Visiting "Home"!

"Home" has changed for us over the last few years, Dorset, Ohio, Dodoma (the next place is yet to be determined!) ... different places, different continents, different cultures. We try to make wherever we are living, home. A place of comfort, escape, security, family.

We also have our home country and home culture. For most of the family it's England, although for Abigail, she only lived there for one year. Technically Naomi's home country is America, as she's never lived in England but realistically she won't remember living in either places!

In fact, for the foreseeable future the only time we will be "Home" is when we are on Home Assignment, travelling backwards and forwards, visiting friends and supporters, speaking at different churches ... it's not really home. We enjoy seeing everyone, we enjoy eating home comforts, we enjoy visiting familiar places but to be honest, we also enjoy the end when we can return and relax!

At the moment, it has been over a year since we've been "Home" to the UK. During this time of waiting on our future, with the changes in MAF Tanzania, we don't know when exactly that might come either. Whenever it is though, it will be a BIG undertaking.

Earlier today I read an amazingly honest post about the dreaded Home Assignment time ... The Naked Truth About Deputation: Can You See Through My Eyes? If you are going on deputation, or are welcoming someone back on deputation from working overseas, please take a few minutes to read this. It really does feel like this writer describes to the family who is travelling around visiting. When people view it as a break, as a holiday, as a time away from work ... think again!

Still Processing ...

For those of you who read this regularly, you may have noticed I have gone a bit quieter than usual.

Last week we had some BIG news that ultimately changes the role of MAF here in Tanzania and won't require the services of the Beckwith family (and many others) to continue. The impact of this for us and those we live and work with is HUGE and as a result there is a lot to think about.

Most (but not all) of the MAF Dodoma team

When we came to Dodoma, we had expected to spend 8 years here (our minimum commitment to MAF). We prepared with that in mind. We invested a lot of time, effort and money with that focus before we came and have tried to settle well with a long term goal in mind. Now it feels like we have been thrown a real curve ball and it's taking a while for full impact of that to sink in.

One verse that has meant a lot to us as a family this week is from Proverbs 16:9 "We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps." Sometimes these two things are more different than we can imagine. We were thorough in our preparations, we had the roller-coaster of releasing our container, the even longer wait to get a car and while we've enjoyed life since we set foot in Tanzania, to be fair, we only just got to the really happy balanced, things are ticking along quite nicely phase in the last couple of months. Clearly God has other ideas for our future though!

Later this month we will celebrate our first (and what we now know, will be our only) anniversary here in Tanzania as a family. We may have only been here a year but with the long term goal in mind we have also invested heavily emotionally in what we had thought would be the home for us for the foreseeable future and so it is heartbreaking to think that we won't be here to celebrate any more anniversaries.

We are not bitter or angry about the situation, we totally agree with the decisions that the management of MAF have been making with regards to the programme and it is tough for everyone involved from top to bottom that this is the situation. 

While moving internationally again was most definitely not on my 'To Do' list again for this year, it is there on my list nonetheless ... and so already while there is nothing set in stone yet, we have much to get our heads around. On the plus side, it has been a privilege for me to have been able to share my beloved Dodoma with Mark and the girls for a considerable amount of time. Now the memories we have will be those we have made together and not just my own stories from long ago!

Right now though the emotions are still fresh and they come in waves, some are easier to ride than others. There are also so many questions that are occupying whatever brain power I have left from normal family life here in Tanzania ... here are just a few ...

• Which MAF programme will we go to now?
• When will we go?
• How will we go?
• What will we take with us?
• How will we take it with us?
• What should I give away?
• Who should I give it to?
• Will we fit in home assignment that we were due later this year?
• Will Abigail finish the school year here?
• Where do we want to visit in Tanzania before we leave?
• When can we do that?
• What will happen to the other MAF staff?
• Will my house mama find work elsewhere?
• What about the friends we will all leave behind?
• ...

So, while I take my time to wade through the endless possible answers to each question, start working on the details of the bits I am able to ... and just work up the energy and enthusiasm to move again (something which I only just feel like I'm beginning to recover from, from last time!) ... I may be a little quieter than normal. 

I'm still here ... but for now I'm still processing!

Theory and Practice

With just a two days of 2013 to go I can't believe how much has happened for us as a family since this time last year ... or even the last few years! This week Naomi celebrated her third Christmas and each of those have been on a different continent. Life has certainly not been boring for us!

In many ways our lives are a big adventure but from now on things are set to become relatively mundane and not quite so exciting ... at least that's what we hope anyway! When we moved here, we had hoped that it would be for at least 4 years but most probably for the whole 8 years we have committed to MAF. As a family (and even as a couple) this would be the longest we've lived anywhere together! Crazy but true!

In theory it will us be a chance to really get into our groove, which we've only just hit in the last couple of months! It will be a chance to really get involved in the community. It will be a chance for us all to get settled in our home and open it up to others, knowing that we won't be moving on anytime soon. It will be a chance for our girls to spend their childhoods in one place. It will be a chance to live life in the guaranteed sunshine! It doesn't promise to be easy, limited resources, far from family, an ever-changing ex-pat community, no respite from the heat! However it really feels like home to us now, for how long though, we are yet to see.

Everything can be mapped out in theory, but in practice it can work out a lot differently!

