Home again.

Between Saturday morning, East Africa time and Sunday afternoon Eastern time, our group of thirteen hearty travelers slowly drifted apart.  On the Serengeti, Jack and Jane, Payton and Elena, and Shane and Tammy took a small plain east for some R&R on the Indian Ocean.  Back in Monduli, we dropped of Diane; as always, she has more to do before she can rest.  In Arusha, Sarah left the group to travel to South Africa with her husband.  In Amsterdam we said good bye to Carrie when she caught flight a home to Minnesota.  I said my goodbyes to Earlene, Howard and Arlene in Dulles airport, where Steph, Hannah and Connor greeted me warmly, and took me home and fed me pizza. 

It’s good to be home, even if it will take a few days to adjust.  The floors have carpets, and all the windows have glass and screens.  Clean, fresh water comes out of the taps.  As much as I want. I don’t have to brush my teeth with bottled water, or make sure I know where my daily water bottle is at all times.  The electricity is always on. I can sleep in the same bed for more than two nights in a row. The internet is always available, and it’s so fast I can hardly believe it.  My family is here. It seems like riches beyond imagination.

So the trip is over, but the mission continues.  The journey home was marked by many conversations about what happens now.  We saw so much need.  The schools in Arusha need books, and repair.  The girls school needs teachers, funding for college for graduations and better computers.  Selian needs nurses, new equipment, and renovation.  Arusha Lutheran Medical Center needs funds for care and equipment.  The villages far from the cities still need schools.  Everyone needs clean water and reliable electricity.  We all have moments of feeling overwhelmed; times of despair from not knowing where to start. 

Asked how he deals with that sense of scale of the work to be done, Dr. Mark Jacobson quoted Teddy Roosevelt:  “Do what you can with what you have, where you are.”  That is our mission now: To do what we can to support Operation Bootstrap, and our mission partners in Tanzania with the resources our congregation has, from our home in the valley.  In the long run, the Masai and the other people of the Tanzanian highlands are going to have to find their own way forward, and their own solutions to their problems.  What we can do is to answer their calls for help, especially in education, medicine, and public health, so that people their will have resources to chart their own future.  We can support their faith so that future is built on strong foundations.  And we can draw inspiration from their faith and their strength to help us though the tasks at hand, and to grow together, as brothers and sisters in Christ with our neighbors around the globe.

Even though we’re home now, don’t give up on this blog just yet.  A few more stories may come to mind in the next few days as we process all that we have seen and experienced. 

Thanks to you all for following our stories, and for your thoughts and prayers. 

-Bruce

(I just used google to check the TR quote! What a country!)