"I don't know half you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve...I regret to announce that this the end. I am going. I am leaving now. Good bye." These were some of the words from a very famous Hobbit at his eleventy-one birthday to his friends, family, and people he had to invite (don't worry, none of you fall into this last category).   I have now been on the World Race for 7 months, and Monday was my last day. I am sure this will come as a shock to some of you, as it did myself (well, sort of) but do to various reasons it has been decided it is time for me to go home. It is something I am still trying to process, and it may take a while for me to fully do so. It seems weird to be sitting here in the Washington airport waiting to go home to MI and not be on my way to Nepal. 

                My dearest teammate Sarah reminded me that like Frodo who had to leave the fellowship expectantly to go onto Mt. Doom, I too have a purpose in going home. I am not yet sure what that is, but I am sure I will discover it soon enough. Thankfully, like Frodo, I am not going home alone as I have God with me and of course all my friends and family waiting for me only a few hours away.

                Thank you all for your prayers, support and love--I could not have gotten this far without them. This season of my pilgrimage has come to an end, but a new season is waiting for me around the next bend.

                It is 12:30 and we are on the bus waiting to leave for the bush. Our translators are not there, and it is crowded with people yelling and pushing. We are trying to think of how to stop the bus if our translators do not show up. They finally do, thankfully. It is now 2:05 and we are finally pulling out to leave, of course our translator is off the bus getting something so he runs after us. Two minutes later the bus stops for gas, again, in typical African fashion of being prepared. The bus ride is supposed to take 1 ½ hours and there is no room for our legs and it is quite uncomfortable.   The bus seems to stop every few minutes to cram more people on just as you think there is no more room.

                By 4 pm we arrive at the town (I still do not know the name of it). It is surrounded by the Highlands of Tanzania and corn and sunflowers fill the fields everywhere you look.   It turns out the pastor couldn't get ahold of our contact in the village and we had to wait a long time for her to come. Of course when the pastor came, her house was about 100 yards from where we sat. The house is a small 4 room brick house with dirt and cement floors. Theresa and my room had the dirt floor and two chickens roasting in it (I am surprised we didn't wake up to chicks one day). The room smelled of dirt and was very stuffy, but had a roof that didn't leak.

                Day one of ministry: We do some door to door visiting the local church members. We talk to them and encourage them, pray for them, etc. We went to the local hospital to pray for the patients. The doctor walks up to us and greets us, and starts walking to where the patients stay. We get to a room, and he looks confused. Theresa and me look at each other, wondering what is going on...he turns to us and says "I forgot, there are no patients other than this woman who was just dropped off here." She is a 37 year old woman who is suffering with HIV in its later term. She has a 7year old child looking after her, while the other 3 are off at school or are being taken care of by another family. The doctor says she can't take the medicine because she doesn't have food...we prayed for her, and she broke down in tears saying she had no one. Theresa gently washed her feet off with baby wipes.

                Day two of ministry: We had a two hour church service, the shortest one yet! Theresa and I were asked to sing a song, so we got up and sang one. At one point I almost lost it because a herd of goats, cows and donkeys walked by outside the door. Each of us preached, and things went fairly well.

                We went and visited a man who we led to Christ the previous day.   When we got up there, he said that he was in a lot of pain from his knees down, and couldn't feel his feet so he couldn't come to church. He stood to greet us, and you could tell he was in a lot of pain. We prayed for him, and when we were done Theresa asked how his legs were feeling. He looked up at us and stood up and eagerly walked about 10 feet with a huge grin on his face proclaiming that he could feel his feet!

                Next, we went to another woman's house next to a mosque. She was led to Christ by our translator, and she said she wanted prayers because her head and chest was in a lot of pain, and all she could see were shadows. We prayed for her and she looks up and points to Theresa; at this point Theresa and I are quite confused because our translator (as usual) wasn't translating for us. It turns out that she could clearly see Theresa and realized there was a mzungu in her house! Two people healed in one day: the lame to walk and the blind to see! It was awesome to see the Holy Spirit at work. God still does heal, and I look forward to seeing his healing power with my friend Nicole and even myself in the near future.

                All in all, the time in the village was good. I spent much of the time walking around the village looking at all the beautiful creation of God. Let me tell you, if you want to see some beautiful scenery come to TZ. At night, we would look at the stars hoping to see a shooting star and pondering the works of God. Thinking how at home people were looking at the same stars (I just got to see them first, and probably much more brightly). By 9/9:30 we would be in bed because there was nothing to do, it was great. I enjoyed the peaceful (albeit boring) time in the village, but am glad to be back in Iringa.