Things change unexpectedly out here. Friends of ours are packing up to leave in a few weeks and move to South Sudan ... their plans are most definitely up in the air right now. For us things are also on hold at least until the end of January. The future of the MAF Tanzania programme is currently under negotiation and we won't know until then which way it will move forward and whether that will or won't include us as a family.

While a lot of people will be thinking about News Years resolutions right now and how they are going to start 2014 off on the right foot, perhaps tweaking some things or drastically changing others, my family will have to wait just that little bit longer. 

We hope and pray that our 2014 will be right here in Tanzania well and truly getting into that groove but only God knows right now what it will look like. I'm glad that we trust one who has already got it all worked out on our behalf. While some people think that is a huge risk, I know that with him in control we will be able to work our way through whatever this next year will bring. We got through this last one which was was a rollercoaster in itself! We'll just have to wait another month after everyone else before we work out what (if any) resolutions/changes we want to make!

What DO you do?

Recently I have been asked several times what exactly I do out here in Tanzania. We're with MAF. Mark fixes the planes. So how do I spend my time?

I have been asked via email by people we don't know but who follow our news. I have been asked by friends that I used to hang out with while we lived in the States. I was even asked by new friends out here who don't live on our side of town. 

I think the assumption is that I don't do very much ... maybe just shop for food, cook it and look after the kids. I don't even have to clean as we have a Mama who comes in to do that. One lady here in Dodoma asked me if I was bored or lonely living on a compound with only one other family. Yeah right!!

I used to think much the same when I lived here before, that the MAF wives were 'busy doing nothing'! Just this last week I've had several different people asking me to do things for them and while I always try to help out, I've had to say no ... I just don't have the time at the moment!

I've shared before what I get up to out here for MAF and within the family in general terms. But I thought it would be interesting just to list what I have been doing, both for myself and for those of you who were wondering, what exactly it is that I do do out here! None of it is mind-blowing, none of it is particularly difficult, none of it is that different to what any other mum out here (or back home for that matter!) would do in a normal week ... it is just the nitty gritty of my life!

So here goes, just some of the things I have got up to over the last 8 days ...

• Shopping trip to the market
• Written a couple of cards to friends
• Played jigsaws and board games with the kids
• Watched a couple of movies and a few episodes of different TV series on DVD
• Went to church
• Did hospitality 4 times, twice because we had to for MAF and twice because we chose to
• Went swimming twice (once on my own, once with the family)
• Spent a couple of hours at the school taking photos and started editing them
• Shopping to some of the duka's
• Compiling the MAF Tz programme weekly news bulletin
• Kept up to date with emails (ish!)
• Had a Skype call/meeting with the current MMS Apprentice Wives group
• Did four lots of exercise
• Taught Naomi to play snap
• 5 loads of washing
• Fell asleep reading my book every night!!
• Wrote the agenda for a meeting, took notes in the meeting (which took place in the compound of a local mosque), wrote up the minutes
• Went out for lunch once
• Did the school run on the MAF bus three times
• Tried a couple of new recipes
• Listened to Abigail doing her daily reading for school
• Updated 2 different Facebook pages
• Arranged and supervised a couple of playdates
• Baked for and co-hosted a staff prayer meeting at our house
• Caught up with some friends
• Updated three pages on the school website
• Went to a Bible Study
• Had one afternoon siesta
• Learnt some new Swahili words
• Arranged a couple of meetings for over the next few weeks
• Started our online Christmas shopping

You might be under the impression that life is very different out here as a missionary but so much of it is just 'normal' everyday, mum stuff (just in a different setting, climate and sometimes a different language!) ... sorry if I have shattered any illusions you might have but this is a snapshot of the reality!!

The Best Thing

This month's guest post is from another missionary mum and MAF wife, Sarah Newnham, living in East Africa (like me!), but this time in Kampala, Uganda. Sarah and her husband, also Mark, went through the MMS programme in Ohio just like we did and have already completed the required 8 years service with MAF following that. I'm pleased to say they have chosen to continue their service with MAF. We had the chance to meet them/hang out with them/pick their brains (!!) with their eldest 2 children a few years ago when they revisited the MMS programme. Today she shares some thoughts living on the mission field both as a child herself and as a mother. You can read their family blog here.

I am a Missionary Mum but I am also an MK (missionary kid). I think we are often misunderstood and no one fully understands where we are coming from, except other MK’s. One thing that can usually be said about us is that we grow up with transition and the feeling that no one place is quite ‘home’. At the age of 22, I had lived in around 30 houses.

So in 2000, just a year after getting married, when Mark & I began our journey into missions I think I envisaged that life would continue to be one of transitions. That was OK. I enjoyed going to new places, meeting new people and travelling and after all, the other name for MAF is ‘Move Again Friend’! 

We lived in Ohio, USA for three years while Mark trained as an aircraft engineer and we then began serving with MAF in Uganda in 2005. I really thought that after a few years we would be moving on to a new location, but here we are eight years later, still living in Uganda. 

Why? The simple answer is that this is where God wants us to be and we don’t yet feel he is asking us to move. However, there are several reasons and this lack of transition has not always been easy for me to deal with. I am an MK/third culture kid after all … moving is what I am good at. The thought of moving home, particularly to another country, may fill most of you with fear and anxiety but I find it quite exciting. 

