Dear Family, Friends and Supporters,
"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." Those words rang true when we arrived at our house in Kisongo. The familiar sights, sounds and smells were wonderful.
Our flight home went fairly well. Due to a lost spring in a door, our 1st flight was delayed an hour (which would make us miss our connecting flight). We had to be re-routed, flying into Doha in the Middle East. It was either that or half of us would have to board another plane. Trina said, "No way" about splitting up the family, so into the Middle East we flew! The last plane arrived in Nairobi, Kenya on Wednesday where we got a marvelous 5 hours of sleep at a hotel. Later that same day, with our stomachs full of Kentucky Fried Chicken, we boarded the shuttle to Kisongo.
Unfortunately, as many of you now know, others in Nairobi, Kenya (on Saturday) were not as fortunate as us...their lives ended abruptly while at a shopping mall. Our travels are always filled with prayers (ours and yours). Thank you very much. We are grateful to God for our safe arrival.
There was hardly a seat empty as visitor Cary Oglesby (preacher at Duluth, GA) preached at Kisongo this morning on the much-needed subject of "Repentance." Skip Slatton (an engineer from the Piedmont Road church of Christ) taught us a great lesson on "John the Baptist" during the Bible study hour. Arriving along with these two were Neil Richey and his son, Peyton (Neil preaches at Piedmont Rd). The Richey's taught and preached at Kwa Mrombo.
After services, we all met in town to enjoy lunch with Cy and Stephanie Stafford and Exel (our co-missionaries), and Nathan and Jessica McVeigh (Bear Valley graduates who are spending a year in Kisongo conducting Bible studies, preaching and teaching and surveying the work, deciding if they would like to work here). Though young, the McVeighs seem like a very mature and dedicated couple.
We will say more about our furlough in the next report. Right now, we will simply say "Thank You" for the many kindnesses toward us. We enjoyed seeing so many of you. The total mileage recorded on our odometer as we traveled reporting was about 15,000 miles. Adding that to the round trip mileage flying to and from the states this year (20,000 miles) makes a grand combined total of 35,000 miles that our family of eleven traveled from April 28th to September 18th.
Our wonderful Tanzanian church family welcomed us back with hugs, kisses and many greetings of "Karibu tena" (Welcome Again or Welcome Back) at Thursday evening Bible study. Also welcoming us back were some critters in the house (a large white slug in the shower, a three-inch roach and a poisonous centipede in the bathtub).
Due to a time-crunch, today's report will be short and without pictures. We hope to return to our normal reports next Sunday. Our deepest gratitude is extended toward you for your part in the TZ 2000 Mission Work. Your prayers, concern, encouragement and financial support have not been in vain as you saw from the presentation this summer. When Christians work together in the interest of lost souls, God blesses the work.
With Love from Africa,
The Jimmy Gee family