This is coming a little late, but I didn’t want to overlook Tanzania and not post a single thing about it. Tanzania was beautiful, and I was and am SO excited to be back in Africa. My team lived in Morogoro in a nice house; it even had a stinky squatty inside. We had running water every other day and got to do laundry…even if that water was very dirty half of the time. You just have to do what you do, get over yourself, and learn to be thankful for even dirty water to wash in. It was extremely HOT in Morogoro.
We worked with an Assemblies of God church there and we had the BEST contacts ever. The pastor and his family were so good to us. His wife and daughters cooked us all of our meals and everyone was kind and happy to have us there. The oldest son Elijah was our guide/friend/preacher/translator. He was awesome; I don’t think the pastor could manage without him because Elijah did an amazing job at running the youth services, leading worship, evangelizing, etc. This family took turns praying and fasting all week long for the people, country, church, everything. We grew to love them and their adorable children very much.
I think we all loved ministry in Tanzania. We did a mixture of things like tree to tree evangelism (because it’s so hot there that everyone hung out under trees, had impromptu Bible studies in the shade of broken down buses, going to local schools teaching and worshipping with the children, and preaching a lot of church services (there were 5 every week). We even got to go out to a Massai village for 3 days, living with some of the Christians there. They let us dress up in their traditional attire and join in on their dances and worship. We walked around in the even more extreme heat meeting people and telling them why we were there and talking about Jesus. Several people became believers! The outdoor church services under the breathtaking Tanzanian stars was the absolute most beautiful church I have ever been in. And I got to sleep in my tent under these stars!!! Every morning and evening they would milk their cows for us to have chai tea. Bathing was very interesting…there was kind of a sectioned off area with a curtain, but you couldn’t stand up straight because it was so short and several of us had experiences of baby goats and chickens coming in to visit and drink the bath water. My favorite part was the toilet. Aka…you hike out to the bush and find a good spot. I had a revelation from this experience…I have always wondered why it takes some dogs FOREVER to choose a spot to go. One day I had to go really bad and I found myself almost turning in circles looking for just the right spot…free of attacking ants, spider webs, etc and not visible from the path. It’s not a choice to be made lightly people, this stuff is important!
It really was a great month of ministry and we were all challenged to do new things. But the best part about this month was our host family and all of the amazing, beautiful people of Tanzania. The kids across the street from the church were adorable and would come running out screaming our names every time we passed by. We were greeted jovially by whoever we passed. Any time there was worship, it was amazing. These people schooled us in how to worship the Lord. So many good things. Ah…I LOVE AFRICA!!!
