Tanzania: Maasai Week, A Week To Remember

A true story...

If you have audio, click on the Youtube video and play it as your read through this post.  I posted the video on Youtube for the audio of songs we heard each night at the Maasai worship service.  Click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZSzCe6bYGs if the embedded video doesn't work...

The Maasai Community, a tribe still living in cow dung huts

Once upon a time there was a young, single doctor named Angelica Woolenberg.  She had a heart for Jesus Christ and a heart for the Maasai people of Tanzania.  She came as a German missionary to serve the Maasai tribe in Obili, Tanzania.  But they didn't want her.  She served them, taught them how to live healthier lives, learned their language, and shared the hope of Jesus Christ with them.  After 7 years, one of the leaders of the tribe adopted her, and as a result the rest of the tribe accepted her.

Walking on the road one day, one of older ladies in the tribe named Sabina had a physical encounter with Jesus Christ.  He told her He was who Angelica said He was.  As a result, she accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior.  Once she became a believer many of the young teenage girls came to accept Jesus Christ.  Instead of going off to be with the warriors in the bush each night as had been the custom for thousands of years, these girls now went to fellowship most evenings at a small mud hut church that had been built.

Yona

The warriors were very angry.  One warrior in particular started savagely beating the girls and persecuting them for their Christian beliefs.  His name was Yona.  He was determined to end this curse of Christianity which threatened their customs and their way of life.  Sabina confronted him saying "You must stop beating these girls!  Until you believe in Jesus Christ you will crawl on the ground like a snake and eat dirt and rocks."

Anger raged within Yona.  Evil coursed through his veins so much that he felt the need for blood.  He was walking with his brother and had a strong urge to slaughter him with his knife.  As he pulled his knife out, he heard a voice say 'No' in his head, and his brother sensing the danger sprinted away.  Yona came upon a dog and killed it instead.

Yona and his warrior friends approached the witch doctor of the tribe to create a curse on the Christians so that they would all die.  The witch doctor told them that if they took the urine from 10 sheep and the saliva from 8 Christians and combined it all in a termite hill then a curse would be put on the church and people would stop becoming Christians.  They collected the urine.  They watched for Christians to spit and then would pick up the sand with the spit.  Once they had what was needed for their potion, they went to a huge  termite hill, mixed everything together as instructed and put it in the termite hill.

The warrior who actually put the mixture into the hill immediately got very bloated.  He died a few days later.  Then that warrior's mother died.  Then 2 other family members of that warrior died.  Then the WITCH DOCTOR died....and all of these deaths happened in less than a month.

The Tree

Yona literally went crazy.  He felt like he was being whipped by God, and he was ultimately tied to a tree near the small church.  For 3 months he remained tied to that tree.  For 3 months he crawled in the dirt like a snake.  For 3 months he ate dirt and rocks, chipping his teeth.  The girls he had once beaten came to fellowship, and they would pray for Yona.  They brought him food.  Ultimately, they carried him into the little church, set him down, prayed over him and he was healed.  He accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior that day.

Yona now introduces himself as 'Yona, the Evangelist'  He is to this village and surrounding villages what Paul was to the early Christian community.  Once Yona accepted Jesus, the other warriors accepted Him and real change began in this Maasai community.

This community is where we had the privilege to serve over the course of 5 days last week (May 13 to May 17).

It is a community that less than 5 years ago had no permanent structures but now has a school, a church, and a training center (being built now) which have been built with funds the tribe itself has earned.

Clinic near where the old mud hut church stood

The Church

Yona spoke of the radical change in his life not only in wealth but in peace and tranquility.  He is most definitely a leader in the community as people are naturally drawn to him.  Since coming to Christ he has learned to read and write.  He helped form a choir in the community and has taken that choir to the USA raising funds for his community.  Yona also leads the Maasai organization focused on development of the community.  He was the one who ultimately invited our family to visit and teach in his community.....

The Journey To Maasai Land...

We left Arusha last Sunday, May 12 and headed east to a town called Moshi near Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa at 19,341 feet.  It rises 16,732 feet from its base in Moshi.  Since most of the tallest peaks in the world start from high altitudes to begin with, Mount Kilimanjaro actually has the  highest reach from its 'base' to its peak.  Interesting!  

