Zanzibar=beautiful and relaxing. Once a week, the team gets a Sabbath day and this Monday we decided to go for a day trip to Zanzibar. It was beautiful- we woke up at a startling 5AM and headed to the ferry. We arrive at the ferry station and are immediately bombarded with offers and people- luckily a lovely church man came with us (thanks Kennedy). He leads us to the ferry and we embark on an hour and a half journey to paradise.
Seasick on the way but enjoying the view, we get to the island and are ready to head to our hotel.
Side story- I take my passport everywhere- to the coffee shop when we go into town, to buy a coke, it is just always in my bag and when I see it, I always say “Gee I should not bring this everywhere, I’m going to lose it” so when packing for the trip- mind you Sunday was filled with a four hour morning church service, ministry to street people, two hour night church service then we were whisked away for dinner at a church members house (none of this was planned except church) we literally had zero seconds to ourselves during the day. We start walking to dinner and after about twenty minutes we finally get into a taxi and arrive at Bizulus house (sweetest family ever.) We get there and notice Ugali being made (sick) and are super excited. Pleasant surprise was we actually had chips and vegetable noodles (yum) we have no idea when we are going to leave or how we are getting home; no one even had money on them. But a taxi arrived to take us back home, it was sketchy but we made it fine. Get home and start packing as quick as possible, 5AM comes early. But in the midst of the chaos, I think it would be a good idea to leave my passport for once and only take as little as possible, we did not know what to expect from our hotel or the city. All four of us who went left our passports.
Continuation: We arrive and are ready to get our day started- but we are stopped by immigration, which needed our passports- hmmm. Having nothing to do but laugh, we chuckled and asked what we could do. So good ol’ Alex Cole starts writing a petition on computer paper to allow us to get into the island (it is part of Tanzania, we were quite confused) Petition read: Hello, we are from America- please let us into Zanzibar for the day, signed Alex Cole, Carrie Campbell, Emily Moss, Tracy Hagar. The guard just laughed but we made it in with a yellow immigration sheet with our ‘passport’ stamp on it. We are off to a great start!
On the drive to the hotel we see lots of shops and restaurants, beaches and mzungus. Here is a brief and boring play by play- Love ya!
We eat breakfast at a local café and then head to a few shops to look around- Alex and I waited in the longest ATM line ever but met some really lovely people. Then off to the beach- the Indian Ocean (this time around) was clean and free of creatures and seaweed- so stinking beautiful-it was clear water with a nice sandy bottom. Then we went to the pool and played STAR, did some water aerobics, model walks, and synchronized swimming. Laid out by the pool and played cards. Watched the sunset and then went out for a nice dinner right on the water and had just a lovely time. Then went for a night swim in the ocean, just the girls. Our family is finally starting to mold together in love, grace, patience and FUN.
Had the nicest shower I’ve had on the race, it was actually better than my shower at home and then slept in a super comfy bed with two pillows J woke up and had the best breakfast- I ate lots of embes and nanasee.
Ferry ride home was much better; we sat on the top deck and overlooked God’s glorious creation. Happy halfway through! It’s sad, exciting, and scary all at once.
Side note-This month has been full of fun times with my new family, to which I just found out was changing again via text message the night before Thanksgiving. I’ve never been a person who had many friends, I’ve always just had a few really good ones, so it’s discouraging when I’m put with different people because I feel like it creates an experience where I have all surface level relationships and nothing deep enough to last. I feel if you don’t have deep relationships, you won’t be known, and if you’re not known- you can’t be called out on your junk- you can veil it.
You can choose not to veil it and be open, but if you’re not known it’s harder for your community to hold you accountable. I was just getting to a point where I could go beyond ‘my story’ and dig into real issues and conflicts in my life- This risk is giving all of yourself in the moment and not fearing rejection or disappointment. Not worrying that people will misuse what you say and later condemn you. Having an openness to speak about the Lord and His goodness, and what He is teaching us without hesitation. So here we go again, feeling like we are starting over- However, well no however yet…
Just kidding-I trust the Lord.
Lamentations 3: 22-23- Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
