If I was farther away... I would be closer

Ok, so this was an adventure. I will go through my whole life and remember the days of travel in Africa. Not the six months I spent there- no, the travel:) I should have known the adventure that awaited me when I discovered that no one knew the bus schedules for anywhere. So I will save you the details but tell you that over five days I took 6 taxis, two long haul buses, five long plane rides, and a ferry. It was actually really amazing and I was able to talk with so many people along the way! You never know what the Lord has planned! Pretty cool seeds planted, I am sure.

But I left Africa. I feel a loss really. I miss it like I miss home. It is a great thing to be both happy where you are but to be ready to go somewhere else. I am not home yet though. Currently I am in the land down under (I got to pet a kangaroo, well really a wallabie:) where I am helping my brother and his beautiful wife get ready to have their first child. I figured I would go the LONG way home around the globe:)

But I wanted to tell you about the last few weeks in Zanzibar! How amazing! The last month and a half has been a collage of different ministries and services. Sometimes I would be able to do hut to hut evangelism in some of the remote villages on the island. I was working with a YWAM group from Tanzania and we were going through neighborhoods sharing and inviting people to a screening of the Jesus Film at night. If you’re not familiar with this movie from Campus Crusade, please look it up. What an amazing film that has shared the life of Jesus with people all over the world! We saw a huge response from people as they would bombard me with questions about Jesus. For many, this was the first time they had ever heard this wonderful Name!

Secondly, I worked on computer classes. I recognized the irony that I was working with computers in the middle of these remote regions but there was such a great need. So, ok, when I think of “missions” work- I imagine digging wells, building orphanages, speaking in churches:) but I think we all know that we need to be all things to all people so that some can be saved! So here I found myself in this place with pastors who couldn’t even write a basic letter. As a result they had to go into town and have someone else type it and being that the land is so opposed to Christians the info would often be used against the church. I won’t go into details about the dangers but believe me when I say it was dangerous. The church had been praying for three years for someone to be able to teach them this skill. Dang! So there I was running a month of computer classes teaching everything from basic to advanced computer skills. We even built some websites! God is amazing at dispatching His own where He needs us:)

I also was blessed to be really taken in by several families- both Muslim and Christian alike. I went to weddings, taught in schools, made clothes, cleaned houses and helped build houses, learned to make great food, and got to spend great time in prayer and Bible study! It was, well, these adjectives find me short at times- beautiful, amazing, brilliant, and wonderful! There were so many opportunities to share and demonstrate God’s love. Truth of the matter is I fell in love- I love this place and these people- but I find myself loving everywhere I go! This world is so beautiful.

Thanks again for all your help and prayers in getting me to this place to be able to help! I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be able to see people’s lives change all over the world!