Davis

 To say my trip to Tanzania, Africa last summer was more than just an eye opening experience would be an understatement. Last summer God showed me so much about him and myself that really made an impact on my life. 

For a little backstory, I did not want to go on this trip. When May came and I realized I'd be leaving in less than a month I was so mad. Mad at the world, mad at myself, mad at my family, even mad at God. Why was I so mad? Well, I thought my life was absolutely perfect, which is ironic because like I said I was mad at everything. Anyway, I had just gotten a boyfriend, a good group of friends who both wanted to spend summer together and I knew I would be in Africa for 2 months. I didn't want to go at all, I had no desire. even when I got to The Lord's Boot Camp where the training begins I had no desire to go. Saying this now makes me realize how selfish I was/am to just thinking it was all about me. Me having a good summer. Me having friends. My life being perfect. All of the things I thought before were so absolutely wrong. The training is 2 weeks long and it is not easy. It's waking up at 5:30 every morning after sleeping in a tent with a random girl you're apparently gonna live with and go to Africa with. Leaders rushing the team of 20 kids you're allegedly gonna love and be as close as family with to the bathrooms that don't flush cause your training for a 3rd world country. Then running an obstacle course in humid, sweaty, hot Merritt Island, Florida (middle of a swamp). Now this does sound terrible, and at times it seems like you won't make it another day there. But it is so worth it. After breakfast your team has some classes, Bible studies, and team bonding then every evening a rally. A rally is just worship and prayer every night with a message from a staff member. After all that it's team prayer then to the campsite and do it all over again the next day. It takes a couple days to accept and get used to, but once you do, it's thrive time. If it sucks, at least be good at it. After the 2 weeks are up the exciting commissioning day happens. packing up, taking down campsites, and loading your bus. After commissioning night you fly out of the Orlando airport, some would say this is the best night of it all because it's the first time you've been in AC in 2 weeks. Everyone on my team was so excited to go to Africa and I was still feeling sorry for myself. It's honestly a little embarrassing to admit. Even on the plane my teammates were saying how excited they were, and then there was me, a  party pooper. Still having no desire to get there and serve Jesus. I think that's what made this trip so impactful for me was just that. I was forgetting the mission and only thinking of me. We got into Tanzania late after many long flights so we got to the TMI base after dark. We were all tired so we slept on the floor in the building of the base for that night. That first morning was absolutely beautiful. I walked outside to the chilly air and the perfect view of Mt. Kilimanjaro and was in awe. Our leaders called us to a spot for a meeting and told us the Health Department in Florida went to the Merritt Island base the day after we left and were not happy that they sent us all over the place. There were many teams going to different countries and ours was one of the few that actually got to go--we  left just in time. Since the health department couldn't do anything about the fact that we were already in country they told TMI we have to stay a the base we were at and we are no to leave for 10 days. This news was devastating for us. We were supposed to go and foot-wash, not sit at the base for 10 days. That only gave us like 6 days to actually do our mission. We ended up filling those days with busy work on the base, gardening, cooking, etc. Though we couldn't leave we found joy in these things. We discovered a beautiful stream just yards from the base and spent lots of free time there. We made friends with the people that lived on the base and the time went by fast. Once we got to actually start foot-washing it was amazing. The kids started to arrive and there was such an exciting vibe in the air because we finally got to do our mission. I didn't want that day to end. We played with so many kids and helped so many people I could have stayed all night. We did that for 5 consecutive days and towards the end do those days we would run out of shoes. We had a certain amount for each day and everyday we were left with the huge sizes and no kid sizes. It broke my heart and many others to see kids walk home with no shoes after waiting all day to get a new pair and get their feet washed. This whole experience lit a fire in me and I knew I had to do something about this. No I can't give every starving kid food, and no I can't give every hurting kid medicine, and no I can't give all of those kids new shoes, but I had to do at least something. I decided that once I got home I would raise awareness to this need. The fact that we didn't have enough shoes for each day might have seemed like a bad thing in the moment but after those days were up, on the last day we completely ran out of everything. Even this small thing that seemed bad was God working. If we would not had been quarantined for those 10 days and started on the foot-washing  the day we got there, we would have run out faster. Us running out completely when we did was a miracle, God's timing. Not just a coincidence. It was the simple things like that that happened day to day there that really turned  me around. I re-dedicated my life to Jesus and I am born again! The moment I got home I signed up for another team. God allowed me to learn so much this past summer and I refuse to ever say my life is just perfect again. I have many amazing stories that I'd love to share with you! If you ever want to chat or learn more about this trip or past ones contact me here!