My First Week Home

First week!? you might be saying...I thought you left Nairobi on the 2nd of October, how could this be your first week home? Remember - I spent one week in London with my mom and my daughter (look at my blog entries for details and pictures), then after four days in Orange County I spent a week at Missionary Orientation Training with Global Outreach International (GOI). I did a blog entry about that week as well.


Then I flew home very late Friday night, so on Sunday the 21st of October I (finally) attended my Sunday School Class and went to my home church, The Crystal Cathedral. The first picture is my pastor and spiritual mentor Dr. Beverely Muffin. She is admonishing us for all clustering together at four tables..."us four and no more, praise God"...then what happens when a guest comes to visit...will they feel welcome?


When I got up to speak (I shared my photos and a few words about my amazing experience in Kenya!) I grabbed my camera to snap a few pictures. You may be able to tell that we all obediently moved to different tables to provide room for our guests!









After a few days at home going to doctor appointments and visiting with family, I drove an hour and a half to a nearby town - Valencia - to visit a close friend, Linda, and her family. Her husband greeted me with a hug and a kiss then donned his pink dish gloves to finish the dishes before Linda arrived with the kids.













Here is Linda doing what she does best - shooting pictures of her kids...far left is Tess, her oldest...sorry Evan I forgot to take your photo! Linda and I have been friends for over 20 years and she was a faithful prayer warrior for me during my time in Kenya. Her kids prayed for me every night and they had my photo on a poster at her church in one of the Sunday School classes - so I had the power of kid prayer behind me! No wonder I felt so blessed!

Missionary Orientation Training

We started our week Monday morning at the Head Office of Global Outreach International (GOI). I snapped a few photos with the idea of capturing the feel of the office...not sure I succeeded! At one end of this conference room, they have flags from many countries displayed - but as you can see I did not manage to get a shot of that! Oh well...

This is Sammy, the founder of GOI and an incredibly kind and loving man.

On Tuesday we moved our training to the hotel where we all 'camped out' for the week. I tried to get photos of all in attendance, but not sure I succeeded!

In this first picture you see Jeremy and Sylvia Frank - she is from Spain and he grew up in Spain with his missionary parents who run a camp there. They have been married just 18 months and have a passion to work with his parents in the camp (which is how they met). Next to them are Fred and Linda McRae - they have been serving on the mission field in Germany for 21 years and are moving from another agency to GOI.

Around the corner from the McRaes are Amy and Mark Gwartney. They were both on the mission field as singles then continued as missionaries after getting married. Once she became pregnant with their first child 10 years ago they came stateside and have been working with NICS (Network of International Christian Schools) One of their schools is West Nairobi where children from two missionary families I have become friends with attend! It was fun to see pictures...they plan to serve the Lord in Uganda. Jacob Folk, seated next to Mark is married to Courtenay (who you will see later). He is a Godly young man with a passion for the people and children of Costa Rica.

Our presenters! First is Brian Tyndall, Director of Missionary Development. He taught us about fund raising, how to work with the home office and so much more! He and his family - wife Carla who also works at GOI and son Caleb - lived and served in Romania for 8 years. So, Caleb is an MK (Missionary Kid).

Wes White is Executive Director for GOI. Which means he runs the whole show...which is code for "the buck stops here". He helped us to understand all about GOI as well as blessing us with many amazing insights on cross cultural issues, vision and evangelism among other topics.

Then there was David and Judy Heady! They are a dynamic duo serving for 25 years in Haiti. I loved watching them work together as they presented invaluable information and spiritual insights from their many experiences serving on the mission field.

Sammy is 72 years young, still deeply in love with his wife and helpmate Sue who passed away just a few years ago. He has many stories and loves to tell them! As you can see in the photos he is quite animated! The truth is, I could listen to him for hours. As I got to know him I discovered a deep well of compassion, care and love that I know comes directly from his commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ - he is truly an inspiration.

I HAD to laugh, however, when right in the middle of his impassioned presentation his cell phone rang! He could not resist...he answered it! (I felt like I was back in Kenya!) He came back to tell us it was an old buddy of his, who was driving into town, calling to confirm their plans for lunch...that's when I realized that Sammy does, indeed, care for his friends!

There are many sides to Sammy - the consummate photographer, he never missed a good shot...and the wise counselor he gave good advice to Courtenay Folk about the final offer on the sale of their home.

Wednesday night we joined Bubba and Rockie Lollar (who I fell IN LOVE with and did not get a photo of) for the midweek service at their church. It was GREAT to sing praises to the Lord with my new friends! That's Bubba on the drums!

On Friday, I had a few hours between the end of the final session and my flight out of Tupelo so, of course I just HAD to visit the birthplace of Elvis! Sammy drove a group of us around the beautiful town of Tupelo, took us to lunch and then treated us to a tour through the Elvis museum, the home where Elvis was born and the Chapel built in his honor.

Mind you, I am not an Elvis fan, but it was much fun to steal a few hours to spend with Sammy and my new friends Spas & Christina
and Donna.

I decided to take this picture of Donna and Sammy snapping a shot of Spas and Christina on the porch of Elvis' birth home.

NOW FOR THE STORY OF MY FLIGHT HOME:
My flight out of Tupelo was more than hour late leaving which left me with less than 20 minutes to RUN from concourse C to concourse A at the Atlanta airport to catch my connecting flight. It was only by the grace of God that I made it - I found out later that the girl at the gate did something that seasoned travellers say NEVER happens - she opened the door to the ramp after it had been shut and locked, to let me onto the plane - to God be the glory! I prayed all the way from the Tupelo airport until I stepped on board the plane in Atlanta. And - Nancy from the Crystal Cathedral joined me in prayer - I had been emailing with her from the Tupelo airport and asked for her faithful prayers.

