Team Reflections

Hi, this is Erin Burns and these are some of my reflections on this experience.

It is soooooooooo beautiful here! Even as a child I was always been amazed at the Lord's creations. Now that I've been blessed enough to see two other continents, I continue to be astounded at the indescribable beauty of the earth.

As for the people...where do I start? Most Kenyans live on $1 a day (as we've said before, but it warrents repeating), so you can imagine they view ALL americans as rich. And everyone we've met is so happy and content! They are grateful for all the blessings God has bestowed on them and praise Him endlessly it seems. They are the most gracious hosts and welcoming people I've ever known. Even as I look at the sentence I just wrote, the words don't do justice to the feeling I have when they tell us how glad they are that we've come to visit. We've been invited every day to have dinner with someone in their home, which they consider an honor. Our group discussions have mostly been about how we measure success in our own lives. I don't know how anyone could measure success by money or material belongings if they spend one day in this place. It's so obvious to me that success is having Christ in your life and trying to do Kingdom work by utilizing your gifts every day. And you don't have to be anyone but the person God created you to be! PTL!

Our team is meshing well and having lots of fun together. God truly put our team together! We all have different gifts, ages, and stories, but personalities that mix well together. I will miss not seeing one another so often after I get back. Especially b/c we have two who aren't from Indy. Hopefully we'll get to have plenty of reunions in the coming years. And I'm already excited about the prospect of going on another trip with some of the team in a couple years!

I haven't felt this much at peace in a very long time. Before I left, I wouldn't have said that I was very stressed out or chaotic in general...and compared to some people I know, I wasn't. But I was beginning to worry b/c I didn't have a job yet...and I was anxious about coming here and unsure of how I would handle it...and I was very preoccupied with a personal relationship and the fact that it was not in the place that I wanted it to be. God had to send me to another continent to remind me the His ways are not my ways! As usual, I was trying to take control of something I could never HAVE control of...when will I learn! After my experiences here in this peaceful place and with my wonderful teammates, I feel like a new person. It's like I've been working so hard to become the person God wanted me to be and in the last 7 days, I've made more progress than the past year and a half. And I wasn't even trying over here! I was just doing what I thought God wanted me to do. He is so awesome, and so good to me. I am so blessed to have His grace.