Several years ago, we were offered the opportunity to move. I would have loved to go, as the post on offer would have taken us to the country where my parents were serving as missionaries. How wonderful it would be to live near my mum and dad but Mark was not ready for all the new role would entail. How I willed it to be different and yet, deep down I knew I had to accept what was best for Mark. He needed to gain more experience here in Uganda. 

One of the best things that has come out of living in Uganda is that this is where two of our children come from. Mark & I were unable to have our own children and God blessed us with two amazing children that we have adopted here. Amy & Joshua are now 7 and 6 years old. Just last year we had a biological child, Abigail. They are each miracles in their own way but that is another whole story in itself! 

While I cope well with transition, we have one child in particular who does not. I may struggle to think of anywhere as ‘home’ but this is most definitely ‘home’ for Amy & Joshua. Uganda is the country they come from, the only place they have ever lived and it has become clear to us how important it is for them in building their identity that they know something of this beautiful country and culture for themselves. They are one of the reasons we have not moved on. 

There are times that it seems like a sacrifice for me to stay in one place but I realise that God is doing it for a couple of reasons ... 

It is the best thing for my whole family right now. As a mum, I want what is best for my children and right now that is stability. God wants what is best for us and a happy/well adjusted family will last far longer on the mission field. 

It is the best thing for me. I have realised that it is tough staying in one place. It is simply easier for me to be the one who moves on to new places and challenges but staying put and being the one left behind is hard for me. I have had to say many good byes to close friends and colleagues this year. I still grieve at times but God wants me to grow in this area of trusting him when I am the one left behind. The experience is drawing me closer to the One who remains the same and is always there, Jesus, and I am thankful for this season of my life in which God is teaching me to make transitions, in terms of building new friendships and finding new things to do even when I am still in the same location.

Revisiting Old Recipes

Life continues to be about sharing time with people over food here in Dodoma.

Thursday evening we had four dinner guests for hospitality, one from the UK, one from the States, one from Holland and one from Sweden! All here in Dodoma to do different things for MAF. On Friday we went out for dinner in town with another MAF family who are from Australia. Saturday, we invited some of the teachers from Abigail's school round to catch up for the afternoon and evening. And yesterday, Sunday, we out for lunch, just the four of us.

One thing that I've found that I have been doing recently is revisiting some of the recipes that I used to make while I lived here before and was taught by various missionary friends. For some unknown reason I haven't used a lot of them in the twelve years since then!

At the end of last week, while Abigail was on school holiday's and Naomi was fast asleep. Abigail enjoyed trying out another one of these recipe's with me, Lemon Bars ... cooking still being one of her favourite pastimes. They went down a treat with some of our visitors over the weekend!

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup margarine/butter
• 1/4 cup sugar

• 2 eggs - beaten til light and fluffy
• 1 cup sugar
• 2T self-raising flour (or 2T flour + 1/4t baking powder)
• 1/4t salt
• 2-3T lemon juice

1. Combine first 3 ingredients (flour, marge, sugar)
2. Press into 9x9 pan
3. Bake 350/180 for 20 mins
4. Combine remaining 5 ingredients (eggs, sugar, flour, salt, lemon juice)
5. Pour over hot crust
6. Bake for a further 25 mins until crust is lightly brown
7. Cool, cut and serve!

Although we didn't do it this time and they taste delicious either way ... you can also make a glaze (from 1/2 cup of icing/powdered sugar and 1-2T lemon juice, blending till smooth) and drizzle it over the cooled bars before cutting and serving!

Going Home

Today's missionary mum was actually the mother of one of my Standard One students when I was living in Dodoma before. Jean's husband, Andrew, worked for MAF as the Flight Operations Manager and then Quality Manager. They have three boys and moved to Tanzania from Scotland, living in a house a couple of doors down from where we are now! Their family then moved on with MAF to Nairobi, Kenya, where our paths crossed briefly again in 2006. They completed their service with MAF after almost 11 years, returning to Scotland about 2 years ago. Today Jean shares her thoughts about 'Going Home' after living in Africa for such a long time.

From the day we arrived in Africa we knew that one day we would leave and ‘go home’. When our time to go home arrived, it was a little unexpected and sudden. Our eldest son, Andrew J was leaving school, I had a sense of calling to train as a Minister and it seemed as if all of a sudden, our time with MAF in Africa was up. 

It was a hard decision and an even harder call to follow but when we made the decision to follow God’s calling for this part of our lives, we had a huge peace about. We had no jobs to return to at ‘home’; Andrew J was unsure where he would go to University, the younger two boys, Fraser and Iain would have to change schools and we had no certainty our home would be free to move back into. By faith we trusted God’s leading and arrived a little bit dazed and a little bit uncertain, back ‘home’.

That was 2 years ago. The tenants moved out of our house and although the house needs a lot of work to it (even after being back 2 years!) we are living again in the family home in Inverness. Andrew, after eight months of temporary part-time work got a full-time permanent job – working in a similar role as he had enjoyed so much in Africa. Andrew J got a place at University and is now about to start his 3^rd year and has a part-time job to help fund the course. Fraser and Iain have both settled well into life in school and life here in Scotland.

Me – it’s been by faith! I completed the assessment and selection process with the Church of Scotland and am starting my second year as a Candidate in Training for Ministry of Word and Sacrament. At times it seems like a dream, having been to Africa and having come home. It is like a dream too, to continue to be with our Lord, still believing and being in his care.

