YL TANZANIA TRIP 2007

Mambo Mizungus…

Wow… I mean honestly, I still don’t have a clue how, or even where to begin here... One sentence just as easily, really sums it all up… Our God is so FAITHFUL. Game over. End of story.

Oh sweet “T.I.A”…. It’s hard not to miss the day-to-day life ADVENTURE we experienced together this summer over in the motherland, where each & every day always promised to afford us with a new surprise, sometimes good, sometimes bad… always leaving us a little bit more PATIENT & FLEXIBLE than the day before. Am I right? In Africa, it’s almost like our daytimers & our watches really serve absolutely no purpose at all but to potentially drive us insane, with as often as the plans change. Come on, I know you love it. Let’s be honest, we’ve come a long way since our not-so-pleasant cultural experience that first afternoon out in Sokone One… yeah, that whole episode certainly made things a wee bit interesting upon “Beyond Atlanta’s” very first introduction to all of those kids & the surrounding community… I really, really find it impossible to deny though, that God was absolutely in control & was there with us all along…

Two specific moments on the trip, that really stand out to me, were the night a group of us worshipped together in the dark with headlamps, out on the hill in Legho, with Alexis & the Tanzania leaders…. And then later, on Kilimanjaro, the night a bunch of us stayed up late whaling out worship on my guitar in the dinner tent with our Porters, both in Swahili & in English, dancing like a bunch of crazy idiots up around 13,000 feet to “I’ll fly away”… before that crazy german couple approached Elizabeth the next day, & threatened to cut the strings on my guitar if we kept them up late again, singing praises to “Jesu”… of course, yeah, we did it anyway though, & honestly, the porters loved it as much if not more than we did… I guess I should probably also mention just how much I’ve missed falling asleep every night to Mcever’s over-dramatic but very, very entertaining commentary on his own personal war versus the mountain… I’m counting on both he & Chambliss to lead the climb next summer… On the other hand, I haven’t missed “Barraco Wall” or “the headache”, at all… at all. Honestly though, I think that if I were asked to personally select 37 people from out of NW Atlanta to travel over to serve in Africa together, there’s NO WAY I could ever have come up with as fun, strong & dynamic of a group as ours proved to be… and for that, obviously, again, we’ve got to thank GOD. It’s ALL because of HIM. By the way, Safari people, I was blown away by the way you all turned the “Safari from hell” nightmare into an unbelievable adventure that could probably be sold to one of these TV networks, as part of some reality TV series…

I think that when you really sit down & think about it, life’s way too short to forget, deny, or let go of the real weight of the TRUTH the Lord’s allowed us to wrestle with, grow in, & experience together in AFRICA. I say that because I think it can be so easy sometimes, considering the reality of the culture we live in, to allow busyness & the pace of life we often get so swept away in here at home, to distract or even numb us from the plain & simple reality we’ve potentially stumbled upon, that GOD IS LOVE and JESUS IS ALIVE… & that there’s really NOTHING in this world more important or valuable than the RELATIONHIPS we share, & so easily take for granted, with our Friends & Family, as we walk & grow together over the course of our lives. The bottom line here I think, is that the more & more & more we SACRIFICE & GIVE of ourselves to those around us, the FULLER the LIFE we’re going to find & receive in return. In other words, I believe the HEART of AFRICA offers us revival, & a renewed perspective of life, that comfort, security & success in this world wants so desperately to kill & steal from us, leaving us blind to the truth about this fallen world we live in, & just how desperately dependent on Christ each & every one of us truly is for life. Although at first glimpse, from a distance, Africa may appear Poor & without hope, I’d argue that beneath the surface, the truth is, that Africa is RICH… rich in HEART & SPIRIT… rich in RELATIONSHIPS & COMMUNITY. They have NOTHING, yet at the very same time, they’ve found EVERYTHING. Everywhere there seemed absolutely no reason left to have hope, we found people with a JOY, HOPE, & FAITH in GOD that was so real it was literally almost TANGIBLE, people whose HEARTS were full of love & whose trust simply lay in His promises alone. His LOVE truly is enough. I’ll say that for me personally, I really feel that the more time I spend around my brothers & sisters in Africa, the more I believe I see & learn about the Heart & Compassion of our Creator. It’s true, we are all God’s children… here’s no doubt, Fellowship and Friendships are being created in this land the LORD is using today to bring people together as one body, through Service, Suffering, Joy, and Adventure…

