Hello! Sorry for the long delay since my last update. We were without internet access most of our time in Tanzania. I just got back Monday night and have had bad jet lag. I am just starting to feel back in my groove; however I fell asleep at 7 this evening and am now wide awake! Arg!

I have to be honest and say that I am not sure where even to begin! I feel as if I have lived a year in the past few weeks. There were so many new experiences, people, etc. I am still trying to take it all in and process through all of the emotions, feelings, thoughts, sights, sounds, etc.

What I can say is that I had a PHENOMENAL time serving with some of the most AMAZING people. I was truly blessed to be a part of a special and very strong team with a like-minded vision for serving. I would overwhelm myself, as well as all of you if I tried to share all of my thoughts with you now...so I think what I am going to plan to do is to share my experiences over the next few months. I am going to go through my pictures and journal and share stories as I process through them. I will do my best to post pictures as well. So far, thanks to my teammates, pictures have made their way to my facebook. I will also post some of my pictures there and am contemplating posting some here, as well as on another website for those of you who do not have facebook.

My heart is still in Tanzania! I definitely found a home there and desire to go back one day to serve for a longer-term. I can see myself there! But, for now I know that my goal needs to be applying to nursing school and completing my education. So onward I will go and see how God unrolls the plans that follow. For those of you prayer warriors...please keep me in your prayers as I apply to my first choice nursing school (Aug. 1). It is competitive, but if I get in- the program is fully funded with a living stipend in exchange for 3 years of work at the local hospital (which means a guaranteed job!!).

I am soooo very appreciative for all of you who have chosen to journey alongside of me in this adventure. WOW! It was far better than I had expected and I had pretty high hopes for it. THANK YOU!!!!

Dana :)

Hello from TANZANIA!!!!!!

We are finally here! We arrived last night and have been settling in today. I am so thankful that I opted to come a day early to have this adjustment day. God blessed us with a safe journey thus far! Our adventures began at SFO yesterday...

When Samantha and I checked in on the international side of the airport. We ended up with a very detailed woman...who insisted that my CARRY-ON weigh to the gram of the airline limit (yes, grams!). So there was a bit of shuffling.

At the last minute, Sam and I decided to pay to bring an extra suitcase filled with kid stuff, craft supplies, etc. for the many kids we are sure to encounter. As we checked in, I was told that it would be a $100 for the extra suitcase (which I was expecting and had decided it was worth it to bring the supplies). We were sent to another counter to pay the fee. As we stood there waiting the woman behind the counter kept looking at my ticket and madly typing...then she went and got another employee who did the same. Finally the woman looked up at me and said that she didn't quite understand it, but her computer kept telling her that I should have two FREE bags for my flight so for today she was going to let it go even though it was inaccurate. YAY GOD!!!

Then for some reason something was going on at SFO. We had to sit on the runway for almost an hour before we could take off...not a good thing when you have a 45 minute layover. Samantha and I were so sleep deprived that an unexpected mini trip in rainy amsterdam didn't have quite the allure that it ordinarily would have. We kept trying to figure out our options as KLM only flies into Kilimanjaro once a day. By the grace of God our plane docked at gate F9 and our connection left out of F8...we literally had 10 minutes or less to run from one plane to the other - unfortunately our luggage did not make it. We are hoping it comes in on tonight's flight. Wishing that I had made a few different choices when shuffling the carry on bag stuff. Oh well...it is making this all a bigger adventure! :)

Other than that - things have been fairly mellow! We came in a day early and are enjoying having a day to adjust. The sights are amazing and the people so kind! I LOVE observing it all! The rest of our team comes in tonight and then we head out tomorrow.  I can hardly wait to get out into the villages and start our medical training and work (hope I have scrubs and tennis shoes by then!).

Thank for your support and prayers!!!!

Dana :)
psalm 138:8

I apologize greatly for getting so behind on this blog! Life has been super-zany these days! But then again as friends often remind me, when is my life not crazy! ;) I decided that since I will be on my to Tanzania in less than 12 hours it was time to get a new entry posted! :) 

Due to the fact that it is 3:00 am - I am going to just hit the highlights:

I graduated last week with 2 associate degrees and am now done with school for at least 7 months! Whew! I am definitely looking forward to a break from school! I am praying that a door will open for just the right nursing school (that doesn't cost an arm and a leg!!). 

A couple of days after graduation, I headed to Las Vegas to see my family for a few days! What a sweet blessing! We packed a ton into the few short days! But of course the highlight was spending time with my sweet nieces and nephew! I so LOVE being an auntie!!! The visit was way too short, but fun none-the-less! :) 

There are four students from my school going on this trip. We will join up with 10 other students in Tanzania. The four of us from California found out a couple of weeks ago that we will be able to earn nursing credits for this Africa trip!! We are thrilled! :)

To top that (which we didn't think was possible) a guy on the team has a contact at Camelback who decided to sponsor the four of us for this trip! We were given all sorts of goodies to take with us. We are all still in awe and can't wait to try our our new gear! We have to document our experiences and we just might show up in an advertisement for Camelback. More to come on this topic soon! 

I can hardly wait to share more of our adventures and stories with you soon! THANK YOU sooooo much for being willing to come alongside of me in this journey of faith and learning! I am so excited to see what lessons and blessings that God has in store for me in the days to come! 

I'm getting there...thanks for your patience!

Hey!

This blog is taking shape bit by bit! I promise it will be up and running soon! I am so very excited about this amazing opportunity before me! It is wild to think that I will be headed to Tanzania to serve in about 10 weeks!! WOW!

In the next few weeks, I will be posting more information about our trip. Till then, feel free to check out the links that I have posted below. The islonline link will take you to the website of the organization that I will be traveling under and the gsm website will allow you to make donations towards the trip.

THANK YOU soooo much for coming alongside of me in this journey! :) I can't even begin to say how grateful and appreciative that I am right now! :)

Dana :)