Masai Lunch, Indian Dinner

Only here can you be having lunch in a Masai hut and that evening be eating an Indian dinner on the streets of Arusha. Today has been simply out of this world or out of a National Geographic magazine.

As we were planning for this outreach, one of the things that the Russells wanted us to experience was to go to the Masai villages where CA has invested. In recent years, CA helped build sleeping quarters for the teachers who are educating the Masai children, so they wanted us to see that. They also wanted us to meet some of the artisan women who are the ones making those amazing bead ornaments.

Our day started at 7 a.m. as we departed from our hotel and jumped in the the Russell's and Borden's Land Rovers as we made our way to remote Masai villages that are on the border of Tanzania and Kenya. As we left Arusha town, the city was just coming to life with the predictable weekend activities of a town in Tanzania. Within 90 minutes of our trip, we turned off of the paved road and onto a dirt road leading to the middle of nowhere. As we drove into the bush we began to see gazelle, giraffes, and a variety of other wildlife that I have no clue what they are called.

After about two hours of driving through these dirt roads, we came around a corner and found these Masai women, dressed in their traditional garb jumping up and down as they greeted us. They were on their way to a traditional Masai ceremony but knew we were coming today and so they wanted to be the first to welcome us. It was amazing to see them! It was like being in the middle of a movie!

A little while later we came upon the Masai village where there was a community school and where CA had helped build those teachers quarters. As we arrived, we were immediately swarmed by dozens of beautiful children. They sang traditional Masai songs (no clue what they were singing) as they welcomed us into their community. The three teachers (all male) who teach all 212 children who attend school there were present to meet us. It was so incredible to see the dedication and commitment of these men to the children of the community. We were able to share greetings and encouraging words with them and them with us. We also presented them with school supplies, a soccer ball (it was a huge hit!) and hackey sacks for them to play with. Kindra, Tim and Chase (Russell) went out with the kids played soccer. I think Kindra kept them busy! Oliver played with a bunch of other kids with the hackey sacks, kicking up tons of dust everywhere! Tammy and the rest of the CA gals did face painting with the kids. You should have seen them, they were beaming with pride! Later we went over to the teachers quarters and spent some time listening to James (the area pastor and community leader) share his heart and vision for the community. We also prayed for the completion of the quarters, as they are not quite done.

From there we went over to a well that is being dug up in the search for water. As you can imagine, water is life in Africa. The water from this well will be used for the school and if there is water left, it can be used by the community. They have dug about 48 feet and are close to finding water. One of the reasons we went over to the well was to pray for the Lord to get them to the water as soon as possible. So, Jaime and Peter climbed down all 48 feet to the bottom of the well and prayed with the two guys digging. It was a scary climb down and a tiring climb up! As Jaime and Peter prayed at the bottom of the hole, the rest of the team prayed at the top. We prayed with a sense of expectation and excitement!

From there, we went to a traditional Masai village, where our new friends showed us how they lived. They had prepared a typical Masai meal of beans, potatoes, rice and chibatti (a Masai version of a tortilla...yum!). That experience in and of itself was out of this world. Here we were sitting in these Masai huts eating a meal with our hands (OK, some of us cheated and used spoons). It felt like we had jumped back a few centuries or millenia and yet the spirit of hospitality and Christian brotherhood were so present. It was amazing!

Lastly, we drove over to James's house where several of the artisans were waiting for us. Some of them had walked over four hours from Kenya over to the Masai village. They came with bags filled with ornaments that hopefully will sell out at CA! Hint, hint! It was so amazing to meet these ladies whose lives have been completely transformed through this project. It was so great to hear the stories that have come out of this project and to see people begin to become self-sustaining.

We quickly left the Masai villages because we still had a bumpy four hour drive ahead of us and we for sure were going to be driving in the dark. Most of us were super tired after such a fun and exciting day but we couldn't end the day without going to Kahn's, the Indian version of Tijuana's taco stands! We had yummy Indian food as we reminisced about the amazing events of the day.

Tomorrow we are off to church visits. We are looking forward to worshipping with brothers and sisters in Christ in another language!

For those of us who were feeling a little under the weather, we are feeling better. Thanks for the prayers!

Please pray for the following:

• That as we are at the churches tomorrow, that we would share God's heart with the people
• For our preparation for the coming week of teaching English
• For the Russells, as hosting us can be exhausting

We love you and bless you all the way from Arusha! Asante sana (Thank you very much)!