Mwanza Part I: Rock City

LeRon and I flew to Mwanza, Tanzania a few weekends ago to do training with the branch president and clerk.  We are so lucky to be able to see all the major centers of the church in Tanzania and Kenya.  It has been interesting to see the many branches and to meet the lovely people there.

Mwanza is known as Rock City.  Huge rocks everywhere.  The hills are covered with them and they even extend out into Lake Victoria as Mwanza is on the southern shore of the lake.  It was an absolutely lovely place.

I love clouds so I always get the window seat (thank you, LeRon).  I never "make" things out of clouds but I just enjoy their beauty.

We flew from Nairobi to the Mt. Kilimanjaro Airport, passing Mt. Kilimanjaro.  It is usually shrouded in clouds.

Still, it was nice to get a good view of it even with the clouds.  Better than we could get from the ground.  We had a 20-minute stop at the airport before flying on to Mwanza.

This is Lake Victoria from the air.  It is the 2nd largest fresh water lake in the world (after Lake Superior).  It is absolutely huge.  It looks like an ocean.

Elder & Sister Colemere met us at the teeny tiny Mwanza Airport.  I haven't been in such a small airport for years.  They took us first to a fancy hotel for a delicious lunch.  Presentation is everything but it tasted delicious too.

LeRon thinks it looks too good to eat.

We enjoyed getting to know Elder & Sister Colemere.  They are lovely people and showed us the sights in Mwanza.

Here we are at the Malaika Beach Resort.  This is a very lovely resort hotel with reasonable rates.  We thought it would be fun to stay here but we have booked a hotel closer to the Colemeres and the chapel.

The hotel is right on the lake.  And I mean right on the lake.  It's been built into the rocks that go down to the lake.  After all, this is Rock City.

This hotel reminds me of the hotel we stayed at in Petra Jordan which also was built right into the rock.  Only the Petra rock was red.

Elder & Sister Colemere only have about two weeks to go on their mission.  They have loved Mwanza and the people.

A gorgeous bird was in the bushes.  I'm pretty sure it was a sunbird.with its florescent colors.  LeRon took this picture, not knowing how to zoom in and by the time I had the camera set, the bird flew away.  Sad.  It was flashy beautiful.

Some day we will have to spend a night at this hotel.  It's not more than the cost of a hotel in the west but the views and grounds are amazing.

Here's the entrance to the resort.  It's a highly recommended place.  Sister Colemere says this is the most beautiful place in Mwanza but I saw lots of other beauty too.

Love those palm trees. 

Rocks everywhere and up the hillsides too.  Houses are all the way up the hills.  Reminded us of Italy.

This is the famous rock of Mwanza.  Apparently everyone takes a picture of it.  The view was lovely.

Rocks and houses everywhere

And cute little children calling "mzungus!" 

All schooling here in Mwanza is in Swahili.  English is simply a class.  So they don't speak much English and are much more comfortable in Swahili.

Great to see our wonderful missionaries Elder Munyariri and Elder Mahanzu.  They both are not from Kenya or Tanzania (at the moment, I can't remember where they're from) and they've both had to learn Swahili on the fly.  It's amazing how the "gift of tongues" is very much real here in the Kenya Nairobi Mission.  Most missionaries become fluent (or fluent enough) in Swahili very quickly even without a lot of study.  This can only happen with the Lord's help.