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

One 27

I am still in London and loving every moment of this new experience. I have been invited into the home of some lovely people for my last few nights here. Welcoming faces and warm hearts makes being away from home a bit easier. So I am very thankful for Hetty and Keiichi. I have enjoyed walking the streets of this new city, new country. It sounds and looks and feels a bit different... sort of... and actually it's a lot like Boston and New York combined... as beautiful as Boston but as busy and sort of quick as New York. My heart is to get all I can from this short stint of the trip- My prayer is to take with me what Jesus knows Ill most treasure always and to leave behind what He most wants London to have of Him and me. I have walked alot and talked little... it's best that way! I have photographed most everything Ive seen and then written about my feelings of what Ive photographed... it's quite redundant though and when I realize this, I rip up what I just wrote and decide to only rely on the photographs Ive taken to tell the details of my time here... but then the next day arrives and I continue the old pattern- photograph, write, rip- I am out of time now, and wont have access to a computer until I arrive in Africa in a few days. I believe the rest of the trip will be full of wonderful sights and special moments, planned perfectly for my by Jesus Himself- my heart is open and smiling over this! Keep praying for me. I feel it and, at times, need it. I do love this and consider it such a blessing, but I find I get lonely often. Mostly falling asleep and waking up. He is here with me, but I guess Im more of a people person than I thought. I miss you, my people!
lOve LOve LOvE

Here

Hello heARts
It's Thursday, January 25th and I am safe in London. The flight was light. 6.5 hours was a breeze. I was able to sleep for some time when I first arrived and then spent the evening walking and talking and eating. London is different from home, in most all ways, and yet not and so I am quite comfortable. I have a few days here to shoot pictures and experience this and then Im off to Africa to experience something very different. I love my life, I love this adventure. Bless you all...
Love love LOve
Caitlin

praise report

5 days and counting... it's wild to be so close and so prepared and, yet, sooooooooo.o.o.o.o.o.o not prepared. But do we ever really feel fully prepared for God's missions at the moment He moves us out in them?
I just wanted to give a praise report. I have been very excited but also nervous, butterflies in the stomach, about everything... but primarily about funding. I know that God provides, He has never not, and I know that I know that I know that this mission is His and that He has a greater plan- so I need to trust Him.... and well, faith and trust are materializing! From the left and the right, support is coming in. Churches, individuals, friends, strangers... there is a flow of funds. I still need more... but God brings it in His time and that means it will always be on time! Beautiful! Thank you, Jesus and thank you friends.
love love love

PrepARation And count dOwN

It's been a long time in waiting, this trip, this adventure, this door opening/new beginning, page one(again) of a story begun long ago, this mission, this Africa... and very much so because God's plan for my life required for things to happen between the first "may I go" (years ago) and now... January 13th, 12 days before blast off.,. out of the USA and into Europe then Africa. more than that, though, it's about open doors... it's about a 'yes' in my spirit matching a 'YES' in His Spirit. I am still being prepared spiritually, although I feel I may be neglecting that for the practical preparation "to do's". Let's see, my "to do" list as of now, goes something like this...
(I wrote it all out to display the lengths one goes to leave known-life for a bit, and then erased it because it bored even me)
much of it has to do with Handsome Jack Dooley and sending him to Cali. It is truth for me to say "love me, love my dog". Then there were bits about England and ensuring a roof over my head, camera functions, rides from here to there and back to here when needed, packing, getting my heart right and agreeable with leaving my loved ones... get shots, IPOD fully loaded, and some stuff about money... (RAISE MORE MONEY!!!! COLLECT LOVE OFFERINGS! ROB A BANK... no, I'm kidding, you'll find no black body suit/mask/gloves in my closet.) It's amazing how God provides... it's amazing how expensive missons are... it's amazing how God provides... it's amazing how expensive missions are... and so on and so forth...
Blah Blah Blah, I know...
This will all get done... for sure and for certain! Planning to put my life here in America on hold for a mission in Tanzania, Africa has made me aware of just how much I have and am anchored here in Providence, Rhode Island... in my bubble. It's been relatively easy to plan my "pick up and leave" but there are many details, minute details that need/require attention. I have been able to minimize my life though... and I love feeling lighter. I love actually being lighter- not so weighed down by materials. That in itself has been a blessing. I don't want to own much of anything until God says "settle for a time in this specific place". Until then, I love the idea of being able to go at a moments notice.
I'll close... in closing, I get to go to England for a week, wander the streets of London alone, hearing words I know but that will somehow become new as spoken through accents I giggle and dance over. I will contribute to their economy as little as possible, stealing air and taking away only photographs... of everything! I will speak as little as possible to see if I can fool the Europeans into thinking I am one of them... but when I do speak, I will represent us well- I promise! I will make a new friend, too... I just know it. Then I'm off to Tanzania, Africa- 13 hours in the air, 7 hours on a bus (we're talking not so high class as the big yellow bus from your childhood), destination! As for what will happen there, only God knows... but it's good! It's all really good! Ill let you know what that means as I am shown. God bless you, everyone. Pray for me