God is good all the time. All the time God is good.

The first step...

Did you notice my blog name changed? from "Exploring the Call" to "Answering the Call"...yes, I have discerned that God is, indeed, calling me to serve His Kingdom in Africa!

There are many unanswered questions, but the main one "will you go?" I have answered with a resounding "Yes!"

...now for the preparation...

The first step (even before the jet lag is behind me!) is to attend the five day training / orientation conference with my sending agency Global Outreach International. So - here I am in friendly Tupelo, Mississippi!

I am staying at the Wingate Inn, which is also where the conference will be held this week. Wow! it's really a nice room...I think I will like it here.

And the best part? Hot coffee in the room...!

Let me say - I have received the warmest welcome imaginable ...

6 year old Taylor and her mom Helen and dad Freddy escorted me from the airport to the hotel. Freddy is one of the pastors at Hope Church here in Tupelo. When I could not find a cab he and his wife Helen offered to give me a lift ... and were even willing to put me up for the night if needed ... God is good, all the time!

I also experienced how good God is at the Atlanta airport...after a couple of hours 'alone' in the crowded Atlanta airport I began to feel lonely. Right about that time Gwenn, who had just sat next to me, noticed the book I was reading - Hannah Hurnard's "Mountains of Spices" - and struck up a conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with her and a friend from England, both heading home to Phoenix after attending a conference in Atlanta. Soon Sid, also from Phoenix, joined in and I learned he is planning to buy a business and move his family to Atlanta. We quickly discovered we have something in common ... we are both about to embark on a new adventure - a major life change!

And I discovered something even more important - no matter where I am God is.

London Attractions!

I must say the main attraction for me in London was Amanda! We did nots of fun things - here is a sampling...but, I am getting ahead of myself!









Before we went anywhere I had to gather my mom from the arrival gate at the London Airport!

After sitting with Denise for 5 hours at the Starbuck's cafe we made our way to the Departure gate where we said our tearful goodbyes (see "Our Last Day" for photos, etc.)


Here she is! She is convinced I have not been able to actually negotiate the airport to find my way to Arrivals. Before you think she has too little faith in me, let me say I was pretty unsure of myself too! But, we serve a mighty God and He directed me to the right place at the right time (and gave me the boldness to ask every person I encountered for help!)





After exchanging some money she and I found a cab and headed for our hotel. We spent a couple of hours chatting at a nearby cafe then checked into the hotel and took a nap. Amanda came by after work and we all met her friend John (shown here with Amanda and me in our hotel room) at Wagamama's for a delicious Chinese meal to celebrate John's birthday (oops, I don't remember how old he is now!)

The following morning Amanda collected us at the hotel and we began our London Adventure. I don't remember what we did when, but following are many photos of some of Amanda's favorite spots in London.

This first shot was taken from the Buckingham Palace (sorry I don't know what the statue is, but I do love those two people in the foreground!)

The one thing she insisted we do is to ride the London Eye - you can see it in the background behind this lovely "three generation" picture!

The other photos are taken from inside our 'pod', an amazing very large windowed container that allowed us amazing views of London...wow!










Here we are in front of Westminster Abbey...






We all enjoyed our time at the Tower of London ...the exhibits were amazing and scattered throughout were people in costume explaining, describing and in general, entertaining.










This expressive fellow was leading a group of school kids on a tour of the Tower...here he is telling a true story of someone who escaped from the Tower...fun!

Here is a photo of the building where Amanda works - I love the contrast between ultra-modern and historic architecture...






After our Tower visit, we ate lunch at Wagamamas...here Amanda is resting on Yaya's shoulder - then Yaya could not resist! This has been a common occurence all of Amanda's life!











We could not leave London without a visit to a pub - here we are, waiting for our Fish and Chips (at least that's what I ordered!)









Main mode of transportation - the Tube. I snapped this photo one day while waiting for the Tube and mom took the other photo of Amanda and me as we travelled to and fro...





During one of our walking excursions we happened upon the premiere showing of the movie Kingdom...these photos almost capture the excitement of the crowd as the stars began to appear.

Amanda grabbed my camera and began shooting - she managed to get this, actually pretty good, shot of Jamie Foxx!

Yea Amanda!

I could not help but remember my first days in Nairobi as I kept looking the wrong way for oncoming traffic - these signs would have helped tremendously!

We spent most of the day Sunday at Amanda's place with her roommates and with the fooz ball!

This first is a shot of mom and me playing with Ben and Corey - much fun...Amanda has great roommates! In addition to John (pictured earlier at our hotel) she lives with Ben and Corey, Rachel and Vanessa. We did meet Rachel but I did not get her picture (so sorry!)



















While I checked my emails and worked on my computer on one couch, Amanda and mom shared the other couch. Eventually mom took a little nap...which was good cuz then we went out with Ben for delicious Indian food!

I loved watching the exchange between Amanda and Ben as they tried to outdo each other with witty ideas of how to undermine the upcoming respective visits of their 'significant others'...



Here we are engaged in my FAVORITE activity! Hand and Foot in our hotel room. We basically rearranged the furniture to accommodate this exciting pasttime!

As you can see, our time in London was well spent - and for me a welcome 'transition' from there to here.