A quick look back on Outreach

My five months of DTS is almost at its close.  This coming Saturday is the day of graduation and saying goodbye.  We arrived back from our two month outreach phase yesterday afternoon after a very long, uncomfortable bus ride.  I will try to write a briefly about some of the events of outreach.

Firstly we arrived in Zanzibar where we were immersed in an Islamic culture.  We even had a mosque right next to where we were living so every day we heard them announce their prayers over the loud speaker.  In Zanzibar we did mostly door-to-door ministry.  Every morning we went out for three hours talking to people and praying with them.  Many people accepted Christ but it was a challenging time because we did not really see the fruits of our labor.  Like people would accept Christ and then that was the end of it, we never saw them again.  While in Zanzibar we had many fun times as well.  Since it is a tourist Island we did lots of shopping in the shops.  Two of the girls had their birthdays while there so we took a day a celebrated with them by going out for lunch, going to the beach, and playing games.  We also found a random lady to make them a special birthday cake. 

By the time we left Zanzibar, most of us were ready for the change but we had no idea what our life would be like in Dar Es Salam so we were also a little nervous.  Msaki would not tell us anything about what our living conditions would be like so the other girls thought we would be living in a small mud hut.  I kind of thought we would be going somewhere fairly nice.  Anyway we arrived in Dar and to the other girl’s surprise it was a huge house in a nice town.  When I say huge I don’t mean a mansion but it was the size of a typical American house.  Us six girls shared a room with the two other girls that lived there.  It was a bit cramped but not bad at all.  We stayed with a family of five.  There were twin boys, age fifteen, and a girl, age 17.  There was also another girl that was sort of like a house girl and a random guy that stayed in the house as well.  They all welcomed us into their family and I felt at home there.  Grace and Neema were the names of the two girls and I got to spend a lot of time with them cooking meals.  It was really nice to be around some Africans my own age.  While in Dar we did a week or two of door-to-door ministry and then we did a week of seminars for the church members.  After that, we hosted crusades for a week and then did a couple days of seminars for the new believers.  Ministry felt so much easier in Dar and I enjoyed it much more.  There are so many stories to tell but it would take too long and I do not feel like writing them. 

 Anyway, I have only been gone from Dar like 3 days and I already really miss the family.  And I have also have the constant reminder in the back of my head that I will in five days I will have to say goodbye again to people I love.  I guess it is just a part of life to get used to, but I really hate it.

Last Weeks of Lecture Phase!!

Last Saturday I went into town and then on Sunday Bosco and I went to a place called Bugambi to play basketball on a real b-ball court.  It was a court for a boarding school so we actually practiced with the team.  It was extremely exhausting especially because it was like the hottest part of the day and I had no water with me.  On Monday we had no classes so we just did a lot of practicing of our dances.  Tuesday and Wednesday our teacher arrived and taught on prayer and intercession.  I really enjoyed the topic and it challenged me to improve my prayer life.  I realized areas that I am very weak in.  Also one of those days we had a meeting and discussed responsibilities for outreach.  The leaders appointed like managers for different areas and I was appointed administrator which means I and the other administrator are in charge of all the other management areas.  If people of problems they come to us.  We also have to take care of the hour long practice times every night and figure out who speaks at what church and stuff like that.  So far it has not been too bad, but it might be a lot harder once we are on outreach.  Thursday brought around the base prayer and fasting day.  Our teacher could not come that day so Msaki, the school leader, spoke briefly on the topic of the cost of discipleship.   Then Friday we had the whole day off so I was able to go to town and skype my family...always makes for a good day!  So this past week was a fairly laid back week which made it really enjoyable.  On Saturday I went to town again but did not do much of anything.  I finally went to church again on Sunday.  It was another interesting experience.  I just cannot get used to their style of doing things, but I have only gone to a Ugandan style church twice.  Basically they preach, praise, pray, etc extremely loud.  I guess it just sometimes feels like everyone just puts on a show and there is not true heart behind it all.  That is just how I perceive it.  We spent the rest of Sunday relaxing by Lake Victoria.  And now onto our last week of classes.  Monday and Tuesday we have lectures and then we have the rest of the week off to prepare for outreach next Monday. 

