Crusade update

Sept 21 - We woke up “late” at 7 am and met for worship. Unfortunately, my tent/roommates and I woke up an hour early, because our phones picked up Tanzania time... big oof. We had worship and started our day.  We worked on food and setting up where we would have the crusade.  My 2 pocket knives came in handy with the kitchen and wires and screens for the projector. We dug holes in the sand to place the poles to string the lights.  I offered to help, but the men kept taking over.  They were always surprised when I could carry something or cut something. They would say, “very powerful” in their African accents. They were also surprised I knew how to wrap wires around my arm, to keep it from getting tangled. (I guess Pathfinders has prepared me for lots of different experiences!)  We strung lights and made sure everything worked, we then packed it all up so we could relax and get ready for the evening program.  I was put in charge of the Children's Corner for the crusade. A job I didn’t want, but I ended up really enjoying! That night we sang "Making Melodies" and I talked about David and Goliath.  I sat with the kids during the adult program.  There are two little girls that always seem to find me.  All of the kids fell asleep during the sermon, some of them sleeping on me too.

Sept 22 - I woke up early, because I had to prepare for worship and got to call my parents.  Worship went well, breakfast was okay. We setup more equipment and put up a better fence around our camp to give some privacy. The Medical SMs started their work and we went to invite people to the meetings.  I took a “shower” which is unnecessarily hard. You have to pump water into a bucket and then use a cup as a shower head, it’s so much effort to stay clean here. I washed my clothes, but still never felt clean enough.  I was asked to to the health talk that evening and it was fine but, I was running out of energy.  Went to bed early at 8.

Sept 23 - We actually did stuff today!  Scott and I checked in 17 people for the clinic.  We then hopped on a boat to visit Tanzania. It's the first time I've visited a foreign country and not needed my passport!  No customs agents or border patrol there! We walked around and invited people to come to church and our evening meetings.  While we were talking to the villagers, a Witch Doctor came and started doing a dance to catch a spirit.  They were very loud and chaotic. Soon after, we hopped back in the boat in order to get back and be ready for the evening program.  I was mobbed by kids. They just want to touch me, my hair, my white skin, my clothes. They yell MZUNGU, MZUNGU! (this means white person or wanderer) and it seems like they are everywhere! 

Sept 24 - Sabbath was not a day we actually seemed to rest.  Because cooking is such a task, there was no cooking and we ate cold meals.  I sang with the others setting up the sound system for church.  The kids loved it!  Then we had Sabbath School which was too loud and then broke out into our different sabbath school groups.  I had been told that we would need to have 10-20 minutes prepared...it ended up being an hour. Jabes told the story of Jonah and Scott told the story of Moses.  We sang sooo many songs, thank goodness for Pathfinders and summer camp!  After church we got to rest and relax.  We visited houses to invite them to the programs.  I spent the rest of the afternoon, making vine crowns for all the kids for our Esther skit that night! 

Sept 25 - Sunday was pretty relaxing. We cleaned and washed clothes and then we decided to go swimming. That was quite an experience!  Because the kids follow us everywhere, all the kids came swimming with us...so yea, naked kids everywhere.  The only way to keep them from climbing on you, was to have splash wars.  

Sept 26th - Today, we headed into town.  Scott and I each brought empty backpacks and lots of Kwatcha (Zambian money).  We were on the boat for about 1.5 hours. I spent the time listening to music and hiding from the sun.  UV index is about 11 here.   When got there, we got off the boat and headed to the market.  We picked up some lemons and peanut butter.  They made the peanut butter fresh, with a machine, right in front of us!  We then went to the Chinese store to get water and ramen.  Lots of both!  We went to a bakery and had sweet corn puffs, normal bread with cream and sugar.  We had a bowl of fries/chips for lunch.  What a great time! There isn't much variety in the meals at camp. It seems sort of crazy to get excited over leavened bread, ramen noodles and french fries! We picked up a couple of other items and then waited near the boat.  It was an hour late to leave.  This gave me time to call home and talk to my dad for a while.  It was nice to have time to do that.  We got back to camp and did the Children's Corner. I crashed early that night.

Sept 27th - I got 9 hours of sleep last night!! That felt so good. We had ramen noodles for breakfast. It almost made me gag.  We checked in patients and tracked down tools to start working on the church site, which is about a half mile hike up the mountain.  Is a very rough spot, but has a gorgeous view out over the lake.  We cleared for a while and it got hot fast. The rest of the day we were able to relax before the meetings. 

Sept 28th - We checked in more patients and worked on the church site and moved a huge rock!  The rest of the day was pretty boring.  Also, porridge is my least favorite meal.

Sept 29th - We got up at 4:45 to start working on the church site. It was still dark when we climbed up the the mountain.  We had worked for about an hour, when a mom and her little girl came up and showed us her smashed, bloody finger.  We took them down to the medical building, woke up Sarah and Jabes and they were able to get her finger cleaned and bandaged.  Later we learned, that a rock had fallen on her finger.  We ate breakfast and headed back to do some more clearing.  I gave the children's story that evening.  It was a good night. 

Sept 30th - We woke up slow, because we were able to go on a short vacation for the day.  We got up and had worship and then Shadrick, the boat driver, told us we had to leave now.  We weren't quite ready yet, so we threw our stuff in the bags and got in the boat.  Chitlli is a much prettier area down the lake.  We put up our hammocks, relaxed and swam...without naked kids all around! We walked a few miles to a resort for lunch.  We got to use real bathrooms!  We ate lunch in their restaurant.  I had a veggie quesadilla and loaded french fries with cheese! I miss cheese...sigh...10/10!  I spent the rest of the day reading in the chair and the others relaxing in the sun.  The boat was supposed to arrive to pick us up at 16:00, but didn’t make it till 18:00. We thought we might have to spend the night! After a long ride back in the dark, we had some spicy bread for dinner and headed to sleep.