i took this blog from John Blair. It is hilarious and very true!! Please read and enjoy!
Ok, so I've totally taken this from a compilation of blogs from current and post Racers: Nate Evans, Luann Ulrich, Elizabeth Scaiffe. But this is all just a fun blog that i know everyone will love to read. MOre serious blog to come in a couple of days..Enjoy!!
You know you're a World Racer when...
You have your passport number memorized.
You have more than one type of currency in your wallet.
You know what it's like to be packed in a van or bus with all your stuff.
You're excited to use your tent because you can have your own space.
You get excited when you get to use a toilet that flushes, and you've learned to always carry toilet paper with you.
You have a Chaco/Teva/Flip Flop tan on your feet, and your feet can be so dirty no amount of washing gets them clean.
You can wear the same outfit for days at a time and no one cares.
Taking a shower becomes an as-really-needed basis.
You can find the best American food and WiFi place in any city.
You have Facebook friends from around the world.
You spend a good amount of time in prayer when traveling in Africa or Asia, and you've almost forgotten what side of the road we drive on in America.
The words "feedback" "prefer" "Muzungu" and phrases "are you ok?" "should we talk about it" and "How are you? How are you?" and "You pray, you speak" can never leave or forsake you.
You wonder why no one is staring at you anymore like a celebrity after leaving Africa
You don't get scared anymore when cars and trucks are flying by you on the side of the road really close and any type of transportation speeding is just normal to you.
Four countries in one day (Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines)
Alone time means listening to your Ipod and pretending to be alone.
You've discovered the head lamp is one of the best inventions ever.
You spend way too much money on Cokes because they are cold.
You've embraced peanut butter or Nutella as the most economical and essential food, and you learn that peanut butter is a little different in every country.
Hearing roosters crow at all hours of the night and day is normal.
You never really know what's going on, and you've perfected the act of hurry up and wait.
You've become used to carrying all your stuff in one heavy and over-sized backpack.
You're asked by people, "What are you doing? Where are you going? Who are you with?" and all you can say for the 1,000th time that day is "I don't know" and "Beats me! I'm just going with the flow!"
You see and do things you never before thought possible.
When you stop and think about it, you say "Is this really my life because this is so amazing?!"
- Your least favorite animal is the rooster. Or goat or the winged, dengue carrying spawns of Satan otherwise known as Mosquitos. You have no idea how much I hate those things.
- Driving on the left side of the road has become normal.
- You carry a headlamp with you at all times.
- You have more than three currencies in your purse.
-People wearing calculator watches aren't made fun of. (John Jones!!)
-You have become very good at calculating exchange rates in your head.
-You can't remember the last time you had a hot shower.
-When you become livid or blow up because someone is trying rip you off the equivalent of like 25 cents American.
- Everyone notices when you have a new item of clothing. And literally 9 jazillion people ask you at different times that day, "Is that new?"
- When you're not tenting, you always have at least 3 roommates and sometimes 50. This same amount of people will inevitably share the one bathroom
- You have no problem using the toilet with the bathroom door open, one person in the shower, and three people standing around the sink. (Or you are used to pouring sweat while taking a dump. Thank you Dwarka Sector 8, India!)
-You have actually sweated while taking a shower. (Cambodia/Thailand)
-You crave internet like a bad addiction.
-At any given point of the day you see a man peeing on the side of the road.
- You look for the trash can when you enter the bathroom stall, because it has become the norm for you to dispose your toilet paper in the trashcan.
- You have no problem taking a dump on the side of the road.
- It's hard to remember what there is to eat besides rice. Rice makes up 90% of your diet and in some countries they don't think that you have eaten a meal if you haven't had your rice.
- You have attempted to speak 10 languages over the past year. This often leads to being very good at explaining things with your movements or trying to talk louder. (Or English to English translation - well Fodor at least!)
- 4 countries, 3 continents, 3 days - completely normal.
-You wear the same thing 3-4 days in a row.
- You see a rat or cockroach scurrying through a house, yet you carry on as if it were completely normal.
