Picture of our Kibidula tree

Campmeeting

Back in America

I made it back to america yesterday. I arrived at the knoxville airport at 7:00pm. Thanks for all of your prayers.

Sheep

I just wanted to update a little about what has been going on here recently at Kibidula. More specifically with the sheep program. Well about a month ago on a Tuesday one of our Maasai herders was out with the cows and a dog came up and bit him. Then a little bit later the dog came and bit me but very slightly on my leg and it fought with my dog a little bit. Then it went on to the lambs that were home during the day and bit a lot of the lambs. Well it turns out that the dog was most likely rabid. So the Maasai and I went to the hospital to get a rabies vaccine and then that Thursday we hopped on a bus and went to Dar es Salaam to get an Immunoglobulin shot that would practically give us 100% protection from getting rabies. I heard later that the same day I was bit the dog had fought with some other dogs on campus. The local villagers killed the dog the day after I was bit. There is no way here to send the dogs head into a lab and have it tested. But the local dogs here don't normally go around biting people and other animals so we have to consider that the dog is rabid. A week later my dog was euthanized because she didn't have a rabies vaccine, and so to prevent anyone else from getting hurt we put her down. The other dogs that weren't vaccinated or that weren't up to date were also put down. Well anyways about a week ago a lamb started to have trouble walking and then it couldn't move and then it died. So about 3 weeks after the dog went through we have lambs starting to show signs of rabies well at least we think so. So please pray that God can help us to stop the rabies. I hate seeing all of these lambs die. Thanks for your prayers.

Sheep

It has been really busy here the past few weeks. I got back from visiting a Mikumi National Park and hadn't heard from work much. A lot of sheep had died during the time I had been gone :( maybe 8 or 10? The sheep would pretty much just fall down dead they would stagger some and then fall down kick some and then die. And when we opened them up there was no visible sign of why they died. And we finally figured it out that it is probably Magnesium deficiency. But it was so weird it was only affecting our young pregnant ewes that were about to lamb within a few days or a week. But thankfully the deaths have slowed down and so far no new ones have died with these symptoms since Monday.

Now onto better news. Lambing season has begun here it started Friday I think with one or two and has escalated rapidly. Today 15 were born. The lambs are so adorable I need to take some pictures and post. One started to follow me around like a little puppy dog. She is so cute. Oh and I'll post some pictures of the animals I saw from the National park to. I'll try to write more tomorrow about what else is going on here. There is never too many dull moments here. And when there are they are much appreciated. Have a great day.

Molasses

Someone told me the other day that I need to write on my blog more. So here it goes. :) My supervisor and his family just got back from a three month furlough, and so I have been busy taking care of the sheep, cows, and Masai.

Well know we are in the middle of the dry season and so have started to feed hay and some grain to the sheep. We are mixing molasses and water together and then pouring it onto the hay and the sheep love it. Some of our sheep are changing color because they really get into the food. :) 

When I was mixing the molasses and water one da,y a lot of flies were trying to get some of it. Molasses is somewhat sweet and so the flies like it. As I'm sure most of you know molasses is very sticky and hard to get off. Well the flies would land on the molasses and then when they were ready they would try to get away but couldn't. Seeing this I thought molasses is a lot like the pleasures of this world they might be sweet and enjoyable for a time, but then when you want to get away you are caught in it and it is very hard to get away. Or maybe we are like the sheep the molasses helps the food taste better, but then you can see the molasses stuck on them. And so it is like that with us. We may go into the world and take part in its activities, but then when we are done we always have the scars or stains of the past with us. Only God can help us get rid of the stains of our past.

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.   Isaiah 1:18 KJV