I really, really, really like this quote I get all the time from Alexis & other indigenous YL Africa staff across the continent… which encourages us to “Preach the Gospel at all times, & ONLY when necessary use words…” Based on my personal experience, I would agree with Alexis & Deo, “AFRICA truly is a land of SHARING”. Undeniably, the Hearts & the Spirits about these people, are so simple & full of life. No matter how little they may have for themselves, they’d rather serve us with everything they have, offering us their very, very best. Why can’t I say that I always treat my friends & family the same way back home? I think it really all comes down here, to forgetting about everything else but learning how to LOVE each other better, one person at a time. Again, I think we’ve got to get better at learning to pause, in the midst of all of our busyness, putting everything we’re working on down, just to take time to be STILL, & remember WHO GOD IS... I hope & pray that we’ll continue to reach out, love on, & encourage each other well, now that we’ve settled back into the daily routine of life here at home… I also pray we wouldn’t lose sight of the simple challenges our Grand Jedi Master – “Papa Deo” – left us with to think about, out in Legho… re/ our considering what is the higher priority in our lives, our material investment or our spiritual investment, going on to suggest that more of one leads to a greater absence of the other… & at the same time, encouraging us to consider exploring/pursuing a more personal relationship with the Holy Spirit…. Honestly, Hayward does the Papa Deo imitation almost perfectly….

This morning, my PRAYER for all of us, is that the TRUTH He's revealed to us in Africa, and the weight of the conviction He put on our Hearts in the midst of the experience we shared together there, would continue to become more & more & more REAL to us, with each new day, to the point that we can’t escape it. Again, the truth is that what’s going on here isn’t about Africa, or NW Atlanta, or Kilimanjaro, or a nightmare Safari, or Papa Deo, or Alexis, or any of us…. It’s ALL about Jesus…. & what God is saying to each of us about Himself & our Hearts, & the life He’s offering us.

THANK YOU again for ALL of your PATIENCE both on the trip, & during the months before we left… This Trip has been a Dream come true, & I’m so thankful to have shared the experience with each of you. I want to ask you to be PRAYING with us over the future of “Beyond Atlanta’s” Africa initiative… & to encourage you to go out & tell your friends & family about what God is doing here… invite them to be a part of it. The tide of momentum is no doubt building… I believe with all my heart, that what’s happening here, is only the very beginning of something HUGE that God is doing among us, beginning with our community at home in NW Atlanta, reaching all the way to Africa.

Remember, God is with us… and Prayer is everything.

For His Glory,

Drew Voyles

"If you CLING to your life, you will LOSE it, but if you GIVE it up for me, you will FIND it..."
MATTHEW 10:39

“You have made known to me the PATH OF LIFE.” PSALMS 16:11

"He must become GREATER; I must become LESS." JOHN 3:30

“Through the power of the HOLY SPIRIT who lives within us, carefully guard the precious TRUTH that has been entrusted to you.” 2 TIMOTHY 1:14

“There is NO GREATER LOVE than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” JOHN 15:13

"They don't want our pity. They don't want our charity. Like all of us, they want to be KNOWN. KNOWING each of these new friends I've met has CHANGED me…. How POWERFUL it is to walk in someone else's shoes when they're BAREFOOT." JENA LEE

“It can be easy to make AFRICANS a cause that is advertised on a wristband or T-shirt or guitar case instead of people who reflect GOD'S IMAGE just as we do. It’s hard when all we see are the staggering STATISTICS & the children with bloated bellies & flies on their faces. Although it’s true, simple AWARENESS is a vital first breathe in the conversation about INJUSTICE, the GOSPEL calls us to something more TRANSFORMATIONAL. It provokes us to the UNCOMFORTABLE ACT of Knowing & to the INTENTIONAL DECISION to Be Present in the SUFFERING of a person whose shoes walk daily on the BATTLEFIELD where Hope & Death, Life & Despair wage their unyielding WAR.” JENA LEE