Questions

Now the questions are popping into my mind for tomorrow’s meeting.  All these things I keep thinking of and I wonder if everyone else had the same thought.  But for right now, I’m writing down all my questions.  If we discuss it, great, I’ll cross it off my list.  If we don’t discuss, then I’ll ask.

I’m now starting to think of what will happen at work while I’m out of the office for 19 days (we return on Saturday and then Monday is a holiday).  Who knows what I’ll have to take care of when I return.  I hope not much.  I’m sure that first day back to work will take a lot of adjusting.

One thing I checked was the sunrise and set times for Kenya.  I didn’t even think about it being on the equator.  I’m used to summers of the sun up at 6 am and down at 9 pm.  The times for Nairobi are around 6:30 am sunrise and 6:30 pm sunset.  That’s a lot less sunlight for supper than I’m used to in the summer.  Well, I think I’ll be able to adjust.  We were told to take a flashlight with us and now I understand why.

Thirteen days left before thirteen Nebraskans fly out to Nairobi, Kenya.  Thirteen days until our lives are changed forever.  I know I’ve said that before, but it bears repeating.  None of us will come home the same we were when we left.  And I am truly thankful for that.  I hope that this trip deeply affects me.  I would feel terrible about who I am as a person if it did not.  So may I be open to all God wishes to show me.  May we all be open to the wonders that shall be before us during this trip.

Tony

Two Weeks Left

Well we are now at two weeks to our first flight.  I am starting to feel that excitement build inside.  I’m trying to temper it as there are still two weeks until the first flight.  No reason to become a basket case.  But then I don’t want to downplay how amazing this is going to be.  This Saturday is our last meeting regarding this trip.  So many details to go over and yet again, I don’t want to overdo that and be so worried about the details that I miss the bigger picture.

Speaking of picture or pictures, I’m so ready to see the beautiful vistas that will be before us through most of our time in Kenya.  It will be such a different landscape from Nebraska.  I’m sure it will strike us deep in our soul at all that there is to see.  And that leads me to the people we will be sharing our time with while there.  To meet new people is one thing, but to meet new people in a culture different from my own will be so eye opening and at the same time humbling.  To see the greater plan of God in lands beyond the borders that I know.

So last night I was thinking of all the things I’ve tried to put on my list to take with me and suddenly I realized I will need a hat.  Not just some baseball cap sort of thing, but something with a brim to cover my ears.  Which I’m sure will make me look goofy, but who wants sun burnt ears?  And sunscreen.  Plenty of sunscreen.  I normally tan easily, but I haven’t really had to opportunity to be out in the sun along the equator, so I’m going to play it safe.

Ok, I’m failing at keeping the excitement down.  I am excited.  I am seriously excited to go and enjoy something I have never experienced.

Tony

Except

So do I start with how I don’t know what else to say that I haven’t already said or do I start with how it’s only sixteen days until I leave for Kenya?  Decisions, decisions.  The more people learn about me going on this trip, the more I hear comments such as, “I would love to do something like that except. . .”  Except for the food, the diseases, the animals, the flights, the heat, the bugs, the bathroom conditions, the water. . .and so on and so on.  Honestly, who cares?  Ok, maybe that’s too harsh.  But you can’t live with “EXCEPT” being the main focus.  I’d help that person except for the diseases there.  I’d help that person except for the flight it would take to get to him. 

So hopefully I can come back from this trip and show everyone what I learned, what I saw, and what I felt.  Then maybe next time a trip like this happens, instead of only one from our church going, maybe it’s two or three.  Maybe we fill a mission by just our congregation.  So many reasons to not follow the “EXCEPT” line.

I will admit to being in that line myself.  I’d do this except. . .(usually relates to household chores), but hopefully even for myself this trip tears that from my vocabulary.  Hopefully I don’t look at this trip as a one-time thing to be enjoyed and remembered.  I want this to be a spark that ends up burning away all the “EXCEPT”s I have in my life. 

Sixteen days until I go.  Sixteen days until there is no more chance for “EXCEPT.”  Sixteen days until. . . .

Tony