I had the privelage of spending two weeks out in a barren land where there was little water and nothing else. I had the privelage of getting dirty (my dirt had dirt on it) and dusty. I had the privelage of picking trash out of thorn bushes and cleaning out squatties. I had the privelage of beginning and ending very long days with prayer for everybody else but myself and struggling with it. I had the awesome privelage of getting to work and sweat and watch others do the same to earn what they have. I had the awesome privelage of suffering and facing trials in each and every day that dawned, from before sunrise to after sunset, with the solid reminder that my trials and struggles are few compared to the people I was with. I got to know what that feels like. I got to cry and laugh at the many bitter sweet moments I had, bitter because of suffering and sweet because of hope.
 
  In these last two weeks we had our mini outreach in a place called Ing'Karet. It is one of the places that people here often dread going to because it's nothing but dust and thorns. But in these last two weeks, in the midst of many struggles, I saw that there's people who need hope there too.
     It was a challenge. I learned many things, one of them being that a team that is divided really cannot stand. Unfortunately our DTS wasn't unified at all and it really showed at the beginning of our first week there. I've been praying for unity ever since.
     I also learned that loving people doesn't mean loving them only if they're lovable. No one is called to love in that way. 1 Peter 1:22 says, "Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart (some early manuscripts say from a pure heart)."
    I purify myself by obeying the truth so that I have sincere love for my brothers (and sisters). Well the truth is about loving my neighbor as myself, regardless. It's about praying for my enemies and showing kindness to those who've hurt me. I should never love people because they deserve it, but because I am loving just as Christ is loving.

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Best moment

    We did alot of teaching. I got to lead devos in front of the DTS class and then preach a sermon to the class and a group of masai women. It's funny because I always wanted to speak to the women..they've been through so much and have so little that just the chance to offer them some hope is something I'd kill for (figuratively speaking, of course haha).
   See, Masai women are seen more as furniture than actual human beings. They are born and raised to believe that they're nothing but an item, a posession. Value is not something they'd normally place on themselves. In fact, in Masai culture women have less value than cattle.
    At a very young age a masai girl is taken out, female-circumcized and given to a man normally about twice her age. It's alright for the man to force himself on her (mutual love and affection between a man and a woman isn't something they understand. We had the first Christian Masai wedding in history out in Ing'Karet about two weeks ago, and right before it took place the young girls out there were sat down and taught what a wedding is and all about how God designed marriage to be. It was amazing). It's also alright for any man in the boma (village) who is around the same age as the girl to force himself on her because when she bears a child it would technically belong to her husband since she's his property.
    These women are beat, neglected and taken advantage of. Some have awful names..like Sin or Death (Can you imagine your parents naming you Sin? Having that name be the first things spoken over you when you were born?). They're taught nothing of they're own beauty and self worth.
    I hope that now you can see a bit of the reason why I'll always kill for the chance to speak a little bit to these women. I don't care if they've heard the word 'loved' a million times after starting the fellowship (church), it's still not enough. Not nearly enough.
    I spoke to them about the woman caught in adultery. I didn't focus so much on her act of adultery as I did on her sin. In the message I asked them to picture themselves in her spot and went into detail about 3 things: herself, her audience, and the man who'd be standing behind her. When I spoke on 'herself' was when I had the women begin imagining themselves in her place. I spoke on sin and what it looks like, how not one person on the planet hasn't sinned (I included scripture on these points) and how what we've earned by our actions is death.
    When I spoke on her audience I asked them to imagine that everyone they've ever hurt was standing in front of them. I asked them to imagine that everything they've ever done was facing them- what would it look like?
    And then I spoke on the man standing behind the woman caught in adultery (Jesus). I talked of God, who He was and how He took on flesh and walked Earth. I talked about His intimacy and His greatness. Then I told them that out of everyone facing them He is the one who loves them the most. But that He's also the one that we've hurt the most because it was His laws that we broke. He created the laws and He designed them with love, for us. That's why He can forgive all of our sins, because they were done against Him first and foremost.
    Then I talked about His last response to the angry crowd: "If any one of you is without sin you may be the first to throw a stone at her." I read them the last few verses that say that everyone left except the two of them: the woman and Jesus.
    I talked about how out of everyone in the whole universe Jesus is the only one who could condemn her (and you and me). But instead He let her go, but the price He paid for that (and us) was His death on the cross...and I went into detail about His death and resurrection and they're opportunity to be saved by believing. Afterwards I awkwardly gave an altar call and it looked like there was no response.
    But the next day we went on a boma walk and my group went to a boma where a few of the women who heard the message the day before were there. One of them accepted Jesus! It was amazing! and she remembered me! Then another woman who wasn't at the fellowship came forward to accept Jesus! It had to be one of the best times in the two weeks we were there. It was incredible.

