Some Assembly Required

Living in the PNW there were so many things to do. With young children, rainy days posed a challenge to get out of the house and do something interesting. On days like that we would find ourselves walking around IKEA and seeing all the displays. Sometimes we would find a piece that would work great for our home and the budget fit. However, as you know, you don’t buy a already put together piece. When you get the box from the downstairs shelves you know that it will be a later in the day kind of project. And let’s just face it, sometimes we have to ask ourselves when we would see the words “Some Assembly Required,” is it worth it to put it together?

Life so far has been like that. We spent so much time preparing and disassembling our life in the states by cancelling credit cards and cell phone plans, that now we are on the other side trying to make sense of how to put our lives back together here. The idea that it takes time to put the pieces together is a little daunting.  We find courage knowing the Lord has called us here and He will put our lives together. That looks like taking steps to make ourselves at home here but not becoming over stressed and undone in the process. It takes time (more time than what we are used to) to get simple things done. The thought can easily show up in our minds “is this all worth it?” or “Is God asking too much?” Yes and NO! What we are experiencing is the Lord showing up and working through our inadequacies. He is good despite the challenges, and there have been many. We are learning to look at this time as an opportunity for connection. At first, spending 2 hours in a wireless phone store to buy a phone chip seemed ridiculous, but the reality is, we had opportunities left and right to talk to and with those helping us figure out how to make our phones work. The time wasn’t lost. It was invested. We just didn’t see that right away.

As challenges come, we are trying to get better at waiting on the Lord and asking questions from those that are here so that we don’t jump to the wrong conclusions about things. It is humbling. BUT GOD!! God is doing something in this process. We want Him to continue even when it’s uncomfortable. It takes time to build something to last. The question that we are asking up to everyday is “will we let the Lord build this life for us here?” Will we look at the time it takes to assemble the pieces as an investment or will we try and pass on it not seeing the value? I want to see what the Lord will build. I want to be able to look back and say “wow, God did this.” Deuteronomy 32:4  “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.”

So far we have had a day in our new area just before training which was blessing for all of us. We also celebrated Eli's 12th birthday a few weeks ago. The people that we are here with helped make the day really special for him. We were again really blessed by what seemed like such a small thing had such a big impact on us all.

Eli's Birthday Celebration

View from the Mosque after Studying World Religions.

Sunday at Church North of Nakuru. We had a ride into town and from there took a Matatu(van that seats 15-20 that functions like a city bus).

Jeff sharing from John 10. The whole service was spoken in Swahili but Jeff taught in English because most of the church members are Swahili/English speaking University students.