The end of December all Durham District members received an email from the District Superintendent offering this opportunity to all of our churches to send workers to this field of mission. Since I do not pastor a church right now I felt like it was a unique opportunity for me to follow. We are a small group of seven going to Nairobi, Kenya for two weeks starting 28 February. We are going under the missionary arm of the United Methodist Church, Volunteers In Mission (VIM) and taking food to feed children in some schools with the Stop Hunger Now program. This is a group that has gone many times before so they are continuing a relationship with these schools, teachers, and children. I am very excited to be a part of this endeavor.
We have lists for everything to include how many changes of clothing to bring. We even need to bring underwear and socks for the entire two weeks!! Well, this made my day yesterday. After a cancelled appointment near Crabtree Mall, I went and had breakfast among the walkers at Chick-fil-A and had my Monday morning chat with Mary. I then headed out to find undies. Now, this might not thrill all of you, but some of us care how our undies fit. When you find a brand, style, and size you like it is like winning a jackpot. Well, I have found all of the above, but do not have enough to make it through the two week trip. I started at one end of the mall and shopped all the way to the opposite end to find enough pairs to make it through the two weeks and even found some on SALE. My favorite four letter word or at least one of them. I even walked the length of the mall and back so I exercised. Ah, progress.
I ate,
I shopped,
I exercised,
what could be better.
My two trips to Kenya were wonderful experiences. We go to a town called Narok and stay there and then drive out into the bush every day to share the gospel with the Maasai people. We were lucky enough to have laundry service at the hotel, so we carried a couple of changes of clothes and all our meds in our carry on so we could survive the two weeks if our check in luggage was lost.
ReplyDeleteI would go over and over again, had I not got sick after the second trip. It could not be pinpointed to anything from Africa and they never figured out exactly what it was, but spent 23 days (7 in ICU) in three different hospitals. My mom has said she would pull me off the plane if I ever decided to go again.
I am so excited you are getting to do this - I know it will be an awesome experience for you.