Weeks 8-10

On Tuesday, October 12 a shrill scream came from the bathroom and Lucy came running out the door.  After finally settling down she explained that when she looked up from brushing her teeth all she saw were ants everywhere.  Upon, looking for myself I discovered that our bathroom walls were full of scurrying ants.  Searching farther, us girls discovered that our entire room was being invaded by ants and some of the ants were the type that bite really bad.  During the rainy season ants have the potential to become a real pain in the butt, literally!  Thankfully I have not experienced the pain yet, but most of the other girls have.  The other night Scovia, one of the Ugandan girls came running into the room screaming and wriggling.  She had been talking on the phone and was not paying attention to where she was standing.  Turns out she was standing on or near an ant hill and they attacked her.  Anyway, the night the ants got in the room, we washed our walls with kerosene water and once the ants died we scooped them out in piles.  It was an experience that I would prefer to never have again.  The rest of the week was not very eventful in comparison to that night.  That week we were learning about Praise and Worship/Relationships/Personality.  I really enjoyed the topic of that week.  It helped me in what I was going through at the moment.  I realized that no matter what situation I am in, no matter what is going on around me God is still in control and is still good.  We always have a reason to praise God and when we praise him in all circumstances it gives the devil less of a foothold.  So although it was a challenging week I was able to trust God and give the situation over to Him.  The things I am learning are all elementary stuff but it is a matter of taking it from the head and putting it into my heart.

Friday night the electricity went out and stayed out until Monday evening, but thankfully we still had water.  On Sunday I went to a very small Ugandan church with Lucy.  Lucy was asked to preach so I went along for moral support.  There were like only seven people attending the church and three of them were relatives of the pastor.  It was an enjoyable service other than the fact that they preached so loud my ears were ringing.  After church we got to eat at the pastor’s parent’s house.  We were served hot sugared milk with bread.  It was actually really delicious, probably the highlight of the day for me!

On Monday we did not have a teacher so we spent a lot of time praying and having discussions.  Tuesday through Thursday the teacher came and taught on worldview.  He was my favorite teacher so far.  He made the class very interactive and time went by quickly.  Tuesday night we had a very funny bat experience.  All of us western girls went to the office to get internet and we were sitting there calmly when I notice a creature in the corner of the room.  I did not say anything because I did not want to alarm the two other girls who are scared of almost any creature.  So I motioned to the girl beside me and pointed it out thinking it was a frog.  All at once the other two girls saw it and it flew right towards me.  It really surprised me because I was thinking it was a frog and not expecting it to fly.  So Lucy and Kelly screamed and ran into another room while I just fell over in laughter.  Meanwhile Lindley grabs a thin grass and turns in small circles trying to hit the bat that is flying in big circles around the room.  I think we finally managed to injure it after much screaming from Kelly and Lucy and much laughter from Lindley and myself.  Eventually we got it out of the room and calmed down.  Later that night I got to watch Scovia pick a flying ant off our bedroom floor, de-wing it, and then eat the live bug.  I was not brave enough to try it but I will take her word for it that it tastes sweet.  So the week went on as normal and on Saturday we went to town and I finally did some shopping and bought some dresses and stuff.  Then that evening we went to the source of the Nile where we took a short boat ride on the Nile and Lake Victoria.  It was so beautiful!!  That day was an enjoyable day, but I spent a lot of money and I hate doing that.  Oh well, I guess it was just one day.  That night a bat came out of our ceiling so we had another screaming episode.  This time Kelly killed the bat with a mop while sitting in her bed under her mosquito net.  Then I had the pleasure of scooping up the twitching bat and disposing of it outside.

On Sunday I enjoyed a relaxing day on the base with no schedule or list of things to accomplish.  I actually ended up playing basketball for like three hours.  It was a lot of fun to play some competitive basketball, but it was extremely hot and I did not have any water to drink so I was dying of thirst.

