I am sitting
here in my room that I sleep in wondering what I should blog about. I am in
Siaya, Kenya and I have my friend Eugene sitting next to me. He is 15 and has
been wanting me to show him how to do the 4×4 rubix cube. The kids here love
that thing. I have tried to show him, but it can be kind of complicating
especially if you have never played with one before. Earlier tonight some of us got to play in a
hail storm and you may not believe this, but it was FREEZING! The water was
rushing down the street and it was the same color as the mud. The hail littered
the ground as if has snowed. So as we were out there, we thought it would be a
great time to take a shower. So we grabbed my shampoo and I washed my hair out
in the Kenyan rain. I can say that it was quite an experience and one that I
never expected to have. I mean first, I never thought it got this cold in Kenya
and even that storm was rare to the our friends here. That is something that I
find “normal” in my life. That and meeting our president’s grandmother today
was yet another thing I can say I never thought I would do.
I am going to see what this last
week has looked like and try to portray my version of “normal”. While at
launch, God gave me a vision for Y squad. He showed me an octopus. But it wasn’t
your “normal” octopus. This one didn’t blend in with the surroundings. It stood
out and wasn’t afraid to be seen for what it was. Then the next day, Sean Smith gave a nice
twist to that. I had originally said that Y squad wasn’t your “normal” squad.
That we were going to stand out and shine. Sean said that he heard someone put
it that it wasn’t that we weren’t “normal”, it was that OUR “normal” had
shifted. I liked the ring to that.
So we were off to Nairobi, but
first we had some ground to cover. We left DC at about 10:50pm on August 5th.
We were all in line to get our boarding passes, but God has other plans. My
partner in crime, Sarah Schrack, had a small problem. Her passport didn’t have
enough pages to get a Kenyan Visa. So on Friday at about 6pm, we found out she
would not be allowed in the air until she got more pages. Let me give you some
info about that. Well the office isn’t open on the weekends and you must have
an appointment to get in. lol I also
want to note Sarah’s reaction to these words coming across the counter. She
laughed. I however did NOT. I was a little more like, “false. What can we do?”
and they proceeded yet again to inform us that there was nothing that they
could do. They could let her on the plane, and get fined, but she would be
enjoying the same 19 hours on the plane to come back and probably hear an “I
told you so”. So we started calling people back at AIM to see what we were to
do. They say that she’ll just have to stay until Monday to get pages and be on
her way solo. So with no other choice, we round up the troops and say see you
in a few and do some praying. I think it is worth saying that she prayed a few
days before that she get some alone time with Jesus. Make a mental note to be
careful what you ask for and how vague your wants are. He WILL answer, but it
may NOT be in the way you expect. Here’s to no expectations.
So I am solo with the squad,
which I am good with, since this is such a God thing that Sarah is staying. We
make it to Doha, Qatar around like 6pm the next day after your “normal” 14 hour flight across the Atlantic.
Our flight leaves around 1am. We have some time to kill. Some of us grab some free food that you get
if you simply show your boarding pass to some lady who gives you a voucher.
Bonus oil monies. I then find a nice bench to crawl under, yes I’m serious, to
take a nap. I am randomly woken up by some singing and then applause. I awake some time later to
find that a random, I will call them Czech because I love the Czech, group who
can sing AND dance their butts off. They were drawn to us because someone had
their guitar out. They asked to play it and the rest was history. Many people walked by giving looks of many different
kinds. Some enjoyment. Some confusion. Some annoyance. But all those were
because our “normal” has shifted. It is “normal” to sing worship songs and have
dance-offs in airports with strangers. It’s also normal to sleep under benches
because the chairs have armrests and you can’t lay flat on them.
Our plane comes, we board and do
that whole flying thing. We land at about 6am in Nairobi and make our way to
customs to get our visas and luggage. One of our logistical peeps and I go
through ahead to find our ride to the Milimani backpackers lodge to rest our
jet lagged bodies for a day or 2. We go out and make a call to see where we
should expect our ride to be. Well after a call or 2 we find out that they had
no idea we were coming. So we were temporarily stranded at an African airport.
Insert “normal” here. God guided us right to the perfect lady for our
situation. She just happened to have the owners number of the place we were to
be staying. She calls and talks to her and things get worked out to have some
buses come get us. Sitting with a random lady and my logistics person in a tiny
office in the Nairobi airport. “Normal”.
