Four buses, one border crossing, one 24 hour bus ride through backwoods Africa, one night in Singita, forty six total hours on a bus, one hostile stay and six days later we made it to Moshi, Tanzania! Wow; so much dust, so much travel, and more people on a bus than I knew was physically possible.
God used my team to challenge me to choose joy in every situation that arose on travel days, and so I did! Literally the most uncomfortable six days of my life were also some of the most joyful on the trip thus far.
On our twenty four hour bus ride from Mbeya to Singita we sat three wide in two seats for a vast majority of the time. People were on the floor, in the aisles, on arm rests, and every where else. Each time we came near a police checkpoint the people not in seats would get off the bus. After the checkpoint they got back on, and so went the ride to Singita.
God used the people around us to bring a lot of joy as well! At about hour 20 of the 24 hour bus ride I was pretty much over it. I was exhausted and covered in dust from the incredibly bouncy dirt road we had been on for the last twenty hours.
The men in front and beside me began to yell at each other (keep in mind this is at 2am). I looked to one of the men that spoke decent English and asked what the big deal was. He told me they were telling "your tribe" jokes. Kind of like "your mom" jokes, just the Africa version. Funny God. Really funny. About that time the man on the left said, " your tribe is so poor they only give one cow for a woman!" The man on the right quickly responded "no! We give 2 cows for one woman!"
God placed us on each of the buses to be love to the people. There was a tribal man dressed in full tribe attire complete with a huge knife the size of his thigh on the bus to Singita that did not speak English or Swahili, so we communicated through hand motions and eye contact.
I showed him my iPhone and he showed me an awkward video of tribal belly dancers. I shared my food and he shared his time. We shared laughs about miscommunication and I marveled about the similarities in our lives. Here was this man from middle-of-nowhere-ville Africa that had a cell phone and the same sense of humor as me! I could also sense there was a hole in his heart that was the same as the one that had previously been in mine.
Although we couldn't speak anything I know that God used me in his life. Just through kindness and smiles I could tell his spirit had been lifted when he got off the bus. Even though I will never see that man again I will never forget him. God has called me to pray for him daily. God is going to use that man to bring an entire people to Himself. God is cool, huh?
for it is written, "As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God." Romans 14:11
