Hey everyone! I just thought I would throw up one last post to conclude our trip to Kenya this year. We all made it home safely AND with all of our luggage. Praise God!!
It's inevitable that when we return home we have two pressing questions. The first is, what should I do about my experience. Our team has encountered a lot and we had a lot of emotions about it. It's always our first response to ask the question, "Why?" Why was I born in the US and not in Kenya? Why do I live in a giant house and they live in a 5' x 5' room? Why do I get three meals a day plus snacks when they don't know if they will eat at all any given day? Why do I get to turn on the faucet and clean water comes out when they have to walk 3 miles to get dirty water to drink? The "whys" can eat you alive if you continue to think about them. Scott always challenges us to not think about the "whys" but to focus on the "whats". What can you do to help? What can you do to change the housing situation? What can you do to change the food situation? What can you do to change the water situation?
Focusing on the what puts the practical aspect to the trip. We can do so much by investing our time and resources to help. It seems like a mountain of a task, but, in all reality, it is very simple. We just have to do it!
The second question we tend to always ask is, "How do I maintain this experience and the spiritual high I am on right now?" This is a great question and one I think there is a perfect answer for. First off, there is NO WAY to maintain the emotions and the spiritual high of a trip like this. You just can't replicate being in a foreign country with little to no distractions. I always tell our team that they shouldn't expect to maintain the emotional aspect of the trip once they are home. That will wane because we aren't surrounded by kids who desire our love and affection every day when we get home.
Secondly, and this is where you come into play, you must find someone to make sure you are still plugging in to God's Word and investing into your prayer life when you get home. We call this accountability and we all need it. Most of our team journals while we are gone and this trip was no different. They sit down at night or in the morning and write about the days adventures and experiences. Then when we get home, we put that journal on a shelf only to take it out once maybe twice to give it a look over at a later point in time. I believe that when you come home from an experience like this, the way to keep your spiritual life at a somewhat same level is through pouring yourself into study and your relationship with our Creator.
It won't be the same, but it will be close. So, all in all, I encourage you to help our team out with this. Ask them questions about the trip. Ask them how they are doing now that they are home. Ask them what you can do to help out with what they experienced. And above all, ask them if you can hold them accountable! Be the community Christ intended the church to be!
Until 2015, this is our last post about Kenya! See you all in 2 years!
I love you Mallory!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment