I just looked to see when our last blog posting was done and it looks like March 14. We have had some unusual experiences since then which included a plan to go back to Florida to handle business and house affairs. Our old mail box out in the front of our Florida residence is leaky and had very limited capacity. We were hoping to be able to convert this to a large capacity commercial box so that if all else fails we don’t miss anything coming to the house even though someone is checking the mail from time to time. A few days before we left here I got a pain in my lower abdomen and realized as we were packing for the Florida trip that it was a new hernia. Being a physician, I usually am very careful about limiting lifting loads so am not sure what happened. In any case, since we were only planning to stay for two weeks getting the hernia fixed had to be a priority. It was scheduled expeditiously a few days after arrival but the first postoperative night I has a fever of 102! Worrisome to say the least, and it turned out to probably be a fairly severe viral respiratory infection I caught on the flight back from Africa. Most of the time in Florida was spent convalescing. So we have been back home in Tanzania, for about a week. The Lord kindly arranged for another physician and his wife to replace us during the time we were gone.

Everything has turned a lush green here since we left and the maize is about a meter high now, coming right up to our yard. So far with the rains there has been enough to keep all the crops growing well. The mountain is almost continually shrouded in clouds now so the flights down to Kilimanjaro are not full of prospective climbers; although there are a few who come off season and have to endure the lower temperatures and added rainfall. We brought back from the States, sets of more durable games for our resident children who had been used to; for instance, playing checkers on a piece of small, thin foldup cardboard. I noticed before, that even a gentle breeze can upset the game. They all want to learn chess but we told them first they have to learn to play checkers well, then Chinese checkers and finally chess. On Sunday afternoons we encourage mentally stimulating games and now all our bicycles are fixed so they have the added attraction of riding bikes when not in school.

Our children, like all the rest in Tanzania, are required to take standardized tests administered by the government. Out of the 150 or so schools in the area we are number 3 in test scores but we still see room for added improvement especially in raising math performance. Our head mistress, Pat, from Florida really does a good job in administering the school. I am still working on the practical challenges Paul gives us in 2 Corinthians 6 about commending ourselves to God and the saints as true servants of our gracious God.

We did have a very brief visit to the US but also had the privilege of having the Alexanders (friends from Bismarck) with us for a week. I am not sure how I would have navigated all the needed shopping and the surgery and doctor’s appointments without the support of our friends. We had some good and needed laughs along the way and Randy helped with many house projects that Kent was unable to perform.

On the way back to Tanzania we had decided to do an overnight stay in Amsterdam. I have always wanted to see the tulip fields in bloom yet didn’t even consider the possibility during our trip. We boarded the airplane to Amsterdam and I looked at the sky magazine and there was an article about how to see the tulips so a plan was quickly formed. We were able to get about 4 hours of sleep on the flight giving us enough energy to navigate getting to see the tulips at Keukenhof. What a TREAT!! The day was cool and the tulip fields were breath-taking. Actually I think that a significant joy of the layover was getting to experience true SPRING!!

We arrived home to the rainy season. Our rains have so far been below what we would wish but adequate for our maize crop. Pray with us for more abundant rains to feed this country. We did also have a wonderful double rainbow that was the widest I have ever seen. Tanzania does things in a big way. We have a lot more snow on the mountain when it decides to come out of its cloak of clouds. We are back into the work and Kent is teaching the second quarter of RICE for 2015. Peggy is busy doing some music teaching in RICE and childcare and finances. We are fulfilled and happy in our roles here. We miss our family and friends but skype is a wonderful thing!!!