Mission to Tanzania 3rd Letter
Dear Americans-
Will wonders never cease? We are in the middle of nowhere, in "the bush" at a very nice safari lodge and they have an internet cafe. We are just few KM from the Ngorogoro Crater, and there is high-speed internet. So you lucky people get an update on a truly amazing day. Memo to Davis Fields — please refrain any urges to read this aloud in a public place!
First off — the nation of Tanzania rejoices with their Italian brethren for their inspiring World Cup victory. Actually, nobody here seemed to notice except for us and the Italian couple staying at our hotel last night.
Second, 11 of our 12 missing bags were delivered to our hotel shortly after breakfast. For those of you scoring at home, that means that we now have 19 of 20 of our checked bags ( a wonderfully high percentage considering where we are). The only one still missing is one of mine, the one containing all the Bethel hats we threw in at the last minute. Hopefully it will be here when we return from "the bush." We want to make sure we get some shots of at least 40 people wearing Bethel hats. Everybody needs to have a goal.
We started out the day by meeting the couple who owns JM Tours (our tour company). Barbro is a Finnish national who runs the tour operation and her husband Joshua is Tanzanian national who runs an architectual firm that designs development projects such as hospitals and schools. If we only had time to visit all of his completed projects! Next time, I guess.
We then proceeded directly to the Lake Manyara National Park and saw a few animals, including, but not limited to, elephants, giraffe, baboons, impala, wildebeats, hippos, dik-dik (a small deer-like creature) and one lonely looking zebra. We traveled in Toyota Land Cruisers with pop-up ceilings for optimal photography. However, even though we all began a "simba chant," no lions made an appearance. Maybe tomorrow.
Tomorrow we venture into the Ngorogoro Crater first stopping at a Masai boma for a guided tour. I hope to purchase a spear. Can I bring a Masai spear back in my checked luggage? Quick, somebody check.
Our tour guides are named Edward and Bashili. Guess which one is a Masai warrior? That's right, it's Edward. Unfortunately he doesn't know if British Airways will let me bring a spear home. He did, however, regal us with stories of his upbringing in a Masai boma. Both Edward and Bashili think that a Lutheran pastor with an earring is quite strange (and they don't hesitate to tell me so). Wait a moment — I just took it out. No more strange looks and laughter from the guides — priceless!
Thank you for your prayers. So far, we are all healthy and deliriously happy. Much more later!
Kwaheri (that's Swahili for "that's all folks" - note: a rough translation)
Pastor Rick, for the entire bunch