It was in some ways harder to come home than to go to Africa. On return, many of our friends had moved on in so many ways and it seems as if we have started all over again living here. Despite this, we have seen God’s faithfulness to us, experienced his promise not to leave us and felt his blessings to us in so many different and unexpected ways.

We often reminisce as a family about our time in Africa, people we met, issues we faced, laughs we had. We find this hard to share with others outside the family, perhaps because so often we feel misunderstood and it is so difficult to share ‘our time’ with MAF. They are precious memories and a big part of our lives and our life as a family. We will treasure them always and who knows; perhaps God will send us back there some time.

Munchkin In Tow

So, tomorrow marks six months since we arrived here in Dodoma. Crazy but true. In some ways the time has flown by (we're still waiting for a car and permanent visas!) but in others it really feels like we've been here a lot longer!

Before we even arrived in Tanzania, I made my family a promise. One that expires tomorrow. I promised that I wouldn't get involved in anything until we'd been here for six months. I made that promise for many reasons but the main one was to ensure that the family were properly settled first. A happy family is more likely to last the distance on the mission field and our commitment to MAF is a long one!

Of course, there have been the necessary MAF roles which I have taken on. Hospitality and a couple of admin roles. Over the last month or so, it has been necessary to take on a few more roles due to the absence of most of the other MAF wives for one reason or another. Let me tell you, with the container arriving, Abigail being off school for the holidays and all these other roles being landed in my lap, life has been more than hectic. I haven't even had the time to think of agreeing to anything else!

One thing that I have found slightly strange about being in Dodoma, the second time round has been not being a part of the school. It was my whole life when I was last here! With Naomi still being at home with me for another year and me choosing to put her first, I am limited as to what I can agree to do anywhere, but especially at the school.

After some thought over the school break, I realised one area of the school that was lacking was their website. I was really excited to find that they had one initially. But it had only 2 photos, cut off sentences, differing fonts in the same paragraph and actually wasn't all that helpful or pleasing on the eye!

So, here I am, earlier this week ... 

... taking photos at the school to update and hopefully improve the website. Something I can mostly do from home but still be a lot of use to the school. Something I can do with a munchkin in tow!

You can find the CAMS site here (www.cams.ac.tz). For reasons I won't bore you with, some of the main changes will take a while. But in the meantime I have tweaked a lot of little things and added a whole heap of photos. (Let me know what you think and anything I can improve on!)

Web design has been something I've wanted to get into for a while now, so it is a learning process for me as well as a helpful project for the school. One I am really enjoying.

Who knows what else I will get involved in out here after my promise expires tomorrow?!

Photo Memories

Yesterday I was unpacking some more bits and pieces. There are only boxes with bits and pieces left now ... so it's becoming a much slower and sometimes very frustrating process!

What I stumbled across yesterday though, were some old photos of when I used to live and work here in Dodoma, as a single girlie with no hubby or munchkins! It was fun to flick through them and see places and some people that are once again becoming part of my daily life!

Today I was showing my House Mama some photos I'd taken of her and her family from back then. She was really interested to see them and pleased to find that I still had them and that they were special to me.

A bit more rummaging and I found a selection of photos that I was really interested to see. Those that were taken on the evening of my twenty-third birthday (see below).

Why you ask, were these particular photos of interest to me? After I'd moved back here with my family, certain things became more and more familiar to me ... including our house. 

After a couple of emails backwards and forwards to friends who used to live here with me before, I realised that I actually now live in the very house that I celebrated my twenty-third birthday in. So, the photos above were taken in my current living room all those years ago!! It all looks a lot different now! 

If you'd told me back then that I would be living in that same house thirteen years later with a MAF husband and two daughters, I probably would have laughed very hard. I have often found that God has a sense of humour though ... so he was probably laughing back then knowing what was to come!

Today we have got some of the current teachers coming round for dinner. Who knows if any of them will come back in thirteen years time and make this house their home too!!

The Next Step

These last few weeks have been crazy busy ... can you even say that?!!

It's the school holidays, our container just arrived and I've been taking on a few extra roles while other MAF staff are home for various reasons. As my six months curfew or promise to my family is just about to expire, I find it hard how I can fit anything else into my time but I have already agreed to quite a big project recently too! (More details of that another time!)

Being able to finally unpack all our stuff and being super busy, really does make it feel like we've finally arrived and are settled. Just this morning I was at a friends house, catching up over a cup of tea while the kids all played together ... definitely not the actions of a newbie but of someone who is much more established!

I've mentioned 'transition' before and I know that the first six months anywhere are often the biggest hurdle to overcome but that it takes the first two years for somewhere to really become home. So, although we're getting there, as a family we still have a way to go!

During the unpacking I found some notes from one of my classes at All Nations. While I'm not someone to write poetry (like ever!), part of one assignment was to write a reflective poem on transition. Probably one of the only poems I've ever written since leaving school almost 20 years ago! 

Even now, after several more big moves across the world, I think it reflects well a lot of the details and emotions that are involved, some which are glaringly obvious and others not so much ... 

The Next Step

The plan, the excitement,

The next step and beyond.

Goodbyes,

Those final and those not for long.

Lives that continue,

But which you won't be a part.

New places, new faces.

Right decision, wrong decision.

Too late now!

