Home, Sweet Nairobi :)

We are back home... to Nairobi, that is :)
We have had a wonderful two weeks in Tanzania. It was a great two weeks for ministry in Arusha and Dar es Saalam and it was a great two weeks for our team too. Our first week was spent in Arusha, but the excitement started on the way there. We took public transportation there, which was different than the other trips we have taken, and our traveling started about 6:30 am. It was about a 6 hour trip total... shortly after we crossed over to Tanzania our bus slid into a ditch because the roads were really narrow. No one was hurt and with about 20 men pushing and a good bus driver, we were out of the ditch and back on the road in about 20 minutes.. not bad. The hotel that we stayed at in Arusha was called 7-11 it was wonderful, but no slushies.. haha. The first day we spent in Arusha was a rest day for our team and we decided to visit the nearby Maasai villages. This turned out to be one of my favorite days. Our first stop we went to was a homestead. There was a single mother who had 7 children that lived in a small one-room hut. Her mother lived in the same homestead and was the wife of a husband who had 9 other wives, who lived nearby. The smallest child, to the single mother was named Joshua. She asked me if I wanted to hold him and there is no way that I would pass the chance of holding that sweet child, he was precious! While I was holding him, his mother asked if I could take him home with me because she had little money to take care of him and his 6 other siblings... talk about heart breaking.. I wish I could have. From there we went to another village and this one village belonged to one man. This man had 60 wives.. the village was made up of all of his different wives. As we walked through the village there were three children that followed us the whole way. Jessica, one of the children, held my hand the entire time.. she was a very sweet girl and as we were leaving she called me her friend. That might not sound significant, but it meant the world to me. It was a great day to just minister through our presence and make new friends along the way. The next day we started our ministry in the church there in Arusha. Devon and I led the children again and had a blast doing it. We taught them the meanings of the different colors of the salvation bracelets and then gave them all one, they love the bracelets because they get to take them home with them! We also taught the story of Noah and Jonah while we were there and played many different games and had fun blowing bubbles!! It was a great time in Arusha and we could definitely see God's love while we were there and it was great to share it as well.
After a week in Arusha we traveled to Dar es Saalam. When we got to Dar es Saalam, you could tell that our team was just kind of burnt out.. we have been taveling all over Kenya and now Tanzania basically doing the same thing everywhere we went. We had a couple of days that were supposed to be rest days so we decided to take a trip to Zanzibar. This was probably one of the best decisions that we could have made. It was not only one of the beautiful places that I have seen, but it was a great time to just really relax and take a break and just enjoy God's lovely creation. That trip was great for our team because we really just had time as a team, aside from planning lessons or sermons.. it allowed us to just spend time with each other. We spent one night and two days in Zanzibar beore we headed back to Dar es Saalam. When we got to Dar es Saalam we were ready to start a ministry there. Devon and I worked with the children for two of the days and then on the third day Devon spent the day at the hotel because she was preparing a sermon for Sunday. Devon and I shared with them the story of Noah and Jonah and then on the day I was by myself, I taught them the colors of the salvation bracelets and gave them each one. On Sunday, Devon and I worked with the children again and this time we taught them a lesson on the fruits of the spirit. I really love working with the children... they look up to us so much and they are always filled with love and joy... and we cant help but love them back.
The trip back to Dar es Saalam started very, very early... we left our hotel at 530 to head towards town. Our bus left at 630 and it took us 14 hours to get back to Nairobi. I finished two books, Cry, the Beloved Country and Captivating... and then I started The Swiss Family Robinson... haha. It was a long trip.. but it was fun. When we got back to Nairobi we stoped at this place that had different resturants.. chicken inn, pizza inn and creamy inn.. probably the best invention ever. We ate dinner and then went back to the compound, settled in and then went to bed. It was a great two weeks in Tanzania and I already miss the people that I got to meet and that I grew to love.