I don’t really need to tell you all how excited I am but I will anyway! Kenya, the country that stole my heart 3 years ago in July, is doing its damage again. If I wasn’t sure of it then I am positive of it now, I will somehow someday end up here. Africa, the continent I have been holding my breath for and anticipating with eager expectation. Whenever times would be hard on the race and I would want to go home I would just think I have to get to Africa. I told my mom that it was a good thing Africa was at the end of the race or I might have packed up and left afterwards.
We got here after 30hrs of traveling. It was absolutely crazy; we took a 6hr bus ride through the night and 3 planes. We left on the 30th of March at 10pm and got to Kenya on the 1st of April around… well I have no idea what time but I think it was the afternoon. It is always a trick trying to figure how much time travel we do during continent changes. During these travel days I slept in the Phnom Penh airport and the Indian airport. I was coherent enough to explore the Malaysian airport again (it’s the 3rd time we have had a layover there) and the Dubai airport. Since Easter was the 31st the squad celebrated in the Kuala Lumpur airport with songs, teaching, and communion. Lets just say we made quite a scene. It was definitely an Easter to remember! I was sitting in the airport thinking about the fact that I did not have a new Easter outfit to wear, I had not spent the day before frantically shopping for that one last minute accessory that was “absolutely necessary” to complete my look. I did not wake up and take a shower or put on makeup to get ready for church. I did not get to hug my family and respond to their “He is risen” with “He is risen indeed.” I did not sit in a fancy church building with a huge choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus. I did not get to sit around our dining room table with my family and eat a delicious home cooked meal. Somehow though, it was okay. I survived! Oh wait, maybe because this Easter I was going to Africa, this Easter I was spending it eating expensive airport food with 57 other amazing people. This Easter I was rejoicing the death and resurrection of my Savior in the middle of an airport where Islam was the dominant religion. It’s all about perspective people.
So, here I am, freezing my butt off in a furnished tent (didn’t know they existed) writing this blog thinking how stinking blessed I am. For the first time in 8 months I am cold, and not the kind of cold you get from air conditioning but the kind you get from crisp fresh country air. I wake up in the morning and put on my flannel and my north face. What? I go to sleep in my sleeping back and with three blankets over that! I am so thankful to be here in Kenya again, to be able to be in the countryside and soak in God’s beauty through nature. He is so good!
We are working with Camp ChemiChemi. They are a really cool discipleship/school for Kenyan pastors. We are joining with them in evangelizing to people on the streets and visiting different churches and organizations that the pastors are in charge of here. We are also helping around the facilities with some maintenance work. Who said girls can’t get their muscles on?!
