Turning the corner

Some much needed R & R... notice the smiles!

There comes a point on these trips where you finally get acclimated. You start to feel a sense of connection with the culture, a flow with the rhythm of the place. Your internal clock finally resets itself from the jet-lag, and you no longer feel completely out of sorts. Like Sam said this morning, “I finally feel like I get it here.” Or like Tony said this evening (after a wonderful dinner at our friends Sylvester and Phoebe’s house), “My prayer this morning was that I would feel sad to leave, and tonight I feel like that prayer has been answered.”

In so many ways, we’ve turned the corner. 

Now If you’ll remember, my first post at the beginning of this trip was one where as a team we were feeling the burn. We were tired and unsure. In many ways I believe we were dealing with some spiritual warfare. At that point, I felt compelled to ask for as much prayer as possible, because I was honestly unsure if our team was going to make it without someone having a serious meltdown. And so I enlisted a few of you. Almost overnight, things began to change. Aly received a walking boot from Coni for her sprained ankle. It’s probably the only one in Kigoma. Deanna was able to get ahold of almost all the supplies she was missing and alleviate her stress. Tony and I felt much more free to let go of our need to control all outcomes. Our kids started sleeping the night through, and not a single one of them are still sick with the flu we had when we arrived. 

If this trip has taught me anything, it is a reaffirmation of the power of prayer and the beauty of having people both back home and here in Africa who love us. We have never once felt alone, never once felt like we were abandoned. At times we have felt weak and unsure and overwhelmed and in desperate need of help… but never alone. 

Our trip has been a perfect case study for many of my lessons out of 2 Corinthians. Personally, feel a new connection especially with Paul’s words in 12:9-10:

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content… For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

I thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for praying for us and helping us turn the corner here. Our time here is almost done, but our hearts are just now starting to fill up with this place and this experience. Thank you for releasing His grace and His power!  

​- Jake 

The only people in Kigoma who care that there is a Zebra over there ...

Kids Club in Ujiji

Aly helping a teacher with some counseling skills

Dinner at Sylvester & Phoebe's