I was answering e-mail this afternoon when one of the Msalato students, Erasto, came to the door and said that there were visitors to see me outside our house. It was a English woman named Emily and a Tanzanian named Peter. They had traveled from Kiteto Christian School in Kibaya, Tanzania, to Dodoma at the direction of their Bishop in search of Elizabeth, another missionary in town, to try to get their computers fixed. But Elizabeth was out of town, so they heard that I know computers and drove out here to Msalato. Emily said she had two of their computers in the car, so I said, “Bring them in and let’s take a look.”

Emily and Peter had traveled with Chris and Karen, both from England. While Emily and I worked on the computers, Leslie talked to Chris and Karen. We all had tea together, and it took long enough that we ended up having them all stay for dinner. It was great to talk to them and get to know them. We’re probably going to go to Kibaya this Saturday so that I can work on more of their computers. Seven of their nine computers are dead and it sounds like each computer may have a different problem.

At one point we were all laughing about how things seem to work like that here. Everyone is very flexible, which makes it possible for four people to drive three hours and end up eating dinner at a brand-new friend’s home, even if you hadn’t originally even known that person existed. You learn quickly to go with the flow and see where it is taking you. The missionary community is fairly small, and you eventually get to know many people through friends of friends.