- You have learned not to ask questions when the water and the electricity shut off - it happens at least once a day in some countries, sometimes for several days at a time.
- Random people ask to take pictures with you...all the time! Or approach you for random conversation. Or stare at you doing normal things like sitting and talking or eating.
- In the middle of dinner, you stop and ask what country you're in.
- You are competent at taking a shower from a bucket of water.
- You have learned the art of washing your laundry by hand.
-You often look at your body and say something like....."Man, that's a wierd looking bump, rash, bruise, bite etc....."
- You carry a roll of toilet paper in your purse because most bathrooms lack that luxury.
- You have ridden more modes of transportation than you ever knew existed.
- You have learned to adapt to anything.
- A 10 hour bus ride is a light travel day.
-You have a lot of crap that takes up a lot of room.
-You devour everything like a swarm of locusts. Especially toilet paper, water, food etc...
- You find a favorite restaurant and just dominate/abuse it as an entire squad for the entire month you are there. Especially if it has wireless internet.(Ex: Hotel Princessa, Yellow Rose of Texas, Tuesdays, Rustic Tavern, The Coffee place in India, Corner 33)
-If you hear the phrases "Speak Life" or "Rise Up" one more time you will snap!
-You actually get exited about eating Mcdonalds.
-You know a goat sounds eerily like a crying human being (Kenya!!).
-Girls outnumber guys like 47 to 1.
-You watched an animal killed in the morning then ate it for lunch that same day.
-You can't remember the last time you were alone.
-You don't remember what it's like to not sweat all the time.
-You either hate or love Thai massages.
-Any tourist type day is a reason to take like 3,000 pictures. And usually the main thing you enjoyed
-You have fallen asleep listening to a lion roar.
-You contract a new disease that you have never heard of before.
-You have to take a cold shower before you can fall asleep.
-You have watched more Soccer then you thought humanly possible.
-You have seen your bus cause tidal waves that have destroyed people's houses.
-You understand worship at some churches can last hours. Or it is a cardio-vascular workout. Or your hands actually chap/peal b/c you have clapped so much (Tanzania)
-You dread the thought of packing up all your crap again.
-Your Therma-rest is your most treasured possession in life.
-Milk always tastes at least a little bit funky.
-You have forgotten what it's like to have full and/or normal health.
-Your comfortable with eating 1 or 2 or maybe no actual meals in a day or have two lunches in a matter of one hour.
-You have eaten breakfast rolls harder then cement.
- Your main topic of conversation at dinner is the current solidity of your bowel movement.
Arriving Home
If they come to your house, its perfectly normal to hear...
"Can I drink this water?"
"So, is it cool to flush the TP here...?"
"There wasn't a name on it, so I used it. Hope that's ok."
"Hey do you care if I borrow your toothbrush, I left mine at home."
Routine behaviors that might raise an eyebrow, but are perfectly normal ...
Excessive trips to the free refill counter, accompanied with lots of slurping and an excited "Ok, really, last trip...I promise. This is so much fun!!"
Instead of folding clothes into drawers, they are rolled tightly, military style (and MIGHT be stored in ziploc bags too)
Every month, clothes are tossed out, with the simple explanation of "It weighs too much. Get rid of it!!"
Constant blogging.
Guzzling gallons of iced tea at record pace.
Bargaining with the store clerks at Wal-Mart.
The offer to do your logistics for the family vacation.
The inability to stay in one place very long.
Gleeful laughing and clapping at the sight of a clothes dryer.
The insistence that another international trip must be planned quickly because "I still have 3 blank pages in my passport!"
Hand-sanitizing.
They're really not kidding when they say...
"Sorry, officer... I really didn't realize 10 people in one car was such a problem."
"Who wants to climb that waterfall and jump off with me?"
"How much will you pay me to eat this bug?"
"I haven't showered in, like, 3 days. I just didn't think about it."
"There's one brownie left. Let's arm-wrestle for it."
"That looks so gross. Let's taste it!"
Be patient when they say...
