Hi all. This will be a short post as I had given up my Bluetooth keyboard and iPad case to my friend Rev. Emanual Bwatta for the new iPad he purchased. He really needed a good protective case, and I can always get another one when I get home. So I’m typing on the screen keyboard, which is a bit slower to do.
Yesterday we left Kigoma to fly to Dar Es Salaam. As a special treat, I brought Cathy to the Kunduchi Beach Hotel for a little R & R after our three weeks here in Tanzania. Beautiful place to stay and reasonably price at least by western standards. She really deserves it, as I can’t even begin to say how much I appreciate her help and support over the past three weeks. She has been amazing. Especially in the prayer department. Just little things like praying while I was working on a normally difficult computer problem that ended up taking only minutes to resolve. I mean, I’m really good at this stuff. But not that good!
So now we are anticipating our flights home to the USA. We leave at about 5PM here, which is 10AM eastern USA time. We should arrive in New York JFK airport on Sunday morning around 8 AM. I’m hoping we have the energy to make it to the Joyful Noise event at St. Paul’s Church that afternoon. It will be good to see our friends at home and do some singing, etc together.
I’ll post along the way as connectivity allows. It will be good to be home soon, but I’m really going to miss our friends here and will miss Kasulu, our other home.
Until the next post, I want to say to all of you who have been following our blogs: Asante sana!
Canon Bill
“How lovely on the mountain are the feet of Him who brings good news..” OK, so maybe my feet are not really on the “lovely” side, but they are nicely striped.
Today we left Kasulu for Kigoma, where we are staying at the Coast View Hotel again. But wait! I forgot to report first on yesterday. Yesterday was our last full day in Kasulu. It was filled with various tasks like filling up my friend Daudi’s car with petrol. Then there was a run over to Festus’s house to help him properly setup the new Presonus RM mixer he purchased from me (which I brought over from the USA). He was having trouble getting it setup with his Windows 7 computer, so I brought over my Macbook which I already had setup with the mixer drivers to first determine that the mixer unit was working correctly. It turns out that he just did not have the drivers loaded for the mixer. Once we got those in place, it started to work properly. We also updated the firmware of the mixer to make sure it was up-to-date with the latest drivers and control software. I was really glad that we got it working well for him. I’m looking forward to hearing some of the recordings he produces with the system.
There were a few other things to iron out at the Bible College network including a quick fix of the wireless repeater in the teachers lounge room that was not quite configured correctly. My fault on that but fortunately we discovered it today just before our “fair well” lunch with the teachers, so I had a chance to fix it before we left.
All in all, this has been perhaps the best mission trip here to Kasulu we have ever experienced. Everything, and I mean everything has worked out perfectly, with little or no stress and plenty of time to complete the work we were send here to do. I can’t say enough about how grateful we are to all of you who have been praying for us and for our friends at KBC and the Diocese. And they are so grateful to you all as well. At our fairwell lunch at KBC, they expressed how much they appreciate the work we have done over the years to help KBC to have a window into the larger world with the computer systems and Internet access. As the posted photo’s show, they are making good use of the systems for everything from biblical studies to word processing training. And again, this is not only for students at the Bible College but also for people all around the Kasulu region. I’m just grateful to the Lord for having been given the resources to be a part of this blessing. And there is more! I’m coming home with plans for more ways we can minister to the people in this region. I can’t wait to bring the challenge to our mission committee at St. Paul’s. (This would be a “heads up” to anyone on the committee reading this post).
I will leave you this evening with a heart felt thanks for all that you all have done to keep us in prayer; for St. Paul’s and the mission committee and the wonderful support (especially financially) that had allows us to bring the blessing to KBC and DWT, and of course to our Lord Jesus who is the author of all the good things we have been a part of and have experience here in Tanzania.
Bwana wetu asufiwe! Asante Bwana Yesu.
Canon Bill