This past week we started getting up at 4:40am so that we can be out praying by 5:00am.  Truthfully, it really is not too hard but I think that is because I am a morning person.  So I go to bed around 9:30 and then when I wake up I am normally wide awake until around the time of class, which is when the sleepiness begins to hit.  I have been playing basket ball like almost every evening for an hour or so and I am hoping that I can improve enough that by the time I get home I will have enough skills to beat Austin in some one-on-one. J  On Wednesday my small group went out to eat which was quite a long, yet enjoyable experience.  It took us from 12:30-5:30 just to get to find pork to eat and then to come back.  It was fun though.  I enjoyed joking around with the others in the group.  I am the only mzungu (white person) in my small group so they like to tease me when people in town always talk to me or try to get me to buy stuff and to tease me about my hairy arms etc.  So yeah things are going great here and I am really enjoying it.  Also there are only two more weeks until outreach so the school is like almost over….well sort of.

Halfway Done with Lecture Phase!! (Written on Sunday)

Alright so I again have to catch up on the past two weeks.  The week of September 27 through October 1 we were taught on the Holy Spirit.  I still want to go back over the notes from that week so that I can understand more fully what we learned.  It is hard for me to take in everything while in class.  That week was a very hard week for me, but not because of the topic.  I guess there was just a spiritual battle going on, and it really affected me in that all of my joy was zapped out of me.  I felt really confused about some things going on around me and I did not know what to do.  Anyway, this past week has been so much better.

This past week our DTS leader taught on Mission and Evangelism, and he gave more details about what to expect on outreach.  It got me really excited for outreach, even though I know it will be very challenging.  On Tuesday night we had a social event which was a lot of fun.  We started off by playing wink and then did some other games.  The first game I volunteered for and it was where we had to eat an apple while it was hanging by a string, and, of course, we were not allowed to use our hands.  The people that held the string were allowed to move the string around while we frantically tried to bite the apple.  I think I might have won the game because I ate most of my apple, but in order to bite it I would push it up against the person beside me so that I could get a good bite.  I think I almost bit the guy beside me a couple of times while trying to get the apple.  Then some other people volunteered for the next game.  For that game there were three sets of two people who were blindfolded and then they had to try and feed their partner across from them melted ice cream.  So, as expected, the ice cream went practically everywhere except in the people’s mouths.  It made for lots of laughter and a good bonding time with the whole DTS group.  On Wednesday morning I had to preach again and it went fine, but I still really dread preaching (hopefully that is the last time I will have to do it).  Thursday night we had what the base called a “love feast” but really it was not much different of food than normal.  We just ate it at a new location and everything was more decorated.

Saturday was a really fun day for me.  Us western girls planned a treasure hunt for one of the boys on the base because it was his birthday on Thursday.  So we made clues and got little presents for him and went out to eat at the American restaurant.  We also went together to buy him a real Spalding basketball which he absolutely loved.  Today, Sunday, I had like a two hour long basketball training session with him.  I taught him some simple drills and basic moves.  The weekend has gone by fast and now it will be on to week 8 which means only 5 more weeks until outreach.  And only two more weeks of sleeping in till 6:00am.  For the last three weeks of lecture phase and all of outreach we are going to be getting up a 5:00am to pray together as a team.  I normally go to bed around 9:30 on week days but I guess I should start going to bed even earlier once we start getting up at 5:00am.

For the most part things are going well here, but I feel like it is such a mind game.  Like to constantly be identifying the lies Satan is feeding me and not believe them can get tiring.  Also it is hard when there is constantly someone in our room being unhappy, upset, or grumpy.  It is a very rare occasion to find all four of us western girls happy at the same time.  I keep reminding myself when I get weary of stuff, “God is in control and He knows what He is doing and He has our best interest in mind”.  To be completely honest, I have recently really wanted to go home.  I want to see my family and friends again.  I miss so many little things and I am sort of counting down the months till I return.  I am still having trouble with relating to the people here and feeling comfortable around them.  It comes down to I am having trouble loving them (the other DTS students) for who they are.  God showed me the other day in devotions part of the problem.  He showed me that I have a spiritual pride when it comes to relating to them.  I constantly try to find out where they are wrong or immature in their faith.  It is an attitude of pride that keeps me from seeing them through God’s eyes.  So that is something that I am trying to give over to God during this time.  God continues to reveal to me areas that I need to change me and patiently helps me through many struggles.

