A Day In The Life: Tanzania

It’s month 9 on the world race, and I figured I’d share with yall just one day in my life, to show you what it’s like. Hope you like random 🙂

being a missionary… rocks

7:30 am: my alarm went off and I hit snooze.

8:20 am: unraveled myself out of the mosquito net, got up, dressed, ready.

8:35 am: breakfast with the team. This morning we had fried sweet rolls, chapatti, papaya, bananas, and coffee/tea.

9:10 am: we finally leave the house with our translator, walk to where we can catch transportation, and take a dala dala (ghetto van) to the church.

9:30 am: we arrive at the church, and proceed to sit and wait for other people to arrive, so we can go do door-to-door ministry. I got to sing, clap, and dance with the kids, and one of the ladies made the kids shake their butts. It was hilarious, and you’re just going to have to trust me on that one. I sat outside for a little bit, and cuddled with a couple of kids, and we were singing our ABCs and counting in English.

10:00 am: we sing a praise song, then pray and ask the Lord to bless our ministry. Off we go, door-to-door.

  ~~~~Epic stuff in bold, for your convenience~~~~

The first house we went to was this older Muslim lady. We had prayed for her yesterday and cast out demons from her. She had felt pain on her head and her chest, and the pain was gone after we had prayed. Today she was marked on the forehead and cheeks, and we think she went to the witch doctor. We prayed with her again and then invited her to church.

We visited several Muslim families, and shared with them the gospel. Some were more welcoming than others. Either way, we consistently drew a crowd of children. Random youths took pictures of us with their camera phones, typical.

We visited another home, of 2 ladies who were sisters. One of them accepted Jesus, and the other had demons. Yep, you guessed it: we cast out some more demons. The lady tried to bite the pastor’s wife.

the lady who had demons… intense!

I made several older lady friends, one of whom tried to give me this cute chubby baby. Seriously. She offered me a baby.

Two weeks ago, I had a dream that an African lady offered me a baby during the World Race. I cried a lot in the dream, so I think it was God preparing me for how that situation would play out. I politely declined. I can't just take a baby 🙁

As we walked around from house to house, the children were chanting my name. I felt like Dora the Explorer, or some other kids’ celebrity. Not really used to that, but it was fun. Props to my mom for giving me a name that everybody around the world can pronounce!

We went through a really nice gate and spoke with a Christian family. We prayed for healing of a lady who had malaria, and prayed for the Lord to bless their home and family.

We started walking back and, lo and behold, we spotted a very adorable kitten. I promptly squatted down and began to use my Jedi mind powers to make it approach me. It worked. Got to cuddle a super cute kitten! Woot!

We then met an older Muslim man who spoke English really well. I had the privilege of sharing the gospel with him, and having a deep, philosophical conversation about theology. I felt like I knew what to say, not because of my own wisdom, but because God was helping me speak. I usually avoid having controversial conversations in general (you try and ask me about politics, I will dodge it like a boss) but this time the Lord faithfully gave me the willingness and the words. I had this older, educated man pretty stumped. He couldn’t back up any of his beliefs. I told him that I respect him and his wisdom, and he let us pray with him. I had the honor of praying for God to reveal the truth of the gospel to him.

Then I turned around and there was a small crowd of people around this older lady. She asked for prayer for her feet and her knees, because she had a hard time walking and she felt pain. A few of us gathered around her, and I knelt down somewhere in this huddle, touching her feet. We prayed, asking God to heal her and to take away the pain. Afterwards, she had a huge smile on her face, and she stomped around and said that the pain was gone. We had the honor of explaining to a Muslim lady that JESUS loves her and just took her pain away. Sometimes the gospel speaks for itself, huh?!

As we walked home, I had a conversation with one of the church ladies, and she trusted me with her story. She asked me for prayer, and I was able to encourage her with Esther’s story.

  ~~~~yeah, that was one morning of ministry~~~~

1:30 pm: we get home and have lunch. For lunch I had potatoes, collard greens, bananas, and Pepsi!

2:00 pm: I got some time to journal and process everything that happened. Had some Bible time, read Luke 16-18 and John 11, and it was exactly what I needed to read, as always. God is perfectly faithful.

3:45 pm: got ready to leave for round 2 of door-to-door ministry, but then it turns out that we didn’t have ministry in the afternoon (TIA lol).

4:30 pm: watched the last 2 episodes of New Girl, and was left with the bittersweet feeling of ‘the season is over, I want more episodes now but I have to wait’…

5:30 pm: had very deep, awesome conversation with my teammate Ada.

6:35 pm: received news that one of my squadmates is in the hospital with typhoid, so we prayed hard, and he’s gonna be A okay, because God is faithful!

6:45 pm: went to the living room in attempts to watch Gilmore Girls but it was no longer on.

7:00 pm: had dinner consisting of potatoes, greens, and half an orange.

7:20 pm: went on a mosquito-killing tirade in the bathroom. The body count was very high. I really really hate Tanzanian, ginormous, bionic, robot, fast mosquitoes, and if they’re gonna sneak on me at night while I’m sleeping, break through the mosquito net somehow (they’re ninjas) and bite me on my feet and face, then I will find them in their hiding places in the bathroom, while they’re taking a nap on the nice tile, and kill them with my dirty right flip flop, Justice. Yes, my weapon has a name.

7:30 pm: had team time and feedback, and talked about the day, prayed, etc. Love my team 🙂

9:00 pm: I’m writing this blog, still waiting on the internet to work again… internet never came on.

9:30 pm: went on a mosquito-killing spree in the bedroom. If any of you remember the Mario fly-swatter game, it’s just like that, but real life, and my hand is not a floating glove. When in Rome, I say.

10:30 pm: wrote emails in a Word document, and felt homesick.

11:00 pm: sleep!
 
This is just one day in my life.
I’m thankful for the awesome things God does in just one day.

There are 87 more days on the World Race, and home is just around the corner. Please be in prayer for strength and endurance for me and my squad.

Most of us are worn out and homesick, especially the football fans and the fall season enthusiasts *cough cough go Cowboys cough cough*.

This is an opportunity of a lifetime, to travel the world and share the gospel, living out the great commission in such a literal way. I am blessed, in so many levels. Pray for our transitions, for us to have the faith that God will open every door in His will and timing.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34