Kilimanjaro peaking above the clouds
These past two weeks in Tanzania have been absolutely amazing! The men are preparing to leave to spend a week with the Maasai tribe before our departure from three months in Africa, and the women on our team will continue to stay here to continue to work with YWAM near Mount Kilimanjaro. But I’ve Ioved everything about this place and ministry far more than any other month in Africa. In our free time between ministry, we’ve been able to hike through deserts under moonlight and the most amazing stars I’ve ever seen. We’ve caught and fried a scorpion, explored the jungle, and seen some of the most amazing sunsets yet in Africa. But more than anything, I think I finally feel like I belong here on this amazing continent!
Our first week here, we shared with the people of King’ore. The town, located right next to a collapsed volcano (see the pushpin on the map below), is a typical African town with a beautiful cluster of shops surrounded by dozens of confusing trails leading to mud and straw homes. Closer to the humid, densely forested jungle of the volcano, bananas, corn, and sugar cane are farmed. And just a few miles to the east, the landscape turns into dust and desert.
Northern Tanzania
Just like in America, many people were part of the church but knew very little about a real relationship with Christ. And so during the morning we shared Jesus door to door with the people of the community. And then fellowshipped and shared with one another the Word of God in the afternoon. As the sun set every evening, we pulled out the generator and projector and showed films and shared to hundreds of people from the surrounding community that hiked miles just to hear about Jesus. During the week, I also continued to learn more about the spiritual warfare area, directly affecting me and my team as we battled frustration, irritation, and exhaustion. And we were able to continue to allow our hearts to be affected by the incredible need and love from the Christians in the area.
This past week, we drove about two and a half hours to the town of Kncu (pronounced “Kinsue”), close to Mwanga, on the southeastern side of Mount Kilimanjaro. By far, this has been the most amazing time I’ve had with the people of Africa. We were hosted by a polygamist Masai family who had found Jesus. It was amazing to see as the entire family of 28 people came together to worship and serve one another, even though traditionally the women and c
hildren would have been given less respect. Not everything was perfect, but you could tell that the love of God had and was changing both the men and women in incredible ways. And especially moving to me, I felt accepted into their “tribe” for the first time in Africa. I’ve been exhausted because I always feel like we’re just giving our hearts to people that consider us different just because we’re white. We’re put on separate pedestal, where it feels like we’re always expected to perform and give out money. And yet this huge family with four wives gave us traditional Masai clothing to wear and spears to throw one night, included us in their lives, and treated us like we were accepted into their family. I loved worshiping with them in their church underneath a big desert tree, eating meals with them, and even just resting in their midst. And once again every evening after sunset, we spoke and used films to share the Word of God.
