It’s hard to believe that I am well into the second half of my time here in Tanzania. It’s unbelievable how fast time has flown. We leave today for our final week of camp down in the Rukwa Valley (promises to finally get some of that classic African heat). We return to TGBI campus on Saturday, do laundry, say our goodbyes to the Jangwani church on Sunday, and head to Mbeya on route to Dar on Monday. What a whirl wind my time in Africa has been. I’ve tried to capture as much as I possibly can with my camera to somehow convey to you all at home my time here. I’ve already taken 1,500 photos (one 8 gig card) and have another 8 gig to fill in the next two weeks. Ha ha I’m sorry to anyone who has to sit through my 3,000 photo slideshow! But each photo means something, each one has a story.
I was journaling the other night about the lifestyle here in Mumba. It reminds me quite a lot of my time spent in Italy. It is a simple lifestyle. Now, I speak of the lifestyle of the missionaries. The nationals’ lifestyles are even more simple but that is because of the poverty rate. One of the missionary wives told me the other day as she handed me her shopping list for town that it was just a wish list and to find as much on it as possible. If we couldn’t find it, then oh well. That’s why it was a wish list. If you can’t find it then you learn to do without. This has been such a wakeup call and reminder to my “convenience centered western mind.” Back home, not only can we always find what we need, we can find it immediately and in 100 different varieties (ok, a little exaggeration). But think about it, if Wal-Mart doesn’t have exactly what we are looking for Target does. And we just hop in our cars and go get it. But here, if town doesn’t carry it then you aren’t gonna get it. But out here they learn to live with that and make the most of it. I guess that’s partly because what else are you going to do right? Ha ha either way, simple, yet richly full is the lifestyle here.
It’s amazing all that you can see when so much of your comfort zone and business of your life is stripped away. I would advise everyone, even just for a short time, to experience this. Your world is widened and you can see so much more of what you couldn’t when distracted by our modern world. It isn’t in anyway easy. My first week away what with the travel and all the change felt like a nightmare that I couldn’t wake up from. But I’ve come to realize that was part of the process for me. Have you ever felt a million miles from home, helpless and alone? It’s amazing to see and feel what God does when He’s got you in that place. I’ll be honest and say that I have never felt His hand on my life more than I have on this trip. I would do all of it over again in a heartbeat to experience that again. What a mighty God we serve eh?
We are just finishing up packing and getting ready to head to the valley so I shall say goodbye for now. I continue to covet your prayers as we head into our final week of camp. Pray for safety, health, ENERGY, and endurance for my team and our staff (our counselors are pretty wiped) that we would finish these three weeks of camp strong. Thank you all so much.
All my love from Tanzania
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