DFW-London Gate 25, This is where it all began
This was my gate in 2012, and again in 2013! It was reassuring to see. Like a sign from God
"Your going to be fine!"
This was my view for 9 HOURS, It was a long fight, But I like my long flights because it gives me time to humble myself before the lord and before my trip!
The London air port is like a MALL!
Sending pictures to my friends so they know I am alive! Text
"Hey it may not be a real guard but I think hes way cuter then any "real gaurd" Hahaha "
With 9 hours of wait time I did a lot of sleeping...
and a lot of just staring at the next picture....
This was my terminal, Those chairs... NOT comfy!
This place was literally like a Mall! To bad I couldn't shop!
This was leaving Ethiopia..Talk about AFRICAN
TIME.... That flight was delayed an hour!!
My favorite thing about night flights is watching the sun come up from the hair! It is so very HUMBLING, and so BEAUTIFUL!
While spending close to 48 hours traveling it is
These moments that I love. When I can just look out the window and see the creation of my God!
I spent the first day working with Glens team. We went to one of the public schools and told bible stories.
I can not even begin to talk about this Guy!
Pastor Duce, was our translator, I promise I will
tell you more about him later!
The kids singing their National Anthem! I love love love listening to them sing!
Introducing.... CLARENCE AND SEBBA! You will see a lot of pictures of these kids! They are my boys!
Each picture has a funny story that makes me love and miss them even more!
Sweet Girls! These two little ones lived across the street from the church and spent a lot of time on the front porch just smiling at me! So sweet.
But I do want to tell you a story about the one in the blue. I took my iPad with my pictures from last year on it, and one night I was looking through them and saw this little blue dress.. and realized it was the same little girl, wearing the same dress. I don't know why, but it hit my heart, and was really eye opening to me. No that is not the only dress she has, but who knows how many years she has had and will have to wear it.
The 3 stooges! Sebba, Daudi and Clarence! :)
I have COUNTLESS(and deleted a lot) of Videos of these boys,
the LOVED dancing for me, or doing flips so I would record me!They would then stop whatever it was they were doing and run over to watch it on my phone! Kids are kids all over the world!
The first Sunday morning I had the privilege to sit next to this little beauty! She is the girl from the little blue dress. But she is also the little girl who is in one of my favorite pictures from last summer.-the one on the bottom.
This moment last year was one of my favorite moments from 2012. So when God put her next to me on the first Sunday of 2013, my heart was so happy, I realized at this moment that I was home, I was back, back to the place where I left my heart, back to the place I was in love with!
They are so beautiful, inside and out! <3 I love it!
My Dada Nemah and I at the beach!
The Indian Ocean! I love getting to go to the beach when I am here!
Godmaximum We had fun listening to music on my Ipod!
This is one of the only pictures I got of my room. I promise it did not look this way all of the time! This was the day I unpacked and got all of my teaching goodies organized! I want to say thank you to all of the people who donated supplies!
DAY ONE IN THE SCHOOL
We made Lions Mask and talked about Daniel,
In Africa, they do not have copiers, so the teachers have to hand write all of there work into their students journals. This made me respect these teachers even more. I cant explain what it was like to sit and observe that class room for the first time, the differences were many! But it also made me fall more in love with the idea of me one day being a teacher in that school!
They also do not have a black board, so the teacher write on paper and glue it to the wall. Again we would see this as a struggle in america... But here they are happy to do it!
These Kids were so smart, and such a joy to be around!
There were are only 7 students in the grade on class, they can be a hand full but they are also a joy!
My sweet little Daudi! :) That face and that smile just makes me want to steal him and keep him forever! :)
This is George, My Buddy, my special baby. After observing him work, in the pre-unit class I began to realize he had some very evident learning disabilities. Now I'm not a Dr. but I could tell he needed help, and so I discussed it with the other teachers and once or twice a week for the whole time I was there I would take him off, and work with him one on one! I say so much improvement with in the three weeks I was there! He went from thinking every letter was A to knowing and recognizing all the letters but 5! I was so proud of him, and can not wait to see where he has improved now!!
