Well, here is our final farewell. Not only were Ben and I parting ways when this picture was taken but it was also a painful parting of man and motorcycle. We may also be saying farewell to many of you...at least as far as this blog is concerned. Thanks for your prayers and support over the past 4 years!

We have also been saying our farewells to various friends here in Arusha including our good friends Glenn and Ivy...oh, and Nash and Ella. :)

This is a rather notable picture. Ben's precious motorcycle and its new owner! Congratulations to James!

Presenting...the graduating class of 2010 at Waama Bible School!

This picture of all students and teachers was taken 2 weeks before graduation. Included are students from 1st year, 2nd year, and 3rd year.

Jesse gave the sermon on graduation day. It was a blessed day of celebration.

This post includes several of our "goodbye" pictures. Our final days at Waama had us busy making final visits to many of our friends. Above, we are pictured with a number of our fellow teachers at a going away party that was held.

We also were invited to meals with many of our neighbors. Rehema, who is pictured in the rear on the right, is the lady who has been helping Ben and I around the house for the past 4 years. Next to her is her brother, Paulo, and between Paulo and Jesse is Rehema's husband, Danieli.

This picture was taken after having a going-away breakfast at the home of the lady who works as the secretary at Waama.

This picture is testimony to a miracle. Froydis, the woman between Ben and I, is the one responsible for translating the Bible into the local Iraqw language. As some of you may recall from past updates, she suffered a stroke and had to be taken back to her home country of Norway for some time. Well, she has since recovered and returned to Mbulu and this picture was just taken a couple weeks ago. It was good to see her back!!

Pastor Dallei also continues to recover very well following the car accident on the 11th of April. This picture was taken on the 17th of May when we had the chance to visit him. The man behind him had just put some of his broken bones back in place (ie. collar bone, ribs, etc). God is good.

We were even more encouraged when we returned to see Dallei one last time before leaving on the 12th of May. He is almost completely recovered but still needs to regain some stength. His eye will also take some time to completely recover but he is in good spirits. He is the one in the blue sheet. The others pictured are other Waama staff that we went to visit him with. Thanks so much for your prayers!

This sequence of pictures has to do with Jesus Film equipment. The picture above was taken as our missionary friends, Leif and Marit, were going on their first film showing trip using the equipment they got from us! We pray it gives them many years of good service!

Here is Jesse saying "goodbye" to Leif and Marit...

Pray for Pastor Xufo who acquired the third and final set of solar-powered Jesus film equipment!

Pray for evangelist Julius Thomas who acquired the second set of solar-power Jesus film equipment. So far, all reports from the field are good! The equipment is being used and lots of people are hearing the Gospel in their mother tongue!

One of the most exciting things I have to report is that the first set of solar-powered Jesus Film equipment has been acquired by a Tanzanian pastor!! Please pray that this equipment would work well for many years as the Jesus film ministry we have been involved with will now continue even after we are gone! :)

Well, I wasn't going to say anything on here about having just turned 30...since I think the whole world knows anyway. But then I received the gift of a surprise visit from my goood friend and former employer, Eric Paulson while Ben and I were in Arusha May 8-9. It was the most amazing and unexpected surprise I have ever received!! Thanks so much, Eric!!

During his time here, we went on an amazing safari in Ngorongoro Crater and saw some amazing animals...very close!

It was just so fun to have someone from home to come and see where we have been hanging out for these past 4 years!

And even see our house...and downtown Mbulu just 9kms away! :)

Well, one of the less-than-fun things about being a missionary is having to say "farewell" to people so often. This is a picture of Ben and I with Knut, Inger Line, and their daughter. They are needing to go back to Norway due to some health problems of one of their infant sons. We will miss seeing them when we come to Arusha! They have been working at Scripture Mission.

I also thought I would include some pictures in this post that I failed to put up the last time I posted. This is Jesse with Eivind and Nadia's cat. :) They were reading about available accessories for all the different models of Toyota's Land Cruiser.

This was taken when we were on a short motorcycle safari during Adela's time here. From left to right: Jesse, Syndre (Norwegian friend), Ben and Adela.

Ben and Jesse on a recent trip to Arusha...

These are a few pictures from the time that Adela was able to spend here with Ben. The staff and students of Waama actually organized a party to celebrate their coming wedding and gave them some traditional, African clothes.

Adela was able to see much of what our life has involved over the past 4 years. Here they are both pictured with the lady we normally buy our fruits and vegetables from.

These last two pictures are from the time Ben and Adela spent in Uganda. Ben's little neice and nephews certainly seemed to have enjoyed the time they had together. :)

...enjoying a beautiful African landscape...together.

Our trip back down to Tanzania took a turn for the worst when we were hit by a tractor and ended up rolling several times with several in the vehicle sustaining fairly serious injuries. We covet your contined prayers for Pastor Zakaria Dallei, the dean of Waama, who will likely be in the hospital for several weeks with head injuries, a broken shoulder, and several broken ribs.

It was an experience I would prefer to never have again...

This was after we put the car back up on its wheels...
We are grateful for God's protection...it could have easily been much worse.

The second week of Easter Break, Jesse went on a trip north of the equator to northwest Kenya to attend a workshop for staff of East African Lutheran Bible schools.

These were the attendees of the workshop - 5 representatives from Waama, 1 from another Tanzanian Bible school, and 3 from the host school, Kapenguria Bible Center.

The workshop was organized and led Per Ove Malmin, a missionary from Norway working in Arusha.

It was a very productive and encouraging opportunity to share ideas and get to know each other.

We saw a lot of beautiful landscape. This is a picture of the Rift Valley from the east ridge where we were driving.

Eivind and Nadia will be getting married in Jerusalem on May 16th. We wish them all the best and look forward to seeing where God calls them in the future.

Here is a picture of Mt. Kilimanjaro taken during a flight that Jesse took with Eivind shortly after Ben and Adela left on their trip to Uganda.

Jesse and Eivind.

A week before our Easter Break even officially started, we were blessed to have some of our good friends from Arusha come to visit us at Waama. L to R: Jesse, Neli, Eivind, Nadia (Eivind's fiance), and Ben.

We even spent the first week of Easter break in Arusha with Eivind, Nadia, and Neli. Here we were on a trip to the bush together with our Norwegian friend, Sindre, having a BBQ.

I think both Ben and I are going to miss the constant adventure it has been living here in Tanzania.

One of the highlights from this semester was the week we spent with students from a Norwegian Bible school program. In addition to time in the classroom and time they spent interacting with our Waama students, we enjoyed interacting with them on a more casual basis and simply getting to know them.

We were even able to take them to our favorite waterfall spot on our Saturday afternoon. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to have a picnic, get some sun, and do some swimming.

We also enjoyed sports with the Waama students during their regular recreation periods.

...and it is certainly always more exciting when there is more than just Ben and me at the dinner table! :)

Thanks to all who have prayed for us during our recent weekends of village ministry. God has blessed with good weather, safe travel, and positive interactions in each place.

We thought it would be fun to show what a "bath" can look like on these weekends in the "bush". Oh...and this was the clean water BEFORE we had used it to bathe. The bucket had hot water, the black jug had cold and you mix up the temperature you want in the blue basin.

We also received some guests on one of our recent weekends - Pastor Leif Thingbo and his wife Marit from Norway. They are fellow missionaries working among the Datooga people about a 3 hour drive from us. They came to the school, however, to teach a weekend seminar to our students. They are like our parents over here...and here Marit was presenting Ben with a heart cake to commemorate his recent engagement.

Pictured here from left to right are Ben, Pastor Leif, Marit, and Jesse.