Army Ants!

I know I havent been faithful to blog, and this video is a couple of months old, but I had to post it for the people who havent already seen it.

A Long Awaited Video

Most of the people who read this blog most likely will have already seen this video. Skyler and I made it in Arusha, just for fun. It is a music video to Weird Ale's song "Constipated" starring me. Everybody who sees it says i should put it on youtube, so i did and am now putting it on my blog. Hope you have a lot of laughs!




By the way, if you would like to find this video on youtube just search for "constipated music video (chase Russell)"

Missing Home

What an answere to prayer it is to be able to call Arusha my HOME! I have realized what a comforting home that place is to me as i find myself longing to be back there, espiecally after hearing what a great (or adventurous) time the Bordens have had landing there.

I'm just so excited about LIFE right now! what a blessing that is! Just seeing the way that God is establishing all these things makes my heart so happy, and it makes me all bubbly inside.

However, i dont want to make our time in the states sound unbearable. We've had some crazy, awesome, and touching times with some great people. Besides friends, i was really blessed by my extended family. After spending a week with them at a family reunion in Washington, I wasmoved at what a unique and special family i have. Thankyou family!

Well, to rap it up, we just have a couple more weeks of American adventure and then...ARUSHA!

A Battle to Survive in Africa

Check this video out.

It's a bit long but keep watching. It's spectacular.
I cant believe that the bufallo calf is still alive in the end. Also, note that the buffalo that throws one lioness and hits the other is the same one. i think it is the calfs mother.

Update

This is just an update for any one who wants to know how we're doing. As i said in my last blog, we've been to some cool places where we really felt the presence of God. Since then we have gone to an awesome church called Reality Carpinteria twice. First my dad shared at the youth group on Wednesday and then also at the "Night for the Nations" on Thursday. Both times were great. on thursday night we had a great time praying for the HIV crisis across Africa. My dad did an AWESOME job speaking at both places and the wonderful people at Reality were really touched and appreciative. I love Reality. The name of their church says it all: they create such a real environment and are living in so much more reality than the people around them. Thankyou Reality Carpinteria!

Another update: If you read Skyler's blog you will have read that he got a new guitar!! We've been waiting for the right one for a good price and it finally came. I dont know the exact model number but it's a Taylor (I think it's a 310CE). It's Beautiful! Thank you Lord!

Also...I'd just like to say that so far on this trip, i have had great chances to learn more about worshiping with the djemb. At almost every church we've been to, I've been asked to play the djembe! It's been fun. I love how naturally all this exposure to music comes. I learn so much more every time.

Lastly: I GOT A HAIR CUT! Finally. Long hair was getting annoying. So...it's gone! my hairs pretty short but not buzzed. I love it! Now i can dry it with onesweep of a towel, spend way less time taking care of it, play sports without it bugging me, and most importantly, I get to call Leighton and Skyler "mop-heads" and "hippies!"

(sorry that i dont have pictures, we're just less organized while we're on furlough so it's not as easy).

...sorry...

This is a bit of a apolagetic blog. I know there are so many things that i should be blogging about but i just dont have time. I just want to tell you that although the stress and attitude of the USA is definately evident and starting to kinda wear me down, the pockets of Jesus loving people here are so on FIRE! I'm learning so much more about the Holy Spirity and seeing him move a lot. The church of christ is always strongest in persecution. So we are busy, but enjoying God's love here.

i cant wait to get back to Arusha

What a Magical Place!

The last two Saturdays, I've had the privilege and pleasure of going to Arusha National Park. This park, which is located on Mount Meru, is covered in lush, thick forests. I love it so much! I love the dappled sunlight piercing through the layered canopy of forest. I love the carpet of clovers and moss under the cool shadows of mossy trees. I love all the bushbuck and duikers that you can see scampering quietly and delicately through their carpeted home under the knurled trees, with their rich red coats sometimes speckled with beautiful white spots. The best word to describe this untouched forest is MAGICAL. The fresh air, the cool temperature, the trickling sound of a pure stream, the dappled sunlight on the forest floor, the padded footsteps of a forest animal, and the louder but still peaceful sound of a waterfall all contribute to the magical reality of this forest. The mad rush to see all the animals you can that you find in other national parks fades away in the Arusha National Park, forcing you to enjoy the extravagance of raw nature.

