Meet Mang'ore

I received this email from Thomas yesterday. We have added another sponsored child to our ranks! That brings us up to 3!  I couldn't be happier...for only $38 a month...how can we not help?
Here is Thomas' email below. 

today was amazing.  The village and the children were so full of love and joy it is impossible to explain.  The moment you step off the bus they are grabbing your hand and hugging you.  Their smiles are so huge.  Then they sang and we played and then we broke into groups and got to go to a home...you wouldn't believe it.  As awful as you can image, a thousand flies, dirt floors, sheep inside the house, room for 4 people to sand eventhough 6 people sleep there.  walls made of mud and manure, kids faces covered in snot, dirt and flies and they are grateful we have come to pray for them and to see them.  i can't explain the imbalance of joy i am finding and extreme poverty.  cg'orean't believe they have so much joy from God loving them...in this center with 265 kids there were 8 without sponsors..so I took one.  His name is Mang'ore and I got to meet him and his grandmother.   The pictures are funny because they were smiling so big and couldn't stop hugging me and then I look at the pictures and they went stone face... made him smile when I gave him my hat...show your teeth.  There are translators randomly around helping out, but I am trying some swahili...thank you, Praise the lord and small things like that.  This will change his life...and his family.
Mang'ore's birthday is May 10...after seeing the homes and hearing the singing I knew Mom would do the same thing.
Love you Both,
Thomas

Here

Jombo...
Monday night here, 11:00 pm.  Totally lost track of time and days with the travel.  6 hours to Amsterdam, 5 hour layover and then 8.5 to Kilimanjaro.  I was then the last person through customs.  They scanned each of my hands and thumbs four different times, don't know why but was pretty worried about getting in...Hour bus ride to the hotel, and hour to check in and then up at 6 this morning for devotional time at the center.  Sang shout to the Lord with the workers at the center, awesome.  We got a tour of the center, heard about their logistics and got a much better understanding of what goes on with the program and the money we donate.

I have been taking pictures of all my meals with my phone and doing little video reflections of myself, since the phone is good for not much else...can 't get a sim card like I thought so no cell phone use.  Right now i am at an internet cafe in the hotel, 5$ an hour.

Met mothers and children from the CSP program today (pregnant mothers who give birth)...the homes, the clothes, the trash, the roads are what people say they are...the kids are jumping and full of joy and the men seem broken.  There is joy here and God is breaking my routine so that I can hear Him...now, what are You saying?

I walked away from that meeting feeling a little gross and sad, while it is amazing to see joy in such circumstances I also see that it doesn't last...well at least that it was I am saying today.  There were only two of us who walked away from today not glowing with joy, but more contemplative of the whole situation.

Praise the Lord

Gifts

7 Days - should have gone up on Saturday

Well, the packet finally arrived...although I think my boarding pass was missing from it, I am looking into that.  Thanks to the packet I am now in some possession of some very crucial information:

• Tanzania has a high rate of Baboons breaking into hotel through windows, be on Baboon alert
• My flight to Tanzania is about 15 hours each way
• Men don't wear shorts
• I get a full play day with Waryoba; and there is a pool at the Compassion center
• I will most likely be leaving behind all of my clothes for the men there
• Need adaptor "G" for any plugs
• There are Internet cafes' that I'll be able to go to
• Hakuna Matata is a wonderful phrase, and one that I should actually use...no worries
• gifts, gifts, gifts:  take a full bag of gifts to give away.  Everything from underwear, to spoons, to eye glasses to kitchen towels to stickers to soccer balls

Packing was a mess!!! last night.  I tried to get all of my clothes into one duffel bag and all of the gifts into a suitcase on wheels...that didn't really happen.  The gift bag weighs 67lbs.  Time to readjust a few things around.  I am also really freakin' out about giving this stuff out.  I don't want to insult the family in anyway.

This is one of the two pictures I have of Waryoba.  It was taken Christmas, 2010.  His mother is holding a new baby, which he has never mentioned in his letters.  They had rice, beans and meat.  It struck me that this was their holiday feast.

BTW...am I going to be able to recognize him after only seeing 2 pictures of him; one of them being a few years old?  Time to start praying hard about my meeting with him and studying this picture.

The Packet?

8 Days

So my packet has still not arrived...I was suppose to have it 3 weeks ago but the first one got lot "somewhere in Indianapolis."  The next one they sent out "early the next week" - it never arrived.  So Natalie called on Wednesday and we were assured they were sending it next day and we would have it Thursday...yeah, still no packet.  When we called yesterday we were told that Fedex is having bad weather and that it would be here today.

This is my itinerary, country info and tips, packing list, ticket, name tag and who knows what else.  It has not made the prep easy without it and certainly gives that feel of being under attack.  Whenever you get ready for something big it always seems like there are these obstacles in your way that pull you away from your focus and from God.

School this week has been pretty rough too.  I have been beating myself up pretty hard about the progress of this group (social and academic).

