Loaves and Fishes

I wonder to myself why I was so uneasy that first night. Just a few hours later we would be in the absolute middle of nowhere living outdoors in tents. A guard outside would be but a thing of the past. Now preparing for the ten hour bus ride that we are about to take on.

Breakfast included fried eggs, hot dogs (that posed as sausages), pineapple, oranges, and large pieces of cold bread. All of this was accompanied with Africafe, which is the instant coffee that they drink. It was the most refreshing thing we could have had after our 5am wake up call.

The Roika Inn looks completely different in the morning light. The walls are painted a pale yellow which makes things look more cheery than the dark night did. We are now boarding the bus to leave the hotel. We still don't have our trunks yet, but I'm sure everything will work out.

I'm truly learning what it means to be on "Africa-time." We Americans are all used to our schedules and being punctual. Africans just seem to go about with whatever they want to do. It's like there's no pressure to get things done, so if it's put off until tomorrow then it's no matter. I'm learning so much from their pace. The only thing that I do see is that there is such a lack of inner drive here with a lot of the people. It's like they're not aiming for anything more, just survival.

Now we're traveling to a village known as Migugu, which is outside Singida. Once we hit the gravel part of our journey, the road became very tough to handle. The people from the Roika fixed us all box lunches to take on the road. I had no idea that they would be filled with FRIED foods and things that were crazy to put in a sack lunch. Probably not the smartest of ideas on our part to eat the lunches after we hit the gravel road.

The bumper on our bus broke off and somehow we came across a few huts that just happened to have a welder there. We only paid an equivalent of $5 USA to have the bumper fixed. while we were here waiting to get the bumper welded, we got to love on some families in the area. As soon as we got back on the road, we were stopped by a highway policeman. He wasn't going to let us pass, but after some prayer and some smooth talking, we got to leave after paying a $25 fine.

*On a side note, it's been so nice to get to know the team better on this bus drive. We each have different hearts and we each have different passions. It's been so neat seeing how each of our lives could come together and blend successfully.

Got to use my first "cho" in Africa today. It was an experience to say the least. It was a line of holes in the ground, and I know I've talked about some of the smells we have encountered so far, but none compares to that.

It seems that at every place we stop, even if it's just for a second, we draw a crowd of people. The kids are so interested in interacting with white people. Most have never seen someone of our skin color.

Today we reached a point on our bus travel where Steve stood up and said, "Ok, past this point, no Methodist has ever been. Do we happen to have any Methodists with us?" I slowly raised my hand. And so my name became Indiana Ashley.

So our ten hour bus ride turned into a twelve hour bus ride. Everytime we would get to a stopping point, Lai, our guide would estimate an arrival time of another hour and a half. We would then drive another hour and a half and consult with Lai again. He would then say, "Oh, probably another hour and a half." It's funny...now. The bus ride was twelve hours of the roughest terrain. I am surprised tht our bus still had wheels on it by the end.

There was another traffic stop on our way that questioned us about our bumper that was recently welded. Although most of the team was a little intimidated, I was pretty excited because I got to see an AK-47.

Criteria for sending Here's Life teams out in Africa is a village population of under 4,000 and never been reached before. Around 10pm, we pulled off the main road to nowhere and were greeted by five or so Africans. They led us off the beaten trail even further to nowhere. Our bus just kept driving and driving. It's so surreal to think that there are really people that live out here and they will be coming by the hundreds to see doctors at our site, or just to see what's going on. We all talk about the ends of the Earth, but honestly we have no way of really grasping how big this world really is. Being here really gives me a sense of understanding the Great Commission. we are told to make disciples of all men to all nations and all races. the people that I will be coming in contact with this week are mostly polytheistic or Muslim. They have no true grasp that there is a God and He is love.

As we arrived to the camp late last night, thankfully all of our tents were already set up. We grabbed our cots and went to bed. It's rather chilly up here at night, but I'm not exactly sure what elevation we're at.

After we got settled in our tents, we got to go to the kitchen where Lazaro, our African cook, had prepared us a fabulous meal of beans and rice.

Long day, learned a lot. Ready to set up clinic.

It's around 8 o'clock and we're now arriving into Kilimanjaro airport. (I use the term airport very loosely). Apparently, one flight comes through here every day... We got to walk straight off the plane onto the platform. The airport is a series of two rooms. As soon as you walk through the door, a stench/wall of body odor hits your senses. There are so many people crammed into the first room trying to get their passports checked. Thankfully, some of the Jesus Film guys who came to meet us took care of that whole process. Unfortunately, we are missing 20 trunks. Nobody has said what we're going to do about that yet. My personal trunk arrived, but only out of sheer luck. I would have much rather had a trunk of medical supplies come in its place, but it wasn't really my decision. Looking around the airport, most of the ads on the walls are for cigarettes and alcohol. Not sure how that's going to come into play with the people in the surrounding area.

We were able to cram all but four of our team onto our bus, which was awesome because we had 20 trunks on the bus as well. We began our drive into Arusha which is 45 minutes or so away from the Kili Airport. We welcomed our first experience without air conditioning, which actually was good because the elevation caused the temperature to be very tolerable. Got lost on the way to the hotel. The sky really does look like Lion King, which is really cool. When you look out the windows of the bus, you can see the faint scenery of the mountain ranges. As our bus drove down the road, people would just stop and stare at us.

We finally got to our inn around 11pm. As out bus turned down the street/alley that it's located on, I admit that I began to feel a little nervous. There were groups of men gathered around all throughout the alley. They stared just as the others had done while we were driving. We pulled up to the Roika Inn. From the outside, it looked as if the room only had one room, but it turned out there was enough rooms to house our entire team. Amanda and I got the first room on the right. We had two twin beds with sheets and a woolen blanket. There are bars on the window.

we had a group meeting on the patio after we got somewhat settled. Pastor Fred prayed over our journey so far and over Edna (the inn owner) and Fred (her marketing manager). After we prayed, Fred welcomed us and said that thanks to our prayer, he was closer tot he Lord and that he wanted to speak with Pastor Fred at a later time to discuss his faith. Fred then told us that while we were here, we would be in the safest and most capable hands.

Sleep came to me in two hour intervals. I don't think Amanda slept more than two hours the entire night. I got up when the call to prayer went off at 5am. It lasted around 20 minutes. There's really no going to sleep after that.

Apparently the "safest and most capable hands" included a guard wrapped in a blanket sitting on the patio with a large machete in his hands. Feel safe yet?