Kenya Update 7/27

You may have caught on, in my past updates, to the whole TIA (This Is Africa) thing. It's an expression used to explain when plans change, things are running late, etc. You just shrug your shoulders and say, "well, TIA." No use getting mad, you just flex and go with it.

That explains everyday of our lives this trip. Even the past few days - from our travel day with Mr. Obama to being miscommunicated to at the airport on the location of the "coach marshall" to our entire day yesterday.

We had planned to go into London for a team culture & heritage day. I walked down to get the tube tickets and discovered that our line and the next closest line were closed for the day. There were some other options, but one of the main goals of the day was to teach the Staff Disciplers how to get around London and get back to the church, and our other options would not accomplish that. Thankfully it was cold and rainy, so the team wasn't so upset to switch days (today isn't rainy and it's a tad warmer).

And a lot like in Africa, plans changing doesn't always equal a bad thing. We were able to attend the service here at the church hosting us last minute. Which ended up being a nice time to meet and chat with the body of believers here. With a break for afternoon tea, we spent the rest of the day processing, discussing, and reflecting on our summer, the things God taught us, on how to prepare to go home. We ended with an impromptu team popcorn social (which just means we are popcorn and listened to music).

This morning we finished session 4 of 5 of debriefing, completed our final memory work test (they all passed!!!), and emailing home. Then we'll pack up and head out to be tourists. Some of the things that we'll see today: Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, Big Ben, and the Tower of London Bridge. I have a few other surprises in store for them, but I have to leave something for them to tell you when they get home.

Tomorrow we will finish debriefing in the morning and send them out for their final full day here for their D-Group day. We'll end the day together with communion and some other meaningful team togetherness. We'll then pack and be ready to get on the bus at 7:30 Wednesday morning to head back to Chicago.

And as much as we are all looking forward to being home and see friends and family, we are definitely going to miss this family a lot. It has been an amazing summer. God has taught us each so much about each other, ourselves, and most importantly about Him. None of us will go home unchanged by our experience.

Friends - God is good all the time.

With thankfulness and for the Kenya Family,
Margaret