As you all
know, my first trip to Kenya was in 2006 with Life Missions. At the time, I never
would have guessed how that trip would change my life. Thanks to those two weeks
in Africa, I was drawn to another volunteer trip, this one to Peru in 2009.
When I came home from that trip, I signed up to mentor a Kinship kid, Ciaara,
who brought a whole new perspective into my life and gave me a whole new set of
adventures.
If it hadn’t
been for that first trip to Kenya, I wouldn’t have returned there three more
times and my daughter Val wouldn’t have returned four more times. We would
never have formed our own non-profit organization, Tumaini Volunteers. I never
would have written a memoir about that first trip and may never have had any books published.
I may not even
be writing this post right now. I started it when Val went back to Kenya in
2010 for six months; she began a travel blog at the time and challenged me to write
my own blog.
Jen and Dave Bell were our team leaders on that
first trip, and though we haven’t been in direct contact since 2013, I still
follow their work. They’ve been living fulltime in Kenya since that trip we
took with them in 2006. They’ve been through a few changes, but are currently running
Mahili pa Maisha, an infant rescue center
outside of Nairobi.
Last summer,
they published a book about their lives and how they came to be where they are,
how they continued to follow each twist and turn in the road which God sent them
down. “Lick and Turn” chronicles not only their time in Africa, but the journey
it took to get there.
Every turn in my life seems to have led to another step in my journey. I guess we all
have a journey to take, whether it leads us overseas or not. No matter where
life is telling you to go, just go there.
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