THE ROLLER COASTER CALLED LIFE!

This summer I got to go to Disney World with one of my friends.  One evening we went to Disney Quest, which is one big arcade (we had free tickets J)  One of the highlights of the night was getting to design our own roller coaster.  We got to pick loops, swirls, hills, and flat parts.  My body doesn't like lots of crazy twisty-turny things so we kept the roller coaster fairly simple.  The cool thing is after we designed it we actually got to ride on the roller coaster.  You got into this little capsule and buckled in for the ride.   Then they loaded your roller coaster and you took a virtual ride on it.  They had a stop button on it if the roller coaster you designed got to crazy, but it was pretty incredible. 

These past few weeks I have been thinking I wish I could design the roller coaster of my life.  I don't like twist and turns on roller coasters or in real life either.  I like predictable and organized.  I like to know what is going to happen next.  Let me just be plain honest I like to be in control of my life.  When I designed my own roller coaster I was in complete control of  how it was going to go and if I didn't like it I had a stop button.  The roller coaster called life is oh so different and my life here these last few weeks has felt at moments that my roller coaster is spinning out of control and there is no stop button.

There is someone that has designed this roller coaster though and He is in complete control.  He knows when we need a slow ride up or a spinning exciting ride down at breakneck speeds, just so we know we need to cling to HIM.  He knows when to allow us to time to catch our breath or to throw in a few more turns for adventure.  I just need to learn more how to sit back and enjoy the ride and completely trust God, which isn’t always easy.

So what does all of this have to do with my life here?  Well in the past few weeks I have realized how much transitioning back to Tanzania has been one crazy roller coaster ride.  It doesn't always go how you think it is going to go.  One moment things are going great, life is good, and the next you are looking up plane tickets to see when you can plan your escape route (ok maybe not that bad, but…).

These are just a few things that have been that happened a week or two ago that has made it feel like one long roller coaster ride...some thrilling and exciting parts screaming with joy other frightening and breath taking parts.

      1.  I spent a good part of a day two weeks ago attempting to get plane tickets for a student trip coming up in November.  After having a secretary make a phone call for me to see if it would be possible to get the discounted tickets they were offering that day, I started my trek to the local mall.  I was told that it would be possible to get the tickets at the discounted rate.  Only to wait in line, yes it was a line we were even given numbers, only to be told that it was not possible for me to get that many tickets at a discounted rate.  I was then given an email address of a person to contact for group sales.  Long story short it was an extremely frustrating and time consuming process that ended up with no tickets and a group price that was offered at a much higher rate than single tickets.  I was completely frustrated with the whole process and wanted off the roller coaster.

2.  An exciting part of the roller coaster these past few weeks has been coaching the U18 girls.  I have really enjoyed watching them work hard and begin to work together as a team.  Today they had their first match, and it was fun to see the joy on their faces as they saw their hard work pay off.  They won 7 – 1 and six different girls on the team scored. 

3.  Another part of the roller coaster that was smooth, but yet nerve-racking was going to the Tanzanian Revenue Authority to get my Tax Identification Number.  I needed this in order to officially be able to purchase my car.  The morning I was going I was extremely anxious.  I don’t like going into things not knowing exactly what the process is or what it will look like.  Thankfully we have a wonderful driver at school, whose name is Henry, that is amazing at helping with these kinds of things.  I was incredibly surprised at how smooth the process went.  The hardest part was the time it took us to get there because of the traffic.  We got there and he showed me where to go to fill out the paper work.  He then directed me to the place to hand in the paper work.  After that he realized I needed a copy of my passport, so he told me to wait and he ran across the street to get a copy.  Then I got my photo taken and finger printed.  I left about 30 minutes later with a TIN.  It was kind of like the climb to a top of a roller coaster where you are filled with anticipation, but then it gets to the top and releases and it is filled with fun and excitement.  This was a step towards me getting my car!

5.  The last part of the roller coaster ride of my life for these last few weeks was experiencing the joy of finalizing the purchase of my car.  Although the ups and downs of the process were a roller coaster in and of themselves, I am happy to say that I officially have a car in Tanzania.  The new registration is on it and the car is in my name.  It has given me a new level of freedom here in Tanzania.  I am absolutely loving it and extremely thankful that I was able to purchase it.  As far as driving here, I think that will have to be a whole other blog post.  Already thinking of ideas of how to develop a MarioKart video game of driving in DAR!