After their stopover in Istanbul, the East Africa team has made it back to the US! Thank you for all of your prayers for this team. Please join us in praying that the team would be able to navigate any reverse culture shock as they come home and that they draw close to God as they discern what he is calling them to next.
Make sure to ask a team member about their experience and how you can be praying for them specifically!
Mumbo friends and family!!
Today our travels back home began and wow have we made the most of them so far. Veryyyy early this morning we flew out of East Africa and landed in Istanbul, Turkey, just about 7 hours later. Praise the Lord all of our travels went very smoothly and there was a driver awaiting to take us to the heart of Istanbul where we would explore for the evening and then stay one night in a hotel.
We started off the evening in Istanbul with an incredible (and entertaining) dinner. Little did we know that Lauren’s dish came with a show that included fun music, live fire cooking, and everyone (yes that included us and all of the servers) dancing in the restaurant while it was cooked. Lauren then helped break the jar where her food was being cooked and we sat down to enjoy our last dinner as a team. This included a sweet debriefing time when each of us were able to share priceless, sweet, inspiring, and also funny moments from our trip. Getting to debrief as a team was such a sweet thing to experience as each of us were able to reminisce about the whole trip and relate to one another and our hearts for this ministry.
We then got up from the most delicious dinner and began exploring around the beautiful city of Istanbul. We had the privilege of being able to go into The Blue Mosque and marvel at the beauty of such incredible architecture. We continued walking around this incredible city and found ourselves trying all of the Turkish specials. This included the ice cream, coffee, and original sweets like Turkish delights. I think it would be safe to say that there was little to no disappointment in this amazing food and drinks!
This was such an incredible way to end and each one of us is so grateful for what God has done on this trip. We thank you all for your prayers and as for continued prayers as we fly out tomorrow and will be back in the states later Monday evening. We love you and can’t wait to tell you more about the many blessings of our trip to East Africa. Thank you for following along with us!
For the very last time we bid you goodnight, see you soon!
Lots of love,
Grace Harmon
Hi friends and family!!!
Today was our official last day on African soil and it has been sad, peaceful, and happy all in one day. We started the day with a game with the girls. It’s called Ready, and it definitely needs to be played in America! We’ll teach you all some time 🙂
After a couple of rounds, we worshiped and said our goodbyes. The girls were so sweet and made us picture frames with glued on seashells they found on the beach. Each frame had group pictures from our time at Firefly restaurant. They also gave us sweet handmade letters. As we learned from our time with the first group, long goodbyes are hard. We kept this goodbye short and sweet, but there were still many tears. I know when I speak for all of us that these girls will live in our memories and our hearts forever! Being their first Jessup team proved to be an amazing experience for both the girls and us.
After goodbyes were had, the Jessup team had a shopping spree at the local mall. However, shopping could only occur after food was eaten, so our fieldworker took us to a nice Thai and sushi restaurant. The food was INCREDIBLE! We shopped the local shops and did our best to bargain.
We are currently now waiting at our fieldworkers’ beautiful beach house for our 4:50am Istanbul flight. The camp fire is blazing and we had delicious burgers and fries for dinner. We are so excited to be home with you all, but we have one more adventure in Turkey before we are there.
See you Jumatatu (Monday)!
-Toni
Mom and Dad, tell Girly I love her and I’ll be back soon!!! 🙂
After a full day of travel, the Western Europe team has made it back home! Please join us in praying that the team would be able to reflect well about all they have learned and experienced now that they are home, and that the Lord would speak to and guide each one of them about how they can continue to do ministry in their home contexts.
Make sure to ask a team member about their experience and how you can be praying for them specifically!
Jambo!!!
Nimechoka (Hi, I’m tired)
But my heart is so full.
It’s Alyssa!
Today we started at the house! We love to start the day with worship and dancing! Then we did VBS with all the girls. I played teacher today since Grace got to share her beautiful testimony. Some of the girls also opened up and shared their testimonies with us! It was so beautiful hearing their stories and how God has moved in their lives!
We then headed over to the beach and had games, swimming, hot dogs, s’mores, and even more dancing (which I love to do)!
We’re all a bit sad that tomorrow we say bye to these girls. It’s been so sweet to get to know them and have them come out of their shells around us!
Tomorrow will be a long day as we have about a 5am flight so keep praying for us!!
Today was great!
We started the day of learning a new word, Shagalbogna (chaos). I also have no clue if I spelled that right… That was the word that describes many of the pictures from today!
