October 9, 2007 by Stephen Day.

10/6/2007 6:14:25 AM

The equator is an interesting thing…. It is 6 AM and it is full daylight out. That is going to take a while to get used to.

Well, I arrived in Dar es Salaam last night at about 9:45 pm. I got my luggage (both pieces made it) and flew through immigration (my resident visa was waiting for me there). I walked out of customs and there was Sandy McCaan and there husband (the twoappointed missionaries from ECUSA posted at Msalato and two young American women who are also working at Msalato.

I went to a local ATM and got 200,000 Tanzanian Shillings (which is actually about $150 US…. But a lot of bills because 10,000 TSZ is the highest denomination bill. The McCaans dropped me off at my hotel, which is really quite lovely and I was checked in and in my room by 10:30 pm. I was able to get to sleep by a little after midnight. I hope to get to back to sleep soon. I just want to share some of my initial experiences.

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October 5, 2007 by Stephen Day.

First, I figure I should explain the title of this post.  At the church camp I worked at and attended in West Virginia one of the songs that we sang before going into meals involved the name of the city I am in right now.  Invariably the song would conclude by empathizing the last syllable of this city’s name.

Anyway…

Right now I am sitting in the Amsterdam airport waiting for my flight to Dar Es Salaam.  It is 8:15 Friday morning (Amsterdam time).  I got up at 8:00 am (Eastern time) on Thursday.  The flight from Charleston to Detroit was uneventful.  The flight from Detroit to Amsterdam certainly felt long…. I am very ready to get into a hotel room, shower, and sleep. 

I am really excited to get to Tanzania.  I am ready to meet the people there and get to work.  I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported me and my family.  Also, I would like to lift up in prayer two family friends – Ruth and Ed.  Please remember them in your prayers.

I look forward to sharing this experience with all of you during this coming year.  Have a great day!

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September 28, 2007 by Stephen Day.

I am happy to let everyone know that this Thursday, October 4, 2007, I will depart the United States and start my journey for Tanzania.  I will arrive in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on the night of Friday, October 5 (Dar time).  My itinerary is as follows:

Depart from Charleston, WV (CRW) at 12:27 PM on KL 4440 / NW 3140
Arrive in Detroit, MI at 2:09 PM

Duration:                     One hour, forty-two minutes

Depart from Detroit, MI on Thursday, October 04, 2007 at 5:45 PM on KL 6068/NW 0068

Arrive in Amsterdam on Friday, October 05, 2007 at 7:35 AM

                        Duration:                     Seven hours, fifty minutes

Friday, October 05, 2007

Depart from Amsterdam at 10:40 AM on KL 569

Arrive in Dar Es Salaam (DAR) at 9:55 PM

                        Duration:                     Ten hours, fifteen minutes

            I hope to plan to spend one or two nights in Dar es Salaam before travelling to Dodoma which is either a seven hour bus or twelve hour train ride from the coastal capital city of Dar.  While in Dar I will get an unlocked cell phone which will provide my main means of communicating while in Tanzania. 

            Before I head out to Tanzania I want to thank all of my supporters who have been so generous.  Most recently, I would like to thank Mr. Bill McFarland, owner and operator of Loop Plaza Pharmacy of Saint Albans and Charleston, West Virginia, who helped me to get the medicines I will need for the next calendar year.  Likewise, I would like the thank the great Dr. Elias Haikal of Nitro, West Virginia who assisted me during my preparations for my time in Tanzania.

            I will make at least one more post before I leave next Thursday.  Thank you again for all of your all’s support.

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September 10, 2007 by Stephen Day.

Last Thursday I was informed that my resident visa application was only a few days from approval.  So I have ordered a ticket through the Episcopal Church’s travel agency of choice.  I will be leaving the USA on Thursday, October 4.  This will leave me with enough time to get everything else I need to get for the trip.   In the coming weeks I will be posting more frequently, but I wanted to share this great news.

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August 13, 2007 by Stephen Day.

Thanks to the generous support of many people and churches, my fundraising campaign has reached its goal. The Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia has received more than $2,100 in cash contributions. Also, $8,000 has been pledged by churches. Thank you to everyone who is supporting this missionary work in prayer or financially.

Sponsors

Sponsoring Individuals:

The Rt. Rev. William M. Klusmeyer, Patricia Adams, Ruth Boyd, Julie Branham, Elizabeth Buffington, Kathryn Conant, George Curry, Ruth Foose, Jack Hagan, The Rev. Victor Lawson, Ruth Mollohan, Virginia Riggall, The Rev. Frederick Rutledge, Linda Poston, Michelle Warder, and Nancy Y. Woodall.

Sponsoring Congregations:

St. Mark’s, Saint Albans, WV, St. Mark’s, Silver Spring, MD, St. Timothy’s, Hurricane, Trinity Church, Huntington, WV, the Nelson Cluster of the Diocese of West Virginia, Olde St. John’s, Colliers, WV, and St. Andrew’s, Harper’s Ferry, WV.

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August 12, 2007 by Stephen Day.

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August 8, 2007 by Stephen Day.

It has been a while since my posting, but I wanted to update my fundraising total. Also, I wanted to let everyone know that the only thing that is preventing me from going is a missing resident visa.  This type of visa is basically the Tanzanian equivalent of a green card.  This will allow me to work in Tanzania and stay there for more than six weeks.

The visa application is in the hands of the Tanzanian government and I should be approved within the next three weeks or so.  Then I just have to order a ticket.  Thanks for your prayers and support.

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July 27, 2007 by Stephen Day.

Fundraiser thermometer provided
by Fundraiser Insight

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July 21, 2007 by Stephen Day.

