Oh Yeah!!
So much went unreported, undocumented on the world-wide internet, but Tanzania Blogger reporting to duty!
I must fill you in from Saturday-Wednesday, so let's take it day by day:
Saturday:
I love waking up early! (I hope you can detect the sarcasm in my voice). We were packed and loaded by 6:45 a.m., and we were ready to cross into Kenya. We exited Tanzania and swapped vehicles/drivers at the Kenyan border. We said our goodbyes to Junior, Nicholas (sometimes referred to as Nelson by Katie Rhodes), and Parmal (I'm still trying to figure out how he got there; the best answer I've come up with is that he fell from the sky and landed at immigration).
We drove, and drove, and drove. Around noon, we entered the Maasai Mara reserve, and the safari began. Just 10 minutes into the drive, we were met with a hurdle of giraffes (TWEEGAS!), then elephants (TIMBOS!), and the animals kept on coming. Around 2:00, we found ourselves at the hotel, but I swore I was at the camp base in Tarzan. We ate lunch, and I've never seen a grown man cry over mashed potatoes until this day. We went back out into the wild to continue our safari adventures. Immediately, we ran into a cheetah who had just caught dinner; he (or she, we will never know...) was just a big kitty - no one would let me cuddle with it.
Sunday:
I REALLY love early mornings, we decided to do it two days in a row! We rose at the crack of dawn so we could see the animals at sunrise, and boy, did we see them. We raced off to see a pride of lions lounging around, the cubs dancing and playing around their feet. We drove back to camp for a quick breakfast, then we were on the road again to Nairobi. We arrived at the Scripture Mission Conference Center Hotel around 6:00 p.m. and we were beat.
Monday:
We were tired. We took the morning off and lounged around till noon. Around noon, we decided it was time to leave and get lunch, but we had BIG plans for this. We heard people speak highly of the Brazilian Steakhouse in Nairobi - lucky for us, that's exactly where we were. I have to explain this place, it's so cool! You are given a card with two sides, one green (this means go! bring on the food!) and a red side (this means lets take a break, ole chap). We had our salads (there were 16 to choose from!) and everyone's cards turned green, and the meats came. We sampled various beef steaks, sausages, pork, chicken, rabbit, lamb and a few others that slip my mind. We didn't eat much meat while we were out missioning in the bush, but we certainly filled up here. After this, we took off for the airport. We had to say our goodbyes to Megan (You rock girl! We are so proud of the work that you are going to continue in Tanzania!!) and boarded our plane at 7:00 p.m. We had a short flight to Entembe, Uganda (55 minutes of flight time). I think entering this airport was one of the most shocking things I have seen while on our journeys. Normally you think of an airport full of lavish things, providing the bare necessities (computer check-in, stores, outlets, anything for the convenience of the people), but that's not what we experienced, just a lot of security checkpoints and passport checks (at least 10 times, and we didn't move that far). We boarded at 11:00 p.m. and left for Amsterdam.
Tuesday:
I woke up in a different country and I had no idea what time it really was. I was tired and I wanted to be home already. We boarded our last flight to Atlanta with hopes of being home when we woke up.
Wednesday:
I'm in the United States. I'm standing in line at customs, but I'm on home soil, and so close to being home. THE David Goolsby came to the airport to welcome us take us home. I think he was more excited that we were back, he welcomed us a few times and the smile never left his face. I know he had a lot to be proud about. God led us across the globe and we did his work.
We're home! But....
We're home, but the mission didn't end when we left Africa, it didn't end when we stepped off the airplane, and it certainly didn't end when we got home and took our first real shower or slept in our own bed. The mission goes on. Everywhere we go, we are meant to serve and be served. You're probably questioning the last part, but if you just serve, then you are trying to assume the position of savior. You do not leave to go save a group of people because you are all-knowing - that's God's job. We go to serve AND be served in return, if we didn't allow others to serve us, everything would be one sided and your heart would never change.
We continue to look for opportunities to serve God, but also for God to work within us and serve us - this reciprocity builds a relationship and draws us closer to him.
Continue your prayers for our Team, we have one member, Megan, still in Tanzania, working with Davis; another member, David, is traveling Europe with his family and will spend the latter part of the summer semester studying abroad in Spain. We are so proud of all the hard work this team has put forth, the lives we have changed, and the lives that have changed ours. God was here.
With a rested Soul,
2017 Tanzania Team
Hey mom! I'm home! Wanna do some laundry???