My teammates and I, and our hosts, are having such a great time here in Tanzania!
I’m borrowing this from Angi‘s blog, since she got it posted before me.
This is the first time since being on the World Race that I have had the opportunity to live in someone else’s home. In the last several months I’ve lived on missionary bases, in hotels or hostels, or in a home rented for my team. But living IN the home allows us to get to know our hosts on a more personal level. And our hosts, Mama Joyce and her family, are very hospitable.
I’m borrowing this from Angi‘s blog, since she got it posted before me.
This is the first time since being on the World Race that I have had the opportunity to live in someone else’s home. In the last several months I’ve lived on missionary bases, in hotels or hostels, or in a home rented for my team. But living IN the home allows us to get to know our hosts on a more personal level. And our hosts, Mama Joyce and her family, are very hospitable.
Our first week here, we celebrated our team leader Laura’s birthday. Angi planned ahead and smuggled in Betty Crocker cake mix and icing from the big supermarket in Nairobi. Thankfully, there is an electric oven in the house! We threw her a surprise party, made brilliantly complete by sneaking Team Crux over to join us from their mission location across town.
Mama Joyce was in Uganda on business that day, so she missed out on the birthday extravaganza. When she heard about it, she asked us to make a cake for her to try (they don’t do many sweets here in East Africa). She later added a request for an entire American meal. We are somewhat limited by types of food available, but we realized we could do fried chicken and mashed potatoes, and we even found another cake mix at the little supermarket in town! Sharon (from Kentucky!) made the fried chicken from start to finish: she killed the chickens, plucked and pieced them, coated them in batter and fried them up for us to enjoy!
In addition to the simple “follow the directions on the box” cooking lessons, Angi taught Mama Joyce how to make chocolate buttercream frosting … everyone in the house appreciated that! Of course, we also schooled her on the art of licking the bowl!!
We had a great afternoon of cooking and serving our hosts, but the best part of the evening came at dinner time. Pastor Celsus and his wife Rachel joined us. There were 15 of us all together, and it was a fantastic evening of fellowship and a true cultural exchange.
Jackie, Mama Joyce, and the amazing cake
Side Note: One of the ways that our team leader Laura shows love is by slathering food products on people. I consider it a waste if it’s too far from licking distance, but it does make for some fun chases around the house. Even our hosts got in on the action, saying ‘Share the love.’ It was precious!
Mark, with chocolate frosting on his face…
Laura, witnessing her ‘handiwork’
Good times!
