Praise the Lord!  After arriving in Kenya and quickly getting settled into African life, my emotional and spiritual processing is on overdrive.  We took a tour through Kibera a few days ago, trying to start our 2 month ministry in the lives of those who live there.  I can't really tell you what I was thinking while walking through it, seeing the children in tattered clothes sitting in the muddy streets, others running full force from their mud-walled homes to greet us with handshakes and shy smiles while shouting in unison "howareyouhowareyou?!" as if it were all one word. 

 

Things are simple here.  Simplicity is awakening my soul to all new emotions and lessons...lessons about the world and about the living presence of God in a place filled with crime and hopelessness.  A phrase my team and I have fully adopted when we don't understand the cultural or social differences is this: TIA (this is Africa).  Things are drastically different here and I'm learning to choose into these differences.  I choose to share in the suffering, in the joy, and in the culture with open arms and an open heart.  I choose to feel fully and love deeply. 

 

I'm excited to see the healing and transformation in the lives of those we build relationships with.  I'm just as excited to see the transformation in our own lives over the next 3 months, as we break down barriers and allow Christ to penetrate our hearts in new ways.  So for now, my mantra is this:  I choose in.