Philippians 1:6

“And I am certain that God, who began a good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns”

Week four and five

So I guess I have like two weeks to catch up on.  In the past two weeks we did the topics of deliverance, nature/character of God, and fear of God.  They were good weeks with the teaching and everything else that happened.  With the deliverance teachings God started showing me some areas in my life that I needed to change; so that was neat but also hard.  Now that I realize what needs to change in my life, I have to maintain that change.  I hope that makes sense.

Last Tuesday evening we went to town for supper and then rode bota botas back.  Our drivers went so fast and I felt like my head was going to blow off.  It was a lot of fun though because we had two people on each bike so when we passed each other we would give high fives and scream and stuff.  Our drivers probably though we were crazy.  When we arrived back we had a special event with the DTS team.  It consisted of playing two games.  The first game was were one person got in the middle of the circle of people and that person held a small orange like fruit squeezed between the chin and collar bone.  Then that person would motion to another person and they would have to transfer the fruit from the one person to the other without using their hands.  So pretty much it is really awkward looking.  Then after that game we played musical chairs.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful other than the power went off for like two days.  It happens a lot now sometimes it will last for a day or two and sometimes just for a couple of hours.  But when the electricity goes off that also means no running water and of course no internet, which we hardly ever get here.  Oh, on Thursday we had game time for two hours so that was fun to play volleyball and some basketball.

On Sunday, me, Lucy (girl from UK), and one of the African boys from the base went to Lake Victoria but as we were walking there it began to down pour.  So we sloshed through the thick sticky red mud until we found some tree for shelter.  When the rain slowed down we started walking again but it again began to down pour so we finally found an old half wrecked building to stay dry under.  All in all, it was a memory making journey.  Our feet were like 5lbs heavier by the end because all the mud cakes itself to the bottom of our flip-flops.

Ok so all that was from the week of the 13-19.

This week was normal again; the power went off for at least a day and I don’t think we had internet at all this week.  On Tuesday night I had a really encouraging talk with one of the girls on the base.  She is from America and she has been here since February I think.  She did her DTS from February till July and then just stayed on.  Anyway I was able to share with her some of my struggles just with the culture and stuff and she faced some of the same struggles so she had some advice for me.

Friday night we had worship for an hour and that was a lot of fun.  We spent some time praying for each other and then we ended up just dancing around to praise songs.  Then on Saturday I did my load of wash as normal and went to town to skype my family!  That, of course, was so fun and comforting.  Sunday the 26^th, another girl and myself went on a walk/hike up a hill.  At the top was a huge boarding school.  We were able to walk around and finally see some monkeys.  We also admired the beautiful view from the top.

4th week!!

This week we had the topic of rejection vs. acceptance and a very quick summary on the Father heart of God.  It felt like the week went by very fast week, but I do not know why.  On Thursday we did not have class because it was a day of prayer and fasting for the whole base, and I had to preach a short ten minute sermon on Wednesday morning.  The preaching went pretty well, but I spoke too fast for a lot of the Africans.  It is hard enough for me to speak slowly in front of Americans but to have to slow down even more so that the Africans can understand is practically impossible.

Also for the past two weeks we had to memorize Romans 12:1-2 and make it into a song in our groups.  It was sort of frustrating for me because I was the only one in my group who actually memorized the verse and got the group together to make up the song.  The one guy in the group tried his best to memorize the verse and did help me make up a song but the other guy always had something else to do and would just say “hallelujah, be bold and make up song!”  or something like that.  Then the other girl in our group had been sick for a while so she tried to learn it like the day before we had to present.  Anyway, when we went to present the song to the group I was basically the only one singing.  The others were just supposed to repeat certain words or phrases but they hardly did that because they did not know the verse.

Last Saturday I helped make mandazi which is basically small fried dough balls.  We eat them almost every day at tea break.  They are really good, but probably not the best for you.  It was interesting to watch how they make them.  All that was in them was flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, water, and butter/margarine.  They just pour everything into a big bucket and start mixing with their hands and then kneading it for a while until it is formed into dough.  It was the first time it registered in my brain that they do not have mixing machines.  I did not help much with the actual mixing part but I helped to roll out the dough and cut it into small squares.  Rolling out the dough reminded me of making homemade bread (I miss your food mom!).  Then we took the squares and fried them in oil until they were nice and crispy.  All together it took like 4 hours to complete.  Another one of my favorite foods here is called chapatti, but we do not get it too often on the base so when we order food or eat out we get it a lot.  All it is though is flour, salt, and water or butter that is mixed together rolled out and fried.  I did not actually watch how they made it but someone told me how it was made.  It is kind of like a crepe except a little thicker and more chewy.

