Kenya - Day 10

Saturday, June 16

Friday ended and Saturday began at the same retreat center where we spent our first night in the country.  The time in between those two nights passed way too quickly and yet it seemed like so much had happened and so many places had been visited and so  many people had been met and so many experiences had been logged in those 9 days.  It was hard to accept that our time in Kenya was already coming to a close.  That morning we were able to debrief in a very informal way with the regional coordinator for LCMS missions in that part of East Africa, Pastor Shauen Trump and also visit with his wife, Krista, and two sons.  It was a good way to get additional perspective on our time and experiences in that part of the world and again just a pure blessing to share that time with the Trumps.

We then began our sad trip back to Nairobi's International Airport with flights to London, Chicago, and Minneapolis looming on the horizon. We made a couple stops along the way. First at a western like mall area with a variety of stores and kiosks and even fancy cars parked out in the main open area.  I was able to buy a Swahili Bible which I hope will give me an additional language to explore as well as a map of Kenya that has helped me to track where we were over these 10 days for future reference.  We then did lunch at a nice restaurant whose name Carnivore tells you what the menu mostly consisted of.  And lastly we stopped at another small street market to get a few more gifts and souveniers to take home.

A friend of mine has traveled to a number of continents and corners of the world and he always does a tremendous job of recounting those trips an providing good observations of the countries and their people, culture, and history.  As I wrap up this travel journal I feel like I have just touched the surface of our experiene without penetrating very deep into the learning and the implications. Maybe I haven't quite sorted all of that out yet and maybe I wrote this to preserve the memories for me as much as to share them with you.  I will try to add a picture for each day as well because I know a picture can speak a thousand words and hopefully the implications and learnings that weren't explicitly put into these posts will become evident in me and my life and my relationships and my ministry as a pastor. I can only hope that will be true and I can only hope to return someday to Kenya and to maintain contact with those I met there and to open the opportunity for others to travel abroad to experience the unity of the church that transcends borders, cultures, and languages.