The Water to Wine Project: Trip to Morogoro

Greetings friends! We made it home safe and sound last night and have spent the day getting settled in. The trip was absolutely amazing and I cannot wait to share details. Since I did not have internet access, I was unable to post, but I have decided to still use the blog over the next couple weeks to share photos and stories. Again, thank you for your prayers and support while we were away, God truly blessed our time in Tanzania.

This first post was actually one that I drafted while we were in Longido, but I wasn't able to get online to post! It details our time in Morogoro:

The trips to and from Morogoro took a little longer than the eight hours we were expecting, and our travel days ended up being about 12 hours each. But God is so faithful and blessed us with a safe trip both ways. You wouldn't believe the roads in Tanzania. Not only is the infrastructure poor throughout most of the country, but the way people drive is absolutely borderline ridiculous. Seriously, things get crazy. But God blessed us with a beautiful sunrise, a cool morning breeze, and a clear view of Mt. Kilimanjaro (which is ususally covered in clouds) on the trip down there.

On Day One, we went to visit the site of the first well! It was such an incredible experience. We drove about 45 kilometers outside of the city to a remote village nestled right in the beautiful mountains of Tanzania. We had to park about 2 kilometers from the site and walk the rest of the way. As we made our ascent up one final hill we could hear the townspeople singing in celebration before we could see them. A crowd had gathered in the shade of a big mango tree right beside the well to witness the pump installation and to share their joys with us. It truly was an unforgettable experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life. As easy as it is to get caught up in the celebration and the hype, I do not want us to lose sight of what this day was truly about. It all comes down to one thing: water. Clean water that these people have experienced for the first time. And more importantly, the Living Water that they were introduced to through the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Day Two was equally exciting. We spent the morning visiting several traditional wells and I even got to try my hand at fetching water- not as easy as it looks. I can't imagine having to fill up huge buckets and then carry them several kilometers, my arms were tired after filling up half a bucket.

We had the opportunity to visit the site of well #2, which is still in progress. It was so incredible to see how they do these wells. This one was about 60% completed and should be in action this week. We also got to see where the people who will be using this well are currently fetching water.