Who am I? What do I do?

Where am I meant to be?

Information overload, people and facts,

Exhaustion threatens to overcome,

But push on through.

Making a friend, making mistakes,

Taking a risk,

Fascinated by all that's new,

But sometimes alone, longing for the familiar.

In time, knowing the faces and playing your role,

A routine and a purpose to fulfil.

Home again, yet in a different place,

Looking toward the next step.

Signing Up For Change

Today I want to introduce you to one of the Missionary Mum's that I have had the chance to get to know since we moved to Dodoma. Liz is English and a primary school teacher back at home. Her husband is from South Africa and is one of the MAF pilots based here in Dodoma. They have 3 children, Joel is in Naomi's circle of friends, Ben is in Abigail's class and Esther who is only a little bit older, is another friend that Abigail enjoys playing with! Liz writes her own blog 'Tales from Tanzania' too, all about the adventures her family are having which includes insights of what day-to-day life actually means to all of us here in Tanzania but today she write for me ...

As a starry-eyed newly-wed back in the UK in 2003, I had no idea what I had signed up for, as my new husband and I agreed that we wanted to serve God together. How could I realise back then what kind of an exciting, but at times terrifying, roller-coaster-ride God had planned for us?

At that time, we were living in central London, I was enjoying a full-time teaching job, great social life, wonderful church and was within easy reach of family, I had no idea that within 9 months, Andrew and I would be homeless, jobless and facing an uncertain future in a far-flung country! I had to learn that God is a God of surprises- opening up unforeseen opportunites and leading us on adventures far beyond any I would ever have imagined!

A few months into our marriage, Andrew and I had responded to a call at our London church, St Michael's Chester Square, to commit ourselves to follow God- whatever or wherever He may lead us to. Around the same time, we were praying seriously about a new career path for Andrew, a change from the office jobs that had made up his working life to this point. So it should not have been too big a shock when a MAF magazine plopped through our letterbox "out of the blue"- randomly redirected from an old student address I had once had. Andrew picked it up. He had never heard of MAF, so he was surprised to learn about their ministry. "Look at this" he said, "a way to serve God with a practical career! I think this is something I could do...."

And the rest, as they say, is history!

We left our home and jobs in London and went to South Africa where Andrew trained as a pilot and built up a further 2 years work experience. We moved back to the UK to apply to MAF in 2009, were accepted and moved to Tanzania later that year. This path to serving with MAF has been full of change. In our 9 years of marriage, we have lived in 8 different homes over 3 different countries, gradually adding more family members on the way! We were relieved to "settle" down in Dodoma and enjoy being part of the missionary community with our 3 children.

However, I have discovered that living in one place as a 'Missionary Mum' does not rule out change! Being part of the caring missionary community in Dodoma means that friendships we build often run deep: our friends become like family as we support one another in a foreign culture, far, far away from our actual families. Then, one day, your friends announce that they are leaving - our lovely next-door neighbours moved to Uganda, another family who had become very close to us moved to Sweden, another family to America and another good friend moved on to Kenya ... We cried and we grieved. It seemed unlikely we would see them again. 

God, in His mercy, sent new families here - so we all adjusted, our children have bonded with new friends and as Mums, we enjoy being together with our kids and as families. We are grateful to count Jenny, Mark, Abigail and Naomi as our new friends and were so excited to welcome them here! But now I am conscious that my own time in Tanzania is limited and one day, our family will be the ones to move on, probably to another country, as the need for pilots varies from place to place. More change. It will be painful: it will be scary: in other ways, it will be exciting. The only certainty we can really count on as Missionary Mums with MAF is this fact: Nothing Stays the Same!

For this reason, I am learning the great value of the verse below. Within this life of change that I signed up for all those years ago, there IS one true constant - my Best Friend and my anchor: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever." Hebrews 13 v.8.

More Traffic Jams

This morning I was sitting in my car on a dual carriageway in a traffic jam! Not moving an inch!

While it may be standard practice for many of you, in your day-to-day commute or simply just getting from A to B ... it really is not the norm here in Dodoma. It's a busy town, much busier than Coshocton where we last lived but everything flows and there is not an excessive amount of traffic or even a rush hour or anything.

With one exception ... when there are VIP's here everything and I mean EVERYTHING stops. The Tanzanian Parliament is here in Dodoma and all the top politicians have residences both here and in Dar Es Salaam. You know when parliament is in session as police and military appear everywhere stopping traffic and you could be waiting for anything from a few minutes to twenty or more!

Then at some point you are treated to a 'car parade' as Abigail calls it. The cavalcade speeds through fast but is motorbikes, cars, 4x4's and they go on and on and on! Usually you hear the presidential or other jet first ... then you know there is a chance of getting stuck on the roads. The President of Tanzania has the longest entourage but other VIP's come with their own train of vehicles too.

This weekend, as a family we avoided town completely. There were way too many VIP's around for the installation of the new Archbishop of Tanzania and it would have taken forever to get anywhere. The only person we really had any interest in seeing was the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who flew in for the occasion. 

Lucky for us, he flew into Dodoma via MAF and so right at airport, on arrival, we were able to see him before all the craziness really set in!

He was given quite the welcome. Bishops and clergy, politicians, tribal dancing ... the list goes on! This was his first visit to Tanzania since becoming the Archbishop of Canterbury and he really was treated like royalty.

