Here is the low down of our survey by numbers, just in case you don't want to read the whole post:
- 8- the number of days we were gone on our survey trip.
- 2000 ish- the number of miles we drove, which doesn't seem too bad until you compare it with the next number of...
- 45- our average mph.
- 7- people packed into one land cruiser.
- 2- towns that Brett and I depleted the total number of Diet Pepsis to zero.
- 4- the number of times we had to pull over so Carson could use the little boy's room.
- 5- different ipods were listened to trying to appease everyone's musical taste.
- 3- the number of times we were charged by an elephant. For real.
- 3- the total number of stars that our 3 hotels would receive in the states when combined.
- 1- waterfall seen, climbed, and enjoyed.
For those of you who don't know what this survey thing is, it is an effort of missionaries to look at other areas so that future missionaries coming to said areas aren't coming in blind. Our trip was from Geita to Kigoma and Mpanda, Tanzania. Usually on surveys you try to have some sort of town observation, and interviews with local church leaders or other expatriates if they are available. Since the interns know practically no Swahili, we conducted the town observations and a few of the english interviews.
Our first stop was Kigoma, which is on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Let me tell you, it was b-e-a-utiful. Incredible. We conducted our survey work, and also got to go to an English Bible study with several missionary families and other aid workers. The since of community was an awesome thing to get to be a part of. Something that I have missed a lot while being here in africa is getting together with a big group of other Christians, so that was very encouraging.
The next day we got back in the car for the trip to Mpanda, where we did another town observation, and we got to meet people who work for SIL, and are working on translating the Bible into local tribal languages. While we were with them we got to eat some incredible Mexican food, but that is besides the point.
The next day we got up to do some more work, and then that afternoon changed my life.
I am serious.
It was amazing.
Incredible.
Ok, so maybe it didn't actually change my life, but it was pretty stinkin' awesome.
We went to Katavi National Park which is near Mpanda, and I mean, we lived the Lion King, minus the lions. And to think, we still get to go on Safari in the Serengeti. Is this real life?
Katavi is known to have some of the best hippo viewing in Africa. They were just everywhere, hanging out in the mud like it was no big deal that a car full of white people was staring at them.
And then the craziest thing happened. We saw elephants all day, usually from far away. They are really cool, and they seem like gentle giants, but let me tell you... They. Are. Not.
We got charged by a momma elephant.
An angry, large, car-crushing elephant.
I wish I could tell you that we were brave and handled it well. We didn't.
We were scared and putting that Land Cruiser in reverse like there was no tomorrow.
After 20 minutes we were able to drive like the wind away from them, and escape the with the car unharmed.
I mean, AWESOME, right?
The rest of survey went by relatively calm compared to that, but we did get to drive into the Tanzanian country side with no idea on where to go to church, only with the plan of finding a group of believers and worshipping with them. We did find a church to worship with and spend the day with, and it was so encouraging to be able to be a part of their family. We ate some meat that apparently was from the eland animal, which is super illegal to hunt in Tanzania. So awesome, we broke the law. Oops.
The last day of survey we spent at Jakobsen Beach, which was literally the prettiest place I have ever been in my life. We swam, laid out, and spent lots of time together.
With the end of survey comes the end of internship. We have our going away party tomorrow, and then off to Mwanza to go on Safari. Next Wednesday we leave to come home, and on Thursday afternoon I will be back in Edmond.
Our life in Tanzania has been crazy, but we have loved
every minute a lot of it. We will be incredibly sad to leave our host families and other teammates here in Geita, but we will never forget it!
So if you have made it to the end of this blog, thank you. I know it was long, but maybe I will have less to tell you about once I get home (doubtful).
Also, Go Teams USA and Tanzania!
