(photos: Kathryns with a wedding friend; Grace with a giraffe)Our team has been a fairly close-knit group. Now we don’t live in the same neighborhoods. We don’t see each other every day or even work the same jobs very often. But we are a team. We have been living a shared experience for the last two years. We have faced similar struggles and prayed for and with each other in hard times and good.
Yesterday we said goodbye to Kathryn. It has been our privilege to serve with her. We were the north-enders together (we lived on the northside of town). Every Monday, Tom taught an English class with her physio department at the hospital and afterwards she would usually come over for lunch at our house. We would have our days off together- talking and relaxing. She taught us (with Amy) many of the cultural and linguistic particularities of our British cousins. She rushed over to our house to help evaluate Megan’s knee after her fall. She was a key person in making the King’s Table meals happen. We watched as she gave of herself to serve and share with island people. It was our privilege to serve with her.
Goodbyes often are surreal. It won’t be until later this week as we are on the islands that we will realize that she isn’t coming, she isn’t going to join us. Her departure is the beginning of the end of this phase of the team. In another month Chris, Beka & boys will leave, a week later Abby and Amy will go and the following month Sergio, Aly & kids head home. After spending two years with our lives intertwined we will go our separate ways—but mostly we don’t think about that. Mostly we focus on what we want to do together these next few months. We focus on praying for Kathryn and wishing her well. We focus on the one who brought us all together to this little island off of Africa.
PRAYERS ANSWERED
The conference ended on a high note, with a very strong teaching on the final day. It has given us lots to think about and discuss with our team. We had a chance to sit down with some of the leadership to discuss our plans for the future. The plans seem to be coming along fine. We had a couple of wonderful days off together with our team near a place called Lake Naivasha in Kenya. It was restful and fun and nice to have some time of just relaxing and enjoying the company of our teammates.
PRAYERS REQUESTED
We are still getting over our colds, although we seem to be on the upswing. We will travel back to the islands today. Pray for safe travels. Kathryn is visiting friends in Kenya and will travel back to the UK later this week. Pray for her travels and adjustment back to life there as well as her plans for her upcoming wedding. Pray for the weeks ahead as we move through these transitions.