Praise: My blood sugar has been really good this month, with only a few highs! It has been below 100 a lot of times, and 120 is probably average. Praise God! Perhaps the prayers from my pastor last month is working.

Prayer: Please pray that I can have a peace of mind regarding a few things, and that my energy level will increase.

I love and miss you all heaps!

In Africa, disabled people are the rejected people. They are the hopeless and looked over ones. People think that if they have a disabled child they are cursed, so they do not tell others they have a disabled child-the child stays hidden for most of his or her life. In the Masaai tribes a person isn't a person until they have a name, so if someone with disabilities is born they are taken into the wilderness and left for the animals. This is gruesome and inhuman but is it different than what we do in the states with abortion? Yes, are abortion is "sanitary", but in the end a human being is still being killed. In both cases the child is not considered human.

                So thousands of people live without any hope of having a good life-a life where they are loved and cherished, where they are successful and have a career. They sit on the streets begging and get spit on instead of money or food. Or they live hiding in a shed because of the shame they bring to their family.  This may seem hopeless but a couple from England with a dream has given them hope-they started the Neema Craft Centre in Iringa, Tanzania. This centre employs hundreds of disabled people giving them a paycheck, paying for 90% of their health care, and more importantly they give back these peoples humanity. They show them that they do matter, are loved and have a lot of potential. For those they cannot hire because of the lack of funds or jobs they train; in TZ there is a law that says that a business but have at least one disabled person, but if they do not meet the skills required the businesses can get around it. With the training Neema provides they now have the necessary job requirements! Neema uses locally grown produce, recycled products, and they even make solar panels for the community to use so that they do not have to breath in the toxic fumes of propane candles.

                The work that this shop does is beautiful and amazing. They make things such as elephant dung paper, glass beads, paper necklaces and clothing/purses. Today I had the opportunity to tour the centre, and see these lovely people in action. You could see the joy in their faces as they made these beautiful works of art. Not only does this provide an income, it provides the people with therapy as they work with their hands creating works of art. In the upstairs they have a café run by deaf people, and soon will have the only guest house in the world that is fully operated by disabled people. What a work is being done there!

                I am hoping that I am able to work with the people more this month, getting to know them and just loving them. They may not understand me (as I don't now sign language or Swahili), but perhaps them seeing me will give them more hope. 

                Visit their website at: www.neemacrafts.com or www.neemacradts.org.uk to see more of what they do.

                Hope is being brought to this community, a hope that the disabled never thought would come. Praise God for putting this passion in the hearts of two people.

March 3, 2011 (IE: the worst travel day in the race so far)

4:00 AM: Wake up to leave for the bus station at 4:30.

5:00 AM: Arrive at the bus station, and find out that the bus we had hired (a 2 by 2 semi-luxury bus) was broken down, and we would be taking a bus that has 5 seats across with no room to move, and seats that felt like they were made with wood covered with cloth.

6:00 AM: Supposed to leave, but we don't leave until 6:40

8:18 AM: Finally make it out of the city, and stop for gas and to use the toilet (a hole in the cement). 

9:00 AM: Take Ibp to help my back...not sure how I am going to make it another 6 or so hours

3:00 PM: Second toilet stop, and are able to stretch our legs. Don't get me wrong, in between 9 and 3 we stopped. We just stopped on the side of the road to pick more people up on the overly crowded bus, or to for who knows what.

5:00 PM: Arrive in Iringa. Praise God!

                As you can see it was an awful, uncomfortable and painful day. None of us were happy, and were in a pretty bad mode. But, I tried to dwell on praises instead of the bad things of the day as we sat on the bus for 12 hours. There were many blessings to be counted, and it helped take my mind off of the situation. For instance, as we left Dar Es Salaam it was cloudy, and for a good portion of the trip the sun didn't make an appearance (of course, when it did my left arm that was squeezed against the window turned tomato red but that just means the farmer tan on the arm is gone!). The drive was absolutely beautiful, and as I was finishing reading Return of the Kings I felt like I was journeying with Frodo, Sam, Aragorn, etc. The region is very mountainous and filled with meandering rivers-this by far has been the most beautiful scenery. I loved seeing God's creation no matter where I looked, and for a good portion of the trip I just stared out of the window. And because of the mountains, it was cooler outside. I did not roast in the bus like I had on the journey from Kenya to Tanzania. Thank you God for putting me in an area that is cooler than Dar. At one point we were winding our way the mountains with a cliff wall to my left and a sheer drop off on the right (like in NZ, mom and dad). All I could see was the wall, but on the wall were beautiful, brightly coloured lizards in hues of red and blues-almost like a sunset.

