La Sonya

How many miles would you walk?

One week shy of six months I was given the gift of a flushing toilet, a crisp shower and a flowing sink. The water I have now isn’t the final product. The company we are working with still hasn’t finished their job but because they know we have lots of people here, including a foster child (more on her later), they temporarily dragged some pipes on the ground to fill my tank in the attic J I can flush my toilet without hauling water in from the hand dug well outside the house. I can shower off while standing up and without pretending I am bathing in a river because the water is brown-ish and has grass floating in it. I can wash my face at night without imagining I am on the Oregon Trail using the last of our water before we cross the Rocky Mountains. I can rest easy because I won’t hit rock bottom (literal rock bottom) and run out of water if I wash my clothes, do the dishes, take a shower and flush the toilet three times all in the same day. Here a

Happy and I made a funfetti cake. Change is sure in the air. Kids, volunteers, staff, rain, chickens and water. As much as chaos seems to be around, God is still here. I've been learning to wait. Not the kind of waiting I seemed to do a lot of in the past; where I sit and wait for a door to open. But the kind where I take a deep breath, relax and trust God in the daily life. In the last 5, almost 6 months I have had ideas, thoughts that I knew would happen only I didn't know how they would come about. Things that I could have botched up if I had taken them and tried to work them out on my own. But I learned to wait, to see what God's plans were in the whole big picture. I know this might not all make sense, it's only just now really come to shape in my mind too. Over the next few weeks I plan on processing it out for myself and of course in that time to breath deep and wait to see what my next step should be in the daily life. It's been amazing to be a part of this

This week had a lot of ups and downs in it. The biggest was my little friends whom I had been working at becoming friends with at a partnering organization decided to send the girls to another organization instead of here. It's like we broke up. We broke up and they (the organization) didn't even tell me, I had to hear it from someone else. I didn't even get to say good bye and I'm a J (ENFJ, Myers Briggs). The oldest sister who I had been spending lots of time with even asked about me on Sunday, the day before they moved away. I had invested time, heart, money and love and we broke up. The home they went to is a good one, one of the best. But I know they would have done well had they come here. I had plans, dreams and ideas. We were going to build forts in the living room, make mud pies, and learn to love ourselves and each other. It's just hard because it isn't what I planned. But isn't that how life often goes? We make plans but those aren't necessar

To do while visiting Camp Wawona: Make pop-tarts from scratch Play racing game on X-box Run Wawona loop Go off roading Visit Star Lakes Sing songs with Jerrod (like it is a Gaither Homecoming) Make cookies Drink "Deer Water" Visit the valley Strawberry Shortcake Long conversation with Anthony Stay up really late Get up really early Camp in an Umacha Read from Ford County Motorcycle ride Cook with Paulette Clean a cabin ;) Visit the new stage Organize the props and their new home Just be, to enjoy each moment Cry-I'm putting this cause I figure I will so I might as well feel productive and accomplished Visit the heli pad Eat with chopsticks Eat a Yakima apple Cook a meal for the staff Walk the trails Go on a night hike Laugh with Jifer Stare at nature Feel free to add any other things!

Did I ever tell you about the time . . . . . . I got on the wrong daladala , local tiny bus, at the Tangeru Market ? Well one time when I hadn't been here to long I went to Tangeru for food. I hired a young bag boy to carry my produce for me, their job is much like the bag boys of old in America. Only they walk around the market with bags that they sell for 100 tsh ($.10) and then they offer to carry the heavy bags for a fee. I always over pay and buy them a juicy for 50 tsh (not even $.05), I over pay mainly because they earned it with me, 1,000 tsh ($. 60). I make them cary a BIG bag, show me where the good food is, have them help translate numbers and ask advice on what tastes good. I enjoy my interaction with them. This time on our way out to where ALL the busses wait for poor people with big bags it was really crowded. I told the boy that I was going to Usa River and I boarded the bus amid the giant throng of Tanzanians. I squeezed on the bus, last seat, last row with all my

Northern Lights Originally uploaded by joar andre Had I the heavens' embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet, Tread softly because you tread on my dreams ~ W.B. Yeats.

Natazama huko juu milimani; msaada wangu watoka wapi? Msaada wangu watoka kwa Mwenyezi-Mungu, aliyeumba mbingu na dunia. Hatakuacha uanguke; mlinzi wako hasinzii. Kweli mlinzi wa Israeli hasinzii wala halali Mwenyezi-Mungu ni mlinzi wako; yuko upande wako wa kulia kukukinga. Mchana jua halitakuumiza, wala mwezi wakati wa usiku. Mwenyezi-Mungu atakukinga na baya lolote; atayalinda salama maisha yako. Mwenyezi-Mungu atakulinda katika shughuli zako zote tangu sasa na hata melele. Zaburi 121

What if I stopped being the one to call people? What if I stopped being the one to connect with friends? What if I wasn't the one who looked on social media websites to see how friends and family were doing back home? What if I waited for someone to call me, for someone to put forth energy to connect with me? Would I still be lonely or would I be even lonelier ?

Post card from Andrea Keele. "Now is not the time to fall into fear's temptations. Be strong. Never give in." -King Caspian

The best part about using the phones here in Tanzania is every time I put more credit on my phone it feels like I am playing the lottery. You see the phones here work much different from the phones in North America. If I want to call someone I must have Tanzanian Shiling credit, if I want to send an SMS (that’s what the rest of the world calls a text) I must have credit. However if I don’t want to spend credit to talk to someone I can do what we call, flash someone (and no it's not what North America things of as flashing). Flashing is where I call them and hang up before they answer. They see I have called and call me back and end up paying for the phone call- it’s kinda like calling home collect. If I don’t have any credit I can still take phone calls, just not make them. If I am talking on the phone and I run out of credit, to bad for me. When that happens I get to “play the lottery”. When I buy credit they give you a little card and on the back you must scratch off the sil

Photos by Bethany Gerber Before the race Musings of an international runner. I can't believe that a year ago this month I first thought about running a half marathon. Me, the person who had never even ran a whole mile. I wrote about the fear of running and of committing to run the race. It was scary, it was big and I was sorely out of shape. I did it though. I ran my first half marathon . Brittany helped me, I owe her lots and lots. It's amazing to go back through and read what I wrote about running, how I learned to love it and gain the energy from it. I continued to run during the summer and once I got here to Tanzania I looked for my daily route I could take. Here in Usa River I found such great places to run and run I have been. I even got Kellie, the Havilah volunteer, to run some days with me. On the first day of meeting the volunteers from Cradle of Love I found out about a race taking place on the slopes of Kilimanjaro and I knew I was going to run another race. WAIT .

I just had someone I had never met come to our gate. It was a Bibi , Grandma. She was coming to tell me about her grandchildren. Their father died of HIV and their mother is very sick. There are three children and she wanted to know if I could help them, if I could take her grandchildren and raise them. She herself is sick and isn't able to help them. Heavy. As of right now I took her information and will give it to our social worker to investigate and decide if they fit our requirements. There is nothing I can do right now. It has hit me though, this is real. There is a need. If you build it they will come. Things are starting to pick up. We pray that our water will be running, that our license will be framed and posted on our wall and that Jackie and Irene will be snuggled deep in their beds asleep all by the end of March . Give or take a few Tanzanian days. This is a home of safety, where children can be loved and taught the love of God. Where they will grow up knowing they a