Hey there friends!
We’re sorry it’s been a while, but there’s so much to share since our last post. Hold on to your hats because this may be a long one! We have been all over Tanzania over the past 3 weeks, and we are blessed to get to experience more of this beautiful country. Our journey began October second as we hopped on the bus at 6:00am to head to Moshi to explore the city, hopefully to see Kilimanjaro and pick up Emily’s parents for our six-day safari to Tarangire National Park, Ngorongoro Crater Nature Reserve and Lake Manyara National Park. Moshi, as some of you know, is home to Kilimanjaro: The Roof of Africa. Getting to explore the small city was fun as we talked to many people who had just made the trek or were getting ready to head out. It made me very excited for my return in January with our teammates Wayne and Joyce. We plan to conquer Kili together. Sadly it was too cloudy to see the mountain while we were in Moshi.
Any who, back to Em’s parents. We were very eager for their arrival to show off our new home here, and when we first saw them it was both exciting and emotional. It meant so much to have a piece of home here with us. Emily was ecstatic as you can imagine. Em’s parents were nice enough to bring some items for us, our team, and school supplies donated from my home school in the States. It felt like Christmas! After we had a chance to catch up and relax for a day we headed out to Arusha and beyond on our safari. What an amazing opportunity to experience God’s creation. I, being the nerdy teacher that I am, kept reading up on all of the animals and came each morning ready with a slew of questions and fun facts to know and tell about all of the creatures of the African savannah. I am sure our guide was ready to ask me if I wanted to lead the safari, but he put up with me. He was so knowledgeable and it was amazing to learn so much about the habitats here in Tanzania. I was simply fascinated by how all of the animals interact and the interdependence that keeps the entire ecosystem in balance. I kept thinking of applications for the classroom and wished all the little kiddos from here and in the US could get to experience the wildlife firsthand. Needless to say, it was an amazing trip.
On our way back home we stopped to spend the night in Arusha and took Em’s parents to the Circus Mama Africa we saw our first month here in Tanga. It was good fun, and by the end of the week we were ready to head back to the village to get back to friends, school and the community. Thankfully on our way back from Arusha we had to go through Moshi and got a beautiful view of Kili for Em’s us all to enjoy.
On the next leg of their trip they had the privilege to join us in the village for 3 days, and they were troopers. They learned the ins and outs of life in the village and got to meet all the special people in our lives as well as go to church with us. Everyone was excited to have guests and they got to enjoy a dinner out at my language helper’s house. They visited school as well and played with the children who could not get enough of Emily’s dad! We were proud of how well they did being out of their comfort zone in so many ways and hope they have a clearer picture of how and why God has called us to serve here.
After 3 days we packed up again to head out to a conference for all of the AIM workers in Tanzania. Before leaving Tanga, Em put her parents on a plane to relax in Zanzibar while we headed to Dar. We also got to celebrate one of our team member’s birthdays! These are special times for us since our team is our family here. God has blessed us with such amazing, encouraging people who work along side us day in and day out with such fervor and passion. After the birthday night out, we headed off to Dar for the conference. This meant another bus ride, but we’re growing quite used to public transportation. I can’t even think of words to describe the conference. It was a time of encouragement, spiritual renewal, joy, and excitement about what God is doing in Tanzania and all of Africa. We got to share what is happening in our ministry and hear updates on all regions of Tanzania. From building churches, schools and mobile clinics, to ministering to street kids, fisherman and everyone in between, huge things are happening! I was in awe of how big God is and how He created each of the workers here for a specific job and purpose in His ministry. We got to reflect on the wisdom of God verses our human wisdom and our guest speaker was very dynamic in reviving us to go back to the field rearing to go! We made many connections and truly feel apart of the community of AIM workers here. We hope to visit some to learn more about health care, tropical medicine, and education as well as ministry outreach. Our entire team left feeling revived, and though there are bumps in the road, we press on!
We are currently still in Dar today visiting friends who came up to our village to do a Bible storying seminar about a month ago. They leave on home assignment in December, so we wanted to visit with them one more time before they go. The city life is vastly different from our humble life in the village, but it is amazing to experience this different culture in Africa. While here we had an opportunity to visit a friend from our village who is recovering from a broken leg after being hit by a car while on his motorcycle about 6 weeks ago. He and his wife are staying in Dar until he fully recovers. He had surgery to place a rod in his femur, and he seems to be on the road to recovery. It is a slow process, but we were able to speak with him and he seems optimistic and said he wasn’t experiencing too much pain. Meanwhile their youngest son is a student at our school in the village, so I was able to report that he is doing well and that we are looking after him along with many others in the village. Our friends were beaming as we visited with them, and it was good to make that connection to let them know we were praying for them. They even allowed Mary, our teammate, to pray for them at the end of our visit. It was a blessing to experience that, and I hope they will continue to be encouraged knowing we are praying for them.
Tomorrow we head back to Tanga and then on to the village. We are happy to return home where we can get back into the swing of things. This is a busy time of year with school winding down, and there is much work to be done. We are still interviewing teachers for grade 2 next year, and we are working on the school government registration. This has been a long, tedious process. Please pray that these processes will be completed by December and that we can be an officially registered school by next year starting in January. Please pray that God provides a teacher who loves Him and shares our vision for the students, school and community. On another note, I got my residence permit! Praise the Lord! Emily’s had a slight glitch but she is expecting the paperwork to be sent to her next week and she can complete the process in Tanga soon. We know it will all work out. We continue to learn daily how to surrender things to God and be patient. This is Africa.
Hiya, it’s Emily here. Hope you enjoyed reading all about what has been going on lately. Sarah summed it up well. We will try to write more often, but it’s very busy here as you can imagine. Thank you for your support, love, and encouragement!
Thanks for tuning in!
Grace and peace,
Sarah & Emily
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