The time has come!

Hello everyone!

I cannot believe that the time has come for me to leave. This summer has gone by so quickly! Working as a firefighter for the Department of Natural Resources for two months, a quick week at home in Yakima visiting family and packing and now I fly out of Spokane in less than 48 hours.

I would like to take the time to thank those who came on Wednesday night to pray for me. I still cannot believe how many people came to send me off. I am so very blessed to have so many people supporting me financially and most importantly in prayer. Thank you thank you thank you!

This week has been a whirlwind! Trying to make sense of my packing list and gathering things together, making sure everything is squared away for me here in the states before I go, and seriously pondering what it means when they say... pack a years worth of everything... uhhhh what!?! And it all has to fit in a 50lb suitcase. I have never even thought about how much shampoo I use in a month, let alone a year! So to help with that I cut my hair really short, which is a big transition for me since I have had long hair since I could remember. The piles of clothes and toiletries laying on my bedroom floor stare at me all day long and it is somewhat overwhelming how much there still is to do. But then I remember, that all of this "stuff" is not the point of this journey. It doesn't matter how many skirts I have, or t-shirts, or bottles of shampoo, or silly little electronics because I know that when I arrive, I will be disgusted at how much I have in comparison to how little they have. The more I have, the bigger the space I am creating between me and the people I am trying to reach with the love of Jesus. I know that bottles of shampoo and laundry detergent will run out, and that's okay. I will learn how to do it the Tanzanian way.

The enemy tries to use materialistic things to distract me and take away from the ministry I will do. Good thing I have Jesus to fight for me. I have put on the full armor of God and I am ready. Ready for whatever He will have me do or whatever situation He will put me in this coming year. I think that the enemy is scared. Scared that people will see Jesus work and move in their lives and in the lives of their loved ones.

Saying goodbyes... Now this is a tough one. I am not one to get homesick very often. Usually I adjust quickly to new situations well and am quick to make friends. I pray that this happens again. But this time, I will not have the same access to communication with my loved ones like I have in the past. To be honest, I am a little nervous about that. I love my family and friends so much and know that at times it will be hard for me to be away. But, I also know that I am called to be family and friends to the Tanzanian people in my village. As much as I will miss the people I love here in the US the people in the village need me more. And not me on my own, but me with the good news of Jesus. If you feel so led to send me a letter, I would be so blessed by that. Let me know how you all are doing and I will do my best to get back to you. Snail mail is suuuuper slow! But I will try!

Emily Harpel

c/o Village Schools International

Box 183

Mafinga, Tanzania

or email me! emily.harpel@villageschools.org

Just so you all know, here are my travel plans for the next couple of days.

Friday - Travel with parents to Spokane, WA
Saturday - Plane leaves at 6am going to Seattle, WA
                 Leave Seattle at 9am and fly to Chicago (this is where I will meet a couple of girls going to TZ as well!)
                 LONG LAYOVER IN CHICAGO! Leave for Istanbul, Turkey at 10pm
                Arrive at who knows what time, considering the time difference... it's an 11 hour flight.
                 Then leave for Dar and arrive after 9 hours.
We will stay in a little hostel that night and then leave within the next couple of days on a 13 hour bus ride down to Madissi which is where we will have our two weeks of training. In training we live with a student in their homes and they will teach us everything about cooking, cleaning and living in TZ. During the day we will be in the schools learning about teaching. After two weeks we will be sent to our villages where I will be for most of the year.



Let the adventure begin!!!

Emily