It’s funny how, when you have to get up early, everyone wants to stay in bed, and, when you can have a lie in, you are all up nice and early!!
We started later this morning and had the delight of an extra hour to get ourselves ready for the day. This morning we went in 3 different directions – preaching in Mabatini, Uoyle and Airport feeding locations. The churches vary in size. Some have electricity and loud music. Others are more remote and the music sung to the beat of a small drum. The Airport service was followed by a baptisim in the river about 2km walk away. It was wonderful to see some of the sponsored children being baptised.
The service at Uyole was disturbed a little as hundreds of people walked passed the church. After some investigatiion we discovered that the father of two of the sponsored children had died and was being buried. Life is so fragile here and cirumstances change in a flicker of an eye. George, Dan and Andy all preached well.
Lunch was then provided at the Grassroots centre. It was delicious. Our food has been prepared by Menardi, who oversees all the cooking for the 9 feeding programmes. The food has been fantastic so I can assure you that your sponsored child is being well fed!
After an evening service it was back to the guest house where we continued to process the the large amounts of paper work and make lists of children who (for various reasons) did not make it to interview. These will be followed up by the Tanzanian team after we have left. With circumstances changing the way they do here some children (eg: after a death of a carer) are taken to live with another relative. This happens very quickly and is sometimes difficult to know about – or if the child will return or not. Many do.
So, one more full day in Mbeya. Tomorrow we are taking a group of children to a small conservation park. It will be their first time seeing zebras, monkeys, an ostrich, etc. Should be great fun and we can’t wait to see the childrens faces.
Sharon