Thankfully, the weekend went off without incident, although there was some concern before and now all the VIP's are heading out again. There isn't much here worth sticking around for to be honest! 

That means that as this week progresses there will be less and less reason for all the traffic to be stopped again and life for the rest of us lesser beings will go on without sitting in anymore jams ... until the next time!

Missing the Milestones

We've been here almost 3 months now. That's a quarter of a year!

In that time there have been many significant life events happening for friends and family. Parents of good friends of mine have died, there have been weddings, births and literally everything in between. And we've missed it all!

In fact just this last weekend, one of my cousins got married, another went wedding dress shopping for next year, my best friend throughout school announced she was expecting her fourth baby and another good friend gave birth to a beautiful baby girl!

Life goes on at home when you leave it all behind. I use the term 'home' loosely because our family and friends are literally spread out over the world. There is absolutely no way had we been in the UK (our real home country) that we would have been able to be part of all these events anyway as most were spread out enough across the world that it would have been impossible. Being so far removed from everything out here can sometimes feel like we're missing out though. 

The reality is, that our family are also achieving all the different milestones here while we're away too. Naomi was born in the States, Abigail started school in Tanzania, to name just two. Those closest to us are missing out on our lives as much as we're missing out on theirs.

The internet has helped us to keep in touch and up-to-date a lot more than the first time I lived here. I didn't even have a email address of my own in those days. Now we're sharing photos backwards and forwards, just minutes after they are taken (like the one of me and my girlies above!). Or talking face-to-face via Skype, something I introduced Maria (our house help) to the other day ... she couldn't believe it was possible!

Missing the milestones is one sacrifice of the missionary lifestyle, that you don't always consider when you're preparing for a life overseas but thanks to modern technology we are no longer so far removed from everything ... or waiting anything from 2 weeks to 2 months or longer for news to arrive via snail mail. Missing out hasn't been something that has adversely affected any of us so far and we're 4 years into our MAF/mission experience as a family and counting, so that's definitely something to be grateful for. 

Congratulations to everyone who has been celebrating exciting stuff recently ... we're definitely there in spirit, if not in person!

Brunch

This is the second week in a row that we've had a Bank Holiday here in Tanzania. Last week it was Friday, so we got a long, 3 day weekend and this week it is today, Wednesday.

We thought it would be fun to have a full English Breakfast style brunch (who doesn't like to indulge in one of those from time to time!) and invite a few of the teachers from Abigail's school to celebrate having the day off. It was lots of fun, the food was delicious and it was a lovely opportunity to get to know some of the teaching staff at CAMS (2 Brits, 2 Aussies).

When I lived here in Dodoma as a teacher, I really appreciated my friends at MAF. Whether it be just to escape to the other side of town away from the teachers compound and everything school related, to be in a 'real' home for a few hours (MAF staff tend to have more home comforts as they move out here for longer periods of time) or whether is was to eat some yummy food that as a teacher I couldn't always afford ... those MAF families that opened their home to me and my fellow teachers were always extra special and most are still friends of mine over a decade later!

As soon as we knew that we were coming back to Dodoma as a family, all those months ago, I told my hubby that looking out for the teachers would be one way that we could support the staff, most of whom are single and far from family in America, UK, Australia, New Zealand and other places. Having been on the receiving end of such hospitality and understanding the huge significance of it, it was always going to be a priority for me now that I'm in the position with my family to offer it. 

We had been holding out a little, in the hope that our container would arrive and we could make the house more 'homey' before we started inviting people but a few weeks ago we made the decision that waiting was pointless, we might just as well get on with it. 

It's already been fun to properly invite people round and if we have to borrow chairs, dishes and frying pans from our neighbours in order to do it, that's just the way it will have to be for the time being!

Bureaucracy

Today I became the proud owner of a third photo-card driving licence (although admittedly the Ohio one is out of date!). It surprises me that here in Tanzania things have moved on to something so modern ... last time I lived here it was a cardboard little booklet with a photo glued in.

The process to obtain one of these little beauties in Tanzania is quite the experience though!

In the States, all it takes is a reasonably straight forward visit to the local BMV (Bureau of Motor Vehicles) and you leave with a brand new licence. They take your details and your photo and make the card up for you there and then.

In the UK, you fill out the forms, send it all off and receive a shiny new licence in the post a little while afterwards!

Here in Tanzania, the process really is something else! 

Firstly, a trip to the TRA (Tanzania Revenue Authority) to fill out the forms and have your information put on the computer. Then a trip to the police station on the other side of the town to have the forms checked on their computer system, stamped and the classifications added. Then a drive back across town to the TRA again to have the licence processed and to get an invoice. After that you take the invoice to the bank to pay for the licence and then return several days later to the TRA to actually collect the licence, plus a final trip back to the police station to return the forms to them! Simple really!

We had a few extra steps in our process. The initial police man we saw stamped our forms but forgot to input the data on the computer, so when we returned to the TRA to get the licence processed and the invoice printed, they were unable to do so until the system had been updated. The trip back to the police station then found the officers having their chai break (tea break) requiring an extra wait before being able to get them to do what they should have done in the first place! 

We started the process a week ago and it required a lot of to-ing and fro-ing by us and two other members of MAF staff to actually get the licences (one for me and one for Mark) in our hands ... but it is one more thing on our 'To Do' list ticked off now! The experience itself was just part and parcel of getting into the swing of African life and culture really!

