A whole day in the Kathmandu, Nepal airport, 5 hours in a plane towards Bahrain, and a rush to our next 5 hour plane ride to Nairobi, Kenya, and we reach our month 4 debrief destination. The whole squad stayed in Nairobi for a week to worship, debrief (discuss with the leaders the health of the new team), and rest. We were pretty much on lockdown with extra security outside our gates at night due to the bombings in Nairobi. We were able to escape to a local coffee shop for an afternoon though.
Kenya…Nairobi specifically did not feel like Africa. Everyone spoke English and everyone was dressed nicely, and the coffee shop was big and fancy like one you’d see in America, there were nice hotels that resembled those in America, people understood our culture to an unbelievable extent, there were guards at every entrance to a hotel (no not with guns…it was a ritzy feeling). Three of the things that resembled Africa may have been the painting of an African safari on the doors of the hostel we stayed in, the ‘hut’ that we ate meals under, and the woman with a huge blue decoration on her head.
This week has been one of the hardest weeks of the race…not because of lockdown but because of many changes within the squad and within myself. The first is that one of my good friends decided to go home, along with one of her teammates. Kaitlyn was one of the first girls I connected with at training camp and she presented a comfort to me through our conversations about Biblical truths. The second was that one of our team leaders was sent home. Between these two things a few teams were added to, eliminating one team altogether. The third was that I found myself completely lost in life, not knowing what I believed, what were lies and what were truth, needing a break from focusing on my teammates and just being able to spend time with God to work through my doubts and struggles, and to rest. My season of struggles has reappeared and my season of dryness in hearing God has met it. As a result of this, I am no longer a team leader and Kendall is now leading the team…
Okay so now, after arriving at our ministry site in Kitale, Kenya on the 18th, I am resting more, able to dive more into God’s word and pray for my own truths, as well as lean on my teammates as we become more open and trusting with each other.
