Finally another blog! :)

Hello all!

I am so sorry it has taken so long for me to post anything. It seems like since our team left Tanzania, I have had such a big flood of thoughts and emotions, I have had trouble coming up with something to write. But, I will start with our last day in Tarime.

We all decided that we wanted our last day to be at Gamasara with the kids, because this is a place they love so much, and we wanted to share it with them one more time. We wanted the day to be a fun day with the kids, and not an entire day of sadness saying goodbye the entire time. Because it was our last day, the entire staff came out there with us, which was so much fun! (they normally don’t come) The kids did a small program for us in the morning, where there was a lot of crying coming from everyone, including the staff. From there we went outside, and had lunch, which was a blast! We had asked the staff what a good treat would be for the kids for lunch, and he told us bread and jam. So we stocked up on bread, butter and jam for the day. It was so much fun to see how excited and happy they were to have something that we consider “normal” back in the United States. I don’t think there was ever a point that there was not a long line of kids. As we emptied the cans of jam, the kids would take them and lick the rest out of it, I think some of them had like 8 pieces of bread with jam! I don’t think I have ever seen kids so happy about food, and it was a blessing to be there to see it.

After that, the girls planned out a field day for the kids, and so we did some fun games. We did tug of war, three legged race, and sack races. The tug of war was hilarious; the kids were so into it! At one point I tried to help the team that kept losing by tying the end of the rope around me so I could just run in the opposite direction. It was funny to see the kids laugh about this, and yet tell me that I couldn’t do it, because it was cheating. After that, we did the staff against all of the kids, and that was so much fun! Even Bebe Leah (the grandma, who takes care of the kids at night) joined in! She even did the three legged race, which was hilarious! It was the perfect plan for the day, because it was so much fun, and kept all of our minds off of the fact that it was our last one with them for a while. Normally, when we would go out to Gamasara, we would ride out there and back with the kids, but this time we decided it would be better to not ride back with them. We didn’t want to have a long and drawn out goodbye, so we loaded all of them up into the truck, and then said goodbye as they were driving off. Although it was hard, it was truly a blessing to be able to say goodbye in that way.

I don’t feel as if I truly captured any of my emotions in this blog, but I wanted to give you all a glimpse of our last day with the kids. I miss them all so much, and things don’t seem the same without them around. It was really hard on me to say goodbye to them, because the reality is, that I have no idea when I will be back to see them. Yet, I know God had me here for this amount of time for a specific reason. I know that when it is time to say goodbye, it is because God is calling me to a new place and new adventure in my life. So even though it may be hard, I know God is good, and that He is in control.

I hope to post a blog about Nairobi soon, since we have been here for a bit, but I will hold off a day or two so you can enjoy this one first. But, I do have one prayer request. Please be praying for my transition here in Nairobi. Although we only have 6 days left before flying home, it has been hard for me to be here, because my heart is still back with the kids. So pray that God will give me the strength to press on, so that I may give my best towards the students here and the time I have left with them.

In Christ with love,

Jordan