"The world to see Your life in me"

On July 2^nd, 2017 as I was texting my friend, Sweet Ann, I made the decision to come back to Neema for a year! When I first began thinking about coming to Neema for three months, I felt Jesus was telling me it’s good to do hard things. When Sweet Ann asked me what I was going to do about coming back to Neema, I told her I wasn’t sure yet. Then, she asked me what would be the most comfortable thing to do and what would be the hardest thing. My reply was that it would be the most comfortable to go back to Montana and it would be hardest to stay here. I followed that very quickly with, “I think Jesus wants me to stay at least a year”.

 

Being so far away from my family and friends is very challenging for me, but I recognize that now is the time in my life to do this. My mom has always said I have “too big of a heart sometimes” and I think I’m starting to understand what she’s meant by that all these years. When I love someone, I really love them – like tell me every detail of your life and your mom’s favorite color kind of love them. Working with the volunteers here at Neema is something I am very passionate about and enjoy very much. Honestly, some of the volunteers I’ve worked with the past three months have become some of my closest friends.

 

Debra (a co-worker from Montana) says I have “the gift of crying” and I believe that gift goes along with how close I get to people and how deeply I care about everyone in my life. So, I’m sure you can understand it has been hard on me to watch so many fantastic volunteers come and go, especially people who stay for two months. But, I realize that is part of the game here and I’m very thankful to have the opportunity to meet so many awesome people. I’ve never had so many friends who live in Texas.

 

I’m sure you aren’t surprised that I was crying my little eyes out one evening as I was driving away from the airport after dropping off some volunteers. Priscilla had come with me to drop them off because these particular volunteers had worked closely in the office with both of us. As we were driving back to Neema, we were talking about how hard it is to get to know people, become close to them, and then watch them leave. Priscilla told me she knows it was a hard decision for me to make to stay at Neema. She grasps how close my family and I are and she sees how much I miss my friends.   She went on to state that I am creating my own history, a story which I’ll one day share with my children and grandchildren about the work I’m doing here in Tanzania which is touching many lives. Priscilla also said she’s very proud of me and I’m thankful to have such an amazing co-worker here with me in the Tanzania office!

 

I’ve given the words she spoke over me a lot of thought during the last week.   I feel I’ve had nothing to do with this and that it is all about Jesus and His plan for me. I laugh when I think about how long it took me to make this decision! As I’ve been telling people about my decision to return to Neema for a year, there hasn’t been one single person who was the least bit surprised. Everyone has said they saw this coming. I’ve concluded that everyone and their dog knew before me. Jesus really washed His peace over me during that conversation with Sweet Ann which is what I needed to confirm my answering yes to return for a year.

 

Looking ahead to the next year, I am full of excitement and yet I am totally freaked out. I am trusting that:

~My parents won’t forget I’m their favorite child (sorry siblings)

~Amanda remembers she’s forever and always the best of my besties

~Josh & Nathan understand that while they might be taller than me, I am still older and they will still have to listen to me even when I’m half way across the world in Africa.

~Charlie and Molly will know their crazy Auntie Em is ALWAYS just a FaceTime away or a 36 hour plane ride, if needed.

~Trevan and Maddy won’t forget that I’m the sweetest sister-in-law they’ve ever had.

~My grandparents will remember how much I appreciate all they’ve done for me

~All my friends will remember how funny I am and that I’m always up for a FaceTime dance party

~My co-workers at P1 won’t forget all the hilarious inside we have

~Everyone will understand my being away doesn’t mean I love you any less

 

So, I will be home August 9^th and I’ll be returning to Tanzania at the end of September or the first part of October. Lord willing, I’ll have enough money to come home for three weeks in December for Christmas. Let’s be real – I cried on the 4^th of July because I wasn’t at the lake with my family. I don’t think I could make it through being away from home at Christmas without having a mental breakdown. I’ll just have to forget that Thanksgiving is even a thing….

