So two years ago, I left the country for the first time ever and traveled to Kenya with a team of Bible quizzers. We traveled around, encouraged the Bible quiz program there, and built a schoolroom and a fence. It was a wonderful trip, and it really pushed me out of my comfort zone. I tried to go into the trip with no expectations. It didn't take me long, though, to realize that a few had crept along anyways: I has assumed that I would get along fantastically with the kids, that the language barrier would not be awkward to overcome, and that my sunscreen would actually prevent sunburns. None of those really turned out to be true. I didn't feel instant connections with the children, the language barrier did indeed prove to be a barrier, and the back of my neck got roasted. I still walked away glad that I had gone, though. And the lesson I learned about the difference between our spiritual gifts was extremely important for me to learn. No longer do I have to strive to be someone else; our gifts are different and I should focus on learning and using mine.
A little more than a year ago, another Bible quizzing team was starting to be assembled for this summer. I went to the meeting to share with potential team members. I told them that it was worth it and that I would love to go back. When the applications were sent out a couple of months later, my little sister and I both filled them out.
As we waited to hear back about being accepted on the team, I begin to get a little anxious. Should I go? It costs quite a bit, and my sister was planning on going to both Seattle for quiz nationals and Kenya. That's a lot of fundraising already, and then if I added the cost of my Kenya trip on... It just seemed like a lot, and I didn't want to get in the way of my sister's fundraising. And besides that, I hadn't really connected to the school kids on my first trip. Would I be able to this time? We had heard that we would probably be teaching Bible quizzing to students who were completely new to the ministry. I'm also not comfortable as a teacher, so I just didn't know if I'd be much help on this trip.
The doubts were strong, but I started praying and talking to my mom about it. It was finally decided that I wouldn't be useless on the trip. If anything, I could just help make the trip easier on the teens by being able to offer tips I'd learned on my first trip. So I finally decided wholeheartedly that I was going.
As the trip got closer, I started focusing on preparing my heart for the trip. I also gave a few of the girls tips on what to pack and where to find cheap, longer skirts. So I kinda felt like I was maybe helpful before we even left. I mean, I didn't even start to pack until the Monday before we left, so I was impressed that the majority of the girls were completely packed by the time I started. My sister and I, however, did zip our suitcases close Tuesday, and we headed to the airport early Wednesday morning.
I wasn't too nervous about the trip as we headed out. I knew the risks, the possibility of danger. But there wasn't anything I could do about those risks besides not going, something that I was not going to consider. So I didn't bother worrying. I was excited to travel, to see Kenya again, to share the country I loved so much two years ago with my sister and the rest of the team. I was aware that this trip would be vastly different from my first one, and I was curious to see how they would differ. Overall, I was mostly just excited :)
After two long days of traveling, we landed in Nairobi (at "9:09.....at night") and quickly got through immigration. Everything seemed to be going well. We were all getting along, and sleep deprivation didn't seem to be taking a toll yet.
And then we hit baggage claim.
All of our luggage decided to hang out in the Paris airport a little while longer. All 27 bags. The rest of the team had clean clothes with them in their carry-on, but my sister and I had been convinced by our father that it would be so much nicer if we didn't have to lug a suitcase around while running to gates on the way (and it was nice to have nothing more than a tote bag to keep an eye on). So while we had baby wipes and disposable toothbrushes with us, we didn't even have a clean shirt to change into. And we weren't the only ones who missed the luggage, as evidenced by how quickly the girls woke up when we told them the luggage had arrived a day later. But no one complained, and I don't think anyone really suffered.
On our first day in Kenya, we had the privilege of attending one of the ICCM schools and watching a couple of quizzes. The school is located in one of the Nairobi slums, and the other team was from an ICCM school in another slum. Driving in to the school itself was quite the experience; the shacks and the piles of garbage surrounded us on both sides. And then we actually arrived at the school itself. The kids were all so enthusiastic in greeting us, sheep kept wandering in and out, and I kept sneezing from the dust that was everywhere. It was so much fun! After the quizzing, the Kenyan Quiz Committee and our team sat down for chai and samosas and introductions. Our time in that school was a blessing,
We got to go to the elephant orphanage and the giraffe sanctuary (where nearly all of us kissed a giraffe) and Kazuri Beads. We ate the Java House, and I got to have blackcurrant Fanta again. Then we boarded a night bus and headed out for Mombasa.
