Blog-tember: FIVE

Today's prompt: "I am passionate about _____________."

      I think that if you know me even a bit, you already know where my passion lies. It's part of what makes my heart beat and there is not a day that my mind doesn't turn towards it. It changed me forever and I will never see the world the same after experiencing it. Really, it's not even just one thing, but a group of things that have been wrapped up together in a beautiful package. 

Kenya. Africa. Missions. 

       Last year, I took my first mission trip to Kenya and my life did a 360 turn. You can't come back from that continent without being changed. You just can't. They are the most beautiful people and have the biggest hearts. Ugh, my words are going to fail me here. I wish I could hand you this tangible object and say, "Here, this is Kenya. This is Africa. This is my experience", but I can't. My words will fall short again and again and I think that's why I have stopped trying to explain it. 

      I think the only thing that will give you any idea of what it was like is to tell you what we all have said over and over again after returning home, "We went to be a blessing to them and we came back feeling that WE were the ones who had been blessed". It's a funny thing, you know? We as Americans think that we have everything to offer the rest of this world, but we are so blinded and so incredibly wrong. Yes, we have everything the world can hand us on a gold platter, but we have lost so much with all  those things. We have drowned ourselves in noise and distractions so much that we are missing out on the true blessings. You see, over there there are no TV's sitting in every single room, no smartphones and devices in everybody's hand. No, people sit around peeling potatoes and sorting beans while having real conversations. They talk and connect to one another and I have never been happier than when I am there. I don't miss all our American stuff for a second..... not one second.

       Go on a mission trip. Anywhere. Just do it. We gotta stop making excuses and allow ourselves to experience the world in a different way; experience Jesus in a different way. Let him change you, move you and take you to places within yourself you didn't know existed. Yes, he works in the U.S. too and can use you here, but there is just something uniquely special about experiencing the people he created in another part of this world. 

       I made my second trip to Kenya this summer and I'll go back every summer if the Lord allows it. It's just such a unique and special place. If you don't know, I serve at an orphanage called Little Eden in a small village called Cheese. Last year, I experienced Kenya with my church's mission team and this summer I had the great pleasure of serving with Mike and Sylvia Eden (who founded and run the children's home). You can read about last years trip here and here. I still haven't written about this year, but I'll get there. It takes along time for me to process through everything and like I said, it's really hard to put it into words. The pictures on this post are from my trip this year; consider it a sneak peek ;)