Dar es Salaam - Day 1

Day 1 in Dar es Salaam:

Woke up this morning after a sleeping pill the night before not sure where I was, surrounded by a mosquito net, I was a bit freaked out. First thing I saw…a bit fat mosquito flying around my head. Killed it and blood went all over my hands. I was suddenly VERY greatful for the Hep A, Heb B, Yellow Fever, Typhoid fever, and Malaria pills and shots I had to take in the last month. As I took a depth breath I was at the same time greatful for how blessed I am to have access and money to those drugs, and angry/sad/scared at how many millions live in fear of what I just experienced as I woke up to this mosquito bite. Welcme to Africa.

Great time this morning with Steve Larmey (VP of Africa YL), talking about the long term sustainability of Africa YL, how we can get churches and individuals sponsoring individual staff and countries.

We headed out to one of the Tanzania YL Leadership Houses for a meeting with leaders. We spent a couple of hours singing, dancing, talking about leading young people, and praying for their leadership of Tanzanian youth. Followed it up with lunch out, had some mutton (old lamb, that tasted more like mut), we will see how it sitsJ

On the way home were surprised in the middle of the road by the band in the truck. We got pulled out of our SUV and put on the back of three bikes....Chad Watson, Dan Jessup(YL Director of Leadership Development), & I spent the next 2km on the back of the bikes following this musical truck through the streets of Dar es Salaam. You would not believe the reaction of the people along the street as we rode by with the band blaring away. Construction workers, grown men & women, and especially kids would break out in dance. It’s hard not to smile when you see joy this infectious.you see in the picture I took a short video but it has nosound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaIk99cZ2x4

Might be the greatest welcome I ever experienced. After our ride we arrive at YL Africa Headquarters & African YL Director Steve Larmey’s living quarters on the 2nd floor. The YL staff from 13 different African countries sang, danced, and welcomed us with overly kind words for nearly 30 mins. They asked us to not believe everything we read or hear about Africa and to experience it for ourselves. They made it clear that we are now part of the work they & the Lord are doing all over Africa. The quote was 'you are now part and parcel' of Africa.

So great having Chad here to reflect with….and he took 300 pictures in our first DAY!! (he was taking pictures out the car window and took one of the military HQ, but was quickly rebuked by our driving saying they may pull us over…nice Watson, nearly arrested on day 1....stay tuned for day 2...