"$10 ?! I'm not paying that. In China, its only $2."
"When I was in the Philippines...."
"Oh my gosh, when we were in Swaziland..."
"Well, in Cambodia..."
"Ha, that's nothing. When we were in Thailand..."
"Yeah...when I was on the World Race..."
"Plan? No. Let's just figure it out when we get there."
You'll notice they're very resourceful...
"What's our budget?"
"Refried beans? Spaghetti noodles? Spinach?...Yeah, I can definitely make a meal with this."
"Just squish in!! Last time, we fit 10 people in one of these."
"Want me to ask those random people to give us a ride?"
"Toilet paper? Yeah, sure. I have a roll in my pocket."
Okay, I went ahead and just posted the whole Uganda ministry blog in one. I know it's long, but it is worth the read!...
So, Going into Uganda, I had no idea what to expect. I didn't know much about Uganda at all and we didn't find out where we were going for our ministry until the night before we left.
Most of you that read this will either not believe me, think I'm crazy or ask "what in the heck!?" And, hey I am still processing through the whole thing too so all I can do is share with you what went on...
So, Uganda... To say the least, it was the most crazy, most intense, most "what the heck is going on" and most exhausting month of my life! As I look back, I am very thankful for what God has shown me and how He has grown me through it... Some things I will share and some things I wont. And, like I said, some people won't believe me and/or some people will think I am crazy, but I know what I have seen and I know what I have experienced and so it is what it is.
To begin, our ministry was with Macindi Dioceses. When we arrived we found out that we would be going deep into the bush of the East African Rift Valley to places that have never seen Mazungus or white people... We get excited because this is one of the reasons we signed up for this trip, to go places others don't want to go and bring Gods Kingdom to the ends of the earth! They continue telling us about the ministry and come to find out, we are basically going on a village tour! Every two or three days, we are packing up everything and going to another village. We were kind of excited about that, but thinking it's going to be rather exhausting...
We start our excursion onto our first village and I am talking way out into the bush. Put it this way, we didn't even need to go on a safari, because we practically lived on the safari land.. Warthogs, Monkeys, Gazelles, Impalas and Baboons everywhere!!! We didn't see any Cobras, but they said they were all over the place and that if we were to see one, run away fast! Lol Which I believed they were everywhere because everyone of their jymbays were made with cobra skin. And as for Lions, our contact and I went down the road to talk with some people about future ministry. On our way back a woman advises us not to take a certain road because a bunch of people just spotted a group of lions... Great, the sun is setting. Therefore it's feeding time and not to mention the road she was talking about happened to be the road we were taking... So, I am on the back of a motorcycle flying down the road and hanging on for dear life in Africa, where the roads are treacherous and there is a pack of lions that are spotted on the prowl for a delicious meal!... It was a little crazy!!
We arrive at our 1st village... I forgot to mention Emily caught Malaria and her and Bek stayed back in the town so Emily could get a few shots.. To begin our ministry, our team is down two people and we are at our first village! It's incredible, people are wonderful! As soon as we drove up a huge group of them welcomed us, with drums, singing and dancing!.. It was the best welcoming I have ever received!! The first place we stay at was beautiful! Fruits and Vegetables growing everywhere, Pineapples, Bananas, Oranges, Papaya, Tapioca, Potatoes, Tomatoes, Corn, Sugar, etc... and right in the middle were four very nice mud houses and that was home for the next couple of nights! Unfortunately, you don't sleep to well when you wake up in the middle of the night to smack roaches and/or spiders that are crawling on you... Continuing on, we find out that we are doing house visits every morning and preaching and crusades every night. we also learned that 40% of the people throughout these villages are Cannibals. Imagine having that in the back of your head that as you are walking from mud house to mud house to sit and talk with these people there is an almost 50/50 chance that the people you are talking with are cannibals. As well as the most common religion is witchcraft and they do human sacrifices. And, just a few days before we arrived, which I wont get into any details and I am going to say this as politely as I can, there was a sacrifice and the guy who performed the sacrifice was banned from the village... That's it, no jail, no punishment, nothing but banned from the village.. That is the information we learn the first few days we arrive... 40% are cannibals and witchcraft is extremely common and they do perform human sacrifices and one just happened a couple days ago... That will smack you right in the face, tell you to wake up and get your game face on, because this was no joke! This is a war and we are at the front lines. Which I am coming to learn that when demons, Satan or witchcraft gets thrown out there, my chest starts to pound and my spirit gets pumped ready for war and TRUTH just starts coming out! So, I am not scared, but it does creep me out... I mean seriously, this is crazy... We do door to door every morning and crusades in the evening and night which run until midnight or even later. It is exhausting and when you have to use double translation everywhere you go that is tough too... Because by the time you say something, the first translator translates it, then the second translator translates it by the time it comes back to you, you almost forget what you were going to say...
