First Day as a Missionary?

I have been told many times that being a missionary consists of alot of downtime and rushing to get somewhere then waiting for hours. Well I definitely experienced that today. Things were kind of crazy at the center because some groups were visiting and were going through orientation. So most of the day I felt like I was just in the way sitting in the office as women scrambled around me talking quickly in Swahili. It was good though because it gave me time to think and time to build relationships. I definitely have to push myself here to be social and be intentional with people because the language barrier makes things a great deal more difficult. It makes me want to know more Swahili though and I am learning new phrases everyday.

For a couple of hours today my roommate and I helped out in the library at the school. It is very impressive with 8,000 books collected and in use! Phoebe is the librarian and she started the library 3 years ago all by herself. She is very fun! We helped her catalog new textbooks for the children and then put them up on the shelf so they could be used.

After lunch, which was delicious today (we had githeri - that potato/bean stew), Tahia and I had nothing to do so we went to a classroom and Tahia taught them Spanish :) The teacher's name is Josphat and I talked with him about the educational system of both America and Kenya. I really enjoyed it, and the kids totally loved Tahia!

The picture below is of a class on their break time and they are dancing around in a circle. I don't know the name of the song they were singing but there was definitely some sassy little booty shaking going on! It was super cute!                                                        
So although the day was up and down with activity, I did experience new things which is always a blessing. I get time to read and write in my journal occasionally and I was struck by something I found both in a missionary biography I am reading and a passage in Luke 6. I read about Hudson Taylor, a famous missionary to China, being in a sticky situation when God asked him to give the rest of the money left in his name to a sick family. The family asked him for it, and Taylor was reminded of a passage saying, "give to everyone who asks you." Later that day, as I was reading through Luke I came across that very passage, Luke 6:30. I asked myself if I could do that. What are the things in my life that I would not be able to give up? Is it money? Possessions? People I love? What on this earth is worth anything anyway without the hope brought through Jesus? I invite you to think about that too...