Dear Friends and Family,

This is just a quick update to let you know that we arrived safely in the U.S. just over a week ago.  We’re settling in to Pennsylvania masking and social distancing.  Our travels went very well, everything was smooth, no difficulties at all, though we did have to wear masks and face shields on both international flights.  We got out of the airport in record time and were welcomed by our missions pastor and another missionary on home assignment. We arrived in Hershey around 6:30 P.M. on a Friday, having left our place in Arusha at 10:30 A.M. the prior Thursday.  We were exhausted.

Our first week back was busy.  We have connected with friends, made all kinds of appointments, bought a used car, made good use of Amazon and other online services.  The highlight of the week was celebrating Josh’s graduation on Saturday with a small group of friends and family, spending most of the time out of doors.  We did watch part of the video inside but the weather was pleasant in the evening for which we are grateful.  This was a very important event to mark and glad we were able to do it in a meaningful way despite the sadness and loss of not having a formal graduation with classmates in Kenya. We were sad that my mom couldn’t be with us as she had planned to be way back when. Sunday found us hitting a wall of exhaustion. We are not used to this pace and we find we need to slow down a bit but we feel the time crunch with a long “to do” list to get Josh set for college.

We are so grateful to Hershey Free Church for a home in which to stay and to our class at church who have provided meals and a stocked pantry for us.  We are thankful for friends and family who have welcomed us. We are thankful for our faithful God who has cared for us in so many ways.  While we are glad to be back in the U.S. for a time, we do find that the covid situation does add an additional level of stress.  So please bear with us and be patient as we navigate what’s what here.  I know it’s a strange time for everyone but we find the situation is handled differently here than in Tanzania in a general sense.

We look forward to connecting with many of you in the next few months as we and you are able.

Blessings in Christ,

Melissa for the TZ Eagers