They warned us at training camp, and again at launch, that eventually on the race the things that once seemed like they’d make a great blog become normal; and we (racers) no longer take note of the events of our days in order to share them because they don't seem exciting anymore.
The danger of that pattern is that we stop blogging, and that’s what I did this month.
It wasn’t that things were hard or that I didn’t have time to write, I just couldn’t figure out what to write about that would be interesting.
I guess I forgot that in America we don’t see chickens walking around all over,
or spend our days sitting under mango trees eating fresh fruit,
Under the mango tree with Stephen, Baraka, Glory, Jeremiah, and the team.
*Photo by AJ LeVan
or ride on the back of “piki pikis” (motorcycles that you rent basically like a taxi to take you anywhere) up mountains,
more than once…
*Photo by AJ LeVan
or bartering for the prices of jewelry, fruit, dresses, etc. in street markets. I even bartered down the price of a Bible in Swahili once this month.
I suppose I also forgot that roads at home are made of something called asphalt? And it’s black? Which is strikingly different than the red clay dirt of East Africa that makes up most of the roads (excluding highways), which are so intensely bumpy that I swear those piki piki drivers that I mentioned earlier should be entered into some serious motocross competitions, because they would own them.
So, what was I doing all month??
My team and I partnered with a Pentecostal Assemblies of God church in Morogoro, Tanzania for one of the most incredible, eye-opening, paradigm-shifting months of my life; where our contact and his family were the biggest blessing I could have asked for this month!
There are a lot of big things going on at home for me, and a lot of reasons that I miss my family terribly and wish I could be there to help…
My baby brother turned 21 this month and was also promoted (congrats baby bro, I‘m so proud of you!!),
my mom had her first “day 22” – the first time in 5 months that she went more than 3 weeks without a chemo treatment,
my brother-in-law was stranded in an extremely dangerous part of Africa for about 5 days,
meanwhile my sister (who is about 5 months pregnant) was left alone taking care of her 1-year-old and 3-year-old,
plus I‘m missing my niece and nephew a lot…
So Jesus gave me a family this month when I needed it more than I have yet on the race.
sitting under the mango tree, loving on one of the little brothers Jesus gave me this month,
The team, our contacts, and our translators from the church… AKA my African family.
Albinus, Deborah, Eunice, Elijah, Esther, Jeremiah, William, Blessing, and Alex have been my favorite part of Tanzania (second maybe only to the GORGEOUS mountains). “Debbie,” the pastor’s wife, cooked incredible meals for us three times a day and is one of the most beautiful grandmothers I’ve ever seen in my life. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear the woman wasn’t older than 35. “Albi,” the pastor, loved us incredibly well in prayer and in ministry – he covered us in prayer daily and taught us and encouraged us so frequently that it almost felt like my encouragement tank was going to overflow.
Elijah, Jeremiah, William, and Blessing became my brothers for the month.
This is Elijah. Evidently, the style I've affectionately named "the tiny tie," is "in" in Africa.
Elijah, the oldest son, is the worship leader for the church, and he and his friends reminded me why one of my favorite things in the world to hear is a men’s choir harmonizing, because Africans do a few things perfectly: they have perfect teeth, they have perfectly adorable children, and they have PERFECT harmonies all the time. I loved listening to their worship.
Jeremiah pulling my hair…again.
At 16, Jeremiah is the perfect stand-in little brother. He gave me hugs and held my hand and played with (or pulled) my hair constantly, stole my sunglasses and took pictures of himself on everyone’s cameras, tried his best to learn our worship songs in English and would sing them to me, and the boy has the best dance moves I’ve ever seen (imagine a very tall, lanky African boy bringing back the 90s with a step-touch and a sway combined with the kind of funky-chicken-like arm movements that would put jagger to shame)
Baraka (Swahili for “Blessing”) was extremely shy, or so it seemed, but he would easily open up and play games and laugh – his English is still developing, but we could all tell he shared the same love for Azar Ignited that the rest of his family had.
William was at boarding school for most of our time, but he came home on weekends and when Eunice, the eldest daughter, had her second child – a beautiful baby boy that I got to hold when he was 3 days old.
And then there’s Esther. I promise you, Esther is the most beautiful 20-year-old woman you will ever see in your whole life.
*Photo by AJ LeVan
She’s flawless, a little shy, and worked so hard all month helping Debbie to make sure we were well-fed and always felt welcomed.
Plus, this is Alex, I dare you not to fall in love with him:
*Photo by AJ LeVan
*Photo by AJ LeVan
Aside from the family, a few of the church members helped us to translate both during evangelism and while we were preaching or sharing testimonies in church. Edwin and Innocent are brothers, and they quickly became like brothers to us as well; and there’s Glory – one of the funniest women I’ve ever met.
I can’t imagine that we could’ve been better taken care of or better loved this month by the PAG church of Morogoro.
For ministry we attended multiple meetings at the church per week where we sang, preached, and shared testimonies (who has two thumbs and got her worship-leading and her preach on this month? This girl), as well as visiting some cell groups to encourage and be encouraged, and – everyone’s favorite – door-to-door evangelism in a highly Islamic region!
The ministry itself, though, consisted of some of the most encouraging days I’ve had on the race so far, and it stretched me in ways I haven’t yet been stretched at all, and I can already see the fresh green of the new growth it has produced in two specific areas: worship and evangelism (blogs to come).
