Hanna Lara and Andrea Blocker didn’t plan on going to Africa this summer. But when the opportunity came up, they weren’t going to turn it down.

The teens from Grace Lutheran Church will travel to Matembwe, Tanzania for a three week mission trip beginning July 21. The group includes nine youth and three chaperones, and is organized through the Western Iowa Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.

There, the girls will visit some of the synod’s projects, including well drilling sites, a girl’s secondary school, a hospital and orphanage, and agricultural development projects. They will meet girls and boys who have been sent to school through Grace Lutheran’s giving, and meet with the church’s sister congregation there.

The trips focuses on building relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ in Tanzania, Blocker said. For some fun, the students will also take a safari in Ruaha.

“We have a home base, a hotel, and we’ll travel around to a couple different places and stay in guest homes,” Blocker said.

The two learned about the opportunity during a large synod assembly, where all the churches met together, she said.

“There was a flier, go to Tanzania for a weekend in 2016. We were joking about it, I guess,” Blocker said.

“We said wouldn’t it be cool if we went. And our pastor was like, yeah, you totally could do that,” Lara said.

The two received a letter in January saying they’d been accepted for the trip.

“There was no backing out,” Lara said. “I mean we could have, but-“

“You don’t really get a chance like this,” Blocker said.

“It’s pretty exciting for the congretation that they’re going,” said Tammy Mickelson, Grace Lutheran office administrator, “because of our tie with the congregation in Matembwe. I think it was 2008 when we created a covenant with that congregation.

“So when these guys were able to go, and then to go to Matembwe to see the actual church, meet the actual people we have pictures of, the congregation really got behind it.”

The Grace Foundation board helped the girls out with finances, Mickelson said – because the trip will be expensive.

“They thought it was excellent mission work. And the flip side is, they did support them substantially financially,” she said. “However there was a stipulation that they had to raise funds also, which they have done.”

The synod supports drilling wells in the country, where access to clean water can be challenging.

“If they don’t have a well nearby, they’ll have to travel to a river, and you don’t really know what’s in the river,” Blocker said. “That’s how they get diseases and illnesses, so having a well near a church, for example is beneficial because after church you can go and get some water.”

“We take it for granted, we just turn on a faucet. They go for miles and it’s not even clean water,” Mickelson said.

The orphanage works closely with the hospital, Lara said, and can take on children if their parents pass away. AIDS is particularly a problem in that country.

The church also helps Tanzanian children go to school.

“You have to pay for school there,” Mickelson said. “We have a project every year that raises money to send to these girls, and some young boys as well, school. These orphans have no way.”

The three weeks will be a bit of a culture shock. The girls have been on mission trips other years, throughout the United States, but never any place with no electricity, no running water, and the potential threat of malaria.

“No wifi, not being able to check your phone,” Blocker said. “Getting up at 6 a.m. when the sun comes up.”

Also the food will be a big change, Lara said.

Hopefully, the girls can bring back photos. While some from Tanzania have visited Fort Dodge, no one from this congregation has gone there yet, Mickelson said.

“Pictures are just a treasure, we have had a hard time getting pictures,” she said. “We did get some this past year. And for them to see and meet face-to-face these girls, whose lives have truly been changed because they were able to go to school. It will truly be a learning experience for these two.”

“It’s a big opportunity,” Lara said. “We thought we would take it.”