Day 1: Arusha, Tanzania

Today marks the beginning of an incredible journey! Everyone has arrived safely at Mount Meru Hotel in Arusha, Tanzania. Similar to Mount Kilimanjaro, which comprises of three volcano cones, Mount Meru is also a dormant volcano and stands at 14,968 ft. Let’s hope our climbers have good weather on Mount Kilimanjaro because on a clear day, you can see Mount Meru from Mount Kilimanjaro which is 43 miles west! Keep an eye on this trip journal! We’ll be posting everyday from now until the end of the trip!!

JOURNAL ENTRY BY JOSH GILL

Kilimanjaro calls in challenge and ten of us have risen to answer. Our crew hails from Georgia, Texas, and Oslo, Norway, with members ranging from 14 years old to 52.  We are a motley crew, and for reasons that seem unfathomable to many, we have left our everyday lives of relative comfort and certainty to climb the tallest mountain in Africa. 

We each arrived in Tanzania on Thursday evening, most of us travel weary (especially those who flew coach, God bless them) after at least two international flights spanning two days. All were hungry for the adventure ahead but uncertain of what exactly it held in store.

But why? What drew 10 people together who  for the most part don’t know each other that well, beside the three father-and-son pairs, to face the rigors of the climb?

All of them individually know Drew, and most are friends of my dad, Keener Gill. But the question still stands. 

We could have come only to charge up the mountain, to put another notch on our belts and find glory in overcoming the challenge and achieving the milestone. 

The adventure of hiking Kilimanjaro is reason enough to come, but I believe what drew us together is something deeper.

Gathered in the Mount Meru Hotel in Arusha, mere hours after coming together as a crew for the first time, we bared our hearts to one another, delving into honest vulnerability about why we came, with an ease and swiftness that only Holy Spirit can grant. 

Some come amid the tension of battles between faith and deep grief. Others come to seek a spiritual unburdening after years of inner struggle and bondage, or to live life in a manner worthy of past blessings from loved ones who’ve passed away. Several, if not all, seek to deepen their bonds with their father or son and with God.

We came hungry for depth of the Spirit, each in different ways, and Christ has already begun to honor that with His manifest presence — from the way He gave us the courage to share our hearts with one another on day one, to the ways He brought us through turmoil at our jobs or homes to come here, to the wisdom and blessings that Papa Deo, a local spiritual elder and Young Life leader, has shared and prayed over us since we stepped out of the Kilimanjaro airport. 

Yes, we came to conquer this mountain, and God willing we will do just that. But we also came because we share a connection with each other in Christ, and because He has invited each of us to walk with Him up this mountain, to dive deeper into the Father’s heart, and to receive what He wants to impart to us as a crew and as individuals as we embark on this trek. 

Tonight was but a taste of what He holds in store for us in this trek, and I am excited to share in that adventure with this crew.