ULTIMATE!! - Day 2 of my Kenya Experience

It’s almost 10 p.m. here in Kenya. And since it is lunch time in the States, I thought I’d provide some great reading material for you during lunch.

We began the morning with a nice 15-20 minute walk to church -- Mamlaka Hill Chapel. We were led in worship by the S.A.L.T. college praise team (shout out to my small group back in Fort Worth). I think I clapped and danced more in our hour of praise and worship. It was authentic and true worship. It was incredible. I absolutely loved the freedom with which all the members of the congregation praised the Father. During that time, I had the opportunity to praise the Lord for the first time in Swahili. What an incredible experience!

After church, we returned home to a nice breakfast – homemade omelets cooked by our very own, Chad Olsen. They were superb which is why I’m giving him a public shout out. And then, we settled in for a nice afternoon nap. Life moves a little slower here in Kenya. It was refreshing to just be at home instead of having a million things to check off the to-do list before another week begins. At home, I normally rest by moving as if putting more stuff on my plate is actually rejuvenating. Today, I learned a great lesson that it is okay to stop and rest. The world doesn’t need me to keep going.

Later in the afternoon, we jumped in the car with some fellow ex-pats and headed northwest to the International School of Kenya for a friendly game of Ultimate Frisbee. Wait….friendly? Let me rephrase that – friendly and competitive game of Ultimate Frisbee. About 20-30 ex-pats from the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain get together every Sunday and play some “disc” and these guys and girls are good. They were not messing around and even have their own name (Nairobi Ultimate Frisbee Club), T-shirts, and discs with their club logo. We played for 3 solid hours stopping for only a total of 20 minutes for water breaks. I had a phenomenal time, but I’m completely wiped.

I have one final story that my friend wants me to share with you. After Frisbee, we visited the supermarket for some groceries and I had to use the public facilities (i.e. restrooms). I want share in depth details of that experience, but I will tell you I heard a song on the loud speaker that I’ve never heard in a public restroom before – “It Is Well With My Soul.” Interesting….very interesting. I might add it was comforting as well.

Tomorrow, we off to white water raft for a couple days. I will probably not be able to post again until we return midday on Tuesday. I’ll look forward to sharing more with you then.

Kwaheri (Goodbye in Swahili),

Burke