step one: go shopping

It's my second full day back in Kenya and I spent the afternoon shopping. More details on that in a sec... let's rewind just a bit.

The last few days at home were so good and yet such a blur! I'm so thankful for my sending church of Shadow Mountain and their willingness to send me off in prayer.  I was so encouraged by the amount of people who joined my monthly support team in the week before I left. 12 families signed up monthly and 2 increased their support, allowing me to hit 100% on Monday afternoon! (Gotta love how God's timeline isn't ours!) Goodbyes at the airport were bittersweet but I was grateful for each one who woke up early to come say bye!

All three plane rides went pretty well. The ride into Salt Lake City was only preparation for what is to come on the commuter planes I will soon enjoy! The two long flights I had the seat next to me empty and was able to sprawl out and sleep, quite well actually. I arrived in Kenya early, about 9:30pm on Wednesday night, local time. Customs went smooth and on to collect my bags. Five of them came out pretty close to together and I should have known at that point there was something wrong but I held out hope. I checked 4 action packers and 2 suitcases. In order to make sure the action packers stayed closed I had to put airline approved locks on them. When the 3 action packers that made it with me arrived one of the locks had been tore off of each one. To my surprise the insides of all three were still perfectly packed as I had them and nothing was taken! Praise God! And my dear friend Amanda who I've known since I first came to Kenya back in August 2013 patiently waited and waited and was there as I walked out of the airport at about 11:30pm!! What a relief to see a friendly face!

I waited and waited, hopeful the last one was to come. It didn't. I was directed to baggage claim problem area where before she even had a chance to look at my baggage tickets asked, "Are you Ms. Warford?"... yes, yes I am(and I realize this isn't a good sign). "One of your bags didn't make it." Can you tell me where it is? "Yes, it is in Amsterdam".... at least you know where it is! She agreed to have it delivered on Friday and behold at around 2:30 (today Friday) it was delivered! I found it with both locks still attached(Praise God!) and opened it to find my contents just as I had them! This is amazing considering the stories I've heard of bags getting lost or delayed and things being taken. Thank you Jesus for looking after it and answering my prayers!

Thursday, my first full day back in Kenya I slept in, went and got a new Kenyan phone number (which works in my iPhone yay!) and enjoyed lunch with Amanda, and then back home to rest. I went to sleep around 8:30 (with the help of sleeping meds), wide awake at 2am, back asleep at 3:30 (with help of sleeping meds again), and finally awake at 5:40am. Oh jet- lag... how I wish you didn't exist.

And now to today. Had a lovely morning of girl time when one of my teammates who arrived from Egypt this morning and the other from Doro yesterday commenced together in our living room with our cups of tea & coffee to catch up and enjoy being together! We soon realized today was the best day to go shopping. I was definitely excited but feeling a bit stressed knowing decisions were ahead and I was going to be buying everything I needed to set up a home in a new place and everything I got would have to first be organized, weighed, shipped by plane and delivered into Doro before I could really settle. So the idea of going shopping was very much embraced and yet desired to be procrastinated on. But with the help of 3 ladies and my jet-lagged brain we did it!

2 out of 6 baskets!

My amazing shopping buddy Bethany! I wouldn't have finished if it wasn't for her!

This amazing guy met us and willingly and quite professionally loaded all my stuff into his car including the big items on top! Thank you Johnathon!

Had to document!

And the next step, putting things into piles and into importance. Everything I need for the next 3 months. 

All this stuff should go in on two flights, possible three. Tomorrow we repack, weigh & label and Sunday it will get taken to the office for final processing before it goes to Doro on the 20th! 

Whew! I'm tired just thinking about this day! It was great fun reconnecting with old friends and beginning this next step towards making Doro home!

I’m getting on a plane!

How do I feel? Denial.

This is real. And I can’t explain it but at this moment I really can’t believe it is finally happening!

This last weekend my home church prayed for me in all of their services. It was neat to look out into the audience and make eye contact with so many familiar faces that are behind me in this. But as I stood there listening to the Pastor explain the ministry and how they can be praying, my mind was thinking, “huh, that seems like a God orchestrated ministry, but who would choose to go there?” It wasn’t until I realized everyone was clapping that the description was about me. Not kidding, it was like I wasn’t even there!

My bags are packed, weighed and locked. Four action packer bins and two suitcases. I total of 320lbs of weight. My life in six containers. Kinda crazy.

I can’t wait to step foot in Kenya again. To smell the smell of Nairobi, to embrace the crazy driving, to hear Swahili being spoken all around me, to take in so much history. But that is only the beginning. The next step, orientation, final shopping trips, packing preparation and reconnecting with old friends leads up to two flights that will allow me to settle in my new home.