Our stay in Mombasa lasted a week. And even though our guest house was basically right on the beach and I could hear the Indian Ocean from my room, some of the best times occurred during our time in the ICCM school there. Every day, Monday through Thursday, we put on a VBS for the younger kids and taught quizzing to the older ones. And on Friday, we were able to go a little ways outside Mombasa and attend a church dedication. Some of the funds we raised went to building a church building in what seemed to us to be the middle of nowhere. We also put on a makeshift VBS there for the kids after the service. A teacher from Mombasa volunteered to translate our puppet show and the Bible stories, and we played games with the kids afterwards.
I don't know how much the little kids learned from the puppet shows we put on or the songs that we sang, but maybe they'll remember about how the crazy Americans kept singing "Be bold!" over and over. Maybe they got nothing from the games we played, although they are all now aware that I can trip over nearly anything and am surprisingly uncoordinated. Maybe the students who quizzed did it only because they had to. Maybe they retained none of the information that we endeavored to teach, or maybe one of us got to teach one of the future Kenyan quiz champions. Who knows?
Those four days certainly impacted me, though. After every quizzing session, the group I had to teach, class six girls, would rush at us to bombard us with high-fives and group hugs. During recess, each team member was usually surrounded by kids, teaching games or being taught games. In every situation, all of the kids showed us hospitality and friendship from the very first day. And it was obvious why they treated us that way; the teachers were always so kind to us and welcomed us. I never felt awkward there, nor was I the least bit uncomfortable, even that first day of standing in front of the class not knowing how to teach something I hardly have to think about at this point. Eating the food wasn't too strange (although I might have been a little selective when it came to the meat.) And even though I still know practically nothing about Kiswahili, the language barrier did not seem to be quite as severe this time. Really, I felt quite at home there.
All day that following Saturday was spent in a bus riding back to Nairobi. On Sunday, we attended a Free Methodist church in a slum and then experienced a Masai market. Monday was our last day in Kenya. With a safari starting off relatively early and then our plane leaving late that evening, we were all pretty tired by the time we hit our first layover in Zurich. Initially, we were all excited to spend a couple of hours in the land of chocolate and cheese and pocket knives. But then we learned that all flights into the East Coast had been delayed, and we would be stuck there significantly longer. The majority of the kids handled this news well; we had spent nearly every evening of the trip playing cards and hanging out, so we were happy for more time to spend together. The leaders were awesome and handled all of the stress for us, and they even got us on a flight that left earlier. So we played cards, ate Swiss chocolate, scoped out the best place for lunch, and enjoyed the unexpected extra time we had together. And even though my sister and I didn't get home until early Wednesday morning, I don't think that we would trade that time with the team for a couple of hours of sleep.
So will I be returning to Kenya again? I hope so, whether it's for two weeks or nine months. I really just feel so comfortable there, and the people are wonderful. I don't really know that I what impact I made there, if I made any. But the Kenyans' attitude even in the face of such severe trials definitely impacted me. For example, one team member shared a story he had heard from one of the teacher's one day. The night before, the teacher's house was robbed, and his life was threatened. That's enough to make anyone a little stressed, but this teacher walked away from the incident thinking that maybe he should memorize more Scripture. That's not usually my first response to the slightly inconvenient trials that I face in my own life, but his story helped me see that I do need to spend more time in God's Word, reading and memorizing and meditating on it. And that's just one of the lessons I learned. The entire trip was amazing, and I would repeat it in a heartbeat. Even before we left Mombasa, I started praying about an opportunity to return.
