Anyway… Wednesday
morning we got up extra early and pilled into our “safari car” with Vincent (an
excellent driver who has taken me on all three of my safaris) and headed
towards the Serengeti. Once we entered
the Serengeti area I was not expecting to see a lot of animals at first. Typically, you see a few animals on your
first day as you are driving in and then you see most of the animals on the
second day as you are making game runs and heading out. However, in true fashion, the four of us
could not do anything typical. Right off
the bat we saw 2 separate “couples” of lions.
We joked and said that each couple was on their honeymoon and that’s why
they were so far out! As we continued to
drive, we saw giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, elephants, baboons, gazelles,
warthogs, crocodiles, leopards and many other animals. I could not believe that we saw so many! We saw more that day than I had seen on my
two other trips combined. It was crazy! Thursday morning we got up early to do a
sunrise run and then came back for breakfast and headed out again. We drove around for several more hours before
heading back to Mwazna. Overall, we had
a great trip and took a lot of awesome pictures!
Friday was definitely a fun day. Liv decided that she wanted to throw the boys
a birthday party. A lot of the boys do
not even know when their birthday is, so she wanted to celebrate all of them on
one special day. Earlier this week we
went to the market and were able to buy each boy a pair of shorts, a shirt and
a pair of shoes with money that had been donated. We thought these were perfect birthday
gifts! Liv and I baked a cake and we
bought pizza and cokes for all the boys.
The boys were beyond excited about everything! We had a lot of fun helping them pick out
which shorts and shirt they wanted. We
had a sweet time of fellowship over pizza and cake. I’m pretty sure we left them all bouncing of
the walls of the church from a sugar high…but it was worth it! |
| My favorite shirt we bought! :) |
Today, Liv took Alston and I into town to the market to do
some shopping while Brian studied and prepared his sermon for church
tomorrow. Shopping is always an
interesting experience in Africa. I love
being able to look at the things that they have, but there’s one thing I love
more…watching Liv wheel and deal with the sellers about the prices. It was always entertaining to watch her do it
in English, but it’s even better in Swahili!
She definitely got us some good prices!
However, we had a funny/aggravating moment happen towards the end of our
shopping trip. Liv had gotten this man
to agree on a price for something I wanted.
So, I paid the man, he bagged the stuff and we walked away. Several minutes later he chased us down and
began to talk to Liv. Apparently it was
not his shop and when he called and told what he sold the stuff for, he got in
trouble. So, either I had to pay him
more money or give the stuff back. The
price he wanted was crazy, so I gave him the stuff back and he gave me my money
back. I guess I should public apologize
to my grandmother… Sorry Grandma, you
won’t be getting the really cool baskets that I found for you! :)
Our day concluded at the church with the boys. They sang songs and did some scripture
memory. I just love hearing them sing
and recite scriptures. As I sit and
listen I imagine about what Heaven is going to be like. One day, every tribe and every tongue will
praise His name together. How incredible
is that?!? I can’t wait. After singing we were waiting for their food
to be brought down, so I was able to take some pictures of the boys. Once you start taking pictures, all of them
want their picture taken! It was fun
just playing around with them!
Eventually the food came and Liv, Alston and I were able to plate it up
and give it out to them. This is always
a humbling time, but today it was even more so.
These boys have nothing, yet three, yes three, of them “welcomed” me to
eat with them. That quite possibly could
have been their only meal today, but they were still willing to share with me.
…What if?
What if we were willing to give and to share until it
hurt?
What if we were willing to sacrifice what God has abundantly
blessed us with for the sake of someone else?
What if we welcomed strangers into our lives and began to
meet their needs?
What if?
I’ll tell you what…if all of us were willing to do this, we
wouldn’t need to be ministering to the street boys of Tanzania…Because their
would be no children sleeping on the streets.
What if?
Why not?
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