I LOVE IT HERE ALREADY!
Oh my goodness… my heart feels alive, at peace, and full of joy in this place.
Praise the Lord! We’ve only done a few days of ministry so far but it simply
feels right; my spirit says, “YES!�
Let me give you a quick recap on the last few days. After
making it to Dar es Salaam (the capital of Tanzania), we were supposed to leave
on another bus early the next morning for our ministry contact site. However,
due to the recent elections all the buses were full and we were forced to delay
our travels for another day. So what did we do instead?! WE WENT TO THE BEACH!! Oh my goodness, it was incredible! One of
the last things I expected was to be reminded of San Diego while in Tanzania,
but lo and behold the scenery evoked so many memories; they all came flooding
back to me as we drove along the coast to chill at Coco Beach. This was just
what we needed. Experiencing the
Lord’s beauty in His CREATION always rejuvenates and truly ministers to my soul,
so being able to swim and romp in the waves of the Indian Ocean, run around on
the sand, gaze up at the beautiful blue skies, and feel the gentle breezes
rustling through my hair was the perfect gift from Papa God. Thank you, Lord!
The next morning we were up and off on another nine-hour bus
ride from Dar es Salaam to Iringa – our ministry contact site for the month.
This bus ride was no less eventful than our recent 33-hour trek from Uganda to
Tanzania. Throughout the journey we saw a variety of different wildlife just
chillen in the savanna on the side of the road (monkeys, zebras, buffalos, and
giraffes were some of the highlights… it was like a free SAFARI!); we zigzagged
through valleys and up mountains while dodging oncoming traffic on extremely
narrow roads – beautiful and exhilarating all at the same time; African bushes
became bathrooms; a pineapple dropped on B.Cox’s head from the luggage
compartment above as we took a turn in the road (don’t worry, she’s ok!); and
last but not least, I got thrown up on by a small child sitting next to me who
continued to vomit/ dry heave in my direction for about the next hour. Poor
girl… I think she was car sick. (I definitely enjoyed the shower after that
ride as well though!)
We finally made it to IRINGA and were overjoyed to be there;
after almost a week of traveling it felt nice to be somewhat settled again… at
least for a few weeks. 🙂 As soon as the bus pulled into the station we were
surrounded by a massive number of people all around; despite all the faces my
eyes focused in on two men standing off to the side and for some reason my
spirit said, that’s Pastor Jacob Chacha – that’s
our contact. God’s discernment is pretty sweet cause it turns out it
was him indeed! He was waiting there with our translator – Peter Brian – and it
was clear that they were both filled with the Holy Spirit; light, joy, and
peace were simply exuding out of them! I instantly knew in my heart that this
was going to be an amazing month and that it’s going to be extremely difficult
to say goodbye to these people. They are so legit!
As we drove through the town to our new home I couldn’t help
but look around in amazement; it is so
beautiful here. We are surrounded by mountains everywhere we look (I can’t
wait to climb some soon!) and there’s just a fresh, rejuvenating, lively spirit
here. I love it! We’re staying at the base of a mountain right next to our
pastor’s house in our own little home – I feel so blessed. The night we arrived
we ate dinner with the pastor and his family and we all felt so at peace and at
home in a matter of minutes. Bwana asifiwe! (Praise the Lord!)
Pastor Jacob Chacha is so full of life and the Lord – I love him! He will randomly get filled
with joy and simply start laughing like a giddy little kid; he has the
sweetest, gentlest, most humble demeanor and makes others feel completely loved in his presence. Only minutes after meeting
me in one of his gentle surges of delight and laughter, he grabbed my hand,
looked up at me and said, “Jenny, I love you!� Awww. It melted my heart. The
next day he told me his heart was full of love for me. I’ve only known this man
for a few days but I feel like he’s my father; he loves others (his family,
friends, church members, and all of us) with such a pure, tender, and genuine heart. It’s incredible to witness and be
exposed to on a daily basis. Praise the Lord for Godly men, mentors, and
ministry contacts! 🙂
Everyone else here is tremendous as well; the pastor’s
family is so warm and welcoming, Peter Brian is incredible and hilarious (he’s
going to change the world someday through Christ, mark my words), the children
are precious, and the church community feels like home. I love it! Team Wellspring is also growing a lot
more in community; we’re diving into more openness, vulnerability, depth, and
love for one another. It’s so sweet to be a part of such an amazing family
here. 🙂
We’re working with an EAG
(Evangelical Assemblies of God) church here and doing a variety of
different ministry throughout the month. So far we’ve done some children’s
ministry, youth ministry, preaching at church, open-air market evangelism, fellowshipping
with church members, door to door/ hut to hut evangelism visits, women’s ministry,
visiting widows and the sick, and hanging out with kids at an orphanage. It’s
been awesome! We’ll also be visiting some disabled homes, schools, colleges, villages,
and other places throughout the month just trying to spread the hope, love, joy, and freedom of Christ everywhere we go. 🙂
We’ll actually be splitting up (in twos) and traveling to a few different
villages this weekend where Pastor Chacha has started additional churches; we’ll
be doing some more preaching, fellowshipping, evangelism, and anything else the
Lord leads us to during our time there. Apparently their “cars� are donkeys in
the villages, so I’m pretty excited about that!
Overall, I’ve been incredibly filled with the Spirit of God
here and have almost cried on multiple occasions during ministry because I’ve
been so overwhelmed by the Lord’s presence and love for the people here (and my team). It’s like I’m experiencing
God’s heart for them and having crazy bursts
of LOVE; I feel so blessed and honored. 🙂 God has been bringing me to new
levels of experiencing His DIVINE LOVE
for me recently as well, but I’ll
have to talk about all of that in another blog. It’s insane what the Lord is
continuing to teach and reveal to me while on the race… almost on a daily
basis. I am continually in awe of the depths of our God. He is truly an endless
ocean and a bottomless sea (thanks JD Helser) and He wants us to drown in His love. Wow. Good stuff. 🙂
So yea, that’s about all I have for now. Life is good here.
We’ll be heading to Nairobi, KENYA
at the end of this month for our second squad
debrief before heading to ASIA
next month… crazy! The Race is flying by. I miss you
all back home and love you LOTS! I would love to hear
updates on your lives if you get a chance… feel free to send me messages or
emails. 🙂 Thanks again for everything guys… I am so blessed by you.
p.s. Please
continue to keep the health of our
whole squad in your prayers. We just found out that five more
members of the squad have malaria (myself and Justin included) and others have this parasite many of us
picked up from rafting the Nile. I haven’t been feeling great the past
few days and went to the local doctor/ hospital today to get checked out. It turns out I have a few little buggers in my system that shouldn’t be there; I have malaria, some type of amoeba, and a urinary tract infection. Oh man… I guess that explains why I haven’t been feeling up to par! I got a pharmacy-full of medicine that I’ll be taking for the next week or so and then I’ll go back to the doctor next week to get more blood drawn to make sure I’m in the clear. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. 🙂 But please just continue praying for health, protection,
and peace for all of our bodies. THANK YOU SO MUCH! 🙂
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: REJOICE! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious
about anything, but in everything, by
prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the PEACE of God, which transcends all
understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus�
(Phil. 4: 4-7).
