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Published: March 30th 2008
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Life in Tanzania!! I can not even begin to tell about it all. Its the love, the joy, the amazement and the sadness all in one. The love of the country and of the people. The love of holding a baby and the feeling you get when she looks at you with her beautiful eyes. The love of sharing the word of God with someone one and the willingness they have to listen. The joy of a new church getting started and watching it grow and mature. The joy of teaching Bible stories to children and to see the excitement they have in hearing the story of Jonah and Noah’s ark. The amazement of Mount Kilimanjaro as the sun sets behind its majesty. The amazement of the Ngorongoro Crater as you look out of your window to see the beautiful sunrise in the early morning. The sadness…the sadness of seeing the poverty of the people everywhere that you go. The sadness of having to put down a little orphan as she looks at you with longing eyes, hoping you will come back. The sadness of children begging for food and money outside your car window and knowing that there is more
Mt. Kilimanjaro
This is what I get to see when I wake up every morning! to do than you can conquer in a day. The sadness of looking into the eyes of a person who has so little, yet they want to give so much.
It is difficult to tell you everything that has happened since I have been here and my feelings towards it all. But there are a couple of people that I want to share with you.
Her name is Abigail and she is a very close friend of mine and she is an amazing translator. She helps me during my lessons and we love to sit down and talk after a sucessful day of door knocking and Bible studies together. She is a single mom and trying to raise a little 9yr old boy named Maxi. She is always there to help translate no matter what she may have already had planned for that day. She called one afternoon and asked to have us over for supper the next night. After I was done eating she asked me to come and look at her house. As I walked through the door behind her, it took everything inside of me to not start crying. This woman, who I love and
Me and Gracie eating dinner in front of Abigail
She had borrowed neighbors furniture and put it in the yard for us to eat there hold so close to my heart is living in a 10x10 room. The only furniture she owns is one tiny bed for her and Maxi to share. She was so excited that I got to see where she lived and the only thing I could do was walk away and cry. As I sat there crying many thoughts were running through my head. But the one thought that helped me, was knowing how good of a Christian woman she is. Though she might not have all the physical things that this life has to offer. I know the spiritual life that she leads will bring forth more riches and glory than anyone could ever give. But to hear her desccribe her home, it is amazing and wonderful, not because of the building the size the walls or the furniture but because of the neighbors, the people, within the gates that live near her and help her out so much with raising her son alone. It goes to show you that not only is the saying the church is bigger than the four walls in which you worship, but the home as well is also much greater than the walls in
which we live. Do our homes get looked at in the same way, as a community rather than a building? I think sometimes we limit ourselves to the joys that God has in store for our lives by building up those walls.
Then there is Mama Lima’s Orphanage that we go to visit and teach Bible lessons at least once a week. As you drive up to it all you can see are about 50 little kids running out to see you and touch you and hold your hand. One day when we walked in we were playing with all the kids and Chad, one of the guys from the Texas group, pointed out a little girl sitting in the corner. Her name is Happy and she is 2yrs old. She was afraid of any white person that came up to here and of course I could not let that happen. So for that whole week we were there I worked on getting her to like me. One day after we got done passing out the candy, we were sitting and watching the kids play. Then I felt a little hand on my back and when I turned around
Me and Happy
All these pictures of Happy are of the day that I was telling about in my blog. I saw Happy, looking at me with the cutest little smile on her face. She sat down next to me, held out her little hand and wanted to share her candy with me. It was then that I began to cry. To see her, wanting to sit with me and wanting to share the little bit of candy that she had with me, cut me to the heart. I sat there and held her in my lap until it was time to leave. I carried her back to the building to put her down. As we drove away I turned to look back and there she was, still holding her candy and waving bye to me. The next day we arrived Happy was there all smiles again and when everyone walked up Happy was soaked in her own urine. As I came along I swooped her up and hugged evey inch of her. People began to warn me that she was wet and it would get on my clothes. But my clothes were the least of my worries because the look I got from Happy when I picked her up made everything perfect. I would rather hold her while she
was soaked than not get to hold that precious little girl at all.
It is people like Abigail and kids like Happy that make me look at my life through different eyes. To see all the things that God has so richly blessed me with and be truly thankful for them. I am blessed in more ways than I can count. I have a wonderful family and great friends who love and support me. I can not thank you all enough for everything you have done!!
In Christian Love,
Callie
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Jaime
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I love it I hope we get t go back soon. I think I would like to go to Moshi to see the orphanage. Give all those little ones a hug for me love jaime