Exhaustion

How do you know when you hit the brink of exhaustion? Not sure, but I think it has a lot to do with being awake and not really knowing what's going on. Or maybe it's you walk around with no purpose and not really wanting to do anything, but you are still walking around. I don't know, but both of those is how I felt today. I think I've reach the point of no return and I don't know when I'll be able to return because tomorrow I start language school again and that's exhausting in itself. I don't know which I would rather be doing...be surrounded by 50 people or be sitting in a class learning a language. I'm not really looking forward to going to class for the next two weeks. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. It all kind of stinks. Just a little update on how I am. Pictures of the group will come at some point when I'm back on my feet and actually wanting to do something.

He reigns...isn't it grand!

As I stood there and sang "the Lord God Almighty reigns" this morning, I thought to myself, how great is that?!? It's so awesome that it is the Lord who reigns and not us. We make a huge mess of things without reigning, what would we do if we actually did reign? It's unfathomable to me that He even uses us to spread His Name throughout the world. He trusts us that much with His wisdom and strength that He sends us out in the world to share it with others. How can we not trust in Him for everything in our life? He trusts us with this mystery of Himself. Us! We who fail each other, who fall everyday, who will not be perfect until we die or He comes back to take us into His kingdom! We who get blown down by a breeze when it comes, He trusts! I'm so thankful that I am covered by the blood of Christ, washed clean from my sin, forgiven and covered in grace and entrusted by God with this mystery that I'm suppose to share with the world! Are you covered in the blood of Christ? Are you washed white as snow? You can be! All you have to do is run to Him as you are and trust Him with your life. And if you are, are you striving to be more like Him with every breath you take? And are you sharing this Great News with everyone you come across? It's the best news anyone can hear, but also remember that only the Spirit can bring someone to the Lord. You are not the one who can save someone, you are just the one who needs to share it. So go out and share your life with someone. Who knows it may be the last time someone needs to hear such great news to trust in it and enter into the family of God!

A Belated July 4th on July 8th...

I completely forgot to let you know how the belated July 4th party went. Well I guess that I would say that it was interesting. They pretty much robbed us of our money, felt like I was definitely back in America. We had to pay an entrance fee and then we had to pay more for the food. And what we're we paying for anyway...the band that they brought in, which completely stunk by the way. Well the band was pretty good, they had a fiddle player that was good and a guitarist who was good but the singers they were bad, very bad. It was pretty sad actually. But I sat there and listened to my friend Alison sing "God bless the USA" practically the whole night. And she's a good singer so I was happy to be near that. Of course I could've gone for another song. I was only there for the fireworks anyway and they fulfilled their purpose. It was pretty funny to sit there though and watch one firework go off and then wait a minute or so for another one to be lit and shoot off. A little bit of a delay, but that's ok. So that was it. Oh but here is a picture of a cute, little girl that was there.
And here are some of the fireworks...

Yippee!

My friend Alison left last week to go to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater (lucky dog) and meet up with her dad and sister. But she comes back tomorrow..yippee! Of course I still won't be able to spend much time with her for the next three weeks because her dad and sis will be with her, Laura Lee leaves this week so I'll be busy and after that the IWC team comes in and then we will both be extremely busy. But I'm so excited that I will at least get to see her on Tuesday since we will be dining together for Laura Lee's birthday.

On other news...well I can't think of any other news. The week was pretty good...nothing really to report. I miss everyone back home but that's okay I am here for God and no other. This fully relying on Him in everything is really difficult. And this time zone change and not being able to just call friends or family (and get ahold of them whenever) is not fun. But it's me and Him all the way and that's what I have to come back to each time. Realizing that He would never leave me was what brought me to Him anyway and that's what I have to come back to each day.
Please continue to lift up the IWC team that is coming next week (they will be here the 24th and we start storying around Dar the 26th). There are about 90 people coming (mostly high school students), most of which will be in Dar but some will be in other places in Tanzania. Be lifting up the national partners we will have and the people in Tanzania that they will be receptive to the stories.

The First American Holiday Outside...