 

I’ll end with this thought. Sometimes I feel like I’m too weak for the journey ahead of me, but I know that God’s grace is sufficient and His power is made perfect in my weakness. Priscilla and I sing “Give Me Faith” by Elevation Worship a lot in the office. Here are some of the lyrics. I think you’ll see what comfort these words are to me.

“All I am, I surrender.

Give me faith to trust what You say
That You’re good and Your love is great

‘Cause I may be weak
But Your spirit’s strong in me
My flesh may fail
My God you never will
I may be weak
But Your spirit’s strong in me
My flesh may fail
My God you never will”

The 2nd day of our Moshi tour began by traveling around different parts of the city of Moshi.

Our tour guide took us to an old train station. I’m not really sure why, but I thought it was the neatest thing. You could just tell there was so much history there! The train stopped running in the 90’s when TZ made better use of cars to get to near by cities. It takes 3 hour to drive from Moshi to Arusha, yet by train, it took close to 8 hours. 

After driving around other parts of the city, we went half way back to Arusha and ditched the car for a “tuk tuk” (pictured below) to go visit a local hot spring.

This hot spring is one of the coolest places I’ve been in TZ and that’s saying a lot because the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater are unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life. The hot springs are so peaceful.

We arrived fairly early in the morning which meant we were the only people there. The water was PERFECT! It was very clear and a great temp for swimming.

We ate lunch at the local hot spring restaurant. They served us “Chips Mayai” which is eggs and french fries.  It was super tasty.

As we were walking away, I saw this tree with “MT” carved into it. Did I cry? Yes.

It was such an awesome trip with my sweet friends and I treasure the memories we made together. LOVE YOU BOTH!

 

Three months ago, Casey and Lexi were just two names on my spreadsheet of over 75 volunteers who were coming to Neema this summer. At that time, I knew so little about these two amazing humans that I placed them in a room together at the Volunteer House not realizing they weren’t the same gender.

Fast forward two months, many shared experiences, and long hours working together in the office and I will never be able to adequately express the amount of thankfulness I have for each of them. We became a well-oiled machine that spent most of our time together.

Lexi very quickly became a BFF to me. She’s so genuine in everything she does that it spreads like wild fire. She makes me want to seek Jesus with everything I have, laugh harder, and love people more intentionally. We talk about boys, eat ice cream, and play cards. She’s funny and beautiful, and she gives everything she has all the time. One of my many favorite moments with Lexi was a couple weeks ago when I was asking her a question and she just looked at me with wide eyes and said “I’m not comfortable confirming that”. As she was replying, half way through her statement her voice kept rising higher and higher until it ended with both of us dying laughing. Another great thing about Lexi is her story telling. When she gets super excited or passionate about something, you can really tell because her voice reaches new levels and it’s my fav thing ever! Another super awesome thing which I love about Lexi is how she’s become my car singing buddy or really just an overall singing/dance buddy in general. We don’t have very good voices, but that doesn’t stop us and I love, love, love it. She listens like the best of them and I am going to miss her sweetness SO much!!

Casey is crazy smart and he is one of the most determined people I’ve ever met. He doesn’t stop until he wins or solves the problem. After working with him in the office the first week, I could tell when I asked him a question that he doesn’t just reply. Instead, he stops and truly thinks through every detail before answering. I can read his “I’m thinking” face and I know to give him a minute to think things over. One of my favorite moments with Casey took place a couple of weeks ago when I was super stressed in the office – the kind of stressed out where I wasn’t even sitting at the desk I was just standing over it looking at everything that needed to be done. Casey said, “Hey!” which made me stop and look up. Then he said, “Sit down. It’s ok. Just do the most pressing thing first and don’t worry about the rest yet.” He’s so good at reading me and he knew I needed to hear that. Actually, he’s so good at reading me that one night he guessed “my card” just by reading my face. We ate goat for the first time together, he witnessed me driving on the wrong side of the road for the first time, and he got to be the first guy I’ve ever given a haircut to. The patience he has is outstanding! The poor guy has spent a lot of time in the office with us girls, but he’s done it with a smile on his face and I’m sure going to miss having him around!!

