Awkward Colored Bowls

Dear friends and family,
This past weekend (July 8-9), us interns got to go on a safari! We were picked up in the morning, and drove for about five hours to this land called Masi Mara. We stayed at a nice camp ground with really cool tents that had bathrooms and two or three beds inside. It’s difficult to describe but, it was really cool. We had lunch and were off to spend a good five hour safari tour. The tops of our jeeps popped off and we could stand up in the middle of the car. I had to stand on top of a seat to see out and it was kinda painful at times due to random bolts and bars but it turned out to be really worth it. We were able to see so many animals in one afternoon. Elephants, zebras, wildebeests...oh my! :) It was awesome! The sunset was beautiful, and the weather was pretty much perfect. I honestly could not ask for a better tour. Then, add to it, we were able to go for a sunrise tour at 6:30 am the next morning! Oh, my goodness. It was the best thing ever. More animals, but this time, we saw cheetahs, a family of lions, hippos, and more zebras, wildebeests, and elephants. The sunrise was gorgeous, and again, the rest of the morning was so perfect and beautiful.
I realized during our weekend of safari that God must be incredibly beautiful. How could he not be? The animals were all unique and yet the same, and the way they do the same thing everyday, so schedule and structured, has to be made by a Creator. And, how beautiful the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the trees. Someone with artistic taste and beautiful hands had to make all of that. Everything that I saw was natural, beautiful, unique, and hand created by the Lord. And then there is me. Small, weak little me. Totally insignificant compared to other things or sometimes other people. “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet...Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”-Psalm 8: 5-8 And yet, here, in his word, He has made me more important than all the animals that I saw this weekend. How encouraging is that to know that above all else, God favors me.
The Sunday after our Safari was kinda tough because everyone except for me, Justin and Rebecca got some kind of food poison/stomach bug. People were throwing up everywhere you looked. Not to be gross, but it was a mess. I hate hearing, seeing, or even thinking about people getting sick, but I had to push that thought out of my mind because it was suddenly my turn to take care of all my sick friends. I figured something like this would happen but I didn’t think it would skip me. God had me in mind, and protected me from the terrible curse of throwing up. I remember Courtney looking at me and saying “I just wish I could die.” Sounds terrible right? Yes.
Our team has been extremely blessed by not having a clear period of conflict. We have all joked about little cases where we did have one, like the colored bowls. They are organized into two different categories: red and yellow and blue and green. For a whole month they were sitting like this and that was good enough for me. And then, somebody messed up the pattern. I don’t know who and I don’t really care but the point is they messed up the bowls. And then, to make everything worse, they put them on top of the highest part of the shelves where I couldn’t reach them, even standing on a chair. I mean, it’s not a big deal, but, it kinda is. But you know, other than that, everything has been peachy-perfect. And that’s only due to the grace of our Lord Jesus. :)
We only have 2 weeks left in this wonderful country and none of us are really all that happy to be talking about it. We all know that it will happen, and that we’ll walk into 10 different directions but at this point, I can’t imagine my life without them. 2 months with 10 people is a significant amount of time in my life. And, I can’t imagine my life without the wonderful Kenyans. Goodness, there’s my precious little first graders that make me laugh every week. And then there is the girls at Shunam, and Purity and Caroline. They are a feisty group of women and they have captured my heart. The teachers are all awesome and fun to be with. I always hate leaving Kibera at the end of the day because I want to spend more time with them. How on earth am I going to be ok leaving a country of friends not knowing if I am going to see them again? I’m not ok with that.
“ In your presence there is fullness of joy and at your right hand there are pleasures forever.”

Virginia