So, we continue on through our journey to other villages. One of the first villages we come to, it starts out the same. House visits and crusades... The mood and spiritual climate here is extremely intense... The first night we were there, we have a crusade and it goes until 2:30am!... Only come to find out when we woke up the next morning, a man, his wife and his kid were locked and trapped in their mud house and some guy set the house on fire. Thank God the family survived! This happened less than 20 yards away from where we were sleeping... Later on that day a woman comes running up to us to ask us to come to her house and pray for her sister who is possessed and she is freaking out. Guess what, the house was right next door to the house that was burned down.. . I have never seen any demon possession nor did I really believe in it. However like I said, I know what I have seen and I know what I have experienced through all this. We prayed for this woman for about 3 ½ hours and delivered her and then she prayed to accept Jesus Christ the Living God! It was exhausting, but thank you Lord! I know most of you that are reading this are going, "what the heck" and hey I understand, but those of you that know me, know that I don't lie or say anything just to say something. (ok, as I am writing this I am thinking everyone is going to think I am crazy, because the events only get more crazy...)
Anyways, then that evening we put on another crusade and as we put on a movie the Gospel of Luke, we get attacked by bugs!... When I say attacked I mean attacked, there were literally 1000s and 1000s of them, they swarmed us so much that all the girls started freaking out and running, by then all I could do was laugh because it was kind of funny, but as I was laughing they were flying into my mouth, it was disgusting... Then, I immediately started praying and claiming authority in Jesus Christ and I kid you not, within seconds, they were gone... Afterwards we all started laughing, because it was kind of funny. I started talking with Jordan that this is freaking crazy, what is going on today... I began to tell him that once the bugs began to fly in my mouth, I had enough and just started praying and claiming authority and right about then when I said that we sat down. We both put our feet on the sand ground (because that is what they have there, sand ground) and there were bugs everywhere, we turned on our head lamps and there were thousands and thousands of dead moths and bugs all over on the ground.. It was nuts... Then the next couple of nights, I couldn't sleep, I'd wake up in the middle of the night pouring sweat, then 15minutes later wake up freezing cold, crazy dreams and nightmares every night, one night I kept waking up and getting a picture of a black snake crawling around and come to find out everyone is in the other room praying over one of the girls because she woke up in the middle of the night feeling like someone kept punching her, even when she awoke, she kept feeling the same thing... I am telling you, it was crazy and intense...
So we continue, as we left each village they would put on a little show, with their local traditions and dances and they were all very cool! We were about mid way through this month, our whole team has not been together because we have had a few sicknesses, with Malaria, stomach bugs and who knows what else, except that the girls were extremely sick and I wont get into details with that either.. But, we had to send a few of them back into town because it got pretty bad... and at one point we decided as a team to come together because half the team was in town sick while the rest of us were way out in the bush and one thing about my team, is we are a unit, a solid unit that brings love, Kingdom, encouragement and we are there for one another for anything! I love my team! My team is the ultimate picture of what God wants in community and what community is supposed to be like! We decide to ride back into town and meet up with the rest of the girls to decide if we were going to continue with ministry in the villages or stay together as a unit and have to end ministry early. Three of the girls whom are not feeling well are stay back in town at an American missionaries house. Her name is Janine Legrand and she was absolutely awesome!!! Janine, I hope you are reading this because you are such a blessing to us! And, since Austin and Krissy were with us for the last half of the month, we would go back and finish the ministry.