My Baby Babies!! At first they were not to sure about me, and my color skin. ahaha But soon they grew to love me and I grew to love them! :)
My church kids! These are the boys that go to the school from our church! I'm not going to lie.. It was hard not showing them special attention at school...Those were my boys! I couldn't help it! hahaha
A day at the beach! It was so beautiful!
I truly believe that one reason God brought me here this summer was so that I could get a break from life at home. I had gotten so busy and never had time for myself, and was defiantly not giving him enough time! He supplied MANY moment where I got to just sit, and think. Think about him, think about my life, and look at his beautiful creations!
This is where I spent a lot of my time! In Max's studio watching him work!! God amazed me by giving me some pretty great friendships in that room. As Max's clients went in and out of that room, I heard stories, made jokes, and built friendships that I truly miss! Although they picked on me like crazy, and never let me go 5 minutes without reminding me that I was a Muzgu! I love those guys so much, and miss them like crazy!! :)
And OF COURSE! My boys were always in there or trying to get into the studio to be with me! <3 Always making me laugh some how!
I had the privilege to go eat dinner at a few church members houses during my stay! The first one was Mama Nemah! :) She was so sweet and made the most amazing rice I had ever tasted!! :) She also showed me a home video of the church from several years back! It was awesome to see Max, Nemah and Pastor Duce at such a young age!!
This is Alpha! Let me tell you about this kid! He is not even 2 years old yet and literally acts like he is 4! He was always sneaking out of his baby class and coming into one of the older class rooms and asking to write with the big kids!! So smart, and so sweet!! :)
I just wanted to make sure I added in some credit to one of the main reasons I was able to go this year! Whatz-Up Family Fun Park! God has blessed me with an amazing Job and a great source of Income at such a young age! And it is because of this that I am able to do what I love to do!
My beautiful Nemah! My Dada! My Girl! She was the one who lived with me in my room, helped me go shopping for the things I needed and cooked me some of the most delicious food! We spent a lot of time together and I got to just poor into and minister to this girl!! I am so blessed to have built this sistership that I will never lose!! <3 AHHH I miss her so much!
My Boys My Silly Silly Boys!
As you Can see... Sebba Is my Baby boy... I grew really close to this kid in the few short weeks I was there. He always wanted to be playing with me or my phone and always wanted to be the one I was showing my attention to!
And just like kids in America, when he didn't get his way... he showed me!
He did this sad, but cute thing where he would literally distance himself away from me and just stare at me and whine to make me feel bad! AT FIRST I would give in, But later after i realized what he was doing I would tell him to suck it up and stop crying.. that never worked he just started crying more! hahahaha
HE DID NOT LIKE SHARING HIS "Teacher Liba!"
My Baby Babies! hahaha I'm not lying when I say it took about a week before they would even let me play with them! But by the end of my trip they all loved me and I had a lot of fun with them!
Adrian
Goodluck
Zadia
My sweet Independent Alpha who NEVER took naps!
But Instead wanted to help mop! hahah :) Such a wired kid!
I LOVE LOVE LOVED watching them dance!
Always had so much fun!
They always had a smile on their faces when they were dancing and praising our lord!
This is Hannah! She has a heart problem and is always getting sick! Please please please be praying for this sweet angel! She is so smart and although she misses a lot of school she is excelling in all of her classes!
This little punk! Hahaha Juniour, Such a sweetheart but defiantly the trouble maker of the class! Him and Dominic where such a hand full!!
Two school buses BOTH PACKED FULL with kids everyday!
Above is a picture of what most of the roads looked like! Talk about off roading! Hahaha
But below is Ellius! King of the Road! He drove me around like a pro! Love and miss him SO much!
Like I said.... ALWAYS making me laugh!!
Another one of the houses I had the privilege to eat at! Mamma Jaqulynns house! She was such a sweetheart!!
Above I my Sweet Herbert who NEVER left my side during the morning assemblies!
And Below is my Beautiful Selina!