I did receive and e-mail for the coordinator going with us yesterday.  She gave the whole group her phone number, confirmed my roommate and that I get to go see Waryoba.  I was so thankful to hear from and that I am actually going...I will be calling her soon.

So, time to pray, time to pull God close.  I am been playing and listening to a song by Matt Redman called Holy.  The chorus goes:

Holy Holy Holy
God most high and God most worth
You are Holy Holy Holy
Jesus You are, Jesus You Are

I read once that by saying Holy 3x in a row the Jews were saying that something was perfect...God.  No matter what goes on with the prep or what goes on at my school if I pull to God, He is perfect and knows what to do.  Now, can I hear Him and then listen to Him?

Getting Help and Comfort

10 Days

Ouch, seriously...10 days!  Can I pack and get report cards done in that time, no worries...maybe.  I got an awesome message from a friend at church today with tips and lists of things I need to take and things I can expect.  I was told that no matter how good the meat on a stick looks or smells on the street...don't eat it.  What if I pack lots of pepto?  I love meat on a stick from the Chinese place down the street and nasty hot dogs on the streets of New York, can I resist such glorious treats...?

Aside from her amazing list of things to pack (including tissue since I will get lots of dirt in my nose, mmmmm...brown boogers) she said something that really made me pause; she said that no matter what I WILL be changed and that I might come back in a daze that could last a long time.  A daze I wouldn't be able to explain to Natalie because she would not have that experience.  That is some kind of change...prepare for change Thomas, prepare for God to speak and act in ways I can't understand right now. 

I have been asking, "why this trip, why am I going when I already know there is so much pain and hurt right here, in the states, in the eyes I see everyday."  Maybe it's to put me in a daze, to change me so I can do the work He has planned for me.  I have always felt like what I do in school is not enough to truly make a lifelong impact on lives; while that's asking a lot of this trip I think I need to be ready for change.

The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson has been reinforcing to me that I cannot understand the ways God works, that if I put my earthly limits on Him, He would not be God.  Let God be God and do His work.

So am I confusing myself now, be prepared for change but don't force it...

Still don't have my packet from Compassion with my ticket and plans...bummer.

Talked to Ms. Sampson today too... love her!!!

Prepare

12 Days

I prayed hard last night.  I am reading a book called The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson and it is having quiet an impact on the way I pray and look at prayer.  Last night I was reading about praying "through."  Praying when it seems like my prayers have not been answered, to continue to treat God like God and not my genie who let me down.  To understand that He wants to bless me and feed me, even when I don't know how or why He is doing it.

Last night I knelt down on the bed, like a little kid, and started to pray but felt like I should just shut up, just stop and listen...be quiet, listen for the voice.  Be calm, let go, no worry...Not sure how long I stayed that way but I ended up laying my head face down on the bed and wa struck really strong with the "PREPARE."  I was jerked up, awake, back to whatever...don't know if I feel alseep, if it was 10 seconds or 2 minutes, but I was filled with that one word.

Prepare for what?  Do I worry about it?  Be ready...it is time...let's do this...no more puting it off...prepare!

On a funny note; I went to the AT&T store today to ask about my iPhone and cell coverage.  It is $4.99 a minute from Tanzania, with an additional plan and data use is off the charts.  Then there is no assurane I can even get a signal.  The guys looks at me and says, "if they don't even have food to eat or clean water, you're iphone is probably not going to be any good."  Well said AT&T guy...

Waryoba, at age 6...He will be 10 this year and shares the same birthday (not year) as Sammy...more about him tomorrow.

Countdown Begins

13 Days
I am starting this blog because God has been telling me to write.  I promised him in my prayer journals twice now that I would, so here goes...

I fly out to Tanzania, Africa on January 28 for a 10 day trip with Compassion International to meet our sponsored child, Waryoba.

I don't know why God has me going on this trip, but the way it has been put together makes me feel His hand is all over this...to trust Him and not worry about the rest. 

I am not much for "don't worry," though.  Two nights ago I had a dream that when I returned nothing happend.  Nothing changed in me, it was a trip and nothing more.  Of course this dream was meshed together with Harry Potter scenes and characters, since we had just watched both of the the movies for book 7; I didn't sleep well.  What if I don't get out of this what He needs me to get out of it?

Yesterday Natalie and I went to REI for some clothes and traveling gear:  back-pack, deet spray, UV protected clothes that I can wash in the sink and so on...

I have had my malaria, yellow fever and typhoid shots and pills.  I have taken the days off work (6 straight days!), aligned an awesome sub, got approval from the county, paid for the trip and plane tickets through generous donations from the Hoys (more on them and that later) and started reading about customs in Tanzania.  I am been doing a countdown at school with my kids to prepare them and tried to set up the room to run by inself.

My plane ticket packet with my iternary and other helpful info has been lost twice by Fedex now and we still don't have it...that is kinda freakin' us out.

Anyway, Africa...can you believe I am going to Africa?  What's up God?