Casey and Lexi have both done such an amazing job working in the office and loving the kids at Neema Village!

 

THANK YOU both so much for your business insight, the dedication and love you’ve shown to Neema Village, and above anything else, your friendship.

A very kind family in Billings, who knew I would need a couple days off this summer, gave me some money and told me to “do something fun.”  I decided to spend the money on a cultural tour of Moshi which is a town 2 hours east of where I’m volunteering here at Neema Village in Arusha.  I chose to take my time away from Neema in the middle of my three months here. Yes, it’s hard to believe I am already half way thru my stay!  Two Neema volunteers, Abby and Lexi, and I just returned from this amazing trip.

Moshi is the smallest city in TZ !  It is full of great history pertaining to the Chagga tribe along with tons of random fun things to do in and around the city!

We started our tour off by visiting one of the 9 gates to Mount Kilimanjaro National Park. At 19,341 feet, Kili is the highest mountain in Africa. Hearing stories of people who have climbed her makes me want to try it myself one day! After that, we headed to a local coffee plantation. I loved all of our Moshi tour, but the coffee tour portion might have been my favorite part! We saw the coffee bushes, learned how the beans are dried, and watched some beans be roasted over an open fire. It only took about 15 minutes for the beans to turn from green to the “normal” color you think of when you think of a coffee bean – shiny black! I felt so relaxed as I sat and watched the coffee roast over the open fire. This was the PERFECT way to start off the day. 

We each took part in hand grinding the coffee beans. We sang a cute little coffee song while grinding the beans.  Remind me about this song the next time you see me in person and I’ll sing it for you :). Ha! 

Talk about a fresh cup of coffee!  

As we waited for the water to heat up, we were given a mixture of coffee grounds and sugar to eat. They called it “coffee chocolate” and it was pure heaven. 

After our coffee, we went on a small hike to a nearby waterfall.  I love the outdoors and this reminded me a lot of Montana. The clean mountain air was very refreshing. There’s something about a good walking stick which makes me feel like I could hike anywhere! Baby bananas –  look at how pretty the colors are!!

We couldn’t get over how pretty these little wild flowers are! I am so thankful for the chance to meet these awesome ladies and spend so much time with them this summer! 

Everyone asks me what African food is like.  All I can say is the meals are very well rounded with grains, meats, and veggies. Here’s a picture. 

After lunch we went to visit the Chagga caves.  As recently as the 1960’s, the Chagga tribe would climb into these handmade caves to hide from other tribes.   The Chagga would go down into these caves where they would hide for months at a time. There is a room where the women and kids would spend the day praying their enemies wouldn’t find them. Here are the girls and I “praying” in the cave. 

As you can see, our first day was full of lots of fun adventures!   Our tour guide company dropped us off at our hotel around 5:30 PM. This is the view of Moshi out of the window in our room. The room was very clean and this was the best night of sleep I have in the past 2 months. Since we know how to be safe while in TZ, we decided it would be ok to venture out on our own for a little walk and to find dinner. We came across the best Italian restaurant EVER! We shared two pizzas and a slice of chocolate cake.  We’ve learned that eating out takes a long time here in TZ so we asked for our cake first!!Here are pictures of the kitchen and outdoor eating area of the restaurant. 

Now, it’s time for me to go feed some babies here at Neema so I’ll post about the 2nd day of our Moshi tour later.

 

 

Man alive, my first five weeks at Neema have been very busy! Not only am I learning a new business, but it’s a business in a developing country which doesn’t always have a paper trail making it extra hard to keep track of things. On top of that, everything is in Swahili!! It has been a lot for me to take in, however, I am giving it my best effort!! Every day, I am trying to not only do the work which has been asked of me but I am also looking around to see what else I can do here at Neema Village. As one would expect, the devil has tried his best to bring me down.

The first week I was here, we thought I broke my foot. Per normal Emily, I fell down some stairs. If you know me at all, you know this happens far too often, but most of the time I don’t hear a “crack” like I did this time. It freaked me out! All I could think of was, “what if I need foot surgery and I have to fly 36 hours back to the States with a broken foot?!” After a trip to the local hospital to see the doctor and have an X-Ray, we found out it wasn’t broken (praise hands). It still hurts if I walk a lot in one day, but I believe it is healing well.

