Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

| by archiveworldraceblogs

How do you say goodbye to your family? Back in January I had to do that leaving America, but at the end of June I felt almost the same pain when I got on the bus to leave Kenya. There have been bonds made that I will most likely never forget, lessons I have learned and love and joy that I have felt and experienced. The unseen things are those that mean the most, and I have had an entire month of these.

So as I was on the bus to Busia, back in the beginning of the month, the Lord asked me to give up the internet for the month, from that moment on. That meant that I couldn’t even email my parents to tell them that I won’t be able to talk to them for the next three weeks. I tried debating that with Him, but He put the scripture in my head about when Jesus called the disciples and they followed immediately, without going home to say goodbye first. We may not always understand why God asks certain things of us, but now that I am looking back at this month I am grateful for the decision to trust.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
You read in my first blog from this month about me getting sick as soon as I entered the country. Looking at how I have changed from those few days explains why I had such a sudden, random, and short illness. God hit the reset button on me. I had been praying for and about many things throughout Thailand and God was ready to start fresh on me and needed to get all of the junk out of me to begin his new work.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Joy, what is that? What does that word mean to you? Perhaps it means that we put a smile on our face no matter what’s going on. Is joy just something that makes you happy like Starbucks and a movie? I wasn’t sure what it meant, just that I didn’t have it and I wanted it. It was a blessing to be able to work alongside our Chef Lucas (you will see a blog about him soon) and be able to witness the true joy that the Lord can give to us, no matter where we are in our life.
As the days in Busia began to pass I had teammates coming up and telling me I seem happy and at peace. I had another notice that I was eating breakfast, which meant I wasn’t sleeping in like I have in the past. As they noticed these things I began putting the whole picture together.

I wasn’t sleeping in, not because I wasn’t tired, but because I couldn’t wait to get up and spend time with our new family. Many mornings I would go into the kitchen to help Lucas, or go out and pull water from the well to fill the buckets for the morning washing. My days were spent doing ministry, going to the market, cooking, cleaning, and anything other than just sitting around. For those of you who know me well, that says a lot. One day we had literally nothing to do and it drove me crazy to just have to sit on the couch and watch TV. It was daylight and I felt I should be doing something.

Ok so I can’t be lazy, what does that have to do with joy. I don’t really know how to explain other than an overall attitude. I was so content and at peace about life. I wasn’t going to the internet and I didn’t miss or crave it. Doing extra runs to the market, cooking breakfast for the team so Lucas could have a morning off, or taking an overnight shift at the hospital with a sick teammate; though tiring I was happy to do those things.

All these words I have typed just can’t seem to explain well enough. All I can tell you is that God is amazing, and I saw Him working on me in incredible ways in Kenya. I can’t wait to see what next month will bring, but Busia, Kenya definitely is at the top of my list for best months in so many ways.