Funniest Moment

If I thought the squatties in YWAM Arusha were awful, the ones in Ing’Karet were ten times worse. Primarily because we’re such a big group that we all had to do our business in the outside ones. Grosssss…ugh.

We also had to shower in the outside stalls but there is an extreme water shortage so our “showers” consisted of a bucket with five liters of water at most. For anyone reading this who can’t convert, that amounts to VERY LITTLE water. And because it was built in the same hut as the squatties we often came out smelling a bit worse than when we went in.

So one evening while everyone was eating I went out to take a shower (there’s a push-and-shove policy here that leaves very little room for courtesy as I’ve ever learned it before so the only time I have to shower is when everyone else is busy haha). It was still light enough outside that I could see everything up until I stepped into the shower room. I noticed that there were dark shapes on the floor but thought nothing of it. We find rocks in the stalls all the time.

So I started getting my head wet to lather and rinse when all of a sudden I felt this big, heavy rubbery thing start crawling up my foot!! So I screamed and shook whatever it was off. The girls in line for the shower heard me and started freaking out, wondering what was going on, but I was so panicked that I couldn’t say anything. My only thoughts were ‘okay, I saw the thing run over to that corner. I’m over here, it’s over there, I’m just going to rinse my hair and get the heck out of here!’ So I rinsed my hair as fast as I could and unlocked the door and jumped out of the stall.

News Flash: I don’t speak Swahili.

So these poor ladies in line saw me running out of the stall and freaking out but had no idea what I was saying!! After a while of trying to get them to understand I gave up and ran to get my flashlight to see what the rubbery thing on the floor of the stall was, but when I got back to the stall there was NOTHING THERE. Holy crap. I’m pretty sure that I flipped out even more than any of us three could ever have thought possible. By then the ladies had guessed what had happened and were having their own little freak-out party, which made everything that much more hilarious. I’ve never seen either of them laugh so hard. Ever.

Needless to say I went the rest of the two weeks with as minimal shower time as possible.

Worse Moment

On the last day we were all cleaning and packing and getting ready for the bus ride home. I set my Bible and Mp3 player down to mop and both went missing. My bible turned up in another spot but my Mp3 player did not.

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    By the end of the two weeks our team had become more unified and I think we all grew in our relationships with God. It was a very good (and very challenging) two weeks.
    We spent the rest of the first week doing different chores and a few boma walks, then for the next week we had class out there. The teacher was from Kenya and spoke on the wounded heart, rejection and healing.
    At the end of the two weeks we finally came home (back to the base in Arusha) and I don't think any of us could've been happier. I took my first hot (bucket) shower since coming to Africa!! It was absolutely glorious. Cleanliness, for sure, is next to godliness :) At least in my opinion, anyway.
    So I'm glad to be back, but still missing home. Things are hard still, what with the language and culture barriers and all. It's always getting better though. Like my pastor back home always used to say: for the Christian the best is always yet to come :)

Thanks for keeping up to date and may God bless you in your own missionary journeys!
Mungu wako bariki!
(God bless you!)