They come get us and we are good
to go. So the 45 of us are now in route to our place of rest for 2 days. Which
is a place that many racers had been before so they knew of us which was
comfort since we can be something of a different thing to get used to. We can
be loud and not realize how many we are. We get there and get settled in. They
somehow find us all beds even though they had no clue we were coming. Another
thing God smiled upon us on. So good when you can look back and see how God
guides you when you are lost. Love it. I gather the team leaders together to
talk with them about things they need to get done had how to go about them.
First we got SIM cards for our phones. We all sat around and get each other’s
numbers for the month. When you are working on maybe 3 hours of sleep in 2 days
even things like that become overwhelming. Then I talk to them about budget and
how much money to take out and why. Our food budget was 1083 shillings for the
amount of days we had. So depending on the number of people on each team that
would vary on their total budget. So I just told them to each take out 10000
shillings so that they could have extra on them. I tend to forget that taking
out multiple thousands of foreign currency is….wait for it……”normal”. And that whole lack of sleep thing got me and
I at first forgot to explain to them why that is a good idea. So I had to round
them up again and calm them down. Lol So I got a couple guys together to make a
money run. We headed to the local bank to make a rather large withdraw. Mission accomplished. But wait, what’s this
we see, the Java House? A local coffee place that all racers rave about? Done.
We peek in to see what this place has to offer in the form of food and
beverages. We find that they offer just that. We order and I get the avocado
and bacon omelet. I mean nothing has sounded so good. I may have also ordered a
double Mocha which I can say was up there on the delicious chart.
So we make it back to the
backpackers place and people get some food and we all find out that going to
bed at 9 is an actual thing. We get up and get the next day rolling. We have a
cultural debrief that morning to inform all people new to Africa about what
things we may do at home could offend people here. Then team leaders head off
and get their bus tickets to be scattered about western Kenya. That day went
way smoother considering we were operating on some decent sleep. That day
nothing out of the ordinary happened that I can recall. So onto the next.
All the teams get going by 730am
and I left with team Tuna moto, which means team on fire in Swahili. We meet
their contact later that day and we are on our way to where they would be
staying for the next month. We are greeted with tea, snacks and very open and
hospitable people. As you will find in most of Africa. The rest of that day was
spent seeing some of Nairobi including part of the world’s now largest slum. To
be honest I can’t really recall what that day was all about. Seeing as I have
done this for almost a year, days spent roaming around cities around the world
has become “normal”.
Sarah and I will be in yet
another city at the beginning of next week. We should be going to the city of
Kakamega and staying a week then going to another city, Busia, to see another
team. That should conclude this month and we are gathering all the teams
together for a day then traveling to Uganda.
I know that I will have more things occur in my day that I will find as “normal”
but some may consider crazy. Like we have a chicken that lives in this house
all day every day. Or I tried to trade shirts with some guy on the street. He
said we could tomorrow so I am hoping for that to happen! Lol We are having a
crusade with the local church and we went out the spread the word. When we
started I saw a hospital so I requested that our team start there and do some
healing prayer. We pray over some people and come across 2 guys. One with
Malaria and one with a broken leg. Neither are believers but they are attending
church regularly. I talk to them for a minute letting them know that all we
simply have to do is let go and Jesus will come in and take place in our hearts
and he will do the work. The nodded and agreed but weren’t quite ready for
that. So I prayed healing and for God to
continue to work on them so that day where they desire more will come. We go
down the row and on the way out, they stop the girl I was with, Sarah Ball, and
asked for a bible. “The conviction is hitting already” our translator Ezekiel
said. I nodded in agreement and then asked if they had any or a way we could
get one. He said they didn’t have any, but that there was a store right next to
where we were having the open air event. SCORE! So when we were done walking
around the village we made our way to the place and I found the store, bought a
Good News Bible complete with Old and New Testament for 550 shillings, which is
about $6 USD. We immediately took it back to him where we found him sleeping,
so I laid it on his bed side table and left. Before leaving it, I underlined
and marked basically all of John 6 where Jesus is talking about his is the
bread. I specifically marked John 6:32-40
32 Then Jesus
said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give
you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of
God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
34 Then they
said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
35 And Jesus
said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall
never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to
you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the
Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means
cast out. 38 For I have come
down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39 This is the will
of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing,
but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the
will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may
have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
All that to say I love my life.
I love that it is not necessarily “normal” to some. I love that I get to love
on those who may never hear or feel God’s love. I love that I get to make
friends all over the world. I love that I get to be broken to become more and a
stronger man of God. I love that God found me special enough to use me in his
way. I challenge you to become less “normal”. Ask God what that may mean. Ask
him to guide you to that place. I promise you will not regret it. You will find
God in that place and most likely many others who will welcome you home….and it
will become your “normal”.