Above all the spectacular places in the forest, the Miao waterfall is my favorite place to be. The small trickling waterfall falls into a stream that turns left right in front of a perfect lawn of grass. This allows you to sit right in front of the waterfall without sitting in the stream. This perfect grass creates clearing in thick forest. Once you have reclined on the grass for a while, soaking in the beauty of your surrounding, you sit up and dip your feet into the very cold but crystal clear stream. After wading around a little, you have the picnic that was packed for you. You eat in silence still awed by the beauty God chose to put in nature. After awhile you decide to take a little walk with your guide (well, your supposed to have a guide :). You are overjoyed to find another trickling waterfall like the first. As you continue on, you find yet another waterfall! This one falls over an overhanging cliff and flows into another stream. You find a spot to sit down. You notice speechlessly how the sunlight is piercing through the thick canopy and lighting up the smooth rocks and churning water. By this time you’re just bubbling inside and running over with joy. You can’t soak it all in at once. Its too much, to saturated! You suddenly burst out singing because the waterfall is loud enough to drown out your voice. As you hike back to the first waterfall, pack up the picnic and drive away in the car to enjoy the forest more your are so aware to the REALITY of God's nature. Its real! Out of the fake man-made devices and feelings of the city you find the beautiful reality of nature.

Here are some photos, but no matter how skilled the photographer or writer is, pictures or words cant describe the wonders of nature. So go see it for yourself!

(The pictures of the bee-eaters are not in the forest, but they are in a part of ANP)

A Blessed Time

About a month ago, Glenn and Candy Ornee and the Morgan family came out to Arusha for a short visit from Reality Carpinteria. What a blessing they were! (Thankyou so much guys for just coming out and enjoying great times with us. It was such a refreshing blessing). The previous blog was about one of the adventures we shared with them. We also did some ministry in Massai land and went to the Ngorongoro Crater on a short safari. So i just wanted to share some photos of the animals and also some pics of our time in Massai land.

In Massai land (the same trip as the previous blog) we had an awesome time. Just seeing the Massai, attending church with them, praying over them, and watching there wide eyes and big smiles as we let them swarm over the piki pikis was a blessing and a joy to all of us. But the most spectacular part was watching there eagerness as they waited in life for something they always dreamed of...their very own books! I love africas hunger for schooling and knowledge. They respect knowledge and tools that are given to them to obtain more of it. We miss that so much in the States.















The Ngorongoro Crater...I love that place! Its the perfect game park for a day trip. You can see it all in a day and the game in it is pretty consentrated. The vast Crater floor has plains, forest, rivers, and a large lake. But I think my favorite part of the Crater is the buffalos. I've never seen bigger bull buffalo than i've seen in the Crater. Any buffalo is an animal that you should definately respect. They have one of the most acute senses of the big five, they will never stop coming for you (I've read stories of buffalo continuing to charge after they have been hit by several big bullets that hit the heart and literally tore it into shreds), and, worst of all, they have a really really bad attitude. However, a big lone bull buffalo is a whole different story. He's beyond having a bad attitude: he hates the world, he's beyond dangerous: he's black death that waits in shadows for some unaware human to walk by who he can bestow his rage upon. I have a healthy respect and awe for the raw power and the attitude of never stopping and never backing down that a big bull buffalo posseses and does not fail to exemplify on one to many occasions. Oh, i love just watching them lumbering across the plains like they rule the world and will take down anything that doesnt agree to that. I love there huge thick bosses, long curved horns, and massive mud-caked body that literally contains tons of muscle. They are so majestic and...well i guess i've said enough about buffalo. We saw a lot of other animals that day to. we saw tons of lions and 5 rhinos! it was a really succesful safari.

A Real Adventure

(This story is a couple of months old, because I have not been able to access my blogger acount for a couple months).

The other day, we went out to Massai land on the piki pikis. This was the first time we had gone on a safari with piki pikis. On the way there the three dads rode, and the rest of the families went in the car. It was like 200 kilometers to the place where we were going.
While we were there, me and sky decided to hike up onto this really cool hilltop where I had been before. On the top of this hill it isn’t covered in bush, but in that really cool terrain of golden meadows and patches of dark green and lush forests. The other cool thing is that it was kind of a new thing for me and sky to get to go alone in a place like this since there were buffalo up there. My dad said that the Massai couldn't believe that he let us go up there alone.

Once you get to the top, you come to kind of a flat valley between three higher hilltops. So we were walking along up there, making quite a bit of noise, when Skyler said, “what’s that?” It was a hartebeest, coming right out of the forest and he hadn’t seen us yet! Hartebeests are like wildebeests but they're all tan and gold. This was a big lone bull so he was really big and muscular. We quickly got down in the long grass to see what would happen. To make a long story short, Skyler and me stocked him all over the place, but he had really good senses. The closest we got was about 50 yards. Oh! But it filled my heart just to be up there in the fresh air! Sucking in nature, with hearts pounding as we scan for buffalo, and crawling through long grass for hundreds of yards trying to get close to a wild bull hartebeest. No tourist vehicles, not tame animals, just Skyler, nature, and me.



Man, I know, without a doubt, that being in nature and interacting with it and all its tricks like that is part of who I am. That is where I find peace and satisfactory joy, not sitting at home, typing this blog, and worrying about all the projects I am behind in for school.