It feels like the days here are getting hotter but it still rains almost everyday.  I have been trying to wear the only one skirt a week and the least amount of shirts possible so as to cut down on my wash load.  I do not know if washing my clothes really does much at all though because they never really smell clean.  I am wishing I would have not brought so much clothing with me because I will probably only end up wearing like half of it.  I wish I would have at least brought more sweat pants because I wear my one pair every morning and evening because it gets so cold.  But I will just make do with what I have.  I have been getting a lot more mosquito bites recently and I think they normally get even worse during the dry season so when we are on outreach there might be a lot of mosquitoes.  Oh yeah for outreach I think I will be going to Tanzibar, Tanzania.  Our options are either Tanzania or staying in Uganda.  I think they said Tanzibar is a small island or something like that and we would be ministering mostly to the Muslim population.  But that is still like two and a half months away.      

Random things...

I have now been here for a week and a half, and I am finally beginning to feel comfortable and am getting used to the schedule. This is what my schedule looks like:


Monday through Friday we have devotions from 6-7am ( I really enjoy this time in the early morning although it is often times very cold out)

7-7:30 is breakfast

7:30-8:30 is class preparation time except on Mondays and Wednesday when we meet as a base for worship and intercession

8:30-9:30 is prayer/worship as a DTS

9:30-10:30 is lectures

10:30-11:00 is break tea as the Africans call it (I call it tea break)

11:00-1:00 is more lectures

1:00-2:30 is lunch/free time

2:30-3:30 is small groups Mon, Thurs, & Fri and is Bible study on Tues and Free time on Wed

3:30-5:30 is work duty

6:30-8:00 is supper/free time/ homework

10:00 lights out

Then we the whole weekend off which is really nice. I will probably do my wash on the weekends since it takes a while to wash clothes by hand. Also during the week we are supposed to clean our room almost everyday and cleaning means mopping, but it is not the way we mop our floors in America. Also along with Bible reading each week we now have three books to read in the next six weeks. So I keep pretty busy, but I am enjoying it. Although, all the sitting around is kind of hard for me. So at night time I always have lots of energy and get really antsy.

This week the teachings are on sin, repentance, forgiveness, and pride vs humility, but so far we have only covered the topic of sin. Last week we were taught on hearing God’s voice and how to have a quiet time, most of which was stuff I had already been taught. It was still good to hear again, but at the same time was kind of frustrating because I feel like I have such a hard time hearing from God, at least in the areas I want to hear from him. Maybe that doesn’t make sense, but I don’t know how to describe what I mean. (typical me)

Today, to my excitement and delight, I had the privilege of helping to cook supper. I know that really doesn’t sound too exciting but I enjoy doing it. We cook huge portions over fires and I got to cut up the cabbage, tomatoes, and onions. I basically made the whole cabbage slosh (I don’t know what else to call it) part of supper by myself which was fun. And since I helped in the kitchen I got to eat a few pieces of carrot. I really miss eating carrots every day like I did at home!! Haha, the little things in life that bring me joy! :o) Oh and on Saturday I helped make this big Indian dinner that us girls and a few other people ate. That was a lot of fun. We cooked everything over this small charcoal burner and I got to grind up spices and wash meat (yuck!) and cut up vegetables. Then I taste tested the really spicy dish. It was so hot!! My mouth and throat we burning for like five minutes. We made Indian food because our staff leader is Indian. We also made a fresh salad, but it was more like cole slaw. It was really nice to have a change of food. Then for dessert we ate a delicious warm chocolate cake. The whole meal was kind of a birthday meal for one the base staff so that is why we had dessert.

So yeah I think that is all I can think of to update ya’ll on. I hope everyone is doing well back home!!