May – Kenya – Deliverance Church
June – Uganda – Ambassadors of Life Church
July – Tanzania – Potter’s Temple
Favorite Country – My overall favorite country in Africa was Kenya. The Pastors at Deliverance Church have worked with the World Race for a long time and we immediately felt like family. We were outside of Nairobi and I loved getting to know my way around the city. We preached a lot! In schools, at people’s homes, the church, grocery stores and the mall. I helped out in the church office, volunteered at Mother Teresa’s Charity Home, spoke at a worship conference, led worship for the Wednesday night prayer meetings and loved playing with kids in the slums. We even visited an elephant orphanage! We were in Kenya the longest out of any country, 6 weeks, but I didn’t mind at all.
Breaking Point – By the time we got to Africa my attitude towards being clean, having running water, being comfortable, eating good food, etc., had pretty much gone out the window. The one thing I had taken for granted was electricity. Silly but true. In Africa the power goes out at random times for God only knows how long. In Uganda it felt like the power was out more than it was on. So it was sometime in the middle of the month and I was feeling really sick. I had been up all through the night, there was no water so my toilet had a science experiment going on, all of my electronics were dead and there was no power. I was sitting underneath my mosquito net, feeling sorry for myself, and had a mini breakdown. It didn’t last long and I’m totally over it now. Low point. It made me realize how much I was dependent on my computer, iPod and electricity.
Typical World Race Moment – Tanzania. 10 people sitting in a living room. The power is out and the sun is quickly setting. Since this is a daily occurrence we have candles and matches ready. As we’re sitting there, trying to decide what to do with our evening, I get a genius idea. There is a coke bottle on the table and matches so I run to the kitchen to boil an egg. Do you see where this is going? Sounds a bit like 10th grade chemistry class, doesn’t it? Well, the 10 of us spent the next 30 minutes trying to get this hard boiled egg to fall through the coke bottle. It never happened but it sure was fun trying. That’s what happens when you have no cable, no internet and no electricity. Welcome to the World Race!
Favorite Food – Most of the food in Africa was the same. One of my favorite things that we had in each country was samosas; not girl scout cookies. They are meat and veggie filled fried dough pockets. The fruit in Africa is more ripe and juicy than anything you can find in the US and even though the coffee is instant, it’s not too bad. (Or maybe my standards have just dropped dramatically) We found pizza in each country and even though it’s no Papa John’s it was good enough for me! There are surprisingly no American-ized restaurants, that we could find, in any of the 3 countries we went to. All through Asia there were at least McDonald’s and even bigger chains like Chili’s, Ruby Tuesdays, KFC and Pizza Hut. Not in Africa. The closest thing we found was a fast food restaurant in Tanzania called MarryBrown’s which was like KFC meets McDonald’s. It’s amazing how much food can make you feel closer to home.
Most Embarassing Moment – I’m at an all girl’s school in Tanzania with about 300 students, Muslim and Christian. I wasn’t planning on speaking but I really felt like I was supposed to share my testimony. I nudge Angie to let her know that I was going to speak before she did and away I went. As I was talking the girls seemed really engaged. They were laughing and responding to different things I was saying. I got into my high school years and I asked if any of the girls have, or have had, a boyfriend. Silence. Ok. Maybe dating isn’t allowed here. I decided to keep going, talking about “boyfriends.” Well, come to find out, the word boyfriend means something different in Tanzania, but I didn’t know until after I was done talking. It means your having sex outside of marriage with this boy. A pure, healthy, Christian relationship with a boy is called your sweetheart. So now all these girls think I’m this promiscuous, crazy person. Whoops! Good thing the Pastor clarified everything after I was finished. We all had a laugh but it would have been nice to know beforehand. Oh Africa!
Best Memory – I actually have a lot of good memories in Africa but my most favorite would be the adventure Angie and I took to meet her Compassion child of 5 years while we were in Kenya. The 6 hour journey turned into 9, which turned into 11 hours of bumpy, dusty, crazy driving. We went through 7 out of the 9 regions of Kenya where we saw giraffes, zebras, tribal people with spears, gazelles, camels, boy shepherds, straw huts; it was like traveling through the Lion King! When we got to the Compassion Base, kids flooded the car. Angie was the first sponsor to visit her child so it was kind of a big deal. A big enough deal for them to kill the village goat and prepare a meal for us. Being able to see the school, church and home where this precious little girl, Diborah, lived was such an honor. I took footage to make a video for Angie (when we have strong enough internet it can be uploaded). Angie bought gifts and groceries to give the family and she was given authentic tribal jewelry. I even got a bracelet! We visited the tribe for almost 3 hours and then it was time to head back. Traveling that much for a short visit was totally worth the joy and experience of meeting Diborah.
Time I Felt Closest to God – Even though Uganda was not my favorite country to be in, it’s definitely where I felt the power of God the strongest. The church we worked with knows how to pray and worship. Pastor Joseph is such an anointed, powerful, yet humble man of God. We experienced a lot of supernatural things including demonic manifestations, prophetic words and healings take place that month. There was also a lot of time during the day that we had to ourselves since our ministry was more in the late afternoon and evening. I’m glad I took advantage of that time to really be alone with God and spend time in the Word. We also visited Prayer Mountain where thousands of Christians go to pray and fast. I was challenged to take a look at my own life and see areas where I should go to the next level.
Blogs I Recommend – Welcome to Paradise, Is Jesus Really Enough?, I’ve Never Felt Love Like This Before