We all woke up and headed over to the girls’ home and began our day with a team devotional, and then we headed out with the girls to Bagamoyo (where I lay my heart down). A historical port where a huge portion of slave trade took place in East Africa. It was known as the place of no return. If a slave made it to Bagamoyo alive, which only 1 out of 5 did, they knew they would never return to their family or home.
On our way there, we stopped at a snake park where some of us thrived, and some of us internally died. I always say Satan was a snake for a reason. We saw many snakes and even got the chance to hold one. (This is where most of the snake haters hid… rightfully so). Randomly, we also saw a zebra, ostrich, porcupine, and even got the chance to ride a camel.
After this stop, we continued our drive to a historical museum and cathedral where we learned the history of slave trade and of Bagamoyo.
Traveling from the cathedral, we ended the day at a peaceful restaurant/hotel called Firefly. It’s such a beautiful spot and a great way to end the day.
As we headed back to the home, we sang many many eya eyas and the few Swahili songs we know many times in the bus. Such a great time getting to know the girls more and seeing them step out of shells and be more comfortable with us!
As we come towards and end of our trip, if you all could pray for our team to finish strong and to love the girls as much as we possibly can in our last day here.
Thank you all for your support and prayers!
Enjoy the photos!
-Isaac
Hi y’all! Amanda here with western Europe’s blog! Man what a busy couple of days!
Tuesday we woke up had breakfast and a Marilyn read us a devo, prayed and we were off to the metro for our 2nd full day of English immersion camp! But things didn’t go as planned. I was praying and missed our 1st exit on the metro… I opened my eyes and everyone was gone, so yeah I had a long 4 hours hanging out in the metro talking to Jesus. The team was initially worried as they tried to look for me but they knew I was okay. God’s always with me. He had me. It was great seeing my team after we were reunited.
I was bummed I missed the camp, but I got to hear all about it and see pictures! The kids got to learn, do crafts, play telephone, pictionary, four square and have fun surrounded by the Holy Spirit. We all got to relax for a bit after and I made a salad.
At 4pm we were off to the next camp, stopping for coffee along the way. Our last day of camp! Man, was it bitter sweet. We got to play and just love on all the kids! Teaching them English words, dancing, singing, water balloon toss, crafts, and English card games. We had a few accidents playing capture the flag, a kid fell out of a tree and skinned his shin really bad, Cole got to be doctor, putting his medical background into play cleaning and bandaged him all up, as well as giving advice. The next injury, a minor scrape, he was asking for Cole.
It was such a blessing to see all these different age kiddos enjoying themselves, growing more confident in themselves and their abilities, trying new things, listening, and helping. We had theme days during the camp: good friend/bad friend and the good Samaritan (treat others the way you wanted to be treated-don’t judge) and watching them catch themselves teasing another kid and correct themselves was beautiful! God is for surely in that place and was moving in their lives. Marilyn played games and made strong bonds and friendships with the mothers which we know opened doors! So many seeds planted! So much love! The kids really took a liking to us! It warmed our hearts. At the end of the day we sent them home with goodies, treats, a full heart and smiles and it was all God. He kept providing us with the strength and wisdom needed… He carried us.
We cleaned up and headed to ice cream, it was raining and thundering, the thunder was loud!!! The ice cream spot was off the chain!!! So many flavors, treats, desserts, crepes, cones, cups so many things and they were super generous with the servings and it was so creamy! The crepe was huge! The entire atmosphere and the service was extraordinary. We made it home with no rain, ready for debrief and prayer requests, which is always good! Best way to end a long day. Hailey and I got all the donations ready to take to the center in the moring, man talk about seeing God move. We had 4 suitcases full of toys, games, crafts, and all kinds of stuff for the kids. We were all ready for bed but it was a party out in the streets.
Wednesday morning, most of us got to sleep in some, Macie and Marilyn made breakfast. We ate, did a run through of the day and we were ready! Prayed and headed out, of course a coffee spot but this one was not one of the good ones. Adorado café, Cold brew 1.5-tasted like tea, Esthetic 5, lemon bread 6, atmosphere 5.
We got to the center and we were ready to clean! A suprise to us, our Moroccan friend was back with more of her tea and this time she also brought bread with oil and honey and cake, her dad’s recipe. We love spending time with her! We had a little group meeting, the list went up and we all pulled together and got it all done listening to worship music and cleaning away. Again God showed up and supplied us with everything we needed. We went through all the donations again, separated and put them away. Than we got to eat Moroccan food, oh man!! So bomb! I ate lamb for the first time! Delicious! We had the perfect amount of food, just a little left over and some dessert pastries, oh man the pastries here are fire!!!
