We arrived back on American soil on Monday afternoon after nearly 40 hours of travel! Even though our team was certainly ready to come home to our families, the parting from our Kenyan family was bittersweet. All of my luggage is now unpacked, but I know it will take me quite awhile to unpack the events of the last two weeks.

God taught me innumerable things on this trip. A few readily come to mind: About family— grandmothers in the slum raising their grandchildren because their own children died of AIDS; also mothers raising children who are not biologically theirs because they would otherwise be on the streets. About community— people in the slum who have so little (by our standards) taking care of and looking out for one another as a way of life. About home— an 8×8 tin-roofed shanty with no light source and one bed for four people where I was welcomed as a guest by its proud owner. About doing so much with so little— an organization that has very minimal resources is transforming Mathare Valley and its residents. (In feeling pride for them, I felt shame that we have so many resources that we squander in failing to adequately help those in need in our own society.) About the power of prayer and God’s healing— many of us on this trip were physically healed and restored during the trip through prayer. About my own resiliency and dependence upon God for daily strength and perseverence. About the greatness of our God— He is transforming lives and supplying hope in one of the most impoverished and seemingly forgotten places that I have ever witnessed. About our story— our safari in the Masai Mara reminded me again in a very tangible way that our story began in a garden and will end in a garden with the restoration of the earth. (We all agreed that the Mara has to be what heaven will be like!)

I am sure that God will reveal even more to my heart in the coming weeks about my experience in Kenya. I am open to such teaching, even if it means that my heart must be broken even more than it already has been.