An Update From the Team

Hello All! This is Kara. I am in a little tiny internet cafe in Lushoto, Tanzania. I am SO sorry that I have not been able to update before this. The internet cafe next to our hotel closes at 6pm and we are never back by 6pm. It opens at 8am. well, the sign on the dorr says it opens at 8am. I have been down there several times at 8am and it is not open. So the sign really means that it will open whenever the person who works there decides to come and it will be after 8am.

Welcome to Africa :)

I have so much that I want to tell you all. But I am sitting here at a loss for words because it is so overwhelming and because there just are not words. We have fallen in love with the people of Irente. They have met us with such a warm welcome and we have all been brought to tears many, many times.

I guess the best place to start is the begining. We arrived on Monday about 4pm Tanzania time, after a long flight. Long. Really long. We went from DC to Rome and in Rome they did not let us off the plane. It was just to change crews. They did however lift up one side of the plane to bring on a new crew and Lisa jumped in front to breathe in Roman air :) We also took pictures of the runway, because, come on, we were in Rome and had to take pictures. We then flew to Ethopia and had about two hours to wait or the next flight. We also took picture, because we were in Ethopia. We boarded the plane and pretty much all fell asleep. We had been up nearly 24 hours by this point. Some of us apparantly feel so soundly asleep that we slept through the stop in Kenya. So, I have technically been to Kenya, but don't remember :)

We drove to Irente on Tuesday. It was a beautiful drive. It was a post card the entire way. Beautiful and words won't do it any justice. I will post pictures when I get home. I am not even going to attempt it here. We drove up the high mountains to Irente and before we got to the church, we were met with a band in the back of a pick up truck that played music for us to whole way to Irente. It was a parade for us. We were followed and chased by children with flowers and all kinds of things. It was just amazing. We have been met that way every place we go. I can't even explain it, but Pastor Sharon put it perfectly. We don't deserve this love, we didn't do anything to earn it but it is here for us with no strings attached. These people are a picture of God's Grace. We are visiting the homes of many people from our church. I can't even start to explain the poverty. But these people are just soooooo happy to see us and feel soooo honored that we came to see them. Many of the people we have visited have never, ever seen a person with white skin before. The spirit of these people....I can't even explain it. They are a joy.

This past week has changed each of us and we still have a week to go. We can't even think about saying goodbye on Wednesday when we leave for safari. It will be a mess of tears. These people loved us from the second they saw us. We always said we were brothers and sisters in Christ and now we are living and feel that. We felt their love and that we were brothers and sisters from the moment we were in their presence. Pastor Joyce always says that we are joined by the cross and by the blood of Jesus. We are all constantly saying to each other that we are one. And we are.

Be honored that we are partnered with Irente.

We are.

You can send an email to karaLBeardsell@yahoo.com and I can get that on my phone and read it with the team. That might be better than commenting here since it is very difficult to get to the internet.

Thank you so much for your love and prayers. We feel them!

Peace,
Kara and team