A Whirlwind of an Update

So, I don’t really know how to put into words the craziness
of life in Africa.  If I had to sum up this past week and a half
I can only think of a whirlwind of emotions, changes, hellos, goodbyes,
realities and adventure.  As many of you
might know, we finalized the decision, based on a series of unfortunate events,
to leave Mbita and go to work with True Vine Ministries in Torroro, Uganda.  Within a few days we said our goodbyes and
left for a weeklong vacation before entering into our final stage of this trip. 

So we went on vacation all over Kenya.  We kicked off our vacation with a safari in
Maasai mara, where the Maasai tribe lives (ya we stayed in a Maasai town, they
are so cool!).  Oh my gosh it was the
coolest experience to be standing about 20 feet away from wild giraffes,
ostriches, zebras, baboons, hippos, elephants, cheetahs, water buffalo,
antelope, gazelles, warthogs,  lions running
free and together just as God intended. It was unreal, I must admit that I am
still in shock that we had were at one time surrounded by hundreds of
elephants, chased down hippos, had a giraffe standing on the side of the road
as if to catch a ride on our bus, watched a cheetah eying breakfast, woke up to
the sunrise over the Savannah, and got within petting distance of a pride of
lions.  All I can say is that seeing
God’s creations living freely as they were intended makes me all the more
determined to fight for freedom of man. 
There was a point when our tire blew at the end of the day from driving
through open fields and through rivers when my team got out and ran free as if
we were the animals.  We ran full speed
on the same land as these exotic animals run across every day and it was
definitely one of those moments that you go “Oh my God, this is my life”.  It was crazy incredible! 

From there, we got on a night bus and traveled all the way
to Nairobi
where we stayed at this really cool hostel called Milimani.  It was a little piece of home because we were
walking distance from this amazing coffee shop 
called the Java House where they had coffee and American food!  Being in Nairobi was a reminder of Phillipians 4 when
Paul talks about being content in any situation because we can do all things by
the power that Christ gives us because we had gone from staying in very
contrasting circumstances.  We pretty
much just hung out and went for a nice dinner. There was a moment when we were
praying together over dinner that I looked and couldn’t help but praise God for
getting to share this sweet moment of victory and feasting with this team after
all that we have been through.  We have
lived the reality that through Christ we are conquerors.  There is a time for fasting and for feasting;
but it is because of those times of fasting that makes the feast all the more extraordinary.  We stayed in Nairobi
for a couple of days and then got on another night bus to Mombasa.

In Mombasa, we got to go to
the beach on the Indian ocean and marvel at
God’s masterpiece and beauty.  It felt
like a true vacation to just sit on the beach and enjoy a time of rest and
simple pleasure.   I not only got to go
swimming in the Indian Ocean but I definitely
rode a camel across the beach!  Ya, it
was awesome!  We stayed there a couple of
days and got on a final bus to go to our new home in Uganda.  The bus ride in itself was quite the
adventure because our bus broke down in the middle of the night in a random
town and we were stuck on the side of the road for a good four hours.  But we, through many obstacles and over 24
hours on a bus reached our hopefully final destination in Africa. 

We are now in Torroro,
Uganda working
with an organization called True Vine that we have worked with before and we
are all really excited to spend our final weeks in partner with them. There are
mixed feelings of missing Mbita but having high hopes for our time here and
thinking about the reality of coming home in less than a month.  You could say that our time here has become a
whirlwind flying by faster than what I can even grasp.  I think it is safe to say that at the moment
my head is spinning rapidly.