“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” – Philippians 1:6
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014
Today began a little later when I got up just after 9:00am for breakfast. By 11:00am, Benji was ready to take Claire and me to the school – and for me it would be the last time! I spent about 2 hours at school going class-to-class saying goodbye to the amazing kids. I had a speech written out in Kiswahili that I read to each class (the Class 3 kids helped me to translate what I wanted to say).
“Habari ya asubuhi / mchana!
Ninafuraha kukutana nanyinyi.
Nyinyi ni marafiki wangu kutoka Africani.
Nita kuombea kutoka Canada.
Napenda Kenya!
Nawapenda nyote!
Yesu ana kupenda!
Sita wasahau.
Nitaku miss.
Kwaherini!”
Translation:
“Good morning / afternoon!
I am happy that we met.
You are my friends from Africa.
I will pray for you from Canada.
I love Kenya!
I love you all!
Jesus loves you!
I will not forget you.
I will miss you.
Goodbye all of you!”
I also had my picture taken with every grade – Baby Class all the way up to Class 8!
At home, I finished packing my suitcases and other bags, and then the kids, Claire, Benji, and I watched one last Disney movie together. It was a classic and so perfect for being in Africa…THE LION KING! Claire and I enjoyed shouting out, “We saw that in real life!!!” each time an animal or something appeared in the movie that we recognized from our time in Masai Mara.
Julie and Mwenda showed up for dinner and another visit tonight, and Justina made chapatti (like delicious flat bread) for me one last time as a goodbye gift because I like it so much! Haha! (Bless her heart J) Following the yummy dinner, I gave out my thank you cards and gifts to everyone. It was mostly Canadian paraphernalia, so it looked like Canada threw up all over the table once it was all opened up! HAHA! The kids loved the hats, books, toys, and keychains that I brought for them, and Mama and Paul liked their mugs, giant chocolate toonies, and maple syrup, too. Mama and Paul even got me a gift of an amazing giraffe carving. It looked like 2 giraffes hugging, and it was all made out of wood! Beautiful.
At the airport, I checked in my bags, went through security, and was eventually on the plane, ready for my midnight flight. I met a lady in line who was really sweet, and we spent some time chatting about our reasons for coming to Kenya. She listened as I told her all about my experiences in Nairobi, and about the amazing time I had at the school teaching the kids who live in the slums, and she explained to me that she was visiting her one-year-old grandson who lives here with her daughter who works in Nairobi. Hearing this made me very thankful that I only live, at most, an hour away from my Granma Nolson and about 15 minutes from my Grandma and Grandpa McLelland. I couldn’t imagine living across the world from them, and only seeing them once a year, if that! I thank God that my family is so close to me, and that is something else I will no longer take for granted.
Once on the plane, I got comfy in my seat, and after waiting about a half hour due to one person being stuck in the security line, we were off. I started out my flight by watching the movie “Divergent,” which I hadn’t seen since it was in theatres. I love the entertainment choices on the British Airways planes! There are so many good options of movies and TV shows to help the time go by quicker. I was lucky enough to score an empty seat beside me on this flight, so sleeping was no problem as I sprawled out with my legs up beside me. I managed to get about 4.5 hours of sleep, which was just over half of the flight. When I woke up, I watched three episodes of “The Big Bang Theory,” and we were landing soon after. The 8 hours just flew by…haha, get it?
Each time Claire and I would talk to Justina about the fact that we were leaving soon, we could see her heart break in two, as the three of us got along really well. It was so special to receive a card from her and the kids, and it was nice to know that I will be missed, as I know I will miss them so very much!
Reading Claire’s card is when it really hit me that I am leaving for good. Tears filled my eyes for the first time as I read each word on the plane. I feel the exact same as Claire when she wrote,
“Who would have thought…that God would bless me with a lifelong friend and sister-in-Christ, who would encourage me and excite with me over God’s goodness. What an unexpected gift and blessing it has been to have you here, each day serving God by my side.”
It’s so true that Claire has been an amazing blessing to have with me on this mission. I could never have expected to become so close in such a short time with someone I had never met, but God knew we needed each other to process through the challenges with, to encourage and receive encouragement from, and to simply share in the moments of praise and worship to our Father as we experienced complete awe over His beautiful creations.
I am going to miss my American sister, but I have faith that God will reunite us one day, and we will spend time reminiscing and reflecting on our amazing African mission.
Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014
Upon arrival in London, England, I maneuvered through the big Heathrow airport to find my terminal, go through a bunch of security precautions, and locate my gate. I bought an England souvenir keychain along the way, just to prove I’ve been here…haha! Once at my gate, C63, I grabbed some Starbucks and found a table nearby so I could do a quick Facebook update to let people know I was safe and halfway home! I also spent some time journaling about my travels so far, and then it was just about 10:00am England time (when my gate was scheduled to be closing), but I still didn’t see many people around. My heart started beating a little faster as I went up to a man in uniform and he told me I was at the wrong gate, eek! This time around, no one had told me the gate I was supposed to be at, so I guess I read the sign wrong…typical Jenna! Never fear, it turned out my correct gate (C55) was literally across the hall, on the other side of Starbucks, so I made it through and onto the plane with no problems! Hakuna Matata…No worries!
The plane was scheduled to take off at 10:20am, but just before we should have been taking off, one of the cabin crew members tripped over a piece of someone’s luggage and broke their foot! Can you believe it?! Ouch! We had to sit, waiting for that staff member to be picked up and taken to the hospital, and for a replacement crew member to arrive. It took over an hour for all of this to take place, so our flight was delayed. It didn’t bother me though – I didn’t have 2 seats to myself this time, but I was comfortable and ready for more movie-watching.
I started this flight off with watching the animated film, “Rio 2,” followed by “Noah” (two VERY different styles of movies! Haha!). When “Noah” was over, I broke out the Urban Bites and chocolate that Claire had sent with me as a goodbye gift, and I did some journaling and magazine reading. I had time to watch a few “Modern Family” episodes, and then sit in the quiet and pray before landing in Toronto at last.
I got through customs just fine upon arrival, but when it came to bag pick-up, it literally took over an hour! My suitcase didn’t take too long to find on the belt, but soon after, they stopped the moving carousel for about 20 minutes or so, which felt like an eternity, so the people from my flight were all stuck standing and waiting for the rest of the luggage to appear! I finally got my other bag, and rolled my cart out to find my Mom and Dad waiting with a camera ready, a “Welcome Home” balloon, and big smiles on their faces, and on mine too I’m sure! I had been waiting a long time for their hugs!
We got to the car and drove home. I thought I would be tired and sleep for the hour in the car, but I was more excited than anything, and just told stories the whole way! Once at the house, I said hello to the sisters (who had made a nice “Welcome Home” sign for me to come home to), had dinner, gave out African gifts to everyone, and I began to unpack. The travel and the time changes soon caught up to me, and so I climbed into bed early, reflected on the magnitude of what I just got to experience, and eventually drifted off to sleep in my own bed!
*Deep breath*
I’M HOME.
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” – 1 Peter 2:9
SMILE, Jesus Loves You!
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