Africa Mission Trip – Day 9

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

As I sit and type this it is safe to say that I am spent … physically, emotionally, and spiritually spent. I want you to know that I am not complaining, but I think it is safe to say that our entire group is definitely feeling drained after so many days of going non stop from early morning to late evening. But here is the incredible part, as tired as we all are no one is able to get enough. It is hard to explain but each day on this trip has been equally draining and fulfilling all at the same time. You will just have to ask those that you are closest to on this trip to try to understand it.

Today will be a day that I will never forget. Not many times do you end a day and can say that. But probably for our entire group that would be the case. Today we had three amazing experiences for three totally different reasons. We started the morning with an all you can eat breakfast buffet that would easily be comparable to the best of anything you could offer back in the States. I of course went for the waffles with some chopped nuts on top and syrup so thick it almost looked like molasses.

Oh yeah, we had to be completed with breakfast by 6:30 AM. (These early mornings are killing me.) We had to be loaded up in our safari jeeps by 6:45 to make it down to the bottom of the Ngorongoro Crater when the gate opened at 7:00. It is important to be as early as possible because that is usually when the animals are the most active. It was a beautiful drive down the slope some 2,500 feet through an Acacia Tree forest. If you have ever seen, or may be receiving as a souvenir, dark black hand carved animals, people or other objects … the wood is from the Acacia Tree. They are the stereotypical tree you might think of when you think of Africa.

After we made it to the crater bottom we were immediately surrounded by ostrich, wildebeest, water buffalo and a score of other animals.

But we got out early for one primary reason … we wanted to see some lions. We were actually one of the very first jeeps into the crater which was a huge benefit because a lot of time the animals will move away from the roads as more vehicles show up. Well, to make a long story short, it wasn’t long until we spotted our first male lion.

We parked our jeep right next to him and just watched him for a while. We also spotted a couple female lions not too far behind him but they never came real close. After a little while we drove down the street a little further and were able to park literally within feet of two majestic beasts. To me they looked like Mufasa and Scar.

One definitely looked like he had been in a few brawls and the other looked both beautiful and deadly. We literally stood in our jeeps in awe of them snapping photo after photo.

After a little while we drove down the same dirt road just a little further and saw three more lionesses close to the road.

Our guided told us they were all likely from the same pride. Of in the distance we noticed to gazelle fighting with one another. They were totally unaware of their surroundings. We all got excited as we saw one of the lionesses crotch down and slowly start walking toward these two gazelles. She got within thirty feet of them and shot off like a cannon.

Fortunately for the two gazelles they forgot their personal differences with one another long enough to escape the hungry lion. It was a fun thing to see.

As we continued throughout the crater we were able to see all kinds of animals from zebras, to warthogs, to elephants, to monkeys and baboons, to several different types of deer/antelope.

We even got to see hundreds of pink flamingos.

The one animal we were searching for though was the elusive black rhino. About half-way through our safari it was spotted. It was from a very great distance away however so we were not able to see it close. Sandy claims that the park rangers just randomly put up cardboard cutouts of rhinos and place them a long ways from the roads so people can leave claiming they saw a rhino. So you can either believe me that we saw one or believe that we saw a huge piece of cardboard.

We stopped for lunch right at noon and we were all starving. We parked the jeeps and got out to eat and a place in the crater known as hippo pond.

This is for good reason because we were eating lunch with several gigantic hippos just across the pond. The best part about lunch was when we spotted an adolescent male lion probably about 100 yards from where we were sitting outside eating our lunch (at least the brave ones were sitting outside, some were too wimpy and ate inside the jeeps). The best part was watching as zebra would be casually walking up the ridge right toward this lion. As soon as the zebra caught wind or noticed a lion in the area it shot off like a bullet out of a gun. This happened on multiple occasions.

