THURSDAY, September 16

Today we came into Mwanza to meet with a business man, Lema.  He was to meet us at a restaurant for lunch.  The restaurant he has chosen is a Pizza Parlor.  Imagine that, pizza in Africa!  This was a semi-outdoor restaurant.  Very unique, with authentic African painting on the block walls.  The floor was the packed clay.  Fun!  Lema was sitting at a table waiting for us.  On one side of the table sat a woman.  We had never met him before, so Goodluck introduced us and asked Lema to introduce his friend.  Friend?  This woman was just someone sitting at the table, he didn't know her!  So she just said Jambo (hello) and continued to sit there, order her meal and ate as if she were part of the group.  How weird is that?  Oh well, how could I be surprised at this?  They didn't seem to mind at all.   Lema didn't speak fluent English, so Goodluck had to interpret.  He welcomed us and was very happy to meet us.  He was and will continue to be a supporter of the ministry.  This is good  news.  He asked us to order our meal, as he had already eaten, but just wanted to meet us and bless us.  Wow!  This is quite the surprise, and a blessing to us!  They brought the pizza menu.  In looking at this menu, it lists many pizza's, none of which had meat.  They had pizzas that had bananas, pizzas that had avocado, pizzas that had some things I didn't recognize.  So we chose one that had cheese, tomatoes & bell peppers.  That sounded safe enough. 

While we're waiting for the meal, "short call" time!  I could see the bathroom door and knew immediately it was a women's room because there was a picture of an African women drawn on it and the word "wanawana".  I just assumed that meant "woman".  I excused myself and walked to the door.  As I opened it, I was relieved to see a familiar toilet, but as I closed the door and locked it I realized the toilet didn't have a SEAT on it.  What in the world is this?  But at least I didn't have to squat, I could stand.  So this bathroom experience is somewhat better don't you think?

The pizza was okay.  Nothing to write home about and not good enough to take the leftovers home.  But we enjoyed the experience anyway.

After we left the restaurant we went back home.   When we got home and got out of the car, we heard little voices laughing and screaming.  I looked across the yard and there was a group of children running toward their house yelling and pointing.  I could catch the word "Americana", so I knew they were talking about us.  Goodluck said they were saying "white man, mommy".  He said they had never seen a white man either.  Wow!  I ran inside and got out the bag of candy we brought and took it outside for the children.  When I walked toward the fence, they all came running over.  They lined up and held their little hands out as I put a piece of candy in each of them.  When they would take it, they would say "Asante" (thank you) and run away laughing.  The candy was peppermint and believe it or not, these people have never tasted peppermint before! 

This is the group of little ones waiting anxiously for their piece of candy

For the rest of the afternoon, we rested.  After dinner, we sat in the living room and was entertained by two girls that are staying with Goodluck & his wife Julia, to help while we are here.  These girls are amazing, so please be sure and read the blog about them later.  They sang to us as they played a drum and the girls danced.  Julia & Goodluck sang with them on some of the songs.  Goodluck is very talented musically, as he plays the keyboard, guitars, & drums.  We sat there with chill bumps as we listened to these beautiful voices.  One of the songs they sang was "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" in Swahili.  Oh, if my mother could hear this, it is one of her favorite songs. 

Maombi(left), Julia(center), Esther(right)

At the end of the day, what could be better than sitting around listening to voices of praise?  No television playing, no radio, no Internet games, just enjoying being together and showing thanks to our Lord.  This is a normal evening for them, by the way.