Just doing something that is supposed to be reasonably simple without Tanzanian assistance would have been a nightmare. We were glad to have the help of national MAF staff to walk us through each step of it.

It also helps us a little, in understanding why processing our visa is proving so difficult, as we can see how nothing is what it seems or particularly straight forward here. I am very grateful that the all the documentation and other bits and pieces in the processing of our container is being done by others on our behalf as I can imagine it will be a much more elaborate 'game' to play!!

From Scratch

I know I've mentioned since the beginning of this blog that I've been trying out new recipes and searching out new cookbooks specifically so I can learn to make things from scratch. 

Why? Because I knew that once we made it to an MAF programme, those things that we can get from the store and take for granted just won't be there to purchase. Some MAF staff live in big cities (in East Africa) but we knew that wasn't for us ... which means that there is even less available.

While a lot of my kitchen equipment and recipes have yet to arrive ... it has only reduced the extent of but not stopped the 'from scratch' cooking that is going on in our house!

I fully appreciate that many people living in the UK or America like to make things in the same way even though ready made options are available and we did a lot of that too. But when you're having a busy week, you know you can always go and pick up a loaf of bread from the shop, buy some coleslaw to add to a meal or have a couple of frozen pizza's on hand as a back up. Here that is just not an option ... unless it has been made from scratch in your own kitchen beforehand.

It is not even that any of these things are particularly difficult to make. Given the time we could all do it. Here you HAVE to make the time or you can't eat them. Simple as that. There are no 'convenience stores'!

So, in the last few weeks we have enjoyed bread, biscuits, coleslaw, yoghurt, potato salad, caramelised onions, pasta sauce, chapati's and many other things ... but only because we've made them ourselves.

A lot of people have asked me, exactly what I will be doing, while Mark is busy fixing planes. In time I've no doubt that I'll find something to get involved in but in the meantime, the amount of preparation that goes into just running a house and getting food ready for a family of four is plenty to keep me out of mischief!!!

Snail Mail

What happened to good old fashioned snail mail? Yes, I know email and blogs just like this one took over and everything from updating to tweeting took the place of putting pen to paper!

I am still a big believer in the handwritten variety of news, although admittedly I know I have let it slip more than I would have liked with two little munchkins in the house. However with one now in school ... hopefully I will have more of a chance to get into my 'snail mail' flow again. There is just something that little bit more special about a piece of personalised post!

The MAF mail box only gets checked once or twice a week and so far we have had NO snail mail since living here in Dodoma ... but then with all of the settling in, we haven't had a chance to send any either! For those of you who want to return to the 'dark ages' of communication and send us something, our address is 'Mission Aviation Fellowship, PO Box 491, Dodoma, Tanzania.

Yesterday I took my first trip to the post office. One step closer to sending some snail mail of my own! It's a little different to how it was 12 years ago but essentially the same. 

The thing that surprised me the most however, was the fact that a stamp to the UK costs 800tsh (Tanzanian Shillings). Sound like a lot? In fact, it's only about 33p, making it cheaper to send a letter all the way from Tanzania to England than sending a second class letter within the British Isles. Crazy but true! (To the US it only costs a little more, 900tsh, about 56 cents!)

Security and safety of post or mail in both directions is questionable, although the majority of letters get through, packages are another matter (unless they're Amazon apparently, which generally arrive OK!). When I lived here before any packages that had 'educational material' written on them multiple times, were more likely to arrive in one piece than ones that didn't. Time wise though, nothing has changed ... things can take anything from just 4 days to 6 months or longer!

Chatting to some friends who have been out here for a while, they advised, smaller packages are less interesting than the bigger ones, so have a higher success rate at reaching their recipient. Customs labels have to be completed but you can confuse the officials with your creative language and never put a high value on the contents ... making them less inclined to bother with your packages. 

Here are a couple of examples ... When sending Christmas presents, you can put 'Festive Cheer' as the description. Or for chocolates and other yumminess, write 'Dietary supplements'! It really just depends on how much you can think out of the box but still describe what is inside!

Maybe I should ask those of you reading this to think of some more creative alternatives and post comments with them so that we can all share the wisdom when mailing missionary friends overseas! More than that ... you could even put them into practice and send us something as a surprise via snail mail!

Seven False Assumptions

Today is February's guest blog, by a Missionary Mum right here in Dodoma, Tanzania. Patricia is from New Zealand and first came to Dodoma to teach as a single lady. She is now an MAF wife to Thomas, an engineer from Northern Ireland (who went through the same training as Mark at MMS) and a mummy to Grace, Naomi's new best friend. 

The McKelvey's are our next-door neighbours here in Dodoma and have been key in helping us settle in. Today Patricia writes some words of wisdom aimed at me and Mark ... but could be for anyone embarking on mission at home or overseas.

Several years ago this document was written by Anne Stoothoof (MAF US Alumna) and it was passed onto to the wider MAF community. When I first read it I was amazed how perceptive it is. At different times on our journey Thomas or/and I have realised we have fallen into one of these dangerous assumptions. I have a printed out copy that often lives above my computer.

Jenny and Mark have only been living next to me in Dodoma a week. Although I realise they have been on the journey for several years. It's quite a serious list but I hope it will help Mark and Jenny to be able to recognise these assumptions when they arise.