But knowing in this moment, that I am right where God has me, makes me so excited for the plans He has in the coming weeks and months and years. It is a joy to walk this path with so many alongside me. The stories I have heard of people praying for me having heard my name in a church service or on a plane and having no idea what God was actually doing is just amazing to me! I look forward to sharing those in the coming days. But for now I gotta rest. Just a few hours and I’ll be on a plane!

Jesus,

I am in awe of You! When I gave my life to You 10 years ago I had no idea what that really meant. But You have shown Yourself faithful in so many ways that as I take this step, no matter how difficult the days are to come, that You are right there with me, and still as faithful as You always have been. Remind me often of Your presence and may Your light shine bright wherever You send me! May I continue to be obedient in everything You ask me to do and say. And at the end of each day may You always receive all the glory that is due You!

I love You and grateful to be called Your child.

It is in Your name I pray,

Amen

When are you leaving

When are you leaving?

Definitely the most asked question I get. And probably the hardest question to answer. I’m grateful that lately when I get asked this question and not sure how to respond, this verse comes to mind…

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. –Matt 6:33-34

But how do you translate that into an answer?

For a while I was struggling through finding peace in still being here (aka not in Africa). I had set a departure date of January 6^th and by mid December I was just over 50%. I had faith and prayed daily that January 6^th would happen and it’s hard to answer people who ask about it when you yourself are wondering the same thing.

Yes, I don’t know either.

But over the last couple weeks God has been doing some awesome work in my heart. Support has increased (124% one time and 67% monthly) and that has been a huge encouragement to see who God is choosing to be a part of my financial and prayer team, but it really is in the quiet times on the beach or at a coffee shop or in my bed when God’s truth rings out so loud I can’t ignore it.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. –Proverbs 3:5

There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless it is the Lord’s counsel that will stand. –Proverbs 19:21

But Jesus looked at them and said, “with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. –Matthew 19:26

For we walk by faith, not by sight. -2 Cor 5:7

please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night…-Nehemiah 1:6

In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong. –Job 1:22

There are countless other verses that have helped soften my heart to see that God can use me here and may just have a bigger purpose than I could ever begin to see or imagine.

Truth: God hasn’t called me to just do ministry in South Sudan. He has called me to live a life doing ministry.

As I read His timeless love letter to me I see Him using Scripture to build an altar of remembrance of His perfect plans and perfect peace in the waiting. I see Him building up stones of memorized Scripture in my heart to combat doubt, be confident in where I am, and ready to see how He wants to use me today. 

So how do I answer the question, “when are you leaving?” I say I’m leaving when God is ready to move me to do ministry there and until then I’ve got work to do here. I still feel so excited to get to Africa and transition to language & culture learning in South Sudan, but I’m not sitting around waiting to leave, I’m focusing on what God has for me here and now, and that leaves me in a place of pure contentment and joy in Him alone and not in my circumstances.

puzzle pieces

Lately I've been pondering the idea of how cross-cultural work is just like any other job. 

 vs

I think the ways they are different shine bright. (These are often exaggerations)

- living near family vs. living far away

- paid by a company vs. paid by God through donations

- viewed as unimportant vs. lifted up on a pedestal of eternal value

- a 9am-5pm job vs. 24/7 commitment

- no breaks vs. home assignment every 2-3 years

etc.

But the similarities often times go unnoticed. 

When was the last time you or someone you know started a new job? How nervous were you before the interview? Was this something you've always wanted? Did you choose it or did God hand it to you? Did you feel completely unworthy or incapable or fully prepared? Did you know everything the job would entail before you said yes? Were you excited? Did it come with some changes you had to make? Were there any compromises you had to work through? Were there some people who fully supported you and others who told you you were crazy? Did others discourage you in the process?

I have a feeling we would answer these questions very similarly. 

Right now I feel like a puzzle has just been poured out on a table. The completed picture sits on the front of the box tilted for viewing… we know where were headed. But, we haven't started the job yet... all the pieces are yet to be put together. 

As we start working, we try pieces and rarely get ones to fit on our first try. We do find though as pieces start to come together that little corners or pockets begin to show signs of what is to come.

Doing a puzzle is a lot more fun with others. When someone else sits down they often find a few quick pieces because their eyes haven’t been staring at it for as long as you have. Other people give us a unique perspective as we invite them in to work on the puzzle with us.

Putting a puzzle together is a calming thing for me. I love the way it causes me to slow down, focus on one thing, and smile when two pieces fall into place perfectly. The decision to move my faith departure date to at least February didn’t feel like a perfect fit the first time I tried putting the pieces together. But I have a feeling I had been looking at those two pieces for a long time, doubting they would work together.

The best part… there is still a whole puzzle yet to be put together! It’s not something to be solved at one sitting. The process is to be enjoyed over time. A few pieces here and there. People come and sit at the table with you and sometimes silence while working on the puzzle is the most glorious thing. However a party happens when one of those persons finds two pieces that fits and what a joyous occasion to have someone to share it with!

