Welcome Home: A Humorous and Slightly Gross Peek At Our Lives

When you see things like this, you realize that your comfort zone really is as far away as it feels. What is this, you may ask? These lovely little naked creatures are the spawn of our much detested and very recently discovered rat family, or "The Rat Pack" as they have been renamed, because the names first given to them like, "demons" and "children of the devil", seemed a little harsh. Why do we think of them so fondly? Let me back up a little...

We arrived in Tanzania after 33 hrs of travel. Upon our arrival, ALL our luggage was missing, and we had only 1 day of staying in the city that it was supposed to be arriving in before catching a smaller plane early in the morning to our home town. Missing luggage is nightmarish enough when it is in a 1st world country, it is ten times more stressful in a 3rd world country lacking in rules, workers eager for bribes and many "system breakdowns". In other words, if it doesn't show up, don't get your hopes up. Not to mention that theses bags are carriers of the supplies that are intended to get you through the next 9-10 months of your life- truck parts, bush supplies, clothing, supplies for other missionaries and the absolutely golden items- SNACKS!

We were assured at 11pm standing at the lost luggage counter, despite very jet-lagged comprehension skills, that our bags would arrive at 3pm the next day in time for our final flight at 6am the following morning. Guess what happened at 3pm the next day? A big fat nothing. Gotta love it. By 7:30 that night, we decided to leave our hotel and drive the 30 mins to the airport to discuss how they were going to get our bags to our hometown, since we were leaving at 6am and wouldn't be there to facilitate the process. Why is it such a process, you may ask? The small plane has massive baggage fees and does not even allow extra baggage past a certain point (for this reason, we were going to have all our baggage shipped via bus across the country). But the ride to the airport did not take 30 mins, try 2 1/2 hours. Easter is 3 day celebration here in Tanzania, so the city streets were overrun with partiers, cars and buses. The good news? Along the way, we received the call that the luggage had arrived. I'll spare you the rest of the saga, as our night was filled with customs officials looking for bribes in exchange for our luggage, broken, exploded and leaking items in our bags, repacking all of our bags and washing items covered in various substances (including Marshmallow "Fluff") until 12:30 am. Waking up 2 1/2 hrs later at 3am to leave for the airport, we made it on our flight, bags sent on the bus and finally arrived in our hometown that morning.

The final chapter of this saga is where our beloved "Rat Pack" enters the scene. The more the 7hr. time change took effect on us, the more setting foot in our house and collapsing into our bed became an anxiously awaited event. The leaking roof which had led to a molded, bowed ceiling in our dining room was a little disheartening, but barely dampened our spirits. We moved to the closet in our bedroom to find white mold throughout its entirety, spiders in every nook and cranny, as well as a nest of at least 100 spider babies that broke open. As I pulled items out, they scurried off into the rest of the items still sitting inside. Yet, the storeroom discovery wiped the excitement out of the moment entirely. Rescuing a load of laundry from the mold filled closet, I carried it to the storeroom where my washing machine is kept, only to meet the greatest nemesis of them all. Rat feces everywhere. All over the washing machine and every item in the room and upon opening the storage cupboard inside, the feces were layered an inch high. The smell was just what you would imagine it to be. This was our introduction to the "Rat Pack".

So, forget the laundry, the ceiling and the molded closet. Lets just go to bed, right? We are too exhausted to deal with this now. Tomorrow is another day.

Oh naive little missionaries... today is not yet over.

I have a mosquito net that hangs over my bed and tucks in around the mattress, to ensure that nothing can get in. *Ahem* NOTHING can get in. Well, as we pulled off the old sheets to put on the new (so that we can finally collapse in bed and be done with our travels), we made a discovery. Nestled in the sheets was a lovely pile of unidentifiable poop. Not rat, not gecko, maybe mouse, we still aren't sure, but it was there, in all its glory. Beloved friends... there are no words.

Later, in the middle of the night, we were awakened out of the delirious slumber of the sleep deprived to a "sumo wrestling match" taking place in the ceiling above our heads, the "Rat Pack", alive and well, welcoming us to our... I mean... THEIR home.

It's like the chilling part of "It's A Wonderful Life" when Jimmy Stewart's character is discovering what life would be like in a world created by his absence, except that he was never forced to make a forever life in that world. We, on the other hand, aren't so lucky.

The end of this epic story culminates in this darling picture (above) of the "Rat Pack" offspring discovered last week, as we gutted out our storeroom. Amidst the discovery of the disabled washing machine, truck and generator due to the rats chewing on the wires, the covering to our bush tent eaten, the empty skins of our baby chicks found on the floor (the guards had to stop incubating chicken eggs in the incubator Javen made, because the rats were going in and eating the baby chicks alive) and rats running out between Javen's legs while clearing out the room, we found this group of baby rats.

So, thank you, little Rat Pack, for your interest in our home, but we will be needing it back now. You can consider this your eviction notice. Thank you!




We just thought that you might like a little peek into some of the nitty gritty, not-so-glamorous aspects of our daily lives. All joking and "Rat Talk" aside, we are thrilled to be back and are so excited for all that this season holds in store. Thank you all for praying our bags through! They arrived on the cross-country bus, a little rained on, but none the worse for wear. Thank you!!

A Hand in Healing Hearts

   Under the cover of darkness in the valley of a mountainous region of the Tanzanian bush, a young boy (around 9 or 10 years of age) came forward after a Jesus Film showing to receive healing. He had just spent the last few hours watching Jesus heal every sick and diseased person that He came in contact with (in what was most likely the first movie that this boy had ever seen- all in his own language). One of the first among those bold enough to walk forward and be prayed for, he held his painfully swollen hand up for me to see in the moonlight. Many villagers crowded around until they completely encircled us, jostling for position in an effort to see what would happen next; they seemed to be taking special interest in whether this little boy would be healed. After telling me that his hand hurt very badly and that he had no idea what had happened to it, he allowed me to touch it. I could feel that it was very hot and see that it was swollen to twice the size of a normal hand. I asked him to show me how much he could move it, not just for my benefit but for the crowd around me to be able to visually experience the healing that I believed God was going to do right in front of us. He barely moved two fingers.

  I assured him that Jesus wanted to heal him and as I touched his hand and prayed, it would be no power of my own but Jesus doing the miracle, just like he had seen in the film- all we had to do was stand here together and receive it. After praying, he said to me that it felt a lot better, and the pain was almost completely gone. I told him that since Jesus had already started doing the miracle, we were going to pray one last time and thank Him, agreeing together that the miracle would be completed- all pain would be gone. When we had finished praying, he said that all the pain was gone, looking around shocked, wearing a huge smile. After encouraging him to try moving it, he did, little by little in total disbelief. It was like a scene out of a movie, the crowd around us erupted in gasps and chatter. From that moment on, it was a different night. One man pushed his way through the crowd to receive healing, some grabbed others to be prayed for, excited people rushed forward (we had to tell them to wait their turn). Praying for the sick continued until after midnight...

Jesus walked through that Tanzanian valley that night, all we did was happily invite Him in.

A little boy's hand was used to heal hearts that night. The God of the Universe came to a people living in the dirt, doctorless and hopeless and showed them the reality of His love. His pursuit of relationship with humanity cannot be contained in the boxes and limitations that we set up around Him with our limited interpretation of His love's extravagance... and when we give Him the opportunity to pour it out on His kids the way that He wants to, there is no telling what we will have the privilege of experiencing.

"Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed His word by the signs that accompanied it." Mark 16:20