All I can say is this West Palm Beach, Florida girl has come a LOOOONNNNGGG way this year. I have experienced “A Life Like No Other.” The time I have spent in Tanzania has been AMAZING. I have been richly blessed by each and every person I have met over the past two weeks. Clara (yellow team) and I have been paired up with a wonderful Tanzanian man named Selestine. He is a believer and has been escorting us around his home town, introducing us to EVERYONE and taking us to various schools. Every day has been exciting. We have seen many lives changed!!!
I have been looking forward to Africa this whole year. You always hear about the amazing things that are happening here. I have seen it first hand! God is powerful!!!
Over the past year, there have been many days that I know I will NEVER forget. I have another one to add to the memory bank. Stefan kept talking about a little girl that he met who could not walk and could not use her left arm. Well, I couldn’t have been more excited. I used to teach Special Ed and have a Love for these children that I just cannot explain. So, of course I was counting the minutes until I could go visit her. Her name is Jaqueline (Jackie). She is the MOST BEAUTIFUL, JOYFUL, and STRONGEST little girl I have ever met. I fell in love with her the instant I met her. She just held her hands up for me to pick her up and I was in love! We played with her for a bit and then had the chance to pray for her. We prayed for strength and joy and health. Wouldn’t you know that as soon as we were finished praying she did about 30 squats. I am not sure if she could do that before, but by golly she had strength. She was in my lap and stood up. She walked to Lloyd and then Lloyd turned her around to face me and she took 4 steps ON HER OWN to get to me. I just cried like a big baby!!! It was an amazing moment. We continued playing for another hour. I just couldn’t leave. I must have taken 20 videos and 100 pictures of her. She knows what it is like to be harassed by the paparazzi. It is going to be tough leaving her, but I know that she will be taken care of. She knows I love her!!
Another moment that I will never forget (although parts of it I would like to) is the day Wednesday was slaughtered. (I am sorry for the abrupt change in emotions) Wednesday WAS Selestine’s chicken!!!!! One day, just joking around, I told him that I wanted to cook a chicken! He thought I had a CLUE what I was saying. We stopped by his house one day to say hello to his mom and he showed me that he caught a chicken and the he was going to let me COOK it the next day!!! Clara and I name her Wednesday. The BIG cooking day was a Wednesday. So the next day, Wednesday, we went to Selestine’s. I am not going to lie…I was nervous. So…he looked at me and said “go ahead.” I had to tell him I didn’t REALLY know how to kill a chicken. I explained that I buy the frozen, boneless, skinless chicken in the freezer section of the grocery store. He didn’t understand. I told him I needed help. So he got his dull knife…..and the story continues. About 20 minutes later…Wednesday had been beheaded, de-feathered, and was in a pot boiling away. It was an experience I WILL NEVER FORGET. I will be much more thankful everytime I go to Chic-fil-a!! I received an email from my dad today telling me not to expect chickens to be running around in my parents yard waiting for me to kill them. THANK GOD!!!!
I could go on forever with stories of Tanzania, but the internet is super expensive and it is getting late. Please continue to pray for Tanzania!! I love you all and miss you!! I will be back in the US in 2 months!!! WOW!!! MUNGU AKA BARIKI AWEWE (God Bless you). HAKUNA MATATA (it really means no worries). Love, Kim
**I have added a bunch of photos. I just cannot put them all on the blog. Click on the tap “Browse My Photos”.**