About a week after that, I felt this weird bump on my back. When I first looked at it, I thought it was a bug bite which would go away. After asking some nursing students who are here as volunteers (thanks Alex and Haley) to look at it, they could tell it was something more than a bug bite but they weren’t exactly sure what it was. We kept a close eye on it for three days. On the third evening when I looked at it in the mirror, I saw something sticking out of it! I very quickly showed my mom who told me, “DO NOT MOVE.” She proceeded to PULL A WORM FROM OUT OF MY BACK. I couldn’t handle myself. I felt so dirty and gross and I totally freaked out. This worm (“Maggie” for short) which been living off my skin on my back for three days. I am a very clean person as in a shower daily kind of person and I couldn’t believe this was happening to me! Alex and Haley had to cut and pull more “stuff” (still not really sure what they were digging out) from my back for a couple more days. I don’t have a very high pain tolerance so I just yelled into my pillow as they basically performed surgery on my back. Three weeks later, we are still keeping an eye on it twice daily. Thankfully, all that is being done now is cleaning it and making sure it continues to heal. Cleaning “Maggie” has become one of my fav parts of the day because it feels SO nice to have someone rub my back – HA! I know the devil is pushing me to see how much I can take and I just keep saying “bring it” even though I am getting a little tired of weird, totally not normal things happening to me.

I have been driving here in Tanzania, but the first week didn’t start off so hot. Actually, the driving part is fine, it’s the getting gas which is a problem. It turns out when you go to get gas, you have to tell the guys filling up the car which kind of fuel you need in the car. They put diesel in the car I was driving which is supposed to have petro. I stood at the gas station with five volunteers for two hours as we waited for the car’s tank to be drained and refilled. Ema, the Neema driver and guy in charge of all the vehicles here, makes sure my car is always filled for me now! It is helpful to the staff here at Neema that I am able to drive the volunteers into town to get money exchanged, go to the market, take them out to dinner, and take them to other favorite spots where volunteers like to go while here in Arusha.

In TZ, the cops don’t have cars. There are policemen who stand on the side of the road who wave you over. Most of the time they don’t really have a good reason to “pull” you over, they just do. The first time I was waved down the policeman just wanted to check the vehicle’s tags and see my driver’s license.   As most of you who are reading this will know, in the US our date is written as month/day/year. Some of you may not know that in TZ (and most of the rest of the world), the date is written in the format of day/month/year. So, I am always questioned about my driver’s license because the date order is different. I’m getting pretty good at just smiling and explaining it the best I can.

I have always wanted to try living somewhere else to see if I could live outside of Billings, MT and learn how to get around a different city. On top of that, I always thought it would be cool to live in a big city. Driving home from Fifi’s the other day, it dawned on me that I am doing those things. I’ve been here only five weeks and already I have my favorite grocery store, gas station, and coffee shop. Listed above, Fifi’s is the closest thing to Starbucks in Arusha. They have an espresso milkshake, spelled “eXpresso” which tastes like a Jamocha milkshake from Arby’s. I can also get to lots of restaurants, a couple money exchange locations, the clothing market and the Maasai souvenir market. I would never have guessed I would ever know how to navigate a city of two million people in TZ, Africa. I pray, I will always continue to follow the leadership of Jesus in my life and I am excited to see where He takes me.

Live and learn is my motto these days. I’ve learned to make sure to say “gas” when filling the car up. I’ve learned waiting two hours for food at a restaurant makes for a great photo shoot with friends. I’ve learned that lighting a gas oven with a match isn’t as terrifying as I’ve always thought it was. I’ve learned how to quickly divide any number higher than 5,000 by 2230. I’ve learned that having poop and spit-up on my shirt isn’t a reason to not head to town. I’ve learned that people LOVE my NIKE baseball cap and I could make a killing selling them in TZ. I’ve learned how to fall asleep with the sounds of dogs fighting and “calls to prayer” echoing throughout the valley. I’ve learned that the love between my family and I can reach 12,000 miles without a problem. I’ve learned that a work week is a work week no matter what country you are in. I’ve learned that Jesus shows up all over the world and that He is so faithful to me as I wait on His plans and timing over every aspect of my life.

