We have arrived!

Welcome to Tanzania!

The Tanzania surgical mission trip began Friday mid-morning when all 15 of us joined together at Dallas-Fort Worth airport for the flight to Dar es Salaam. The first hop was 14 ½ hours with a plane change in Dubai, UAE. Then just a short 5 hours down to Dar es Salaam. Our trip was long but uneventful…all 30 of our checked bags arrived intact. The plane from Dubai was almost empty, which made it easier to sail through customs.

It was only a bit before 10 pm when we were checked into our rooms at a local hostel, the Catholic Guest house. The morning sun revealed the beauty around us, from lush greenery to vivid local flowers. A hot beverage was in store, after which we climbed onto our bus for the short ride to church.

Worship in Dar es Salaam was with a Lutheran congregation at the Azania Front. Our chosen service is an English language service and you could see the smiles on the team as we joined our Tanzanian brothers and sisters in song.

A brief overview of our team:

Cindy Pennie, nurse and team leader, Stillwater, OK

Doug Treptow, general surgeon, Rogers, Ar

Glennis Treptow, helper, Rogers, Ar

Pati Murdock, 2^nd team leader, Rogers, AR

Lance & Eileen Miller, Hot Springs Village, Ar

Terry Gipson, goat expert, Stillwater, Ok

Chris Pope, Stillwater, Ok

Anna Long, helper, Stillwater, Ok

Bethany and Megan Pierce, helpers, Trinidad, Co

Nancy Bean, helper, Weatherford, Tx

Sheila Weyenberg, RN, Norman, OK

Laura Brown, RN, Rogers, AR

Chris Buzzelli, Rogers, AR

As this blog is written, we are just finishing up a fabulous brunch at the Southern Sun and will shortly begin the final leg of our trip up to Morogoro, which will take about 5 hours.

We will post our updates ever day or two, so stay tuned. And we love comments!