Airports, English and a thatched roof.

I love to travel. But it is exhausting and you have to adjust and change times and food and how many minutes you have on free wifi at the airport. 

When we left Vegas Thursday night, I felt a deep peace. I slept most of the way to London, which is rare. Usually I'm so nervous and anxious going that I'm exhausted by the time we get there but maybe I was so tired already that it promoted sleep. Desperately needed sleep. 

On the way to London, I sat next to a beautiful Hungarian woman who spoke so little English that she apologized in English for not speaking it. She smiled and said thank you as she was leaving the plane because I had spent a small amount of time using everything I know how to do education wise asking as much as I could. I talked slower, pointed, used examples and smiled a lot. I don't know if I was ever taught that teaching English to a second language speaker requires smiling but I've found that it's quite helpful to increase the confidence and decrease the anxiety of the speaker if they can feel somewhat at ease. 

We arrived in busy London to leave for Johannesburg and there were possibly at least 3 more mission teams flying to South Africa to disperse all over the continent. Again, God is at work all over the world. Reality. I didn't sleep much on this flight but I did watch two movies: "Mandela: A Long Walk to Freedom" and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." I definitely recommend both if you haven't seen them. Both are based on the lives of men who seem to have no significance, one who's identity changed a nation and the other who searched out his own identity and found it in Afghani warlords, Icelandic volcanoes and almost drowning in the ocean. Just a reminder that what we see as small is actually massive and has the potential to change us and the world. 

When we finally landed in Zambia, I had a long conversation with the customs officer over my name being Kenya and being in Africa and we met Christopher, who took us to the lodge, and Kennedy, who will be taking us to the lake today. And by taking us, I just want to say we will be on a 15 hour bus ride and he will be with us. (Yes-- you can take a moment to pray for that!) 

So I'm laying in my mosquito net covered bed, staring at the thatched roof and begging God to keep doing the small things in and through me. Because those tiny details create life change, they move me in the direction of dreams, they answer prayers. And they sometimes take me to people and places that I just get to smile with. 

Love you, Melis