Waiting on the Lord isn’t passive. I hope as you pray over things you want to have happen in your life you will pray and actively wait. I knew long ago that I would do mission work in Africa at some point. I didn’t know where, for how long, or when, but I just knew I would. I prayed often for the time to come and I actively waited by learning leadership within my church, going on short-term mission trips, and preparing financially. I hate how fast time flies by, yet I am very thankful to see prayers I’ve prayed years ago happening RIGHT NOW!

I want to thank everyone who has prayed for me and helped me get to this point. My family is my rock and there is no way I could be here doing this work without their love and support. My friends listen to my many stories and I can hear the excitement in their voices as I tell them of the work I am doing here in TZ. Last night as I FaceTimed with my co-workers back home, I was reminded what a great group of loving ladies I have at P1. They have helped me grow SO much in the professional setting which has come in very handy while running an office in TZ. My boss asks me good questions which really get me thinking about my time here and what I want in the long run. I am very thankful he remains an active part of my life even when I am gone. I’m sure there are a ton of people praying and supporting me who I may never even know about and I thank you for being part of my life as well. Last but not least, I am thankful for all of the pastors at my home church, Faith Chapel, – Evan and Larissa, Glen, and Scott regularly check in with me to see how they can support me, pray for me and love me. I also want to thank the Worden Open Bible Church for their great love and support. Both of these churches have been a great source of encouragement and blessing to me!

I miss everyone every day!!

Sending all my love from TZ, Em

Well, overtime I look at a picture of Charlie or Molly I cry. I know that my family and friends fully understand why I’m here and that I still love them SO much even though I am gone. Charlie is pretty dang smart and I think he “gets it” as well which helps me sleep at night.  11,500 miles and 36 hours of traveling is a long ways from home. By the grace of God (and FaceTime) I’m not as homesick as I thought I would be, but I’m sure I’ll eat crow by this time next week. Until that happens, here are some pictures of cutie babies! 

Today was a good day! Busy as ever, but good. 

No matter how busy we are, I always find time to love on some kids! Here’s my sweet baby Bethany. 

We have 20 volunteers climbing Kili starting 6-14. Here they are doing a gear check before they could hit the mountain in the morning!  

Our builder here at Neema offered to make all 30 of our volunteers dinner. He ended the meal with ICE CREAM!! Which, if you don’t know, is my love language soooo I took a picture 😬. 

So sorry I haven’t been posting more. With every passing day it seems more and more “normal” here and I don’t feel like I need to update anyone on my “daily life”. But I’m alive and doing well and think of Montana and all my people often. 

Five year ago, Franki was the very first baby to come to Neema.  He was the smallest of a set of Maasai triplets and his mother didn’t have enough milk to feed them all, so Franki was given to Neema.  The homeschool co-op I went to my senior year of high school was Franki’s first sponsor.

Neema gives supplies to Franki’s village about four times a year and I was fortunate enough to go with a group of volunteers on one of those trips last week! Franki was my car buddy on our four drive out to his village.

Poor little Franki boy was SO worried we were going to leave him that it took about 20 minutes of me holding him until he let me put him down.  His mother, father, and siblings were so excited to get to see him!

Myself and Franki with his mom on the right and dad on the left.

Here I am trying to convince Franki to let me put him down so we could take a family picture. Notice his sweet little hands wrapped around my neck!

Franki and his family!

Franki dressed up like a real Maasai.  How cute is he?!?! “I am Maasai” he was saying.

Who doesn’t love holding babies?! Casey, one of our volunteers this summer, holding Franki’s baby sister.  We had to take turns holding her because the flies were SO BAD and they seemed to really like the younger kids in the village.

This picture makes me cry. No one should live like this.

