tanzania africa, moshi tanzania

I have arrived... Tanzania, Africa. Moshi, Tanzania. We truly are located on the downward slope of MOunt Kilimanjaro! Amazing right. It is beautiful- hot air, green trees, redbrown dirt roads. THere are people everywhere, mostly black, some white- I have met most of the white people. THe Tanzanians have beautiful faces. The ones I have met are quiet and very polite.
Oh my gosh, Africa is so different from America. I have no words to explain this. There is no comparison between this and anywhere else I have been. I feel as if I am born again, as in young and learning a whole new world- learing how to speak and see and hear and touch, all over again. How can there be an America, when there is an Africa? Neither is better or worse, good or bad... but I have no understanding of how both can exist at the same time on one planet. I was completely overwhelmed as I drove from Kilimanjaro Airport to Moshi. We drove through the Massai lands. Beautiful beautiful beautiful. the Massai people, the land, the simplicity.... overwhelmingly beautiful. Night one, I cried like a baby- partly out of Gods perfection and greatness and Awesome power and creativity and partly out of the pain I feel through God's shifting.... and I miss my mommy and daddy and others. Today is day two and I am adjusting. It does get easier. The Lord truly is my strength. His WOrd is coming to Life for me. It has always been truth but now it hugely applies to my every day and I find myself depending on it for guidance and almost an inside look into what I may feel and experience tomorrow. It is easier to understand and relate to the Bible, written as it is, as I am living in the same type of simplicity and raw challenge.
I stay in a house next to the larger house where Jill and Imkia and Gaudy live. I get to be in there alone until March when another missionary arrives. In this house is a bedroom with a bunkbed, another bed, a dresser, a cabinet, a small rug, and two windows. Also, there is a kitchen but with only a sink, mostly for brushing my teeth. There is a shower room, which is a room with a shower faucet high on the wall and a drain in the floor. There is also one other room for me to use. This room has a cho, a squatty potty- so yeah, I now squat to go. I am surprisingly completely comfortable with all of this. I love simple and now I live simple.
The women I work with are beautiful and head over heals in love with Jesus. He has their hearts. This is a gift for me. I wouldnt make it through any of this if the people I see daily, weren't His. I am more dependent on Him than ever before. He guides me as I do things I have no previous understanding of, He protects me as I walk the streets of this new land (full of pick pockets and outright thieves), He soothes me as I cry at night, and He holds me as I long to be held by my loved ones at home. He is here and I feel Him every moment. When I cry out to Him, it is only a moment before His Peace covers my whole being reminding me that I am His... I am His! He has sent me here. I dont have the details yet, but He has sent me here and I expect growth, I expect struggle- more struggle, I expect tears of pain and joy and victory, I expect Jesus, I expect new revelation, I expect to be overcome and overwhelmed with His presence and His heart and His Peace, I expect to be changed... And I know that He expects much of me... to whom much is given much is to be expected.
I love love love you. My heart is broken over missing you. I want to be false and tell you I am brave and not experiencing any sad feelings... tHat I am perfectly flowing with God's call... walking tall and speaking loudly. I cannot do that though. I am following the call. I am in Africa. I am walking, I am sort of tall at 5'6. I am speaking. My heart is open. My heart is willing. I am staying. I feel deeply for what my heart loves, I cry deeply for what my heart loves. I love you... I love God more. I do love you though. Pray for me. Pray for the Emmanuel Center. Pray for Africa. Pray Pray Pray