We had lunch at Mount Meru Game Lodge which provided for some GREAT pictures.  There are about 16 rooms at the lodge, and it is on a reservation that has all kinds of animals you would see on safari.  So, as you are eating lunch there are zebras, ostriches, monkeys, elands, and other animals roaming around nearby.  The kids had a blast, especially AJ....

And one of our favorite pictures of the entire trip.....S being kissed by a wild Eland (of the antelope family) with zebras and an ostrich in the background....

 We visited a wonderful orphanage on the lower slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro   This orphanage is on a lush piece of land and has 24 orphans including 4 kids who are HIV positive.  We heard some of the heartbreaking stories of these kids including one little one who was roaming the streets at age 2 before being taken in.  The girls loved on the kids and AJ basically played with their really cool truck like toys before we headed to our hotel for the evening.

View from our hotel of Mount Kilimanjaro....

Monday morning we headed down to where we served for the week.  The tribe lives about 3 hours south of Moshi and then another 1 hour and 15 minutes off the main road in an area that has the Ruvu River running through it.   Other than that water source, the land is quite an arid area similar to what you would see in the southwest part of the USA.

It was a surprise to me how 'sandy' the soil was because the northern part of Tanzania is green and lush (see picture above).  But that definitely was not the case where we served.

Obili (name of the area where our Maasai Tribe lives)

We pulled into Obili Monday afternoon with plans to do our Vacation Bible School we had done in Kenya as well as some small business / micro enterprise training.

One of the first people we met is a deaf woman who Holly had told us about.  It was neat to be able to communicate with her via sign language as our H has hearing loss....

The community was welcoming from the moment we arrived....

The community economic life revolves around goats, sheep, and cows.  AJ immediately had an interest in the baby goats....

As did S....

There were lots of critters crawling around ;)

The Boma

There is no way I can adequately describe what we experienced this week!  It was literally like walking back in time 2000 years ago.  Other than the structures mentioned above which were built in the last couple of years, this community, its economy, its buildings are exactly the same as they would have been 2000 years ago.

The community revolves around the Boma (pronounced with a long 'o' like the end of the word 'Oklahoma')  There are 24 Bomas in this community with approximately 2200 living in this tribe.  Each Boma has a patriarch who has multiple wives.  The wives, children, their adult children who have young families, and the elderly all live in huts situated in a circle around the area where the animals are corralled each night.

This Boma is closest to the church.

On the interior of the Boma sits a circular animal pen made of dead bushes which act as a fence.  There is a larger area for the cows and a smaller area for the goats and the sheep.

We visited one Boma where several houses were being constructed.  Homes are made of sticks, cow manure, cow urine, and grass for the roof.

Most of the homes have 3 rooms.  An entry room which is where much of the cooking occurs.  Then a master bedroom with a cow hide on sticks for a bed and another room for the kids on the other side of the entry room.

The Women

Women are the workers in this community.  They do an incredible amount of work while the men are talking and making decisions.  There was a time when the men had to protect the tribe and train for war but now they live in peace and frankly the men largely sit around while their wives work and work and work.  I would say the largest untapped potential in this community will come from the men deciding to be productive.  Seriously!  When they start working as hard as the women it seems to me that the community would develop in a significant way.  

But for now, the women wake up in the morning and milk the cows (along with the kids who we mostly saw milking goats).  The women collect water for the village.  The women collect firewood for the day, make the fires, and cook.  The women obviously have the babies, but we learned as well that they don't eat the last month of their pregnancies so that the baby stops growing and has a smaller head for birth.  The women raise the children.  The women are also the home builders.  They collect cow manure which is the primary ingredient for the walls of their homes.

Bucket of cow manure....

The women collect the cow urine (as in the picture below) which is mixed with the cow manure to make the walls of the home...

The women find the sticks for the homes.  They erect the sticks for the walls, weave smaller branches together to form a wall and then put the cow manure / urine mixture on for the wall.

As time goes by the women can 'patch' parts of the house as things start to fall away.  However, they can't do that too much or the cow dung will become too heavy and the wall won't support it.  These houses last about 5 years before they need to be replaced.  Specifically, the cow dung has to be taken off and replaced every 5 years.

 Donkeys are the Maasai Landrovers (as our friend Holly likes to call them).  They carry what needs to be carried from one place to the other.

