two.

Dear friends,

Our time here in Arusha is coming to a close. On Monday, we leave to
head out to the more rural area of Tanzania known as the Bush. We'll
be camping in a Maasai village for about a week and have the chance to
interact with the Maasai children and learn from them about their
daily life and their culture's traditions.

While I am very excited to move on to the next aspect of our trip, I
am really sad to be leaving the Nyota soccer club. The kids and the
leaders of this program are just the coolest! At lunch yesterday, I
had the chance to listen to one of Nyota's founders named Agu talk
about the mission behind Nyota. Oh man, his heart is as big as the sky
here! Though he was brought up and still lives in the very poor
neighborhood of Unga, he has a deep desire to see young boys' lives
transformed. It was so special to be able to listen to him talk about
the ways that he disciples these kids and has even been leading some
to the Lord -- not to mention how well he cares for them, even while
he himself doesn't have much. After he shared with us, I asked him how
we could pray for him, and in true Agu style he asked for us to pray
for his family but only after we pray for the Nyota kids.

One of my other highlights thus far has been the visit to the African
church we took today! I didn't really know what to expect, and I still
don't really know how to describe it! All I can say is that Africans
really know how to do church! They just dance and groove the whole
time in worship -- it's fun to watch and absolutely beautiful to
listen to! Their singing was simply angelic as the sound of everyone's
voices floated high up to the peaked ceilings. Oh, it's indescribable
really! I can honestly say that I encountered the presence of God this
morning.

What especially struck me about visiting the church today (and
visiting Africa in general) was how welcoming everyone was. They have
a special time in the service for visitors to stand up and be greeted,
and they even let visitors leave the sanctuary first when church is
over to be greeted by some of the church staff. As we were ushered
outside to meet some of the staff, we were led into a little room
where they had a short presentation about the church and mostly just
reinforced the fact that they wanted us to feel welcome. It was so
cool! All this hospitality has really got me thinking about our
customs in America. While I haven't exactly visited many churches in
my life, I still don't think I knownof many churches who make visitors
feel so, so welcome! I hope people in other countries don't visit and
think we're inhospitable because the people here really hammer
hospitality into visitors heads. "Karibu" is the Swahili word for
"welcome", it's gloriously overused! You visit a restaurant, and your
waiter will say that. You enter someone's home and they'll say
that...probably 10 times before you leave. Haha! It's great!

Another one of my highlights thus far was the little friendship I
formed with darling Fatma. (Pictured above.) She's one of the few girls who was invited
to the lessons on relationships that we presented to Nyota -- and I'm
convinced she was chosen for her brilliance and her leadership skills.
She's 15 years old and speaks nearly fluent English and has a love for
all things science. As I talked with her about her life, it was neat
to hear about her dreams of getting a job as an engineer and helping
support her family. But then my heart began breaking when she told me
that her father died two years ago, and that her mother doesn't have
enough money to support her. All that's to say that she probably won't
go to college or get a job that allows her to put her brilliant mind
to work, which is pretty horrifying. Plain and simple. Honestly, I've
realized that there comes a point where a sort of indignation replaces
any "romantic" feelings one may have had towards poverty previously.
While it is "heart-wrenching" and "sad" (adjectives I used just
earlier in this email), poverty goes far beyond that. It's real. It's
oppressive. It's horrifiying.

This all really hit home in my mind when Fatma invited me to come to
her house and meet her mom. I didn't really know what to expect in
terms of their living conditions. I mean, Fatma was pretty well-
dressed and spoke English very well, so it couldn't be that bad,
right? Wrong. She and her mom live in a room in a building along a rundown alleyway,

which I'm not sure we should actually call a building. They have one bed. Their
clothes are in bags. They share a bathroom of sorts with the rest of
the people who live in that alleyway. And the room can't be more than
15 feet by 15 feet. Yet, they're so proud of their home and so, so
welcoming! Fatma's mother Zaynab definitely said "karibu" 12 times or
something! My experience with the two of them will be hard to forget.

Things to pray for:
1. The boys and the families of the boys who play for Nyota
2. Provision for Agu and his family
3. Provision for Fatuma and her mom -perhaps a way for her to continue
on in her schooling
4. Continued team unity
5. That we would be sensitive to seeking/grasping/understanding the
life-changing lessons God wants to teach us here.

Thank you for your prayers! We need them!

Grace and peace be with you.