I walked across the Kenyan border.
In a matter of minutes I walked from Tanzania to Kenya.
The second we got into Kenya, I knew it would be
different.
We were on a bus, our third bus in 4 days. This was the
shortest one. Only 7 hours.
Here are the events leading up to the purpose of this blog.
12:15 p.m. Leave our hostel in Arusha, Tanzania
12:30 p.m. Arrive at the hotel where we are to catch our bus
to Nairobi
1:30 p.m. The time our bus is supposed to leave the hotel…
It hasn’t even arrived yet.
1:45 p.m. One woman on our squad realizes her pack is
missing. She goes back to the hostel to get it.
1:55 p.m. Another woman on our squad realizes she left her
jacket and headlamp at the hostel. She goes back to get it.
2:00 p.m. People from our hostel show up, run to our pile of
packs and find one of theirs that we took on accident from the hostel.
2:05- 2:15 p.m. Everyone who went back to get stuff is back
with their belongings.
2:25 p.m. Our bus shows up finally.
2:45 p.m. Leave Arusha with all of our belongings.
4:00 p.m. Arrive at the Tanzania/Kenya border and get
stamped out of Tanzania.
4:15 p.m. WALK ACROSS
THE BORDER TO KENYA
4:25 p.m. Pay for Kenyan visa and wait for them to process
26 people through.
5:00 p.m. Get back on the bus and head for Nairobi.
5:01-9:30 p.m. Drive across Kenya while the sun is setting over
the mountains.
9:30 p.m. ish… Arrive at our hostel in Nairobi
During the four and a half hour drive after the Kenyan
border I was already feeling the relief of not being in Tanzania. I was
wondering to myself why I felt this way. I could not get to my journal so the
following is a note from my ipod notepad on my first thoughts on Kenya.
“Kenya
already feels so different to me than Tanzania. As we walked over the
border into Kenya
it was like a renewal in my spirit. God is about to blow up my world. I can
feel it coming. Kenya
is so different though. We have been here for like two hours if that and it is
already so different. It is like Tanzania
was heavy and Kenya
is light of Matthew 11:28-29 “my yoke is easy and my burden is light” I am
called to bring that light toke to these nations. He can carry and is carrying
the burden of Tanzania.
It is not too heavy for Him, but he also won’t give me a burden heavier than I
can carry. Tanzania
was too heavy for me which is why my heart does not belong there. That is why
my heart did not stay there. Kenya
might be different. I already feel the colors of the flag in my bones. It is
weird, I have never felt this way except in Romania
and in one village in El
Salvador. “I have found a haven here” those
are the lyrics to the song I am listening to right now. God I’m ready to let
the gifts you have given me flow from your love. I know that if you can make
the mountains look like THIS with all of their beauty in the twilight, I know
you are my heart. You are my heartbeat and I long to flow from that heart. I
cannot wait for that to begin again. I am ready for it. Kenya is going
to be a haven for me where I will get to exercise the things I am passionate
about. I will encounter new things I have never seen before and the Lord will
protect me from anything that will threaten to harm me. Of that, I am
confident.”
It has been different so far. The culture. The people. There
is just a joy emanating that from this place that I have not experienced in a
while. I am so excited for what this month looks like, for what God is going to
do here. He is about to explode all over my life. It freaks me out but I am so
stoked.
Much love,
–
On the flip side, here are a couple pictures from Tanzania