As, I never thought a welcoming could be better than drums, singing, dancing and food as we normally receive when we arrive to these villages! One of the last villages we visit, they actually built us a brand new mud house for us to stay in for the one night, we would be there! How awesome is that! Unfortunately, as soon as we show up, guess what "Another one bites the dust!" yup.. Bek gets extremely sick for a couple days... We continue on with our double translation house visits and crusades until late hours of the night... As we did house visits, we prayed for people with leprosy, people with fungus that are eating away at their fingers and toes, pray for deliverance, for healing, you name we prayed for it! We actually led a funeral and that was crazy... Because, in these villages, they don't have tombs and like I said, I won't get into any details, but it smelt horrible... We preached and preached and preached until we could preach no more.. And, one preacher, Margie spoke so much truth and she hadn't even made it through her introduction and this woman starts freaking out! They say that she is possessed and they begin praying for her. She gets delivered and prays to accept Christ! We tell Margie, that's the best sermon ever, because she spoke so much truth in less than a couple minutes and someone gets delivered and saved!! How awesome is that!
This is just a little glimpse of our ministry in Uganda. So, you can imagine that my whole team and myself are still processing a lot of what happened. Because for every one of us, this was all new. It was all things you hear of, see on TV, or read about, but now it became reality. Some things we can no longer deny... Some might still question "What the heck?" but it is what it is. All we can do is ask our Amazing Father in Heaven to continue to show us what He wants us to learn so that we can continue to grow into the man, woman, son, daughter, warrior or princess that He wants us to be for His Kingdom! Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Strength, health, wisdom, love, joy, boldness, truth, patience, I can go on and on so anything and everything that comes from God, we want it all and we ask for your prayers for us! Thank you and God Bless!!
Ok, so this past month has been crazy busy and we have just now
arrived somewhere with good internet connection. I condensed the month
of Uganda into just a few blogs and believe me you don't want to miss
out on what happened there! Uganda was the most extreme month so far
regarding everything: ministry, days off, team, sickness and just
life...
To begin the month, our squad had it's debrief in
Jinja, Uganda where we camped right next to the Nile River! It was
absolutely amazing!!! First biblical thing I have ever seen, imagine this is the river Moses floated up... so I was
stoked the whole time! Also, we had the opportunity to bunji jump
into the Nile River and/or white water raft up the Nile River, which is
what I did and it was ridiculous!! The ratings for classes in Africa
are no where near the same as they are in the states!.. The class 5 and
5+ that we rafted would be class 6 or 7 back home in the states... It was incredible!!!
While in Jinja we learned of some new team changes. One of which was my team, team Malachi.
We had our 1st team change.. It was a complete mix of emotions. We lost Jake after spending every single day together for seven months across seven countries. It was sad and strange for him to not be on the team... However, he is with a great team and God is doing big things in his life! Our team additions were Jordan Drake and Bek Conley. Both whom are awesome! Jordan and I became real good friends from the beginning at training camp. We both stepped into big freedom that God had wanted for us for a long time. He's like a younger brother whom I respect very much and I couldn't have been more excited to have him on our team! As for Bek, I didn't know much about her, except her Dad is a Pastor, she is from HB, California (one of the places I call home) and not to mention she has surrendered everything to serve God across the world, so she is flat out awesome too!!!
So, I will post Uganda blog in 2 or 3 different blogs, like I said it was the craziest month of all and you probably won't believe half of what I share with you!..
So I think I can assume that you have already
watched the video and now have heard Mildred's story. My team and I
met Mildred and Samuel last month in Bungoma one day while we were
visiting homes in the area. We were deeply impacted by her situation
and struggle. As we are trying to live out the verses in Isaiah 58:
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
We saw an opportunity to provide a widow and her son with a home. Not
even that, but just having shelter to live in on the land will provide
her the ability to farm and earn provisions for herself and her son. As
we have sought to share the Gospel and as we preach, here we were
presented with an opportunity to live it out. As James says, "Show me
your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do."
