So you’re serving the Lord in Kenya? What an amazing opportunity to see a different culture and to have some really out-of-the-box experiences!
It certainly is an amazing opportunity and I HAVE had some crazy experiences here. But I think the most amazing part has been how integral the details are.
As a general rule, I don’t tend to set my expectations too high: one is much more likely to be disappointed with that habit. Additionally, I didn’t know what to expect from this trip: How would God work? How would our team be used? In what amazing kinds of ways would He show His power? (And how many people will we save?)
Turns out ministry isn’t the glamorous high-life it’s cracked up to be (I can hear Pastor Mike’s laugh right now).
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned in the last year is to take joy in the details. The best events of life don’t necessarily involve huge life changes, complete turnarounds, and pyrotechnics. The little things are far more important. Long-term character is developed in the mundane moments of everyday life.
Doing dishes is just…doing dishes. And that’s alright. As long as you’re doing them with a friend, ‘dish time’ quickly becomes time to build relationships. (On the better days it might turn into a six-way rag war, but that isn’t the worst thing in the world.) Running errands downtown is pretty boring until you bring someone along with you. Now it becomes a challenge: how can we be intentional about building relationships and still have a good time? (And be on time to the next appointment?)
That the Lord has been teaching me that in the last year has been a wonderful lesson to learn. That I forgot it when I came here has simply meant I got to learn it again. (Thankfully this isn’t a painful lesson to learn.)
I guess I just didn’t expect that the times I might end up valuing most here are the quiet times spent with a friend or two in the kitchen, or the time spent simply walking. In Kenya, we walk almost everywhere. It simply means that we need to budget more travel time into a day (and don’t forget the extra ten minutes to talk to the friends you run into on the way).
As we’ve settled in here recently, I’ve ended up spending a lot more time in the kitchen than I anticipated. I bet my team wishes I’d learned more from Tori when I had the chance, but hopefully her guidance via email will get us by.
So you’re serving the Lord in Kenya? What do you do? Bring whole cities to Christ? Fight demons in Jesus’ name? Or…cook? I can think of less glamorous ways to serve the Lord and my team and I wouldn’t mind a shot at all of the above.
