful co-workers. God provided a spectacular partnership team to help us come here to Tanzania, and He has been with us every step of the way as we have been adjusting to life here and learning Kiswahili.

I'm also thankful that language school is nearly complete. Today, we finished our final day of classroom learning! The next step is leaving tomorrow morning for a 7-day home stay with a Tanzanian family in Iringa town. After our home stay, we'll return to the campsite for a home-stay debriefing, oral and written Kiswahili assessments, and graduation. We'd deeply appreciate your prayers as we finish up and prepare to move to our new home in Dodoma.

Before I end for today, however, I'll leave you with a few pictures from our first Thanksgiving here in Tanzania. Paul, our friend Ellen, and I cooked a traditional American Thanksgiving lunch for the four other families here at the campsite. All four families are European and had never experienced Thanksgiving before. We were definitely conducting some "food experiments," considering the fact that we were cooking on/in a charcoal stove. But thankfully, everything except my yeast rolls (which didn't rise - I'll blame it on the high altitude) was a success and received rave reviews (if I can say so myself).

Sweet potatoes and carrots boiling on the stove:Making cornbread for stuffing and apple cobbler:
Ellen putting the finishing touches on the sweet potato casserole:Taking the stuffing out of the oven:
Finished products ready to serve:
Our friend, Les, carving one of the 4 chickens we roasted:Our family at dinner:

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

All Creatures Great and Small

You know you live in Africa when your son comes running inside first thing in the morning yelling, "Hey, Mom! I see monkeys!"

I must admit, when that happened yesterday, I almost didn't believe him. But when we went outside together, I quickly discovered that he, indeed, was telling the truth. On the rocks just feet (or meters...still haven't adjusted to the metric system) from our banda, three monkeys were jumping on the rocks and swinging in the trees. Of course, we ran for our camera.

See, I wasn't lying:Living here in Tanzania brings out the kid in me. I don't care who you are - as an American who grows up seeing all of your "wild" animals from behind the safety of zoo bars or Plexiglas, it's an amazing thing to see these creatures roaming in their natural habitat. Following is a sample of some of the animals and insects we have come across while living here.

Giraffes we saw while driving back to Iringa after our language school break:

ZebrasElephants under a tree (hard to capture without our telephoto lens):I love watching these lizards. Their colors are so striking. We have one that lives near our banda.A green mamba some of the guys discovered at the campsite (I kept my distance):A praying mantis Josiah found:

Siafu ants - amazing little creatures, but you need to stay out of their way.

Break Time

I promised to be better at blogging, but alas, it has again been weeks since my last post. I'll blame it on being busy in language school – a true statement, indeed. By the end of the day, I'm so exhausted that I've typically lost the ability to write anything longer than one sentence. Language learning is simply an exhausting process, no matter how challenging the language.

Because of this, our entire family was overjoyed to have a one-week break after nine weeks here at the campsite. We've had more relaxing vacations, but we certainly accomplished many important tasks (and we had some fun along the way too).

Our lakizo (holiday) began last Friday when we boarded a bus to Dar es Salaam. We visited our friends Crystal and Marie, spent a day at the pool, and went car shopping. The first day of car shopping was highly disappointing. None of the ideal vehicles (rugged SUVs that will handle the dirt roads up to the villages) in our price range were in good shape mechanically. We were both discouraged, and began to pray that God would open a door for us. God did.

The next day, we found a Honda CR-V in good condition with low miles that was being sold by another expat. This car is not ideal since it is not nearly rugged enough to handle roads to the villages (we need something that is a “real truck”), but the CR-V will serve as a temporary solution for our need to transport our young family around Tanzania. The price was very good, so Paul and I both felt peace about buying this vehicle. We plan to drive it until God provides the additional funds we need to purchase the rugged vehicle that will meet all the needs we have for our ministry. For now, we are really enjoying having our own wheels again!

After we purchased our car in Dar, we spent the remainder of our break in Dodoma, the city where we'll live after language school. We really enjoyed our time there. We met the Burunge translators and other staff with whom we'll be working. We visited the school that our kids will attend. We found a house to rent. And, we spent time with our friends, Jonathan and Rachel.

Here we are out to dinner in Dodoma (a place run by an Italian that serves great pizza!):

The house we'll be renting:

We arrived back at the campsite on Saturday evening, and are beginning to settle back into our little “home.” Even though our break was busy, we were grateful to find a car, visit with friends, and see our new home. Our time away gave us the renewed energy we need to buckle down again and finish strong.

Before we know it, the next phase of our ministry will be underway!