So we are looking to raise $1400
to build a house. Only $1400 dollars and Mildred and Samuel will have a
home and a life. Please, please join with us and be a part of
physically living out the Gospel.
If you are interested please email me at Jake.Kennedy.Mail@gmail.com
Below is a
breakdown of what the costs will be for the construction. We have
decided to raise a little more and make it an even $1400 in case of any
unforeseen costs. If anything Mildred and Samuel will be blessed with
whatever is left over:
So, we don't get much internet time here in Africa so I will be short in this blog, but give you an update of some things that are going on!...
First, please keep all of our teams in your prayers! These past few months, there has been a lot of warfare, attacks, sickness and etc going on... We had a couple of our squad mates go back home to the states because some health issues... A few other squad mates and team mates have been in and out of the hospitals due to typhoid, malaria, pnuemonia, etc... And most recently, we had a team have their gate busted through, door knocked down and then held at gun point and had everything taken from them... But, by the grace and protection of our LORD Jesus Christ they were not harmed. Thank You Lord! But, please pray for protection for all of us! Protection for our physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, everything, we need to be surrounded in prayer and if you could right now, just take a moment and pray for us! Thank you!
A few other things, God is moving in big ways here in Tanzania! People are coming to Christ and I had the great privelege to lead 3 Muslim ladies in prayer to ask Jesus Christ into their lives! It was absolutely amazing!! Also, we have met with orphanages, with 100s of kids, that light up when they see us, not because of us, but because of people like you back home who pray for them and support them. When these kids see us, they see you, the people that support them! They are incredible, full of life, energy, love, joy they have been such a blessing to my team and myself!! Also, we have met and helped with local HIV groups, mentally handicap youth groups and widows! In regards to ministry, this month has been such a blessing! Thank you all for your prayers, support and encouragement because it has been much needed!
TIA,
This is Africa! 31 hour African bus ride from Bungoma, Kenya to
Morogoro, Tanzania!... Interesting couple of days!...
So,
we start on an 8hour bus ride which turns out to be a little over
9hours from Bungoma, Kenya to Nairobi, Kenya to meet up with the rest
of our squad and then catch another bus in the morning for Dar es
Salem, Tanzania!.. 31hour bus ride, people trying to con us, take
advantage of us, trying to steel things, etc... It was crazy and
awesome!
Well,
we leave Bungoma, Kenya on the 29th
on our way to Nairobi. Things were good, we were only delayed just
over an hour, so it was a 9hour trip. When we get to Nairobi, I go
to get a taxi and stand there with about 7kenyans trying to
overcharge us for a taxi and I continue to say no and finally walk
off and as I walk off, they finally agree with my price and so we go
to our Hostel to meet everyone... We are there at the hostel and they
tell us that the bus in the morning will be there at 6am ready to
leave, which it doesn't show up until about 830, so we are way
behind schedule... This ride was crazy!...
We
are packed in and over half of the trip is on dirt roads... and since
we are already running so late we Dale Ernheart Jr. driving and we
are flying across these roads!!! He finally decides to stop and we
are litterally on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere,
where it looks like what you would picture Africa to look like, dry,
dirt, sand, little dried out bushes and very few tree's, and this
is where we stop to go the restroom, a bus full of about 50people on
the side of the road, out in the open, going the rest room... Then as
I said we were on dirt roads, every one of us on the bus was covered
in dirt, I mean covered in dirt... my shorts were no longer Khacki,
they were literally dirt orange... and as soon as we would try and
dust it off, we would be covered again... As we arrive at the border
of Kenya and Tanzania, we were told that the Visa's were $50 USD or
4000 Kenya Shillings per person, so we pulled out just enough Kenya
shillings for each person, so we wouldn't have extra Kenya
Shillings coming into Tanzania, b/c they always cheat you on the
conversion rate... So, we are at the immigration counter and the lady
tells me it's 100USD or 8000KSH per person!... I am like what!? We
just called and they told us it was only 50USD/4000KSH... So, I try
talking with the lady and come to find out, only for US and Ireland
citizens, it's 100USD and for everyone else it's only $50USD...