 One of the women has a business pulling the heavy grasses out of the river (which is infested with crocodiles and thus a very dangerous job).  These grasses are used to make the roof of the house.  Women used to have to do this job individually but now they usually buy from this lady at the equivalent of about 30cents per donkey fully loaded with grass.  The lady has 6 donkeys and works most of each day pulling grass by the river and loading up her donkeys.

One of the women used to live in the sister community about 20km north.  She told us a story about going down to the watering hole in the community with her donkey, taking the buckets into the watering hole and coming back out to find that a lion had attacked her donkey and was having it for dinner.  So, lions in the northern community, crocodiles in our community....take your pick!

The Culture

Marriage is a business arrangement in this culture.  Marriages are arranged and as noted above a wife who knows how to build a house and who is a good worker will fetch a heft dowry.  However, there is no love between husband and wife (or at least there hasn't been in the past).  Often the teenager girls are married off to the much older men who are the leaders of the society known as 'The Elders'

The society consists of a number of age sets.  Boys younger than 14 are considered junior warriors.  But an entire group of teenagers and young men about every 10 years will have their warrior initiation ceremony and be circumcised.  This group of 'warriors' will be considered an age set and move through life together.  Here are how the age sets typically work out:

4-14 = Junior Warrior
14-24 = Warrior
24-34 = Junior Elder
34-44 = Elder
44+ = Wazee (are still elders but are the older elders)

Until Angelica came to this community and taught them about things we take for granted (from germ theory to how women develop), they followed an ancient ritual known as esoto.  Maasai believed that women would not develop breasts or have their period without the sperm of a warrior.  So, the 14-24 year old warriors were essentially given the pre-pubescent girls age 10-13 (or until they had their first period).  They would go off in the bush together and have relations most nights of the week.  This is why Yona and the other warriors were so upset when these girls came to believe in Jesus, learned about how their bodies really developed, and went to fellowship each night instead of following the practice of esoto with the warriors.

In this community, esoto is no longer practiced.  That is a HUGE change.  It happened partially because of the warriors coming to believe in Jesus Christ and partially because the warriors listened to Angelica and our friend Holly when it came to HIV/AIDs.  Holly put together a wonderful program based on a Maasai story of a leader who saw a fire coming that was a great danger to the community, but the leader did nothing.  As a result the fire destroyed the entire community.  All Maasai know the story and so one of the elder leaders told that story to start the HIV/AIDS training video.  The current warrior class ended esoto after coming to Christ and going through that training.

Holly told us about an anthropologist she knew who was adamantly against changing culture and was always angry with Christians who encouraged tribes to change certain behaviors.  That anthropologist changed his mind after seeing HIV/AIDS completely destroy communities he had worked with.  They didn't change behaviors and due to those behaviors HIV/AIDS literally destroyed their communities.

There are other practices that will change over time (my belief).  The practice of female circumcision has long been practiced in Maasai tribes.  Once a girl got her first period she would be circumcised which basically eliminates any possibility for a woman to find intercourse pleasurable.  No girl could be married until she was circumcised, so mothers not only in the past encouraged their girls to go through esoto but also wanted their girls circumcised.

Peter's Father, one of the senior elders

Our driver, Embeecee, (pronounced MBC) talked with one woman in the village about how barbaric such a practice was and she said "Well, it's not going to change if I have anything to say about it.  I'm the one who does the circumcision and get paid 1 cow per circumcision for older girls and 1 goat for younger girls."  When he told me that it reminded me so much of the people selling idols who would run the Apostle Paul out of town because he was negatively impacting their business.

However, I spoke with a warrior who has a young daughter and he was very much against his girl having this done to her.  So, as this set of warriors who eliminated esoto become elders I pray they are able to make this change as well and end this practice of female circumcision.

Finally, on the topic of having multiple wives....  We spoke with one man who talked about how he returned from school to be met with a wife his father had bought for him.  You could tell as he spoke about her that he really resented being forced to marry her without any say so.  He is a Christian now and speaks about wanting to love his wife....but talks about perhaps loving his next wife.  Why his next wife?

Because for thousands of years this tribe has revolved around the boma economy with one patriarch over the boma and many wives bearing children and raising the animals.  While I think eventually this particular community will change their stance on multiple wives, right now there literally is no way one  woman could do all the women are asked to do.  How will that change?  That's up the community to decide.  Perhaps the men will start taking on more responsibility in day to day activities.  Or maybe the community will embrace various technology that is more efficient for managing animals (ie milking machines etc).  Since they are no longer a nomadic community (see below), perhaps they will start farming the land and develop other sources of income.

