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Thursday, January 17, 2013

A New life in a new country with BIG changes

Almost 5 months ago, my wife and I boarded an airplane to come and start a new life in Eldoret, Kenya. It was a huge transition for us. We have both lived in Tennessee for most of our lives and it's what we were used to. But we felt the call of God on our life to come and live here. Out time here has been absolutely amazing and I have experienced things I never dreamed possible, and it has been awesome and so worth it!!!

But real quickly, I just wanted to talk about some of the challenges from moving that we have encountered in our 5 months here. The first one and I think the most obvious is having to be away from all our friends and family. I can't put into words how difficult that is. We both have great families and a group of friends that we would not trade for anything. Then, in a blink of an eye, all of that is gone and I am on the complete other side of the world living in a time zone that is 9 hours ahead of my hometown.

Secondly, coming from a place where people speak English and only English to a place where people speak 3 different languages and primarily Swahili. It's so weird to listen to conversations all day where you have no idea what they are talking about. It makes you feel out of place. I can't wait for us to be affluent in Swahili that way we can finally communicate with the Kenyans in the language they are used to.

Thirdly, Food!!! It is amazing how much I miss American food. I am so used to being able to go to a fast food place, subway, pizza, mexican, chinese, italian, burger places...etc. Now I am in a place where I mostly eat rice, beans, cabbage, kaal, and things like that. I feel pathetic when I find myself during the day thinking about where I would eat at if I was in America. Appreciate your food!!!

Fourth, it still amazes me how people in Kenyaa view time. I'm used to America where you have to be at work on time, show up to meetings on time, show up on time for Church, and whenever you agree to meet someone at a certain time that's when you meet. Here in Kenya, time is very relative. If someone says they will meet you in 30 minutes, you might wait hours and that's just how the culture is.

I could go on and on, life is just so different here; from how families interact, what they do for fun, driving on the other side of the road...etc.

But although being here was so out of our comfort zone, it has been so amazing. The best thing is the people. It must be from God, but my wife and I just love the people here in Kenya. They are some of the best people in the world, and we are so blessed to be here ministering with and to them. We have had the opportunities to minister to people here in a way that we would never have been able to back in America.

We praise God for bringing us here, and can't wait to see how we continue to grow into our new environment and all the people that God brings into our lives.

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