Can I invite you to sit down and work on this puzzle with me? You have to know we won’t finish it in one sitting… that takes all the fun out of it. But having someone to celebrate little accomplishments means the world to me. You’ve got questions? Feel free to break the silence. But know that I haven’t started that job yet, I may not know all the answers and the puzzle is only just beginning to be started.

But I can tell you, the picture at the end; it’s a beautiful one!

Take-a-ways from Colorado

Thanks to 4 weeks at MTI in Colorado I will be going back to East Africa a different person. 

The end.

Oh yes... details.

First. These people.

I loved being loved and getting to love these awesome people. Four weeks living in the same space, sharing every meal together, laughing at jokes only we get, crying and "getting it," and having a common goal of thriving overseas makes you close pretty quick. I'm glad we loved each other well and that saying goodbye was hard. 

So what did we do for 4 weeks? A LOT! The first two weeks were all about starting my own "Language Learning Business". We did mouth drills to practice learning the different sounds that exist in other languages around the world. Let's just say this chart makes some sense now...

A lot of these sounds are in the Mabaan language I will be learning... and this chart doesn't include vowels...and I'm serious when I say these two weeks of learning these sounds and learning the LAPS technique from the creator, Dwight, was so overwhelmingly good. I am really excited to start my own business!

I count it a privilege to have met and got to learn from Dwight and Barbara. Dwight is the brains and heart behind the LAPS technique and helped me to love it. Between their own riveting story of their time in Vietnam to the random commands in the "Jeh" language, that still fill my brain throughout the day, I am getting excited to get to South Sudan and get started with Mabaan!

This was one of the many posters that went up around our training room that related to learning language and trying to communicate cross-culturally. Just apply this in English and you get misunderstanding... take a non-native and native speaker and this message/feedback system becomes a lot more complicated. Therefore one must...

They transitioned us well after two weeks from strong language learning focus to more emphasis on the "Exiting My World to Enter Their World" cross-cultural helps. The idea "frame of reference" was referred to a lot. Taking what we think (in the western world) as normal, natural, right and good and changing that to fit what is considered normal, natural, right and good in their comfort zone was said so many times! This goes so much deeper than how something is said in another language. We had fun role-playing extreme situations to help us understand what it means to visit and be visited by these different cultural norms that are or aren't normal, natural, right and good in our own perceptions. 

How do you greet someone? Do you touch them? Handshake, pat on the shoulder, full hug or fold your hands and bow? Eye contact? 

What about offering someone a cup of tea or a meal? How do you accept it? Can you decline?

How do you behave at another person's house? Are you loud and overly helpful? Do you sit quietly and let people serve you (maybe give them a foot massage??)? Do you just show up or call ahead? How long do you stay?

This is just the beginning of some of the things we discussed at lengths to stretch our cultural senses as we soon will leave our own comfort zones and enter new worlds and new comfort zones. 

We also talked about what we are like under stress, our conflict style, transitioning well, grief and loss, saying good hellos and goodbyes among many others. Something that flowed through almost every session was the idea of yay & yuck ducks.

a pair of ducks... a-par-of-ducks...a paradox. 

It's a beautiful paradox really. 

Now that I'm back from MTI my main focus shifts to getting to 100% of my monthly commitments. There is a lot of excitement (yay duck) wrapped up in it. Seeing who God will choose to be a part, knowing leaving for South Sudan is near, and the joy in packing and preparing to settle on the far side of the sea. But there are also some hard things (yuck ducks) that go with it. Every conversation is about me leaving. Leaving means having to say goodbye to those I love here. Moving overseas means stress and tiredness and I'm sure loneliness at times. Even right now, I feel the paradox of the yays and yucks that surround me. 

But what I love most about these ducks is that they give me words to share what I'm feeling. Being able to recognize that I'm having a yuck duck moment, just had a yuck duck experience or there is a yuck duck in my life that isn't leaving anytime soon is so helpful. These little guys will be traveling with me for sure!

I really can't put into words just how much I've gained from this training. But I do pray as I make this transition and settle on the far side of the sea that God will be glorified, people will come to know Him, disciples will be grown and nurtured and ultimately more people will be with us praising Jesus because of it. 

For those who prayed for me while I was there, thank you!! It was so refreshing, challenging, faith-molding and spiritually strengthening. I am changed because of it and I see it benefiting our team in so many beautiful ways!

Some of my take-a-ways from the 4 weeks forever written on a stone. 

On our last day, each of us stepped into the center and were prayed for. *tears*

Every weekend we did something outdoors-y. At Garden of the Gods (rock formations)... that's Pike's Peak in the background

Two cars caravan-ed up Pikes Peak. Absolutely incredible view!

Megan (who is moving to Kenya!) and I at the Lantern Festival. Think end of Frozen!

At the top of Mt. Herman overlooking Palmer Lake/Monument.

Had a beautiful afternoon with Jesus at Palmer Lake.