So, keep in mind, these borders are practically desolate, and the bus
driver tells us to be careful b/c there are tons and tons of conmen
trying to con people for something.. So, it's 8000KSH we have 37 of
us Racers... So, a few of us walk back across the border to Kenya to
withdrawel the money b/c we can't withdrawel that much money with
only one card and I come back to the counter and now I am counting
out 296,000 Kenya Shillings at the immigration counter and the lines
are looking at me like I am crazy... So, we get everyone's passport
and I give her 37passports and 296,000 Shillings and she disappears
in the back... Finally an hour later she comes back and gives me our
passports.. So,not only were we running late before but now we are
even much later and the bus driver is not too happy... So, we load up
and b/c we are running so late, he only stops once for us for
15minutes for the rest of the trip!... Every place that we were
supposed to stop, he just drover straight through!... It was
hilarious!... Finally, we arrive in Dar es Salem, Tanzania just after
3am which we were supposed to arrive by midnight.. So, everyone is
exhausted, hungry and not to mention covered in layers of dirt... and
three of the teams are leaving on another bus at 5am...
So,
we load up onto some smaller private taxi buses that a contact of a
contact arranged for us to get to the hotel for the night.. Everyone
is practically half asleep and my bus is just about to leave a random
guy tries to get on our bus and one of the Tanzania contact guys
practically fights him out the door and shuts the door... Next thing
I now, I look up and see the guy standing right outside my side of
the vans window and the girls have their windows open... as soon as I
see him, I look at Bek a squadmate who is in the window seat and she
is half asleep and has her purse sitting on her lap and as I look up
the guy, I see him look at her purse and go for it and I wish I could
say it was my lightning quick reflexis, but by the power and wisdom
of the Holy Spirit my hand beat his hand and his hand landed on my
hand, so I pulled her purse, pushed his hand off and pushed him back
out the window and she slammed the window shut!... Talk about getting
awake and alert! Thank you Lord!! It was crazy, but now kind of
awesome!
Ok,
so we arrive at the hotel, and instead of 240,000 Tanzania shillings
they are charging us 300,000 for the taxi's because we were so
late, now they have to stay around the hotel now too since they are
taking three teams in less than two hours at 5am to the bus stop...
So it's in the middle of the night, just got to Tanzania,
everything just happened at the bus stop and another finance person
and I are on our way to an ATM to pull out 800,000 Tanzania shillings
for the buses and for the teams that have to leave in less than 2hrs
for their next bus tickets to their destination.. Kind of a little
sketchy...wasn't really the most comfortable time... lol Finally,
we get back to the hotel, pay for the buses and then split the money
for the teams that are leaving. I go to pay for our 13rooms and they
don't take credit cards... So.. Now it's almost 4am and I am
exhausted... They say I can run to the ATM in the morning to get more
money... So, finally I go to my room, take a shower and for some
reason cant really sleep b/c of everything going on.. So, morning
comes and I get up about 7:30am and walk to the ATM to withdrawel
another 400,000 TSH... I get back to the hotel to pay and instead of
charging us 51,000TSH per room like they said, they are charging us
90,000TSH per room, so here we go again!... I am not paying that. So
I talked to the contact lady and she starts talking with the hotel
people and comes out with if we would have paid last night they would
have been able to only charge us 51,000 per night and now that the
owner is here and sees that we are American we are getting the
American price.. I am still not paying that price. Finally almost 1
½ hours later, there is an agreement of 60,000 per room... We pay
that and we are running late to catch our buses, we were supposed to
leave at 9am to catch our buses at 12pm and it is 1045.... Everyone
loads up and meanwhile the contact lady tells me that she is charging
100USD for her services!... Which is crazy!.. We don't even get
$100USD for something like this in the states!... So, again I am not
paying that... While I am talking to these people, to figure out what
is going on, b/c everything is much more expensive than we agreed on...