But may your honeymoon time as you start your life in Dodoma be a long one and I pray the creepy crawlers that you have met this week won't put you off.

SEVEN FALSE ASSUMPTIONS THAT WILL KILL YOUR JOY

1. If I go where God leads me, the people will love me

‘The servant is not greater than his Lord’ - John 13:16

If I do God’s will God will love me, though he loves me even if I do not.

2. I will be useful in every area I will attempt to serve

‘God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the things that are despised and thethings that are not … so that no one may boast before him’ - 1 Corinthians 1:27-29

Just because I came here, doesn’t mean every need is my responsibility to meet, nor that I will be able to meet all needs.

3. What I do will make a significant (noticeable, appreciated) difference

‘For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal’ - 2 Corinthians 4:18

I have to be willing to be faithful to do what God wants me to do, whether it is seen by others or not.

4. I will be adequate for the task

‘For when I am weak, then I am strong’ - 2 Corinthians 12:10

No matter how much I think I know, I need to know more about brokenness than about ability.

5. I will gain a sense of belonging - fitting in with ease

‘He will be despised and rejected of man, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief’ - Isaiah 53:3

While trying to bridge the language and culture barriers, I must still be willing to be rejected, and to love anyway.

6. If none or few of the above are true, I am a failure

‘Measuring yourselves by yourselves and comparing yourselves against yourselves, you become unwise’ - 2 Corinthians 10:12

No one is a failure who seeks the pleasure of God alone.

7. If all or some of the above are true, I am a success

‘God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of my Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world’ - Galatians 6:14

For whose sake am I trying to succeed? If I win all the cross-cultural crowns and forget the cross, I lose all.

Getting my Bearings

Almost at the end of our first week here and we're all learning to find our feet in our own very individual ways!

For me, it's nice to be back in Dodoma after 12 years. So much has changed and yet so much is the same. Of all the programmes we could have been placed by MAF, this will probably be the easiest place for me to get my bearings.

I still have some local friends, I have been able to reemploy my old house girl, I have been able to delve into the recesses of my brain and salvage some of my Swahili knowledge and put it into practice and the layout of the town is pretty similar.

That being said, there are a lot of things still to learn, as things have understandably changed and moved on in the last decade or so. Where to go to buy certain items, who's the cheapest, what is a good price for something, which fundhi to use to make clothes and so the list goes on. There is a lot more choice in the stores than I remember (my eyes have popped out of my head on more than one occasion this week!) and so many more of the roads are now sealed, so I almost don't recognise places I know I have frequented many times before. 

Thankfully our next-door neighbours have been a great help and guide to us as a family but particularly to me, who will have to run the household (which is a big deal out here), as they have been out here for many years already. As our Link Family they helped during our preparation time and are now walking us through the different things we have to get our heads round out here too!

I know for a fact that half of what I've been told since we arrived has gone in one ear and out the other ... not because it's not valuable information or helpful but because during a time of such huge transition for us, there is only so much I can process and take in. 

I'm grateful that there are so many lovely people here, who having gone through it themselves and are all really understanding. When I admitted today that I would probably be asking the same questions over and again in the next few weeks, they just nodded knowingly and said they would be ready to answer them!

Something Was Missing!

One of my favourite things about our MAF training at Ashburnham Place (Week 1 in 2008), apart from all the important information and lovely people we met of course ... was the Bakewell Tart!!! 

So, four and a half years later I was really looking forward to having that with one of our meals again! Imagine my surprise ... and sadly, my disappointment ... when I found that when we there for Week 2, it wasn't scheduled to be on the menu! Something was definitely missing!

I thought I'd be a bit cheeky though and see if they might let their little secret out of the bag, so that perhaps I would have the chance to recreate their yumminess for myself sometime. My cheekiness paid off. When we left at the end of the week, I had the recipe in my mitts!!!

Yesterday lunchtime we had a small family get together, with only a few days to go until we fly ... and to my surprise, my mother-in-law had taken the recipe and made it for us for dessert (along with some other yummy stuff!). It was as delicious as I remembered it to be and what made me even happier was knowing that I will be able to make it for my family again too!

Here is the recipe (in a slightly different format from usual, it assumes knowledge of making pastry and frangipane!) ... it is for 4x domestic recipe ... so you will need to adjust the measurements!! Ordinarily I would do it for you but things are a little hectic right now as I'm sure you will appreciate! I promise it will be worth doing the maths for though, if you do attempt it!

Sweet Pastry

- 2lbs flour

- 1.5lbs butter

- 3/4lb caster sugar

- 2 eggs

Strawberry Jam

Frangipane

- 1lb margarine

- 1lb sugar

- 8 eggs

- 0.5lb self-raising flour

- 0.5lb ground almonds

- Almond essence

1. Make pastry and line tins
2. Bake blind for 15 mins at 150 (300 F/GM 2)
3. Cover bottom of pastry case with jam
4. Make sponge (frangipane)
5. Pour sponge over jam
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 150 (300 F/GM 2) until sponge is cooked
7. Cool
8. Choose from one of the following ... 
• Mix some icing sugar with water and almond essence to make icing
• Mix some icing sugar with water and cocoa powder to make icing
• Alternatively dust with icing sugar
9. Ice tart and leave to set