So the 4th of July was the first holiday I experienced in Dar. And oddly, none of the natives celebrate it (haha). But thankfully I was able to get out of school early and go to the beach with my friends here. It was great! When we arrived we noticed that there were some other Americans there as well. But I first ate a hot dog before going to chat with them, I actually had two different ones. First I had a hot dog that Alison had cooked before heading to the beach. But then, Travis had gone over to the other Americans and came back with some real hot dogs, Nathan's hot dogs, real beef! They had fired up a pit grill and so we went over there and cooked some doggies and chatted a bit. It was awesome! I then went swimming IN THE INDIAN OCEAN. It was incredible, very blue and clear and a little cold but not bad. We headed back home, hopped in a shower and then went over to Travis and Charity's for some Chicken Foot. I believe we are all now hooked on the game we've played it so much in the past two weeks. And yet again, I lost horribly. But I redeemed myself in the next game and won it all. It made me feel good about myself...I didn't feel like too much of a loser. So that was my Fourth.
Oh but wait the celebration continues. There's a party tonight that we will be going to...with hamburgers and hot dogs and some fireworks...WOOHOO! I'll let you know how that goes.

Muheza Trip

Right after we got back from Zanzibar we headed out to Muheza. It's a little town in Tanzania, in the Tanga area, north of Dar es Salaam. And I do say right after because literally it was pretty much right after. We got home on Wednesday night, packed, slept a little and then headed out to the bus station very early Thursday morning. It was crazy because I've seen three sunrises since I've been here (seeing sunrises hardly ever happens for me) and two of them were that week. We met up with the team of students that we were taking, hopped on a bus and rode 4 hours to Muheza. It was actually decent except for the many times that I felt like someone was going to fall in my lap (they allow people to stand in the aisle). We got there, filled our bellies with great rice and beans and some greens and then walked to the house where we would story with the kids around the area. Basically one of our university students would stand up tell one of the O.T. stories and then they would break off into smaller groups and discuss the story. We had 5 sessions (Thurs. afternoon, Fri. morning, afternoon, and night, and Sat. morning). The first 3 sessions we shared stories from O.T. (3 stories for each session) and then Fri. night we watched the Jesus film and Sat. morning we discussed the Gospel. It was really neat to see the students that the team I joined have been discipling share with the kids. To see the body in action was awesome. God totally blessed me through this experience.

Dedicated to "Labell"

Meet my little friend, Lindsey aka Labell. Isn’t she so pretty?!? Well we decided to take a little trip to Zanzibar and it was great fun! We rode on a ferry to get there…and had a blast. Thankfully there was no one getting sick around us, at least that we know of. It is a two hour ferry ride on the Indian Ocean, you know. We settled into our hotel room and took off for a day of shopping. After quite a few hours of shopping we stopped for a little cold cup of caffeine.
Yup, that’s right, a sort of frappucino and it was yummy. Then we headed back to the room for a little bit of a rest. We spent a little bit of time in this sitting area that was on our floor and chatted. That night we went to the park area and had some dinner. Bought some fish and bread from a guy on the sidewalk (don’t worry, we watched him cook it and neither of us got sick) and sat down on a bench to enjoy our food. We came back to the hotel and played a little Chicken Foot (a domino game) with some friends that came on the trip with us. We didn’t win the game but we did have fun. Frankly, I don’t remember who won that game, but I do know that I didn’t come in last (of course that all changed the next day when I came in dead last with a little bit of cushion and that was not fun). We finished that game and because we got up so early that morning to catch the ferry we went to our room and got ready for bed. The process for bed was a few crunches, a little Bible reading, and a shower (we don’t have a picture of that, that would be a little embarrassing and I didn’t want to see that). Then I tucked Labell into bed and we went to sleep. We slept very well that night, sleep is good. That was day one…a very full, but very enjoyable day. I even enjoyed the shopping, although I was ready to be done by the end of the four hours.
Day two was not as eventful but very relaxing. We went out to the beach. We first took a little walk out to the Indian Ocean. You wouldn’t believe how far the tide was out. It was insane. And eventually we started sinking into the sand, well more like mud. But it was so great. We came back in and laid out in the sun. It was such a beautiful day for that. Definitely not too hot, but not cold. A perfect day for the beach if you ask me. We got a little tan that day and headed back to our hotel for a shower. That night we went back to the park and enjoyed a beautiful sunset. And she got a big hug from our friend Alison. We ate some more fish from the guy on the sidewalk (by the way, it’s a whole area of guys selling fish along the ocean). Then we headed back to our little café and enjoyed some fellowship. As I said before we played another game of Chicken Foot, which I lost horribly and headed to bed. The next morning we woke up and Labell had taken all of the covers. I guess it was a little cold that night, although I think it was a bit colder the night before. We headed upstairs to the roof for breakfast and had a decent omelet and some great chai. We enjoyed the view from the rooftop of the town around us and the ocean. We headed back out to town and did some more shopping. The first day was more of window shopping and getting ideas for gifts. This time we bought a few things to send home. So we wandered down the alley, holding hands like old times. It was nice to have someone to shop with since all these people were coming at us, trying to get us to just come in their little duka…looking is free you know and they all have good prices…that’s their sells pitch. After that we headed back to the ferry for the ride home, but Labell loved Zanzibar so much she almost jumped off the ferry. This would’ve been a detriment because I don’t think she would’ve survived. I would’ve been very sad and would’ve had to grieve the proper amount of days before I could move on. I don’t know how I could’ve done that when I had to leave the next day for a mission trip. I’m glad that she decided not to do it and that she listened to her friends. I then gave her a big, fat, Texas hug. I hope that it lasts and that the real Labell feels it.