Anyway, the homeward journey was another adventure. Skyler and me got to ride on the pikis for a while and that's where the fun began. The first part was rocky, so that was hard in itself...but then the rain came. Puddles started to form with rocks buried under them. It was hard to stay on the bike going through some of them, but I was ok. The cold of my soaked clothes was getting to me when I herd the first astounding crack of lightning (there had already been thunder and lightning but, when the lightning is so close that the sound of thunder is at the same time as the crack of lighting it gives a sound that is unearthly!). The first time that happened, I felt it in my bones, and my helmet shook. I was immediately thinking about what my reaction would be if I heard another one of those. I thought I might drop the bike out of shock if it happened again. Everything sounded deathly quiet compared to that strike, as I clutched to the handlebars in anxiousness and held on for dear life. I can’t describe how small and helpless that lightning crack made me feel: so cold, with nowhere to hide, totally exposed to nature with no defense. I love that raw power of nature that God created, which tends to put wimpy little humans into their place, haha!

And then the hail! The hail was soooooooo painful, it was coming down really hard and it stung like crazy. I mean, on a piki even the rain can hurt, but these were huge drops of hail. We soon had to pull off the road and get under some small bushes. Then the car came behind us, and we told them how we couldn't ride because of the hail, but by that time the hail was pretty much gone (the storm was still raging though). My dad explained that it was best to ride it out, and that there were some river beads he wanted to get across before they flooded to high. My mom said, "Oh! Get chase in hear!" because we were all shivering like crazy!!!!! But I said, "No! I wanna ride!" Even though I was really shook up I wanted to keep riding for the adventure, and I new that I would regret it later if I didn't. So we climbed back on and continued into the unceasing rain.

We soon found the flowing spots that my dad wasn't so sure about but we went through them without too much trouble. The scariest parts for me was going through puddles that had jumbles of rocks in them, throwing you all over the place, and then going up the steep rocky road on the other side. And oh the cold! The experience would have been a ton more fun to experience at that moment if it wasn't for the bighting cold that made your hands hurt when you weren’t even doing anything with them (just having them attached to your body hurt)! But of course the cold makes the story much more macho and exciting. Besides it was part of the experience that made it so raw! But man, we went through some crazy puddles and rain-soaked sand. One of the puddles was a little over waist deep but you couldn't tell that it was that deep from looking at it. So when you went in, you and the bike just plunged into the depths (or so it seemed) of this puddle and water was actually shooting over our heads as we road through!!!! I eventually dumped the piki in a big puddle and it was time to let someone else have a ride, and time for me to heat up in the car.

While we were out there having a cold blast, my dad was inside telling my frightened mom, "Thos are boys becoming MEN, Tammy!"

What a weekend! Out in the bush is where I would choose to be any day, whether stalking elusive hartebeests on gorgeous hilltops, or reeling at the shock of the raw power of lightning.

Praise the Lord for his nature!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everybody!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope you had a really good time with friends and family. I had a great Christmas. Christmas is one thing that I REALLY miss about America. The spirit of it is really lacking here in Africa, compared to the US. But its still a great time of year.

For our vacation we went to the coast of Tanzania. It was really fun. We went to a place called Peponi, which is in between Tanga and Pangani. Peponi isn't quite as nice as some other places we like to stay on the coast, but it was fun. There were no waves, but the water was very shallow which made it unusualy warm. So even though we couldn't play in the waves the water was fun to lay in, it felt like soaking in a giant bath tub. We spent a lot of our time on a dhow going to a reef for snorkeling and also doing some fishing, although we didn't catch anything (maybe the fact that there was a cyclone warning that day, affected our chances of being successful). Also on the dhow, we got to go out to a sand island. It was amazing; just a spit of sand in the middle of ocean, with nothing on it at all, besides some crabs and birds. Zero vegetation.

The snorkeling was great (my favorite part of the trip). There wasn't quite as many numbers of fish as some other places we've gone, but I think it was one of the most varied amount of species that I have seen. I wish we had an underwater camera. The highlights were a zebra eel, tons of lion fish, and this one fish, I forget what its called, but it was about 3 Ft long, looked poisonous and scary, and it was laying flat on the ocean floor.

The dhow was so fun to be on, and the crew were really nice (and buff! haha! Their is this one guy named Ali, and he was insanely muscular!) Well it was really fun watching them sale the dhow. It was also fun climbing all over the dhow and hanging of the side and so forth. Since we spent 11 hours on the dhow, me and Skyler would feel that the room we were in was wobbling even up to a couple days after being back.

Another fun part of the trip was seeing some ruins of an ancient mosque. Now, I'm never really that interested in things like ruins. They're cool, just for the fact that they've been around for awhile, but I'm not very fascinated with them. The cool thing about these ruins was that they were from the 14 century and were made from coral, sand, and limestone (that was before cement). Skyler got some really cool photos of them.

So we had a good get-away before x-mas. Hope Everybody out there had a good time too!