I can't believe I'm in Africa, 10 years after first wanting to come. My senior year of college, I dreamt of visiting refugee camps and envied friends who got to do mission or medical work on the continent. I had gone to rural China 2 summers in a row, but I wanted to experience more.
Instead, I stayed in the U.S. to complete a music therapy certification and learn how to be a helping professional in my own country, and rather than escaping certain American social realities that seemed overwhelming at age 21 (notions and perceived impositions of class, gender, sexuality, status, etc.) by going abroad, I have gained a lot by figuring out how to navigate my own version of meaningful American adulthood in the last decade.
I did visit the U.K., as well as Taiwan and Singapore, in 2013 and 2014, but in terms of "getting outside of Western civilization" -- well, this trip is the first time since a wonderfully freeing summer in China, fifteen years ago, that I've ventured out. My heart is open, and my mind is free.
On the plane ride over, I had a meditation on sin. Social sin, of which our flawed human systems reek. Cultural sin, which self-perpetuate without intentional interventions. Relational sin, which creates conflict between friends and definitely between lovers. And personal sin, which is the death of me save for Jesus' work.
I've kept up with the Lent readings so far, but I may not write about them here for a while. Week 2 has been filled with long conversations with 2 INTJ (-ish) friends--one has been said to be an I N T/F J, and the other tests as an I N/S T J--and I love both enough to feel towards them what one might for lovers--so between all the chatting and traveling, the writing will have to take a back seat. But God is with us--in Kenya, and with God's people around the globe--just as God was in biblical days. We live in a God-soaked world, and I can't wait to sponge it up!
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