We left at around 9 p.m., crossed the border into Tanzania close to midnight, and arrived at the YWAM Arusha Base at almost 4 a.m.
Perhaps because Roah was still recovering, she slept well throughout the journey. She woke up many times, but Sehee had to hold her the entire way and went through a lot.
Since we had arrived so late, I thought the schedule might be changed. But because our time in Arusha was already short, it wasn’t really possible to take time to rest.
We had spent the day waiting for nine hours just to leave, and then traveled for almost another nine hours before arriving. But after we arrived, were assigned our accommodation, and moved all our luggage, there were less than three hours left before the busy schedule for the day began.
We came back to the Arusha Base, where we had stayed for about three weeks earlier this year. We greeted the people we had gotten to know back then and then headed to our accommodation.
It seemed that they had given us a larger house because we had a baby with us. But the accommodation was actually quite far away, and there were many stairs, so it wasn’t easy to move all of our luggage.
I first put Roah down while she was sleeping and started moving our luggage. But I kept thinking that there was another accommodation I already knew of that would suit us better. So I talked to one of the couples on our team, and thankfully, they agreed to switch accommodations with us.
Because of that, we were able to move into a room next to where the couples on our team were staying. Thankfully, one of the houses became available for the Korean team to leave our luggage and use.
The single team members were struggling with the poor accommodation and bathrooms, and there was no hot water despite the cold weather. Once we started using this house, they were also able to come over and take showers.
Theresa, one of the leaders, told us that some of the administrative matters, including the accommodation arrangements, could have been handled earlier before we arrived.
I didn’t want to complain about things that I had assumed would already be taken care of but weren’t. At the same time, there were some things that were difficult for me to understand. In the middle of all this, Theresa said that she hoped things like this could be handled more quickly next time.
It was something that really needed to be said.
Even though all fifty-plus team members must have been exhausted, they volunteered to lead the 8 a.m. worship, even though they had been told they didn’t have to.
They got up after less than two hours of sleep and led worship.
With Roah’s condition and everything else, it wasn’t easy, but we couldn’t skip the schedule that followed.
We were back in Arusha, Tanzania, and this time, we were especially on our way to Engikaret, the land of the Maasai, where we had spent most of our ministry time earlier this year.
We hadn’t gotten enough sleep, but we couldn’t miss this time.
Sehee and I talked about it for a moment,
but then we said,
“Let’s get up!”
We woke Roah up, got her ready, and immediately left for Engikaret.