A normal Maasai house.  Franki’s parents were kind enough to show us into their home.

Here I am with my mom and Franki’s mom.  We think one of the reasons they don’t have windows is to keep some of the flies out.

Franki’s family served us chai tea.  Not gonna lie, it took me a couple minutes to muster up the strength to drink it. Turns out, it was pretty good! I’m so glad Dorris was there to show me the ropes!

Ashley has very quickly become my bestie here in Africa! I love sitting in her room in the evenings talking about anything and everything! I was so happy when she was able to get away from her school job at Neema to come with us to the village.

We took seven of the big kids with us to the village as a “field trip”. Here I am trying to find somewhere for the kids to go potty while pointing out the termite mound and telling them to not touch it! 

We here at Neema can’t thank our volunteers enough for the love they show everyone wherever we go. From passing out candy, dancing with kids, and holding babies, our volunteers are very hard workers. Also, I want to point out the fact that Casey and Lexi have put in countless hours in the office helping get some P&P in place.  It was very nice to get out of the office for the day to enjoy Africa and love on its people! Ashley, my mom, and I always seem to have so much fun together! I sure am going to miss my momma when she goes back to Montana!  Notice my mom’s cross necklace which Franki’s mom gave to her as soon as we arrived.

Franki’s village served us goat for lunch before we left.  I’m thankful I was served the chai tea to drink first because I’m not sure I could have dealt with the meat right away.

That’s the bag the meat came from. 

I ate it and lived to tell the tale. But really, it wasn’t as bad I thought it was going to be.

Dorris with her grandson Tanner.  They both loved it!

It’s hard to get a picture with a large group of people let alone when you don’t speak the same language. The car ride was LONG and BUMPY, but we had some pretty great car buddies. Here I am with Gloria. Yep, that’s my necklace around my face. We were doing anything to keep the kids entertained.

Over all it was a very good but long day! I am so thankful that Neema is here to help take care of the kids who would have been left to try and fight for their lives out in a village with no clean water nor healthy food to eat. As my mom likes to remind me “the days are long, but the years are short” and I can’t believe this is how I am getting to spend some of those long days of my life!

Hi all! Thought I would try and catch you up on my first week at Neema! 

On Sunday I fell down the stairs and thought I broke my foot. Not even kidding, I heard it crack. So that meant Monday morning I got to visit an African hospital for an X-Ray. Praise Jesus, it wasn’t broken! It still hurts but is getting better. 

Casey and I hard at work in the office getting everything in line before my mom leaves. It’s been sooooo nice having help! 

This cutie stopped by the office on Tuesday.  Loooook at that face, how could I not put the paperwork down and hold him for a minute!!

Turns out, there are a lot of babies who make their way into the office, not sure how that happens. lol. 

Today, Michael gave me my first lesson on how to drive in Africa! It was so odd being on the left side of the road, but I think I’ll do just fine! 

Until next time, 

XOXO – Emily 

Praise Jesus, I’ve made it! Thanks so much everyone who has prayed for safely while traveling. We got into Neema around 11:30 pm on May 18th (Charlie’s 3rd B-Day! Love you, buddy! Wish I could have been there). 

Our flight was about an hour late leaving Amsterdam on the 18th because KLM/DELTA were kind enough to hold the plane for a group of 19 people. Their earlier plane got delayed and our flight was the last one to Tanzania that day and KLM didn’t want this group of people left in the airport for a day. I had NO PROBLEM waiting because I’ve been on the other end of this situation and it was the worst. 16 of use coming home from a mission trip last summer ended up driving 8 hours home to Montana from Colorado because a certain other airline didn’t hold the plane for us. 

ANYWAYS! I had a great first day seeing all of the kids again and getting some bookwork/scheduling done for the upcoming volunteers. Here I am with Bethany! If you don’t remember, this is the sweet little baby girl I picked up from the hospital in February! 

Today I’ve spent most of the morning unpacking my cutie little room! 

The view from out my door. 

I’ll keep you all updated as much as I can! Love and miss everyone already. 😘😘