We Have Arrived!

We landed in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania at around 2pm today. (its sunday I think) I was beyond excited! Like, after a year of planning, and saving, and praying and fasting, I'm here. On African soil. We flu right over Mount Kilimanjaro (the tallest free standing mountain in the World, you may regonize it from The Lion king) but anyways!...It was more beautiful than anything you could ever imagine. It was covered in snow and soaring above the clouds. It was breath taking. I think that was the moment I was like, OK Brandi, your here, you made it. (I may or may not of started crying) ;) Our wonderful missionaries, Brother and Sister Smoak, met us at the airport (after having to clear customs) with big AYC signs and huge smiles on their faces! They are amazing! In May they celebrated 25 YEARS of being in Tanzania as Missionaries, isn't that amazing?! So our drive into Arusha, Tanzania was about 45 minutes. And they drive on the opposite side of the road here! The first thing you will notice when driving through Tanzania is all the poverty. I knew I would see it, but I never imagined how bad. And that was just on the ride to the Hotel. Just shacks, and starving children and starving animals. It was very emotional, more than I ever thought so. And by the way, goats, cows and donkeys roam the streets here like squirrels do at home! ;) There were so many sunflower fields, they were beautiful! Just amongst all the poverty and shacks. There are so many buildings that have started to go up, but were just haulted. So now all thats left is erie brick walls and cut out windows and no roof. And people lived in these. Even on a short 45 minute drive I realized just how blessed we are in America. No, just how spoiled we are in America. I've seen pics on the news and in magazines, but until you see it with your own eyes, it never really sinks in. When you take a shower you can't open your mouth! We can't get the tap water in our mouths because it could make us very sick. We definately can't drink it! OR brush our teeth with it. We have to use bottled water. CULTURE SHOCK! We got to our hotel, The Naura Springs Hotel, around 4pm. The hotel is a HUGE glass building about 12 stories high, just right in the middle of all the poverty. We look our window and see the beautiful Mount Meru, the second tallest mountain in Africa :) its a gorgeous view. We are pretty high in altitude. It's probably in the 80's, but so cold at night! Ethiopia was really cold! So, anyways! We got settled into our rooms, which were NOT at all what we expected. They are HUGE, with beautiful hard wood floors and a HUGE window looking out at Mount Meru. And since we have been up for about 30 hours straight we all crashed! We were exhausted! But, we had a wonderful dinner in the hotel restrauant. And no, it did not consist of any bugs or mice. ;) It was actually pretty good. After dinner we met in the Smoaks room and had our orientaion and a little "get to know me" session even though we all knew each other ;) It was mainly for the Smoaks and The Johnsons who are also missionaries here in Tanzania. We have a PACKED schedule this trip! We are going to be exhausted! In the morning we drive to the Esso Church and are doing a prayer walk through the town. Then we head to the Haven Nature Camp where we will be for the next 2 nights. Tuesday we do a safari on the Nogorongoro Crater, which will be exciting! Then, wednesday and thursday we camp and have I think like 4 church crusades! Our camp is at the base of Mount kilimanjaro! We also have church for the Masai tribe people and we will touring their village. So, for the next 4 days I WILL NOT able to update the blog for I will not have access to WiFi. BUT please keep checking! I'll have a few mintues at the hotel switching bags and I will post on facebook. So with that...Keep our team in your Prayers. It's already been a pretty emotional day. We need all the prayer and support we can get! Until next time... :)