                One of the biggest praises that I could think of was that one of my best friends from Houghton lives in Iringa! That means I get to see a familiar face, the face of a friend I didn't think I'd ever see again. In college we would talk about TZ, and that perhaps one day I would be able to visit her. Of course, I never thought that would happen. And now here I am! I am so excited to see her, and cannot wait to give her a huge hug.

                When life is giving you a bad day look to the praises and blessings in your life-they are there if you look hard enough. I have a friend who is very sick and the doctors do not know what is wrong with her. She has a bad day almost every day and hasn't left the house for almost 2 years now. Yet, she still has the joy of the Lord in her. One thing that she does when she is able to write (as her body is wracked with pain) is to keep a blessings book. When she has a particularly horrible day, one where there doesn't appear to be much hope, she looks in the blessings book and remembers all that God has done for her.

                Welcome to Tanzania-the land of high humidity, high heat and high mountains. It amazes me that you can drive south a couple of hours and the temperature changes so drastically-this is what I expected Africa to be like. I was spoiled by the moderate temperatures in Kenya and Rwanda, and now my body doesn't know what to do with itself; I am sure this is just preparation for India.

                We entered into Tanzania yesterday morning and shortly after doing so I saw snow! Of course, it was on Mt. Kilimanjaro which was looming in the distance over much smaller mountains and farmland. It was breathtaking, beautiful and almost didn't look real; just picture Africa with a giant mountain plopped down in the middle of it. It is the tallest mountain that I've seen to date (soon, that will not be true...Nepal, here I come) and is a great reminder of God's beauty. Wow, God is a God that can move mountains and that is a mighty big one!

                After an hour or so of driving we passed Mt. Kilimanjaro and the heat began to build. The guys in front of me wouldn't open their window so all I had was the air from the emergency hatch that was open. It felt like someone was blowing a hair dryer on me for a good 12 hours. Finally, it got dark and it didn't cool off any.

                We made it to our hotel about 14 ½ hours, and were able to take nice, cold showers! We went to bed thinking we were leaving at 6:45am. It turns out that we didn't leave today, so I promptly went back to bed for a couple more hours. Hopefully we can find one of the several Subway Restaurants in Dar!

                And so, our seventh month begins. I wonder what God has in store for me. I have a very good friend from college who is from Iringa that I will have the opportunity to see while I am there. That is a huge blessing, and I am very thankful for that.

         As most of you don't know, I studied outdoor recreation at Houghton College. Yes, I took classes like rock climbing, canoeing and backpacking, outdoor leadership skills, etc. I know what you are thinking, I got credit for things like crossing the street (although that isn't true, I did get credit for crossing a river once). I loved the classes I took, and the things I have learned are all very applicable to real life. No, not everyone backpacks, rock climbs or even enjoys the outdoors for that matter. But, the lessons learned from such activities are universal.

Ephraim church is a part of Gilgal School, which is also an orphanage. We have had the opportunity to go to church there twice this month. Considering it is school, the service is filled with teenagers-lots and lots of teenagers. In the USA you would think a service like that might be dull, and not having much life. 

It seems like you have to drag high schoolers to church these days, and when they get there they just sit with their arms crossed and not participating in the service. This is not true at all for Ephraim Church-the kids there have something to teach us. During the service they have an intercession time that involves everyone crying out to God; people on their knees or walking about with their arms stretched out to God. It is hard not to get excited watching them worship-they are full of life and passion.

               This month has turned out to be quite an interesting one. I am now nearing the end of my time here, only four more days of ministry yet. Last month, we prayed that we would have a lot of time for rest. Well, that is happening! It seems like we have not done much ministry, yet I am still exhausted (go figure).

                We have done a couple of days of door to door evangelism, which was much more difficult than in Rwanda. People will gladly welcome us into their homes, yet it has been much harder to talk to them. Because of that, it has been discouraging. We also have been hanging out at Ephraim Orphanage painting the buildings. When we are there, the kids are all in classes. There are a few young ones running about with chicken pox, so we love on them, but that has been about it. Things have been a little discouraging because of that. However, painting has been enjoyable-I miss doing manual labor like that.

                I am learning how much space means to me. With all four of us crammed into a small space, we do not have much time alone. Even when we sleep it is very evident that all of us are in the same space. I have had to work through these things, and still haven't completely worked through this. I think when I get home I will appreciate my alone time so much more; however, it will be extremely weird to be alone and have no one around at times. I can't even picture or begin to imagine what that will be like.