After lunch we had to begin to head back toward the top of the crater to leave. As we were leaving we got to see several more lions. The most exciting one though was one we saw walking right down the middle of the road. We saw it a ways off so the driver parked the jeep and turned off the engine. It was literally walking right toward us. I have a great video that I will show on our Mission Trip Services on Sunday, June 30 at North Park. This lion walked right next to our jeep. I was hoping she would walk on my side but she walked on Sandy’s side (we were sitting right next to each other). I had full intentions of sticking my hand out the window and smacking it on the backside just to see what it would do. Sandy was chicken to try it. He did get an incredible picture however.

That was the last of the excitement of the safari, but it will be a day I will never forget. We left Ngorongoro Crater about 12:30 and it took us about an hour just to get off the mountain. Our next stop on our way back to Arusha was at a Maasai Village. Our missionaries, Vernon and Mary Smith, have started a new ministry as a branch from their main church to this particular Maasai tribe.

Our plan was to visit their church service which meets on Tuesday afternoons. We were also going to be staying for a little while to take part in a special celebration known as emorata. This is a sort of right of passage for boys into manhood. This is when the teenage boys get circumcised. The Maasai are the largest native tribe in Africa and maintain much of their traditional culture that has carried on for centuries. They are primarily herdsman but at one time they were also known as Africa’s greatest warriors.

We were greeted by a choir of Maasai women as we pulled up to the church which was located several miles off the main road through several groupings of traditional bomas (this is basically a mud hut which the Maasai live in).

During the church service the women’s choir sang a few songs in the Maasai language (which is different than typical Swahili spoken most everywhere else in Tanzania). Angel was privileged to share a short testimony and Craig was given the opportunity to sing a song.

Those of us sitting in the seats were surrounded by Maasai from young to old.

Unbelievable experience to worship Jesus Christ together with them. His power truly is strong and His reach amazing.

After church we presented a gift of probably one hundred bottle of soda for their celebration. The circumcision had just taken place, probably while we were in the church service. The celebration was going to last all night long until daybreak tomorrow. We could not stay for too long but were left speechless when it was time to leave.

We left the Maasai village around 5:30 PM knowing that we were going to be late for our next appointment which was dinner and Dr. and Mrs. Byemba’s home. On normal occasions we would not have been late but much of the main road was under construction. In Tanzania when a main road is under construction they just transition all the traffic to the dirt on the side of the road. So for probably a good 15-20 miles we were bouncing all over the road. If you didn’t have an upset stomach for some other reason by the end of today you did by the end of the drive. By the time we reached the Byemba’s home we calculated that we had been in our safari jeeps for approximately twelve hours today. Yeah, that is a long time no matter how you look at it.

We were blessed by the hospitality of the Byembas. Even though he is a doctor and makes a descent salary, he probably makes less than half of what he could by working in a public hospital. I say that to say that it was a huge sacrifice for his family to feed not only our entire group but two other groups (one from the Dallas area and one from the Washington DC area) along with two other missionaries and a visiting pastor.

I want to say publicly how much I have grown to appreciate, respect and love Dr. and Mrs. Byemba in the short time that I have known them over the past year.

We ended our time at the Byembas by praying and asking a blessing on their family. This is a traditional practice when visiting someone’s home here in Tanzania. We all had mixed emotions when we walked across the street from the Byemba’s home to the church where our busses were waiting for us. Yes we went from our Safari jeeps to group busses. The mixed emotions were a result of not wanting to get back into a vehicle again compared to the reality we were heading to our Guest House where we could shower and get into bed. As soon as I upload this blog that is exactly what I am doing as well.

Tomorrow is our last ministry day here in Africa. Thursday is a souvenir shopping day and travel back to Nairobi to hop on an airplane day. Tomorrow we are organizing and running a Day Camp for the school the Vernon and Mary Smith oversee. We are partnering with two other churches to run this event. It should be a lot of fun and will give us an opportunity to serve more here in this community.

I ask that you pray for good health for everyone on our team. There are several that are battling little things that we don’t want to turn into big things. Also pray that we would be effective tomorrow in serving at the Day Camp. Most of all continue to pray for changed lives.

Until tomorrow …