Everything you need to know (and a few things you don't)

Here it is. The first post, the one that is supposed to sum everything up, the one that introduces me, my life, my trip, my purpose, my everything. In safely anonymous web-logging style, of course. This is where it all begins; this is where I begin to share this journey with you.

Let me start with this: How did you get here? Do you know me or not? I’ll tailor the summary for you.

If you’re here randomly or stumbled upon this: Maybe you googled “How did they make that skittles commercial?” and found my other blog (and you were inevitably disappointed that I can't answer that question), followed the links and somehow ended up here. That’s great. You probably don’t know me, and that’s fine. I’m going to Tanzania, partly because I couldn’t stop thinking about the place after I went there before and I wanted to go back, wanted to see it again and experience it and write about it and live and breathe and smell and taste it again. I wanted to meet its people and slap its mosquitoes and watch its sunsets and stare dumb-founded at its night sky packed with more stars than can ever be counted. Most people who go there will tell you they experience the same thing. I was fortunate enough to find an opportunity to return, to answer a call for a need and, lest you believe I think this is all about me, hopefully be put to work while I’m at it. And so, I’m going to Tanzania in August, returning to the States in November, if all goes well. While I’m there, you’ll move onto other things, googling John McCain and Barack Obama and, to a lesser extent, Ralph Nader. You’ll watch their debates. Maybe you’ll watch the world series, too. I thought I’d be bummed about missing it, but the Tigers won’t be there anyway. So, for those of you who don’t know me, now you at least know why I’m going.

If you’re here because you do know me and followed a link from facebook, or read my other blog, or got one of my support letters and typed it in: Thank you. I’m glad to know that you’re interested. The very fact that you checked this out lets me know that you’re interested enough in what’s going on to know more, or at least to skim this and get the details. I can tell you much more here than I can in a one-page support letter, and I hope to do it well.

I went to Tanzania three years ago to serve as a youth camp counselor (following two summers as a camp counselor in the States). That opportunity arose because someone stepped up and encouraged me to check it out. Brook, who serves as a missionary primarily to youth, was visiting my church and a friend told me to talk to her. I didn’t want to go - I didn’t know anything about Africa, never considered spending any time there, didn’t need to see lions or eat ugali or catch malaria. But God worked through others and in a few months, I was on my way. There, I saw lions and ate ugali, but did not catch malaria. I also slept in villages, shared the gospel, sang the songs, and met Steve and Barb Sherman.

I came home, finished college, kept a job as a pizza delivery guy and got another as a part-time editor with a magazine in Grand Rapids. All along, I thought a lot about Africa, followed its news, talked incessantly about it and annoyed my friends and family, and tried to find the opportunity to go back. Last fall, Barb Sherman called me (I talked about this in my letter. If you read that, you can go onto the next paragraph. I won’t mind.) and told me she had an opportunity. She said they were looking for someone to join them in the summer/fall of 2008 to help for a while as her son, Trevor, planned to show the Jesus film and needed some adult supervision. There’s no shortage of work to be done in Tanzania, and they could use a hand around there anyway. Steve later told me they wanted to start a newsletter. That’s something I know how to do – I can run the software, I can write the articles, I can plan the layout and get the thing rolling.

As for what else I’ll be doing there, I’m not entirely sure. There are opportunities to help teach lessons for the Sherman’s children, Trevor and Stefanie, as well as to teach English in the pastor’s school there. And, like I mentioned, I’m going with the faith that there’s no shortage of work to be done.

Writing is my outlet. This is how I sort things out and make sense of the world. And I hope you find it worth reading. I’m going to try to update this weekly to keep you posted on my thoughts as well as my needs, and I'll share some of the things I learned last time I was there and since I’ve been back. Tanzania is only one piece of a large, diverse continent, and I’m not about to act like I understand it. But I can sure wonder about it, and there will be lots of stories to tell.

Thanks,

Jim