 I am also hitting the point where I really miss my car-maybe not so much my car, but the ability to go where I want when I want. Up until now I haven't minded having to rely on others to drive me around, not being able to go somewhere when I want to, etc. But I really do miss it. 

                I know, no big things seem to be happening this month (hence the lack of blogs!). But, these are just of few of my ponderings as I go through my daily life in Kenya. Time to eat dinner-another meal of, guess what, rice and beans!

I have now been in Kenya for one week. It is hard to believe that I have left Rwanda, and am now in month 6. This means I have 6 months left-I am almost half way done with the race! I have to admit that this brings me much joy knowing that the end is near. Not that I want the rest of the race to fly by, but knowing that helps a little with going through the race. Yes, I am still trying to enjoy every minute but it is hard.

                Nairobi is a great city, although the coffee isn't nearly as good as it was in Rwanda. Oh well, it was still good and enjoyable to sit in a coffee shop and be able to relax a little. I had the opportunity to visit with some friends of my parents who have been missionaries here since 1997. I had a great time with them enjoying Ethiopian food (and getting a picture with Green Bay packers plates), enjoy some coffee with them, and a nap at their house. It was great feeling like I was a part of their family, and just being around parent figures. Although I only spent a few hours with them, I was sad to say good-bye to them. Hopefully I will have a chance to see them again when I head back to Nairobi at the end of the month.

                The other day I had the chance to go on a safari, and on the way we stopped at the Great Rift Valley. Wow, what beauty! Think of the Grand Canyon but bigger...much bigger! On the bottom of the valley we could see Masai villages dotting the landscape. I wonder what it is to live down there, in the traditional way of the tribes? Driving back from the safari (which, I am sad to say was disappointing after my safari in Zimbabwe 9 years ago), there were several instances when I had to pray. Picture driving on the narrow road on the cliff wall of the Rift Valley (that was built in 1942, and is one of the oldest roads in Kenya) and the driver deciding that the traffic was moving too slow so we would pass them. Now, the roads here do not have guard rails or shoulders and it was quite tense (of all the times to wake up from my nap!). But, we made it safely and I was able to see an amazing sunset over the valley.

                Driving through Kenya makes me feel like I am back in the USA. Parts remind me of the mountainous North Carolina, others the corn ridden fields of the Midwest, and still others remind me of Florida. I do not know which I like better, Rwanda or Kenya, but it is beautiful. I've decided that it is pathetic that the roads here are much better than in Michigan; well, that is except for the couple hours of intense bumps that felt like a bumpy old, wooden roller coaster (thank God I wasn't as sick as I was on the way from Kigali to Nairobi).

                So, anyways, I am now in Kitale and do not know how much internet access I will have or even what ministry I am doing (other than working at an orphanage). Janelle, Sarah and I are all sleeping in a queen size bed together in a room that barely fits the bed. Are stuff are piled on the bed and anywhere we can find space. In our backyard we have a calf name Rachelle, two dogs and a bunch of very tasty looking chickens. I have a feeling that come the end of this month I will really be wanting to eat one of those chickens (not that I don't right now) as we are eating rice, beans and potatoes.

Now that we are about half way done with the race, I've decided it would be a good time for a team update. At the end of Thailand my team leader, Carlie, joined with another team (previously Team X-treme, but now they are called S.E.E.D.S). Janelle came and joined our team, and is now our team leader. During the month of Rwanda it was the five of us; Nikki, Sarah, Alecia, Janelle and I. We renamed our team to 'Shekinah' as we saw it very fitting with some things that were spoken to us by God.

                At the end of Rwanda we had our 5 month debrief where our training coaches, Michael Hyndes and Sean came to teach us and talk with us. It was a good week, although it was very busy and way too short (as all debriefs are). It was a time of pushing into the Holy Spirit, learning more about prophesy and growing as a team and as a squad. We did everything from going on a safari to a 2 ½ hour fire tunnel. To those of you who do not know what a fire tunnel is, it is basically where people line up making a tunnel and people walk through. As the people walk through, the people on the outside prophesy about you. It was a challenging and tiring time, but a good time as some good and applicable things were prophesized over me.

                During debrief we found out that Nikki would be heading back to Washington. That takes our team down to 4 people. It has been sad saying good bye to Nikki but I know God has great plans for her. Plans to grow and prosper her, and although it might be challenging for her it will be good I think. It is weird having only four people as we started with 6. It reminds me of the breaking of the fellowship-each of us are going our different ways but we all have the same purpose-to bring the Kingdom. Whether that is in Africa or the USA our job does not change. Good byes are sad for all, but one day we will all see each other again. 

                That is our change in a nutshell, and hopefully we will not lose any more members of the fellowship.