A Story So Good...

We slammed down on the runway after flying straight across the largest lake in Africa and stepped off the small plane into the sunshine. There is one small building at the Bukoba airport which serves as the arrivals and departure gate as well as the baggage claim area.  An old tractor pulled a trailer full of our bags up to the building and one guy began hauling the luggage up the steps.

We happened to arrive on the same little flight as the local govener so there was some political fanfare to endure before we could head out with our friend Smart and other members of COSAD who were there to greet us and pick us up.

We visited Smart and Jessica's new home which they just moved into yesterday and are now hosting our large group today!  Half of our group is staying there and the other half in an old hotel overlooking the lake.

We visited the Bruce Johnson library which was a moving experience and then a couple other outreaches like the women's goat project site before going back to the hotel for dinner and conversation.

Smart 

Sitting out on a big patio with lake Victoria in the background, I asked Smart to tell the group the incredible story of how he first came to America to attend school.

I wish I had the time and space to share the story with you here. It is the most amazing story I have ever heard, told by a man who knows only how to tell the truth.  Like the old man in the book, The Life of Pi, Smart's story is so good, it will make you believe in God. 

The story includes Smart arriving in Amsterdam after leaving Tanzania on his way to Chicago with only eight dollars left in his pocket after wasting twelve dollars trying to use a pay phone. Smart was convinced that the strange voices he heard on the payphone were voodoo black magic. So, when Smart reached the Chicago O'hare airport at one in the morning, he asked a random stranger to help him make the call to the only person in the country Smart had a number for, which was scribbled on a scrap of paper. Smart did not want to risk losing his last $8 to the black magic on another payphone!

The man Smart was trying to call lived in Iowa where Smart was to attend school.  The stranger in the Chicago airport looked at the name and number of the man Smart was trying to call in Iowa, the only man Smart had a number for in the United States, and the stranger said to Smart, "I know this man! He is no longer at this number. I know how to reach him!"

When Smart finally got through to his friend in Iowa after one in the morning, he told him he could see that Iowa was just a couple inches away from Chicago on the map, so Smart said he would start walking now...it was November!

That is just a small taste of Smart's incredible story. A story that had to happen before we could be sitting with Smart now on this patio overlooking the great lake.  A story we have now been written into.  A story so good...