The Zanzibar Trip For Reals...

We (Travis and Charity, Brad and Alison, Keri, Laura Lee and me) went to Zanzibar this past week and it was so much fun! We took the ferry, it's a two hour ferry ride by the way and many people get sick along the way. The morning ride there wasn't too bad. I enjoyed listening to some music and sleeping a little bit since we got up so early in the morning. And it kept me from hearing anyone throw up if there was anyone. We then treked to our hotel and settled in. It was pretty decent considering we spent less than $15 a night for it. We stayed in Stonetown and for the most part all you do is shop. They had some great stores and that's what we did was shop all day. Most of you know how much I enjoy shopping for hours at a time, but I actually handled it very well and enjoyed looking at the various items. I did a bit of window shopping at first because I wanted to get ideas for gifts before I went all out and spent. That afternoon we went to a little cafe and had some good coffee. It's a good thing we don't have one of those around us in Dar, I think I would be in a bit of trouble. It was the closest thing to Starbucks that I've gotten to since I've been here. And that night we went to eat at Forodani. It's basically the park area where the guys sell their fish. We picked out what we wanted and watched them cook it. It was very enjoyable and none of us got sick which is always a plus. We went back and played some games and had some Killer Brownies (no lie, that's what they were called and they were definitely a killer because we talked about them the whole next day and continue to wish we had some). There was first a layer of cake mix and then a layer of caramel with chocolate chips in it and another layer of cake mix. It was very enjoyable! The next day we went out to the beach. It was beautiful, but of course I do enjoy the beach and it's always beautiful to me. Everyone said it wasn't the best one they've been to, but I was just glad to be there. Alison and Brad and I walked out to the ocean, yup definitely walked out there because the tide was so far out. We sunk down into the sand a bit and our feet got a bit muddy, but I was at the beach on the Indian Ocean and it sure didn't bother me! Then we just did nothing the rest of the day...it was awesome! That night Brad, Alison and I went out to enjoy a beautiful sunset and then met up with the rest of them for dinner at Forodani again. We then went and relaxed at our cafe place and eventually went back to the hotel, played some games and went to bed. The next day we were short a couple because Travis and Charity went back to Dar. And we went shopping again but not for as long. We got our suitcases and headed back to the ferry. This time the ferry was not so nice and there were many who got sick. I was a very fortunate one who did not feel sick and luckily I didn't even get sick because others were. It was pretty choppy out there. We sat on top and got a bit wet the first few minutes of the ride so we had to stand.
Eventually that got a bit tiring so Alison and I sat at the top of the stairs and eventually the rest of the crew migrated back to the edge of the benches and braved it. It wasn't that bad and they said they didn't really get wet. But it was worth it because we saw a very beautiful sunset off the Indian Ocean. I got quite a few pictures of it. God is faithful, isn't He?!? And that was our trip. Oh but wait I forgot about the very interesting taxi ride home. We went through parts of town that nobody knew and had no idea where we were going. I of course didn't know being that I've only been here for a little over a month, but Laura Lee and Keri didn't even know where we were. It was great and also a little scary. But we made it home safely and all is well.
The beauty of God, none can compare! And it's incredible when you can take some time to bask in it all. I encourage everyone to get away for a day or two and just bask in His presence. It's an amazing thing to do.