Holly telling stories and answering question (every evening)

Our friend Holly who has worked with this community for 7 years and is well respected within the community says that the change that has happened is absolutely remarkable.  She could tell stories for hours (and did) but believes that with prayer and future generations who have grown up Christian taking leadership positions that these things that seem impossible to change will in time change.

Junior Warriors, the future of the tribe

No matter how odd these customs may seem to anyone reading this note, one thing I can definitively communicate....these people really were incredible people.  My favorite time each day was in the evening around 9pm.  The kids would build a fire and start singing and then the adults would come and join them over the next 30-45 minutes.  One reason I know Yona is a leader in the community is that if you heard his voice singing, MANY more adults would come to the fellowship service.

They would sing songs around the fire, dance, pray, and have a lesson on the Bible.  The sky was so very dark as we were there just after the new moon.  You could see the Milky Way, and it was just absolutely stunningly beautiful.  For whatever odd customs they may have as mentioned above, in this regard they have it right.  They truly praise Jesus and make it an important part of their day.  It is something that has been lost in much of Western Society much in the same way as the Israelites after having been so obviously blessed fell away from God.  They worshiped gold calves and other idols.  We worship money, material things, status, power....things of this world.

So, I was so deeply appreciative of this community and the experience that our family was allowed to have.  We walked for a few days with a people radically impacted with the physical and spiritual presence of Jesus Christ.  His presence here is palpable.  Whatever the challenges that lay ahead, this community will rise to the challenge in the name of Jesus Christ.

Vacation Bible School

Until last year no school existed in this community.  Holly told us early in the week how Maasai are brutally discriminated against in this society.  They were the one tribe that refused to give up their customs and identity in the late 1970s when a socialist government took control and demanded all tribes give up their identity to be considered Tanzanians (not whatever tribe they were).  Since the Maasai refused to give up their customs and way of life, they received no services from the government.  No schools.  The worst health care.  No roads to their communities....and over time these things really put their community behind others.

In addition, they are routinely beaten when they migrate to the city and attend schools.  They are bullied for being essentially the 'red necks' of Tanzania.  The school below is the first Maasai school built 100% with money earned by the community with no outside help.  They have two other buildings like this under construction.

Our VBS started Tuesday morning with Yona saying a few words.  He is obviously very, very proud of the accomplishments of the community as he mentioned several times that this school was the community's school built and operated with community money.

Since the school is so new, they have never had anything like what we did in the school.  It was SO much fun!  Because there were only about 50 kids, we didn't have to break into different groups.  We did all the instruction including skits, Bible lesson, science experiments, arts & crafts, and music together in about 90 minutes each day.

In Kenya we had so many kids that we rotated kids to 4 stations so none of us ever got to see what the other groups were doing.  So, it was a blessing to be able to see everything.

Since we didn't have the Joska teenagers to do skits, we did them ourselves.  V and I doing the 'Jesus at School' skit (where the girl is ok with Jesus in part of her life but doesn't want Him following her around to a party she wants to go to so she nails him to the cross saying "This part of my life is MY part...." and then walks away.....

Rachel did her energetic bible lessons each day.  Here she is talking about the Light and how the light always 'WINS!'   It was really funny because she was trying to get the kids to interact (which they have never done before as that is not the style of teaching done here).....Rachel would say "And the light always (throwing hand up as in the picture below)......"   And instead of the students saying 'Win!' the teachers would say it!   It was really funny.  The kids did figure it out and got more interactive as the week progressed.

I love this picture because every time Rachel used one of AJ's books in her lesson he would move around so that he could see the pictures and listen to the story....

Disappearing water science experiment....Holly told me to make sure I fully explained how the water disappeared or the kids would think I was like a witch doctor with black magic.  Their reactions to various science experiments were absolutely hilarious.  I wish of all the videos we took during the week that we had just had a camera pointed at the class to capture reactions.

Arts and Craft time....

Dance time...

Another story on another day (notice AJ again front and center...LOL)

Rachel trying to pull apart a 'cord of 3 strings' after talking about the Ecclesiastes verse referring to 2 is better than 1.  She broke 1 strand of this string easy but when she wrapped 3 strands together she couldn't break it.  She really made a show of it and the kids were cracking up....

