A long-delayed ending

The Safari is Over

My journey is over and I am safely back in the United States.  Thanks so much to all who prayed.  I would like to briefly mention a couple of amazing things the Lord did.

1.       We had a safe trip from Arusha to Babati in spite of experiencing a blowout at about 50 mph.  We were travelling packed to the gills and had a whole crew of unbelted men on the back benches of the truck.  Afterwards Aaron said that the Lord brought the thought to his mind that he was about due for another blowout just a few minutes before it happened.  In the middle of nowhere in TZ, emergency medical help would have been non-existent and we were about 80-100 miles from any good hospitals.  Bwana Asafiwe!

2.       After the second day of preaching, I was hit really hard with illness that was of an incapacitating nature J  Actually, Rodney and our Tanzanian friend Phillipo were also pretty laid out, which means it was really bad.  We thought it was Giardia, and began treating it as such, but later came to the conclusion that it was probably food poisoning.  Anyhow, the Lord strengthened me through it and I was able to preach on time the next day without any trouble.

3.       As far as the preaching itself goes, I experienced much liberty in my preaching on the second and third days especially.  The theme that I was to address was physical purity for Christian youth, so the first two messages were quite heavy and cautionary.  On the third day, I addressed the question of why people pursue sin when they know its dangers and its pain.  I essentially gave Solomon’s answer in Proverbs 27:7 – “The full soul loathes honey, but to the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet.”  A person who is filled with Jesus Christ—who is sated with Him—will not have the same desire for sin as a person who is spiritually “empty.”  Our hearts are hungry for something to feast upon, and since only Christ can satisfy that hunger, until we find Him and feast on Him, we will feel our insatiable appetites drawing us to every other bitter well the world has to offer.  I exhorted the young people to look to Christ for satisfaction instead of sin, and ended-up going to Hebrews 11-12 to talk about faith and the importance of it in our pursuit of the Savior.  Please pray that the Lord would seal His Word in hearts.

4.       God got me out of Tanzania!  Yes, I loved the country, but I was a little concerned when on Wednesday I learned that the gas companies had gone on strike in the midst of negotiations with the Tanzanian government.  No petrol.  No diesel.  No trip to the airport.  Yeah, that’s not a good situation.  Baya sana (very bad).  Things were actually so bad that there was a FB group posting where and when you could find gas in Arusha.  Aaron and I found some Thursday morning, and about 2 hrs later the city was dry—with no expectation of more fuel coming any time soon.  Pray for the Tanzanians as this kind of thing literally cripples the country, and it happens more often than you'd think.

I thank and praise the Lord for all that He allowed me to do during this short trip.  I would love to go back some day.  Thanks Aaron, Nicole, Rodney, Lynn, Philippo, and everyone else!

In Christ,

Nick