I love the her story! At this time Selina is not being sponsored to go to school because her sponsorship was dropped. She lives with her single mother who barley makes enough to live. When she first started in the school her mother was muslem and Selina was being sponsored by a muslem couple in DAR. Last summer her mother converted to Christianity, and gave her life to the lord. When the sponsors found out about this they dropped her sponsorship. I know it is a sad story, But it also shows that Gods love will shine through this and his glory will shine on the day she gets sponsored!
My sweet Herbert!
And my sweet hand full called Dominic! Such a trouble maker, but I loved his smile!
Another Picture of me and my buddy George! I love this picture!!
I had the opportunity to go to borgomoro and see the museum and the place where christianity entered into Tanzania. It was also a slave port and I was able to learn about African slavery. And just to brag on my God and his prefect plan! The night before we left to go to borgomoro, I had decided that I was going to preach on slavery to sin, that next morning in Church... little did I know God was going to take me to where Slavery existed and let me learn about African slavery and give me tools to use in my Sermon! That is just how my God works!! :)
And again! MORE BEACH! <3
DaDa Whitney! :) Such a sweet spirit!
DaDa Nemah! :)
My Best Friend, My Favorite, My Max! :) So blessed to call him my best friend! He helped me so much while I was there and even today while I am at home,still acts as a support system for me!
My Girl My Beautiful Selina!
MOVIE NIGHT!!! :)
Everyone knows the Lion King is my FAVORITE movie! And the night I got to introduce Max to the greatness that is The Lion King was one of my favorite nights ever!!
He then bought me RED BULL!! Seriously he is the bestest friend ever!!
My sweet Sweet Mwinyi!
The photo above is Little Hannah and the one below is sweet Imoni, her big brother!
Such sweet kids! I would have brought them home with me if I could have! hahah :)
Got to love COW CROSSINGS! :)
One thing about Africa.. is that you never know when then power is going to go out! So one night I got to spend the evening eating dinner by candle light at Dada Nemahs house! It was honestly a really good experience! Very humbling!
The last Saturday I was there I got to go meet and pray with all of the pastors families.
Pastor James Family
This is momma! Pastor Duces wife and my second Momma! She is such a sweet lady, and a great mom to me and my brothers and sisters! :) <3
Bellow Is my Baba Pastor Duce. Never once did he let me do anything that might put me in danger, He was always looking out for my safety all while making me feel 100% like his daughter!
I love and miss him so much!
Pastor Micheal and His family!
And the beautiful gift they prayed for for 4 years.
Their son! :)
This is Pastor Abraham's church and below is him and his Family
This is the church that our team helped pay for the bricks to build last summer!
So blessed to see it finished!!
Pastor Amos!! <3 Careful girls hes single!!
He is such an great guy!!
After visiting the Pastors Baba and Mama took me to see my baba's garden!! He grows everything you could ever want! He told me that his garden would supply enough food for them for 6 months! So cool!! They will not have to go to the market for 6 months!! What a blessing! :)
I love these two beautiful people!
On Sundays I had the privilege of leading the children Sunday school!
They were such a joy and we always had so much fun!! :)
I love this picture of my Best Friend! God has blessed with so much Talent and I love that he uses it for the LORD!
Let me tell you more about this little cutie in my lap!
Clarence was one of the kids of the church who was on the waiting list to be sponsored. When I found this out I immediately started praying about the opportunity to be his sponsor!
After a few days of prayer I realized I would be able to do it, and I am now sponsoring him to go to school starting this September! Being able to tell Pastor Duce this and after be thanked over and over again by his parents, I couldn't help but be humbled by my God! He has blessed me so much and I am blessed even more now to be able to use my blessing to bless someone else!! So thankful!! <3
The day I left was honestly the hardest thing ever! This place had become my home, and I was not ready to leave. I had become a Tanzanian! <3
As I said goodbye to my Best Friend, My Dada, and my African Parents, My heart was heavy!
BUT BUT BUT I am so glad to make an announcement coming soon about my future!
I WILL BE GOING BACK!
you can not keep me a way from my FAMILY! <3
It is not Goodbye... But see you later!
The End
The Beginning!
<3
