Zawati

While the girls went down for lala time this afternoon, Annie and I decided to take a walk around the village. Don’t worry though…Ksusha was at the house with the girls! On our way out of the gates we passed all the hard workers pouring the foundation for our new home. It is so exciting to see all the progress being made in such a short time! Just picturing all the children we will be able to have here and love once this home is done makes me very anxious and filled with so much joy! The workers are very impressive as they have been working all day and will continue to work all through the night. After walking down the road a little ways we were greeted by the smiling faces of many little children who yelled “Mambo!” to which we replied saying “Poa!” We continued walking and came across more children who were so fascinated by my camera and loved seeing their faces on the screen! After each photo they would crowd around me laughing and pointing at each other so enthralled by the camera! They loved giving high fives so before we continued our walk we gave plenty all around and then some. 

Along the dirt road the beauty surrounding us left Annie and I completely awestruck. A little ways down the path a little boy passed me who I met the first time I came to Tanzania a few years ago. He has grown so much and words can’t express how great it was to see him! 

We were on our way to this lookout where we were hoping to get a good view of Mt Kilimanjaro when we came across a big group of kids who looked a little scared of us at first but then eventually asked us to come over to them and take pictures. After taking pictures, sharing our names, laughing and smiling together we decided to say goodbye and head down the path to the lookout. After a little ways Annie and I decided to turn around and go back to play games and spend more time with the group. They were very excited that we returned and we all played a very fun game of Duck Duck Goose. The laughter was endless as the children took turns running around the circle, tagging each other, and maybe even tripping a time or two. After a little while one the girls, Zawati (Gift), asked if we could sing songs so that is what we began to do.

After they all lined up we sang Father Abraham, We are Soldiers, Making Melodies, Jesus Love is Bubbling Over, Jesus Loves Me, I Just Want to be a Sheep, and more. I loved the fact that the same songs that these kids were learning at school are the same songs I learned on the other side of the world. As I listened and watched them sing Jesus Loves Me it made me stop and think about the uncontainable and inexpressible love of Christ. No religion or region can contain the love and power of God. I don’t know about you but I am so thankful to serve a God that doesn’t fit in the lines, that His mercy is undeserved and given freely, and that we will never even be able to comprehend the vastness of His power and love but the little we can wrap our puny brains around is enough to praise Him every second of our lives forever. 

Living in Orange County, CA I am surrounded by a very materialistic world and it is very easy to lose sight of what really matters in life and where we can find happiness. Too many people place their happiness in temporary things, which can only ever bring them temporary happiness. I know because I have been there…we all have. Being here in Tanzania and singing “I’ve got joy like a fountain” it hit me that the people here are so happy with what the world says is “so little” but really they have so much and all they will ever need because although their lifestyle is simple they have Jesus and an uncontainable and inexpressible joy because they know whose they are. Life with no purpose is time without meaning. I want my time to be meaningful and I want my life to be filled with purpose. In order to accomplish that we need to know who we are and whose we are so that we can understand why we are here. 

Today I asked God to push me further than I’ve gone before and I challenge you to do the same. As humans we are lazy and we live in a world that tells us that if we have more stuff we will find happiness but it’s a lie. We need to realize that we already have everything we could possibly ever need. We need to simplify our lives and do the things that really matter. Love God. Love People. It is in God and only Him that we can have pure joy, true happiness, and make a difference.