So we finished up, cleaned up said our goodbyes, thank yous and blessed the center and staff. It was raining again! We got to enjoy walking back to the house in the rain! Our last walk from the center. When we got back to the house we got settled and began our big debrief! It was actually really good! 25 questions we got to take our time write them down and share. Our team does a really good job sharing. It was beautiful to re experience the entire trip, remembering it all seeing God move the entire time. We have so much love for the kids and families it was really good to just let everything out, good, not so good, sad, things that we will and won’t miss. It was just a beautiful experience. God really showed up. I just love my team! We decided to have free time after, refill up our cups however that looks. And prepare for tomorrow.
-Amanda
Jambo!
Our third day in this second location was spent entirely at Courage House with the girls. Days typically begin at the hotel with breakfast on the garden terrace, then a short walk to Courage House, where we have devotions with the Courage staff and drinking fantastic coffee. The team jumped straight into praise and worship with the girls, with Kenzie and Hope sharing their personal testimonies. Grace, our fearless VBS leader, continued the story of Joshua, encouraging the girls to be “strong and courageous” (Joshua 1:9). A few quick games and onto lunch.
In addition to my professor role at Jessup, I enjoy sharing what I teach my students with organizational leaders. Today, I had the opportunity to facilitate a design thinking workshop with the Courage leadership team and Mr. Edwin Mugambila, Human Rights Lawyer, Author, Speaker, CEO of Tanzania Relief Initiatives, and Founder of TANAHUT (Tanzania Network Against Human Trafficking) and two amazing members of his team. Edwin is also on Courage’s Board of Directors.
These transformational leaders are producing change and building lives in some of the darkest and most dire circumstances related to human trafficking. Sadly, more humans are being trafficked worldwide for labor, sex, harvesting human organs, etc., than when slavery was legal. It is sobering, but there’s hope. Some of the leaders I met with today included former victims of human trafficking, turned survivors, and now leaders. They are the lights in some of the darkest places. Please continue to pray and partner with them in the incredible work God is doing here in East Africa and globally. See Courage for more information: www.courageworldwide.org.
The afternoon included bracelet making, a volleyball skills clinic complete with Jessup jerseys for the girls, dancing, and English and Swahili language games. Topping off the day was a beauty spa where the girls had their nails painted and makeup and hair done (some of our team included).
Before I conclude, I would like to brag about our Jessup students for a moment. I have yet to hear anyone complain, and I have seen each team member love in a way that reminds me of Jesus welcoming the children to come to Himself in the gospels. It is a joy to see God not only at work through them but also in them. God is working in ways that only he can, and I know you’ll be excited to hear all about it when they return home.
Ubarikiwe (Be blessed),
Dave Heitman (team leader)
Jambo!
Today, we started the day off with a hot cup of coffee and very good devotions from Kenzie and Suzane (an amazing social worker with Courage).
After the morning coffee, we got to see the girls and wish them a good morning. As we were speaking to the girls a few of us got to hold the super cute babies (see pictures down below ⬇️) Today was a beach day, everyone was getting prepared and dressed to go.
When we made it to the beach house, you could instantly see the ocean! And let me tell you, it was fan freakin tastic! Once we got situated, we jump right into VBS. The girls really enjoyed it and got to share a few things that they took away from it.
After lunch, we went straight to the ocean! It was so amazing. The water was at the perfect temperature and everyone had a really good time. We played soccer and a game that the girls taught us.
Once we were done with the beach, we had yummy snacks provided by the girls. One was local candy (hand-made), juice (hand made), and popcorn. All was so unforgettably good, can’t explain it!
At the beach house there was a coconut tree. I was so in awe!! I asked if it would be possible during our stay if we could get a fresh coconut somewhere. One of the field workers said yes, here and now! They got a ladder and brought down a coconut and peeled, and cut it open. Then, boom, I had a fresh coconut in my hand with a straw. I might have gotten a little too excited and shedded a few tears.
At the end of the day, we had dinner at the Courage office and ended the day with some team time.
Badi! (Later!)
-Lauren
After a few travel stops, the Southeast Asia C team has made it back home! Please join us in praying that the team would remain healthy as they come back to the US and that this trip would be transformative for their spiritual lives moving forward as they seek what God has next for them.
Make sure to ask a team member about their experience and how you can be praying for them specifically!