More science experiments....

 On Thursday we had a wonderful opportunity to go to the boarding school in a neighboring community (that is government supported).  They had heard what we were doing in the Maasai community and invited us to speak to the high school students.

What a great opportunity here as half the country is Muslim and there were a bunch of Muslim kids in this room!

We quickly figured out 1 bible lesson to teach and did an overview of what we were teaching the younger kids at the Maasai school.  We did a bunch of science experiments which kept the kids engaged, tried to do some dancing (didn't work as well as with the younger kids as teenagers are too 'cool' to do dance like we wanted them to dance), and even did the trust fall skit

Notice again AJ hanging out in the front of the room during story time (The Fiery Furnace)....

Rachel's demonstration of how Jesus cares more about what is on the inside versus the outside (I love how Rachel really focused on Jesus during her comments, not just 'God')  Both cups were doused with honey and dirt.  One had the gunk on the inside, the other on the outside.  Rachel asked for a brave volunteer from the class, filled both cups with water and said "You have to drink one of them....which one is it going to be?"   The student picked the one that was clean on the inside and the point of the exercise is that Jesus is the same way.....He cares about what is on the inside, not what is on the outside.

S and I doing the Trust Fall skit.  It went over well with this group as well as with the little ones...

We completed our VBS on Friday after combining two of the days mid-week.  The kids 'got it' and showed their appreciation at the end of our Friday lesson.

Kids with their craft project.  We took this picture after doing a review of the week outside the school area and doing the "Exploding Diet Coke" experiment.  The kids literally were running away from the exploding coke.  It was so funny!  Really an amazing week with some amazing kids.

Business Development Class

I taught a business development class each afternoon during the week with significant translation help and suggestions from Holly.  She is very intentional about how she interacts with the community and wants them to come up with their own ideas versus looking her to provide leadership.  She definitely has ideas about what would be good businesses to run in this community which we discussed prior to starting this training.

However, I thought that if an outsider made those same points perhaps some of the community members would run with the ideas.  So, I made sure to include a number of these things in my presentation to the group.

Many community members wear these tire shoes which are very durable.  Not sure how comfortable they are but the must take a long time to 'wear out' as we did see quite a few of these kinds of shoes during the week.

By the last day of training, it was the women of the group who kept coming and learning.  I think it is safe to say that this is the one and only business training I will do in my life where nearly half the women were baring their breasts (to feed their little ones).

In this community, breasts are just functional parts of a woman's body.  They are not seen as sexual at all.  The 'sexy' part of the women's body here are the knees.  So, they MUST be covered at all times.  You can imagine the hilarious conversations our girls have had over knees the past week.

As a side note, husbands and wives do not kiss here.  There is basically no love at this time in marriage....it is largely a business relationship.  The young warriors who have been making all these changes to the community will have to figure out loving a woman on their own and by looking to Scripture because they have no model of husband -wife love to look to.

Rachel's Dream Come True....

Rachel has had a dream for many, many years to live in a hut.  Well, she didn't get to live in a hut but she did get to spend a full night in a real hut.  She was thrilled and so excited to have this opportunity!  And she has some hilarious stories coming out of the experience.

Front view of Rachel's Hut (for the night...it's actually 'Elizabeth's Hut')

Back view of hut....

The cow hide laid on sticks bed that Rachel slept on.... the light near the top of the picture is a hole in the wall to allow for light and for ventilation.

Maasai mattress.  Rachel said it definitely was NOT comfortable!  

Rachel with Elizabeth the morning after fulfilling her dream.  Dreams really do come true ;)

AJ the Maasai...

As with every other community we have been to on this trip, AJ was a big hit with the Maasai people and kids....

Love this picture...

Soccer with an unusual 'ball'....

Playing with the drum used each night for fellowship time...

Teaching kids 'Ring Around the Rosie'....

Teaching kids to color (they had never done this before)

Slide time!

Every morning AJ would go play in the ashes of the previous night's 'fellowship fire'...

 Other Favorite Pictures and Stories from the Week...

Holly with a baby who was named after her...

S holding court in front of our tent...

Near the new training center building.  They actually MAKE their own cinder blocks using this machine.  See blocks in the background...

