We're here!

We wanted to write a quick note saying that we made it safely. Our travels were just about flawless. We are both lacking on sleep but have already been busy orienting ourselves to our new home. We will write more later, we are spending time with some people from the Naval Academy, which has been keeping us on our toes. We played a soccer match against the Faith Alive Soccer Team today, and lost terribly, but none the less, it was a great time! I also wanted to say that we miss our families and friends immensely already, and thank everyone for all their support. We love you and miss you. We will try to blog again when we get a chance, sorry for the short report, but we have been very busy. Lots of love and we will try to write more soon.
Kristen and Jon Paul

There is a Season

This is a season of my life (and our lives as a married couple, we will be leaving the day after our 1 year anniversary) that I have very mixed feelings about. I am so thrilled that I have a husband who is faithful to the Lord and who has a hearfelt desire to serve the poor, hungry, those experiencing injustice, the widow, the orphan, etc. I am so excited to be a part of so many exciting things, the Peanut Butter Project, Faith Alive as an organization, a community of Christ followers who REALLY trust Him...with everything, the "Penguin School", kids, holistic approaches for health care and caring for people, the fabrics and beautiful colors, the people and being able to exprience a part of their lives with them, hope, faith, trust, love, rewards that are far better than what the world could offer me and what I was pursuing back home. Things that I feel anxiety about...no showers, finances, the ability to exercise, food, sickness, missing my friends and family, doubting, fear of unknown, not feeling adequate to serve in any capacity (education, spiritually, etc.), loneliness, safety, and not having passion. This is a season of our lives where we can grow in knowing Jesus Christ more deeply, as being more real, more genuinely, more faithfully, with more trust, as the place we find our security and hope. Most of the things I listed as anxieties are things that I often pursue as things that make me happy, sustain me, give me my identity. However, I am looking to trade those things in for knowing Jesus more, as much as it scares me and as much as much as I have tried to fight it in the process of going, it's happening, and I'm excited.

Please feel free to reply and to post comments, prayers, things going on in your life, etc. We would LOVE to hear from family and friends because we will be missing you SOOOOOO much. I am realizing that what I will miss the most are my relationships that have helped to support and encourage me, and I don't want them to disappear while we're gone!

Kristen

Before the trip

Kristen and I are in the process of making travel arrangements for our trip to the Faith Alive clinic in Jos. We are planning on arriving in Nigeria on July 30th, and we have yet to make our flights, get our travel visas, get our vaccinations and medications, move out of our apartment, pack what we're going to take with us and get rid of or store the rest. Needless to say we have a lot to do over the next three weeks.

This blog will be for any and all who are interested in knowing what we are experiencing while serving in Jos. We will make our best effort to update this blog weekly, but we are trying to live in the present experience, so we may go a longer period without adding an entry and will try to make brevity the rule of thumb. We hope you can all share in our experiences through this log and get an insight into what we are doing and experiencing in Africa.

Jon