My first day in Kenya was incredible. It is so strange to be in a place that you have never been yet feeling like you’ve been here before. It feels like home, but clearly a home I’ve never known. I have always loved the people of Kenya and have dreamed of being here one day. The first day I was here on Easter was so great! My boyfriend preached an incredible word for three morning services. I was a little jet-lagged and slept in the Pastor’s office during worship at the third service but did not want to miss him preaching so I woke up and went into the service. While I may be a little biased since he is my favorite preacher, I still think it was an incredible word so I will share a brief recap. He preach on “Love on the Cross” and shared out of John chapter 19 where there were two groups at the cross. One was a group of four soldiers who were near in proximity to Jesus, but another four people who were followers of Jesus who were near not just in proximity but emotionally. He did an acronym of LOVE to show how we stay near to the cross. L stood for “relationships”…yes I know there is no L, but apparently some Kenyans mix their Ls with Rs and it was a HUGE laugh every time he shared that point. He said we must maintain a vertical relationship with God representing the vertical beam of the cross. Secondly we must have strong horizontal relationship with others representing the horizontal beam of the cross. Lastly where the two beams intersect where Christ’s heart would have been is the inward relationship we have with ourselves. O stood for “offense” and he shared on guarding ourselves from offense and building literal “fences” around our hearts and mind which push relationships away. He gave the example that as Jesus is dying on the cross He is restoring relationship for his mother Mary. That even while dying, he was guarding her from a future offense. That when people would ask about Him in the future she wouldn’t say, “My son was the son of God, but he left me alone.” Instead he gave John to her by protecting relationship and guarding her from future offense. V was for value and realizing our identity in Christ. He shared that the Apostle John only refers to himself as “the one whom Jesus loved” because he identified with how Jesus saw him, not merely what man called him. He was known for the relationship that he had with Christ not anything else he did. Then E was for elimination. That we must eliminate sin and bondage from our life and he touched on Mary Magdalene’s testimony. There was certainly a lot more, but just an overall encouragement to take up our crosses daily, dying to ourselves so that we can live in the fullness of life Jesus died to give us. Happy late Easter everyone :-)

Later that day we had an incredible 3 hour meal time sitting outside of the game park at a nice hotel with the Pastor and his wife. I really felt like I was in Africa then!

Now I know many of you desire to know exactly how Africa is different from Alabama :-) The truth is there are actually many similarities that I’ve found. For one, I can’t understand everything that is being said when people are speaking English, ok ok I am just teasing all of my sweet southern friends!! Truthfully though, both have cows that roam although these cows aren’t usually contained by fences. While I have seen some dogs roaming around, they don’t worry me as much as the cats you might find particularly where I am at right now on safari. For some reason the lion, leopard, and cheetah scare me more than being chased a few blocks by a somewhat domesticated country dog!  ;-) I am rooming with one of my boyfriend’s friend’s wife and their baby. His friend and family were able to join us on safari at a tented campground. This Oklahoman now Alabamian country girl is sleeping outside by the exotic animals! I was actually SO cold last night (before getting under the down comforter with a headed water bottle) and I was grateful for the kind suggestion to bring at least one long sleeve shirt by someone back home. I never imagined freezing in Africa…! They’ve had rain the past few days which has cooled the temperatures down. Where I am currently sitting there is a clear view of Mt. Kenya and just BEAUTIFUL landscape. This morning was my first time on safari and the very first animal we saw…was an elephant!!! I cried! It is amazing how quickly the animals can hide into the bush again. Had we been even a minute behind or ahead of the when we came we would have missed it completely. It crossed the road in front of us and began to eat and moved an entire tree to do so which made me giggle. As we drove around we saw zebra, giraffe, plenty of antelope, gazelle, huge buffalo, rhinos, and huge long horned cows. There were many more creatures like these pretty blue birds I’m watching right now. I’m sitting close to a watering hole right now where while I was eating dinner last night, I watched zebras pass. It is SO exciting and my boyfriend is a great tour guide! If he wasn’t so called as a missionary, I’m sure he’d love nothing more than being lost in the African bush tracking down animals. I watched a couple of guide get out on foot this morning tracking down lions. I SO want to see one up close! For now, I’m enjoying sitting outside where there are no allergens and hearing unique birds all around. I am here in the gorgeous Kenya countryside which differs greatly from Alabama’s beautiful rolling hills and I am grateful to be here.

“All of my love and affection belongs to You! Let praise come from my lips all of my days. Your love overtake me and flow through my veins…”-worship song I’m listening to currently.