Tanzania: Moshi Town, 7/6/2009

Today we have the morning off, and we can go into town to shop, eat, or whatever. But every day is still an opportunity for ministry, so we are given an introduction on how to go on a 'treasure hunt' -- the kind where you get words of knowledge and the Holy Spirit leads you to people to pray for. So as not to keep you in suspense, I'll admit that my 'team' didn't have any supernatural meetings, but some of the other teams had divine appointments.

So after breakfast we took the bus to the Uhuru hotel for the treasure hunt introduction, then the bus back to Sal Salinero, then another bus into town. These two little kids caught my heart. At home, we wouldn't even let kids that young go out by themselves, and here they are working, carrying sugar cane to market.

I bought stuff at the curio shop, since the advance team said that 'mama' was trustworthy, and would even deliver our parcels back to the hotel for us.

Then Richard, Tish,Katrina, Lori and I walked down through town, and ate at the Taj Mahal -- a misnomer if I ever heard one! Indian fast food in a greasy spoon. After a wild goose chase for fabric for Tish and Katrina we were getting increasingly harassed by the vendors trying to sell us stuff, and I was getting nauseated by the smell of the meat hanging unrefrigerated in the butcher shop. I figured that if it was making me sick I might as well get a picture of it. We had been warned not to try to take pictures in town, because people would either be offended or would want money, so I decided that I would pay the guy up front, so I approached the butcher, asked him in Swahili if I could take a picture, and handed him a small amount of money.

He took the money, so I quickly took the shot, and sure enough, was immediately surrounded by guys demanding payment. I brushed them off, insisting that I had already paid him, and then they gave up.

Finally we caught the bus back to the hotel, with just a few minutes to spare to put bug spray on and drop off our knapsacks before getting the bus to the rally ground.

[Private 'life lesson' for the women: Don't bother trying to shave your legs if there is no hot water. You will slice off every little goosebump, and then they really sting when you apply bug spray. Trust me on this one.]