A little about my trip to Kenya

I have FINALLY gotten my act at least somewhat together and have begun to think about, process, write and consider my time in Africa. Life caught up with me right after returning almost a month ago. Here is the quick snapshot of my time there – actually, it’s the rough draft of the letter that I’m sending those who generously supported me on this wild adventure. More – including PICTURES – will come in the very near future.

About four and a half years ago, I was trying to decide whether or not I should continue sending portfolios out to newspapers all over the country in pursuit of editor and designer positions or start looking into youth ministry opportunities. I found myself telling one friend that a ministry position wouldn’t be a “real job” because it was too much fun. She reminded me that when we are doing what God created us to do, we experience joy, and unlike any ol’ job, it doesn’t always feel like work.

About halfway through our time in Kenya, one of the guys on the middle school ministry team commented that this was the hardest he had ever worked on a mission trip. I looked up, surprised, thinking that we hadn’t been working at all. My mind went instantly to the conversation years ago, where I realized the beauty of doing what God made me to do.

The trip to Kenya was an opportunity to allow God to use me in a unique role to serve those who have dedicated their lives to serving others. Rarely does one have the incredible privilege to go on a mission trip in the exact field about which they are most passionate. For some strange, unexplainable reason, I love hanging out with middle schoolers, mentoring them and teaching them about what a real, authentic relationship with Jesus looks like on a daily basis.

Some of the students with which we worked go to a Christian boarding school nestled on a mountain side so full of lush, green plants and stone buildings that being there felt like being in a fairy tale. It over looked the Rift Valley and Mt. Longonot – a dormant volcano. Others are out in the field with the families, the only English-speakers within hours, barely having electricity and running water – that must be boiled to be safe, drinkable water – and are home schooled. And a few came from Nairobi where they attend an American school or are also home schooled.

No matter from where they came, they all came because their parents had dedicated their families to a time of serving the people of Kenya – as pilots, doctors, church planters, teachers, administrators and educators, to name a few – more roles than I ever thought possible.

Most of the students remembered the day that they were told that all they knew in life would radically change because their family was going to move to Africa. Others were born at the missionary hospital in this should-be foreign land and call it home. They were Americans, technically, but it had been months or years since they were in the United States. They weren’t Kenyans – skin color and accent quickly gave that away. They were different. They were third-culture kids.

Few had ever been to summer camp, and even those who had knew that they would never go again. So we brought them camp. Our role, as a team, was to run a middle school program – camp – for about 55 middle school missionary students whose parents were participating in African Inland Missions’ Kenyan conference at the Rift Valley Academy in Kijabe, Kenya.

My small group that week was 8th grade girls. It was an interesting bunch – the popular girls from school and the outsiders. Forming relationships with them was awesome, but unfortunately, like with the thousands of other students I’ve worked with all over the country, at the end of camp, I leave. Life goes on, and even though a great relationship was developed, there’s always the possibility that I’ll never see students again. It’s hard. seems like something permanent is in place, and than – wham! – it’s gone.

With that in mind and having said all too many hard good-byes, God blessed me to experience building relationships in a new way. I saw all these 8th-grade girls, who barely spoke to each other the first day, truly interact and get to know each other. The most amazing, to me, was seeing the “popular” girls and those who were “outsiders” form actual friendships and make plans to continue hanging out once conference was over. Two of the most opposite were vacation separately with their families over the holidays, and they sent me a picture together – they decided to make an effort to hang out after getting to know each other at conference.

Our time in Kenya was incredible – before the conference in Kijabe, during and after. Some highlights included dancing and playing with some kids at an orphanage in Nairobi, chasing a Ostrich in a game park, eating crocodile, meeting some Nakuru runners, spending time with Kenyan families and building relationships with the other six people on my team and the Kellers, a family from my church in Boulder that is based in Kenya.

It truly was something I will never forget! Being used by God to serve those who spend their lives serving others in such a unique way with the gifts and passions He’s given me is something beyond my anything I could have imagined and no words could express how incredible it was to see this once thought to be inconceivable dream become a reality.

Maybe I'll go back one day...