To all of you who supported the team and prayed for every aspect of the trip (and are actually still reading at this point,) thank you! You are so, so appreciated, and I am genuinely grateful :)
We got to go to the elephant orphanage and the giraffe sanctuary (where nearly all of us kissed a giraffe) and Kazuri Beads. We ate the Java House, and I got to have blackcurrant Fanta again. Then we boarded a night bus and headed out for Mombasa.
Our stay in Mombasa lasted a week. And even though our guest house was basically right on the beach and I could hear the Indian Ocean from my room, some of the best times occurred during our time in the ICCM school there. Every day, Monday through Thursday, we put on a VBS for the younger kids and taught quizzing to the older ones. And on Friday, we were able to go a little ways outside Mombasa and attend a church dedication. Some of the funds we raised went to building a church building in what seemed to us to be the middle of nowhere. We also put on a makeshift VBS there for the kids after the service. A teacher from Mombasa volunteered to translate our puppet show and the Bible stories, and we played games with the kids afterwards.
I don't know how much the little kids learned from the puppet shows we put on or the songs that we sang, but maybe they'll remember about how the crazy Americans kept singing "Be bold!" over and over. Maybe they got nothing from the games we played, although they are all now aware that I can trip over nearly anything and am surprisingly uncoordinated. Maybe the students who quizzed did it only because they had to. Maybe they retained none of the information that we endeavored to teach, or maybe one of us got to teach one of the future Kenyan quiz champions. Who knows?
Those four days certainly impacted me, though. After every quizzing session, the group I had to teach, class six girls, would rush at us to bombard us with high-fives and group hugs. During recess, each team member was usually surrounded by kids, teaching games or being taught games. In every situation, all of the kids showed us hospitality and friendship from the very first day. And it was obvious why they treated us that way; the teachers were always so kind to us and welcomed us. I never felt awkward there, nor was I the least bit uncomfortable, even that first day of standing in front of the class not knowing how to teach something I hardly have to think about at this point. Eating the food wasn't too strange (although I might have been a little selective when it came to the meat.) And even though I still know practically nothing about Kiswahili, the language barrier did not seem to be quite as severe this time. Really, I felt quite at home there.
All day that following Saturday was spent in a bus riding back to Nairobi. On Sunday, we attended a Free Methodist church in a slum and then experienced a Masai market. Monday was our last day in Kenya. With a safari starting off relatively early and then our plane leaving late that evening, we were all pretty tired by the time we hit our first layover in Zurich. Initially, we were all excited to spend a couple of hours in the land of chocolate and cheese and pocket knives. But then we learned that all flights into the East Coast had been delayed, and we would be stuck there significantly longer. The majority of the kids handled this news well; we had spent nearly every evening of the trip playing cards and hanging out, so we were happy for more time to spend together. The leaders were awesome and handled all of the stress for us, and they even got us on a flight that left earlier. So we played cards, ate Swiss chocolate, scoped out the best place for lunch, and enjoyed the unexpected extra time we had together. And even though my sister and I didn't get home until early Wednesday morning, I don't think that we would trade that time with the team for a couple of hours of sleep.
So will I be returning to Kenya again? I hope so, whether it's for two weeks or nine months. I really just feel so comfortable there, and the people are wonderful. I don't really know that I what impact I made there, if I made any. But the Kenyans' attitude even in the face of such severe trials definitely impacted me. For example, one team member shared a story he had heard from one of the teacher's one day. The night before, the teacher's house was robbed, and his life was threatened. That's enough to make anyone a little stressed, but this teacher walked away from the incident thinking that maybe he should memorize more Scripture. That's not usually my first response to the slightly inconvenient trials that I face in my own life, but his story helped me see that I do need to spend more time in God's Word, reading and memorizing and meditating on it. And that's just one of the lessons I learned. The entire trip was amazing, and I would repeat it in a heartbeat. Even before we left Mombasa, I started praying about an opportunity to return.
To all of you who supported the team and prayed for every aspect of the trip (and are actually still reading at this point,) thank you! You are so, so appreciated, and I am genuinely grateful :)
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