"You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name"

Hi. Where do I begin? I'm so happy to be home and resting. I just came off from being a counselor at a camp for abused and neglected children (more about that later).

I absolutely miss Tanzania and my family at HOCET dearly. Any time someone ask me to describe the trip in short, I can only reply that it was amazing. I need hours, no days and many paragraphs to describe the things I've seen, people I met, and moments I have experienced in Africa. So I figured little by little I would spill my heart & some pictures for you guys!

One of my favorite things to do at the Shamba (the academy and where all the older students live) was to sing and worship with everybody. My most memorable Ibada (worship) was outside on a beautiful night.

That same afternoon I went to help my friend, Jovini, wash his clothes ... OK I really didn't help it was more like he attempted to teach me, but I wasn't quite good/fast enough. But anyway I was talking and keeping him company while he washed his clothes at the river. I sat on the ground and looked at the sky; and literally squealed with excitement. The sky was clear, and beautifully clear blue I may add. We had been at the Shamba for around 3 nights and the skies had always been too cloudy to see stars at night. I told Jovini how excited I was for tonight and we continued to talk about other stuff. Fast forward the sun is setting, which is always beautiful and quite fast. Some people on the team and I are sitting outside our door singing and worshiping. Some more people on the team join us and we decide to ask two students who were also singing if we could join them. A couple of minutes, a guitar, and drum later, it was pitch black except for light shining from the hundreds of stars in the night sky and we were surrounded by tons of students, the rest of our team, and some other volunteers. We sang, danced, and worshiped for what seemed like not long enough. It was so amazing to be surrounded by my brothers and sisters singing to our creator who gave us that beautiful night sky. He is the same amazing God who loves everyone at HOCET, and who gave me an opportunity to fall in love with them as well. I will never forget that night.