The team for Tanzania is just 12 days from the start of our mission. We are now 11 members–3 doctors, 4 nurses and 4 helpers. The first team meeting was held at Peace Lutheran Church in Rogers, AR on Saturday, July 26th. It was uplifting to be a part of that meeting for the eastern half of our team. All of the helpers, one of our nurses (and our leader, Cindy Pennie) were at that meeting and each expressed willingness to help the team in any way–including learning any new skills, medical or otherwise. The second team meeting, for the western half of our team, is scheduled for tomorrow, August 2, in Edmond, Ok. As the date nears, we are excited about this opportunity to serve our Lord and to see His will at work in our lives and in the lives of our brothers and sisters in Africa. We invite you to join with us in lifting this mission up in prayer. So that you can pray for us specifically on each day, here is the tenative itinerary for our trip:
8/13, Wednesday leave Tulsa, OK @ 7:10 AM Oklahoma time (2 team members will be flying out of Little Rock at about the same time and joining up with us in Minneapolis)
8/14, Thursday arrive Dar es Salaam @ 9:40 PM Tanzania time, spend the night at the Catholic Guest House
8/15, Friday travel to Morogoro by bus/van, arrive early afternoon, unpack, get settled in
8/16, Saturday early morning trip to Mikumi National Park, back to Morogoro mid afternoon, possibly visit orphanage, St. Mary’s Hospital
8/17, Sunday go to church out in one of the villages (Pr Herb will help line up), visit hospital again to get organized and prepare for Monday
8/18, Monday through 8/23, Saturday – surgeries, maternity clinics, whatever they have for us to do, worship on Wednesday evening, more visits to the orphanage, etc
8/24, Sunday another opportunity for worship in another village, more at the hospital
8/25, Monday more surgery and clinics (maybe just clinics since we will be leaving soon)
8/26, Tuesday last day to finish up at St. Mary’s
8/27, Wednesday pack, travel back to Dar in afternoon, flight leaves @ 10:50 PM Tanzania time
8/28, Thursday arrive Tulsa, OK @ 4:36 PM Oklahoma time We will be in transit to Morogoro more than 33 hours. So our first prayer request is for safe travel and for all of us to arrive (and our bags) with the energy to be at full capacity when we start work on Monday, August 18. While in Morogoro we will have access to internet so we will be able to see personal emails on the internet from time to time, as energy allows. However, you can also send us comments on this blog site and they will be shared with the team each day. Just follow this link to the blog at Peace Lutheran Church, Rogers, AR directly on the Peace missions blog (http://peacemissions.blogspot.com/). In His service, Tanzania Surgical Mission Team
