Family, New Friends, Strangers, and Prayers

This past week, before I arrived in Kenya, I have been learning more about relationships and what a blessing they can be, especially when prayer is involved.

The night before I left to go to Georgia, my dad, mom, sister, cousin, and a couple who are close family friends covered me in prayer for my journeys ahead.  I cannot say how much I was blessed by their words and how I wish I could have written them all down.  They were so encouraging to me and beseeched the Lord on my behalf , and it was so wonderful to be with some of the people I am closest to on the night before I left.  I will not be able to ever thank them enough for the prayers they offered up to the Lord for me.

On Wednesday, I headed to Africa Inland Mission's headquarters in Georgia for orientation.  There were 12 other short-term missionaries there who were all close to may age, which was so much fun and such a blessing! It was such a wonderful experience to meet other brothers and sisters in Christ who share the same passion for Africa as I do and who are willing to spend their time serving the Lord in a foreign country.  It was also great to meet the 3 AIM staff who I have been in contact with the past few months leading up to this and put faces to names! All of us short-termers became close over the 48ish hours that we were together, and it was really hard for us to say goodbye when orientation finished on Friday. We had many wonderful conversations and had fun just hanging out and exploring the town we were in. It was a great time and we are going to stay in contact with each other to hear about everyone's experiences in Africa!

While in Georgia, all of us went to Chick-fil-A to have dinner.  When we arrived, it was obvious that we were all together, so after we had our food and sat down to eat it, one of the workers came by as she cleaning up some other tables.  She was very sweet and asked us what we were all doing there together, and we told her that we were all going to Africa through AIM.  She was so excited about our journeys that she prayed for us right then and there! It was so encouraging to be prayed over by a total stranger who clearly loved the Lord.

This all took place before I left for Kenya, so it was so encouraging and such a blessing to know that people had been praying and would continue to pray for me as I go on this exciting journey!