Jeannmarv's Africa 2015: Afoot and Lighthearted in Tanzania

Two retired missionaries were sipping coffee at a Starbucks while on vacation in Hawaii when they got a message from their past. "We need you!" the e-mail read. Their heads said, "No!" and their bodies said, "No!" but their hearts sang, "When?" Knowing that Tanzania, East Africa, only has about half the number of nurses they need, A doctor friend/colleague opened a School of Nursing. He soon realized that because all the nursing books are written in English, his new students need some help. He went to his mental Rolodex and came up with the names Jean and Marv, retired after a dozen years at the Maasae Girls School in Monduli, Tanzania. He didn't use the polite word in questions, "Please," he used the word that makes old missionaries react uncontrollably. He said, "Need." The old hearts answered. So Jean Wahlstrom and Marvin Kananen returned once again to Tanzania. Every day in Africa is different. Every day is an adventure, sometimes wonderful and sometimes tragic, but it is always an active place to be. The blogs have no plot, they are almost like kernels of popcorn, each one explodes differently. The pattern of life there is chaos, and in Africa chaos works. This book makes no order of the chaos, but it records it. There is more laughter than tears, more joy than sadness, and more life than living the retired lifestyle. For four months, living in other people's homes as their friends went on vacation, driving a variety of cars, and teaching whenever there was an opportunity, Jean and Marvin lived hectically full and active lives, doing what they loved and had been trained to do. It was as if this was the crowning work in their lives, and they made the most of it. They established order in two medical libraries (at the School of Nursing and at the Arusha Lutheran Medical Center). They went on safaris, spent a week on the Indian Ocean. They spent time with old friends and made new friends. They did whatever they found that needed doing, and they loved it. They are linked to Africa through their hearts; Africa is in their souls. The Massai call Marvin "Alka la mbas," (Blog #642) and Jean was "Mama Jean." They loved being there and they loved coming back. This book is from the 120 days of blogging, there is no plot, it is an unlinked chain of events. You will laugh and you will mourn. You will not find many books this honest about life in today's missions field, and though they may no longer be "missionaries" in the classic sense, they are missionaries, nonetheless. Two hundred blogs, seldom are any of the blogs connected to others. The book is like 200 unrelated Polaroid pictures, each of which tells a mystical story. For four months Jean and Marvin came and loved and served. They learned and they grew and they were loved. Read the book, you will not be disappointed. You will laugh. And perhaps you will gain some insight into that mad breed of people who forsake the sane and safe life in the Western World for life on the frontier.