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July 19, 2007 by Stephen Day.

I wanted to point out an update on my website and on the links from this blog. There is a link provided here to a page on my website that will, in the future, provide links to pictures I take while in Tanzania. You can also visit the site directly at http://stephencday.com/missionary.htm. That page also lists the parishes sponsoring this missionary work.
Have a beautiful day.

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July 18, 2007 by Stephen Day.

The parish where I did field education during seminary, St. Mark’s, Silver Spring (Fairland), Maryland, has pledged a GREAT deal of support for this mission work. My fundraising is going very well. Thanks be to God and to God’s people!

Free fundraising thermometers
for fundraisers

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July 15, 2007 by Stephen Day.

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July 15, 2007 by Stephen Day.

Free fundraising thermometers
for fundraising events

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July 12, 2007 by Stephen Day.

It has been a busy week.  I have been working to get a lot of little things accomplished so that I can leave by the end of August.  Last Monday I met with the vestry of my home parish, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Saint Albans, West Virginia.  I met with them to discuss the missionary work I will be doing and to ask for their support.  They voted to provide a great deal of support for this work.

Yesterday I sent off all of my VISA application materials to another missionary who is serving in Dodoma right now.  She will get the sponsoring agency’s part completed and submit the application.  The process made me long for the easy process of getting a tourist VISA.  I am applying for a resident VISA since I will be living in the country and Tanzania requires a lot of paperwork.  My father did point out that it’s not exactly hard for anyone to get a Green Card for the United States, so that made me realize that the paperwork Tanzania required is not that much after all.

Next week I will be getting the two immunizations I still need to get – Yellow Fever and Meningitis.  I still need to figure out a way to get anti-malaria medications.  My HMO coverage from seminary isn’t really helpful when your six hours away from your coverage area.  Oh well…

I have started to experiment with the Linux distribution used by the college in Dodoma.  In case you are wondering, the distribution is Edubuntu, which is actually a slightly revised version of Ubuntu that is designed for use in educational environments.  Also, I have been reading a great deal about the work of network administration.  It has been quite a learning process.  I am very eager to get over to Tanzania.

My fundraising is moving along.  I have only met with my home parish’s vestry at this point, but I was able to get a great deal of support from them.  I hope to meet with a few other parishes in the next few weeks and also hope that the letters that were sent throughout the diocese prove fruitful.

I have ordered some materials to help learn some basic Swahili – namely the previously mentioned Rosetta Stone program.  In the next few weeks I hope to get a digital SLR camera so that I can get familiar with it before leaving for Tanzania.  The camera will be essential to document my time in Africa and the work of the Anglican Church of Tanzania.  I do love photography!!

Have a great day!

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July 6, 2007 by Stephen Day.

The first book I got was a guide book to Tanzania. When I went to Burma and Thailand a few years ago I found a really helpful series of guide books – Lonely Planet. So, the first book I got for this trip was the 2005 edition of the Lonely Plant guide to Tanzania, written by Mary Fitzpatrick. It has been very handy.

Next, I found four books on networking and the Linux operating system through the pretty good Kanawha County Library system. Those books are Networking by Example by Barry Press, Networking for Dummies by Doug Lowe, Local Area Network Management, Design and Security: a Practical Approach by Arne Mikalsen, and Linux Network Administrator’s Guide by Tony Bautts.

Also, I have found a few key books from Amazon that are up to date and provide essential information. I have ordered a brand new edition of the definitive guide to network administration – The Practice of System and Network Administration by Thomas A. Limoncelli, Christina J. Hogan, and Strata R. Chalup. I have also ordered a copy of a book about the specific distribution of Linux used at the seminary in Tanzania - Beginning Ubuntu Linux by Keir Thomas. Finally, since I am a student of history, I wanted to learn more about the history of my home for the next year, so I have ordered East Africa: An Introductory History by Robert Maxon.

In the coming weeks I will likely get a few more books to fully prepare for this adventure. I appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

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July 5, 2007 by Stephen Day.

On Monday, July 2, I was informed by the Rev. David Copley that I had been formally invited to serve as a missionary in the Diocese of Central Tanganyika, in the Anglican Church of Tanzania. I have been invited by the Right Reverend Mdimi Mhogolo. I will serve on the staff at Msalato Theological College, which is located approximately ten kilometers south of Dodoma. My job will be to serve as system administrator for the computer network of approximately forty computers.

This news means that there is only one hurdle remaining before I can go to Tanzania – MONEY. I must raise $10,000, either in cash or in pledges, before I can leave. Letters are about to be sent out in my home diocese to seek support.

Within the next week I will be getting the immunizations I need and will order a copy of Rosetta Stone’s language training software for Swahili. Also, I am reading up on network administration and the Linux distribution used at the seminary (Edubuntu).

If you are interested in supporting this missionary work, there are three ways that you can help. First, pray – for me, my family, and the people of the Diocese of Central Tanganyika, whom I will be working with. Second, you can visit my website at http://stephencday.com/missionary.htm and donate to me directly via credit or debit card (thanks to PayPal). Finally, you can support this missionary work by sending a check with “Stephen Day – Missionary” in the memo line to the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia (PO Box 5400, Charleston, WV, 25361).

Have a great day!!

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June 21, 2007 by Stephen Day.

Hello World Wide Web!!

It is my pleasure to make this first posting to my first blog. Right now I am home in Saint Albans, West Virginia. I am beginning my fund raising campaign to help support the missionary work that I will be participating in over the coming year. I hope to leave for Dodoma, Tanzania by mid August. As I continue to ready myself for the journey I will post more details. Please check out my links and my website. Feel free to contact me. Talk to y’all soon.

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