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Day Six

My turn!

So, one piece of advice the Adventures in Missions staff tried to drill into our heads before we left for The World Race was to let go of whatever expectations we might have of what would happen while we were out in the field. It was hard to embrace back then, but the advice served me well when I was here two years ago, and it has made the many schedule changes on this trip so far much easier for me to handle.

Ministry has looked nothing like we thought it would so far, and what was supposed to be our first day out in the community was not immune to the changes. The series of rain storms that kept us together at Kilimani yesterday kept us at the guest house today. Since Gladys (Pastor Julius's wife) has been with her sister since before the funeral on Saturday, Pastor Julius went home today to check on the house and the children. His niece, Raheema, has been staying with the children because Pastor Julius is staying with us. While he was gone, Meshach (one of the church's deacons, who was a translator for us last trip and will be this time, too) joined us in the Bible study we did today. After that was done, we visited until Pastor Julius's return late in the afternoon.

The thing I'm realizing as I'm writing all this out is that what's happening here right now isn't any different from things that could happen at home. It seems different because of where we are, but it isn't. Things happen, and they radically shift plans for ministry that were made weeks or months in advance. When they do, we have to let go of the expectations we had because the changes mean it will never be what we wanted to it to be. Life happens, weather happens, and we can't control that. What we have control over is our attitudes.

And our brothers and sisters here are adept at choosing an attitude of joy. It's a wonderful example to have.

I'm really proud of the way our team is rolling with the punches right now. They're taking deep breaths, letting their expectations for the day go, and investing completely in what the day is rather than what they wanted it to be. God knew what He was doing when He put it together, and great things are happening already as a result.

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