AJ potty training the Maasai way...

Outside our home away from home.  We had 2 tents like this for the week....

Our driver Embeecee (no idea how to spell his name) and our cook Pues (long 'U' sound)

Maasai kids....

 The 'burn' marks on the cheek are a common 'beauty mark' in this culture.

Rachel loves this picture...

Our friend Peter...

Yona...

Peter telling us how he uses his knife (see picture below).  The men slaughter the animals when it is time for a feast or when it is time to sell the meat.  What is fascinating about this culture is that they really do LOVE their animals.  If you ask them how many they have they won't be able to tell you.  But they can name them all and describe them all.

As I thought about it, that is how God is with us.  We aren't just some number.  He knows us by name and can describe each of us in every detail.  We asked Peter if he is sad when he has to slaughter one of his animals and he said "That is just our way of life.  We do love our animals but they are our way of life as well.  So, what the warriors do when it is time to slaughter an animal is we hold their snout closed until they pass out, and then we do what has to be done."

The girls asked Peter if he had ever killed a lion and he said "Yes, a small one but it was a lion who was attacking one of my animals when I was in the community up north."   The girls called him the baby lion killer the rest of the week ;)  Peter told us that Yona had killed an adult lion which is another reason he carries a lot of respect in the community.

S really loved the kids and the baby goats.  During our down time you could easily find her with either kids or goats....or both...

Rachel's favorite picture from the week....

The animals wake up before 6am sunrise and head out to pasture.  The warriors have scoped out where to take the animals for grass.  They also inspect the animals to see which are sick, which need medicine etc.  This work really is the primary work of the men.  The animals stay out all day and return around 5pm in the evening.  When the 'cows come home' pretty much everything stops and everyone in the boma works to milk the animals and get them ready for the evening.

One of my business classes ran a bit long.  As soon as the participants could hear the animals coming back fromt he fields, the class was done as they literally just got up and left!   I made sure to end class on time the rest of the week.

Milking cows, sheep, and goats.  The way it is done is that the baby cows, goats, or sheep grab one nipple.  That causes the momma to stop and then community members milk the other nipples.  Generally women milk the cows and the kids milk the goats and the sheep....

They have separate areas for the babies and keep them there overnight (so they are hungry in the morning when the community milks their animals).  Then they put the babies away again for the day.  When the animals return it is really funny watching the baby animals looking for their momma and the community kids following behind waiting to milk the momma.

If too many babies are going after nipples then other kids pick up the babies.  S was actually helping in that regard during this picture....

We asked Peter how they choose the animals that they ultimately end up slaughtering and interestingly enough one of the primary reasons for choosing an animal for slaughter is if that animal has had a lot of babies (ie a male 'stud'!)   It is a bit like reverse survival of the fittest!  If you are the dominant male and make lots of babies then the gene pool isn't so great if you keep making babies....so that kind of animal becomes dinner!

Look closely at the sheep nearest the camera.  Notice the 'sheep birth control' device? LOL!   FYI, sheep have the fat bottoms, goats do not.

Really cool bird who would be gathering food every morning near our breakfast table.  The way the sunlight would hit these feathers would make them shine...

Millipede...

Big beetle.  One of these beetles would fly like a low flying airplane and sound like an airplane too!

Puppies!

Lizard who attended my last Business Training Session...

Big, fat caterpillar...

These termites REALLY know how to make a castle!  We touched the termite hill and it was rock solid.

Termite hill as tall as Rachel.  This is the kind of hill that Yona's warrior friend mixed the witch doctor's potion in (see story at beginning of note).

 Maasai bath...

Practicing the Trust Fall Skit (notice AJ stepping in ready to catch S)...

 Cutie...

Our kids.  Rachel and I were so proud of each of them this week.  They really engaged the community and met the challenge of the week in a positive way....

 May God Bless this community and its people.  We had a week none of us will ever forget.  Of all the weeks the girls were most hesitant about before starting this trip, this was the week they were most concerned about.  But they each had a great week!

We were back in Arusha by Friday night for showers and a good night's sleep in real beds and Saturday (May 18) we took the bus back up to Nairobi where we are staying again at the MOHI Guest House.  Here is our one family picture with Holly Freitas...

If you are still reading this long post about our week, leave a comment or send me an email that I will post!  Thanks for your continued prayers.  Until next time, God Bless....