We arrive at the bus station and miss our first bus... Which turned
out better b/c the 2nd
bus was much nicer!! Lol
So,
finally we eventually make it to Morogoro, Tanzania and as we
unload, people swirm us and start yelling at us...whether it's
trying to sell us something, yelling out a taxi, singing, dancing,
you name it!... There is no such thing as personal space in Africa...
Not all the girls, but most of the girls were a little freaked out
and very uncomfortable... There were four of us guys and 15 girls so
us guys post up on 4corners around them and try to watch over them
and the bags, it was just crazy!!! Finally, our contacts show up and
we load up, go our own ways to our ministry locations in Morogoro,
Tanzania where we will be for the month!! Crazy and Intense couple
of days!!! I was exhausted! But, all in all, it was an awesome
experience and I love it!!!
We have been in Kenya for two weeks now and just over a week in Bungoma! Our ministry here has been such a blessing and God is soooo Good!!! One of my favorite ministries is still "house visits!" and today God has taught me another lesson! A lesson that seems to be repeating, because for some reason I can never get it through my thick skull!! (as my mother always says!) hahaha
So, we are doing home visits today. The first couple homes we come to, they are believers and it's great!! We talk with them, laugh, joke, pray and have a great time!! So we continue on down the road to another little house and the moment we walk up, it felt very strange and something didn't sit right at all... The people kept lying to us, about God, salvation, themselves.... I shared the gospel with a lady who claimed she was a Christian and the moment I finished she got up and just walked off... Then, a few of them said they didn't need or want any prayer. and when we were leaving they began to shout at us for not staying and praying with them, it was very strange and very discouraging...
THEN!!!!!
We continue on down the road and come to a few more little house. When we walk up, there are three people sitting there and Margie, Brook and our translator begin talking with them. To be honest, I'm still bothered and kind of in a daze with what happened, I didn't really want to say anything and just figured I would pray quietly and let Margie and Brook do all the talking this time... So, as they are talking, we find out none of them are believers and both Margie and Brook turn to me and basically say 'John speak" (lol) So, as we start talking with them and sharing the Good News, people just start walking up and now there are about 10people sitting around... It was awesome, they didn't come and interupt or anything, they just came, sat down and started listening... To make a long story short, they all wanted to pray to accept Christ as their Savior!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was awesome!!! Satan knew what was around the corner, hearts that were prepared and ready to ask Jesus Christ into their lives and satan tried what he could to silence the Good News, but God is Good and as long as we persevere and surrender to Him, His will will be done and His Kingdom will be glorified!!!!! Amen!!!!!
Thank you for all your support and prayers and not to mention all the birthday wishes!!!
I just wanted to send a quick update. So far, Kenya is awesome and the weather is perfect!!! We have been in Kenya for about a week and we had our squad debrief in Nairobi. My team and I are now in Bungoma, Kenya where our ministry for the month will be! We have been here for a couple days and we begin our ministry tomorrow! I am extremely excited! This month is full of different ministry options that our contact Bishop Emanuel is allowing us to take part in! We will be part of around 10 different church services from all over the area, house visits, sports activities, medical missions, physical labor, street kids, youth group, prayer walks and a few others I can't think of right now, so please be praying for the whole community of Bungoma, for my team and myself and for Philip(local Kenyan) our contact who will be with us for the whole month while we are here! Thank you again for all your prayers and support! God Bless!
Here is a short video my team member Jake created for our ministry here in Thailand. Please take a few minutes to watch it! This ministry has really touched my heart and these girls are absolutely incredible! They are beautiful kids, girls and young ladies who's lives were literally saved from being sold into human trafficking and prostitution. I can't tell you enough how much of a blessing this month has been to our squad and myself! Please continue to be praying for them and this ministry! If you have any questions, concerns or comments, please reply or email me and I would be glad to chat with you about anything! Thank you! God Bless!
