Safari and Preaching

April 23, 2007

This past weekend was full of so many wonderful things! Friday night I played "The Gods Must Be Crazy" for our English Movie Night, and we were all laughing so hard! Before playing it, i asked some of the Africans on our base if they had seen it before, and everyone had and thought it was halarious and wanted to come too! so we had the english class, some people from the base, and a group of the little kids all watching it. it was a lot of fun! everyone thought the part with the car was the funniest. i think that kind of humor translates without having to understand english. So, you all should go rent this movie and think of me in Africa (:

The following morning my friend Damarius (who is visiting from the Der Es Salaam base, and is from Germany), Claude (one of my students who is from New Caladonia), and Mark (who says to tell you all that "a massai called mark says hello"), all went on safari!! we woke up at 5am and had breakfast together, then left the base at 6, and took a bus to Ngorongoro which is about three hours away. Mark is from that area so he arranged for his friends to drive our safari car, which made it really nice. The crater is absolutely gorgeous, it reminded me of a garden of Eden on earth. It is enclosed by mountains, with a lake in the middle, and grass with purple and yellow flowers. We saw elephants, flamingos, hipopotimus, three lions, six lionesses, an eagle, wharthogs, zebra, a cheetah eating a gazel, bulls, and probably more that i can't think of right now. it was amazing to see the animals in their natural environment, they looked so peaceful and at home. it gave me a whole new view of the zoo! the only animal they didn't have there were giraffes, because they don't have the trees they eat. i was so disappointed! on the way home we were all so tired, because we had been so excited and seen so much, then finding a taxi home took forever. so i was praying for everyone in the car, that God would encourage us and build us up. I was praying for each of our callings, because each person in our group had been so called by God and were so precious to Him. Then we saw a rainbow that was gorgeous! we all felt encouraged by that, then got quiet and tired again. so i started praying a little again, and Damarius yells "Stop the car! There are GIRAFFES!!!" so the driver stopped the car and we all piled out. we got so much closer to them than we would have on the safari! the giraffes were drinking water off the street, and eating the tress. and there wasn't just one of them, there were at least 10! they were gorgeous! they are so graceful when they run! so we were all so encouraged and thanked Jesus that he sent me giraffes!

On sunday morning I preached at the local church. it was so much fun! i love preaching! i preached on Daniel Chapter 9, and related it to praying for Africa. then i opened it up to prayer time for Africa....and everyone started praying at once, people were crying, and the voices would get really loud at parts. then the pastor got up and said that that was a message from God, and who felt touched by it? and people raised their hands. then he started a worship song "Asante Yesu" which means "Thank you Jesus" and told people to come up if they had burdens and needed prayer. About seven women came up and he asked me to pray for them. So i went down the line and laid hands on each of them and prayed for them. it was so great! afterwards the pastor told me it was short but very good (african churches can go on for 4 hours!) and asked if i would like to preach again while i am here! so pray for that...if God wants me to that He would give me another message.

Class is off to a good start this week. pray that my students will stay motivated, and that i will stay organized! this is our third week so people are starting to feel comfortable, and not as punctual (; pray that my energy level would stay high and that my teaching would be effective. there are several students who i am having a hard connecting with...they aren't picking up english and don't seem as interested in learning. pray that God would take away any and all barriors preventing people from learning. that nothing would stand in the way of each student learning and understanding.

Thank you for your prayers! and God bless!

Christina