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Can't seem to get used to an open coffin

I was privileged to be asked to speak at the funeral of the retired Regional Commissioner's wife.  The funeral was no small thing lasting the whole week. My contribution was a short sermon in Morogoro to around 1000 people. Local dignatories, Bishops, members of parliament. 

The Tanzanians can teach us the meaning of how to grieve properly, with no doubt as to what to do. You visit and you sit you eat. You stay the night and sing.  The young men carry the coffin and dig the grave. The women sit and wail with the family. The men sit apart and remember. All the visitors sign the book and make donations towards the travel and food. 

I haven't quite got used to the open coffin yet, but a healthy reminder that we will all one day pass that way. 

One day I would just love to have a Lazarus experience ! That would be something to sing about. 

Ordination

Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be broken !  overused..perhaps, but still very relevant to life and ministry here in TZ.  I have just come back from the ordination of a new pastor called Edward Katwale, who together with his wife and 1 year old son have been moved to Mtimbila to pastor 11 local churches.  This is a great move as it will help relieve pastor Mazoya of half his responsibilities i.e. 21 local churches.

We had to change the travel plans at the last minute to accommodate the ordination service, as I was due to take Cath to Dar in order for her to fly to the USA for a Child Safety seminar. She managed to get onto a local  new plane service that was heading to Dar thus reducing the five hour journey to 45 mins, and I was free to drive directly to Ifakara. 

One can become a bit blasé passing vast mountain ranges and national parks just to get to church ! 'Udzungwa' http://www.tanzaniaparks.com/uzdungwa.html  http://www.tanzaniaparks.com/mikumi.html  

The sheer scale and variety of the country never ceases to amaze me.  How often does one see a herd of elephant or giraffe, impala,  zebra or a troop of Baboons on the way to Church? The roads can be bit of a challenge as the section from Mikumi to Ifakara is  just  gravel muram with lorries and cars throwing up a dust storm coating the local houses and people alike.  

The accommodation was great, and they had spared no expense £8 in fact putting us up, the room even had air conditioning.  The service started at 8am the following morning and went on till 2pm! The place was packed with around 400 people. Choirs, gifts for the pastor to set up home, including mattresses, plastic buckets, kitchen utensils as well as the promise that they will receive £6/month from various individuals and other churches to help cover their living expenses.  The Bishop spoke excellently from Acts 20 and 1 Tim 4:16 on the need to 'watch your life and doctrine closely'.  Expanding on the need to read and obey Scripture, to pray and do that which is in the will of God and thirdly, to place boundaries in ones life. 

It all finished with a meal for 400 people. Amazing how it was catered for. Another 4 hours travel back to morogoro arriving without incident just as night was falling. 

A few post Christmas pics taken at Kisolanza, Iringa Tanzania

Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
Order:	Liliales
Family:	Colchicaceae
Genus:	Gloriosa
Species:	G. superba
Binomial name
Gloriosa superba L.

You can look but you cant touch...according to wikipidia  This plant is poisonous, toxic enough to cause human and animal fatalities if ingested. It has been used to commit murder, to achieve suicide,^[10] and to kill animals.^[7] Every part of the plant is poisonous, especially the tuberous rhizomes. As with other members of the Colchicaceae, this plant contains high levels of colchicine, a toxic alkaloid. It also contains the alkaloid gloriocine. Within a few hours of the ingestion of a toxic amount of plant material, a victim may experience nausea, vomiting, numbness, and tingling around the mouth, burning in the throat, abdominal pain, and bloody diarrhea, which leads to dehydration.^[11] As the toxic syndrome progresses, rhabdomyolysis, ileus,^[10] respiratory depression, hypotension, coagulopathy, haematuria, altered mental status,seizures, coma, and ascending polyneuropathy may occur.^[11] Longer-term effects include peeling of the skin and prolonged vaginal bleeding in women.^[10] Colchicine is known to cause alopecia. One case report described a patient who accidentally ate the tubers and then experienced hair loss over her entire body, including complete baldness.^[12] Poisonings can occur when the tubers are mistaken for sweet potatoes^[10] or yams and eaten.^[12] The plant can be dangerous for cats, dogs, horses,^[13] and livestock,^[5] as well.

Do I look good in this?

What a fine fellow!

A lizardy kind of month

We have had some interesting guests in our garden over the last two weeks !

according to the internet ....

The Meller's chameleon is the largest of the chameleons not native to Madagascar. Their stout bodies can grow to be up to two feet (two-thirds of a meter) long and weigh more than a pound (one-half kilogram).

Meller's distinguish themselves from their universally bizarre-looking cousins with a single small horn protruding from the front of their snouts. This and their size earn them the common name "giant one-horned chameleon."

They are fairly common in the savanna of East Africa, including Malawi, northern Mozambique, and Tanzania. Almost one-half of the world’s chameleons live on the island of Madagascar.

As with all chameleons, Meller's will change colors in response to stress and to communicate with other chameleons. Their normal appearance is deep green with yellow stripes and random black spots. Females are slightly smaller, but are otherwise indistinguishable from males.

They subsist on insects and small birds, using their camouflage and a lightning-fast, catapulting tongue, which can be up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) long, to ambush prey.

Exotic pet enthusiasts often attempt to keep Meller's chameleons as pets. However, they are highly susceptible to even the slightest level of stress and are very difficult to care for in captivity. In the wild, they can live as long as 12 years.

And then there was....

Not sure what the sub-species is, but it looks like a kind of varanus, monitor lizard. 

Not sure what the following sub species is either..

Lawerencia-owensis?! 

In between

It's that wonderfully delicious time between Christmas and New Year. All the hard work and preparation for Christmas is over and there is the lull in the proceedings where nobody has any expectations of you! A time to attack the list of practical jobs around the house that has been outstanding since forever without the feeling of guilt that one should be 'doing' something more worthy or significant. 

The picture is of some un named local plant that reduces blood sugar significantly. At least that is what Samson the local pastor told me in Kibiti. 

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