Expectations
One aspect of this trip that is important to me is to see how Kenya will change our perspective. We answered a few questions from a friend to outline some of our thoughts before we go.
“What do you think you will learn?”
Scott- “I told God a while back that I want to be involved with things that make me cry. Not sadness in particular but I want to care. I want to be passionate. I want to be real. I want to experience. I want to be involved with things that matter. With the Kenya trip, I think I’m set up for a whammy on all of that. I’m already passionate about my son and our family. I’m passionate about worship. I’m passionate about travel and experiencing the world. I think meeting the Kenyan people is going to be significant. I’m going to experience people and a part of the world that is very different from where I live. I’ve only been out of the country on vacations, and mostly to places with warm water and snorkeling. Snorkeling is my definition of vacation. I’ve never been on a humanitarian or a missions trip other than a day trip to Mexico. I think I’m going to learn more about myself and about God. I want to see God do things that I don’t see everyday in Orange County. I’m excited about being outside of Western culture. All the stuff that I take for granted in my culture, in my home, in my life… is all going to be different there I think. I will need to learn how “to be” in Kenyan culture, to understand Kenyans and their lives.”
Madison- “I’m going to learn to have better hospitality like the Kenyan people have and learn how to teach people. We have a lot to learn before we go. It will make me think more about what I have and what I buy.” ________________________________________________
“What excites you about this trip? What scares you?”
Scott- “I don’t get excited about stuff. I think that’s hard for my wife Kyle. I kind of experience things as they happen, and lay in plans to try to prevent bad things I anticipate as being possible. I’m just starting to process how I feel about the trip because it’s coming up REALLY fast now. I am realizing how much we have to do before we go. I’m looking forward to experiencing Kenya. I’m a little nervous about leaving behind my businesses for 3 weeks. I have great people working with and for me, but still I won’t be there. This will probably seem funny or stupid when I get back, but I’m actually a bit afraid that our DVR will fill up and stop recording shows I’ll be missing. Not life threatening certainly, but I am trying to figure out how to work around that…”
Madison- “I’m excited to be going to meet African kids! We will be out in the middle of nowhere, doing our own thing with no rules except the ones e3 gives us. I’m scared of the diseases and bug bites and traveler’s diarrhea. I don’t want to get sick at all. I hope the shots help. I am also going to be away from my friends and the rest of my family and other people.”
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“Do you know other people that are going?”
Scott- “We just met the team members for the first time. We played a game to get to know everyone where we had to say everyone’s name who came before us and one fact about them. We all had to say our name, tell why we were going and say one fun or interesting fact about ourselves. We were able to write them down, which was good for me. I’m horrible at remembering names from a first meeting. I was surprised at how many teens are coming with us. I think we have a good mix of people.”
Madison- “We met some of the people last night. All the people are older than me, but younger than I thought. There are two girls who are 14 and 17 and three guys who are 17, 17 and 14. One of the older guys was like me. He likes to run too. There are some dads and moms going too. We only met some of the people over the phone. We are going to get to know them better in the next few weeks before we have the trip. We played a game to get to know them. It was hard. Some of the things I learned were that one person fell over a waterfall, one person does not have a drivers license and one person likes to take long walks on the beach.”
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“What are you going to miss from home while you are away?”
Scott- “I don’t think I’m going to miss much from home. I like being away from the everyday routine and focused on “one” thing rather than trying to keep all the balls in the air like I do daily at the office. I may miss some of the creature comforts of home. I can have a hard time sleeping in unfamiliar places. What’s great is that we’re going as a family! That’s the number one thing I miss when I travel. I hate leaving my family and I don’t enjoy the actual travelling process through airports and sitting on a plane, but I love being at the destination. I may miss water. I love water, and long showers. I’m not sure what the water situation in Kenya is like.”
Madison- “My friends and the family staying home. My cat. Technology. Cleanliness. I’m not sure how I’m going to like the places we stay. My skateboard and getting to work on my skateboards.”
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“Scott, what do you hope your son will learn?”
Scott- “I hope Madison will see the whole world differently. Up to now, his only reference point has been growing up here in Southern California. I hope he’ll see people to be different but the same. I hope he’ll see what joy and satisfaction are outside of the OC. I hope he’ll see his life as unique and special. I hope he’ll see God do amazing things, and do them through him. I hope he’ll learn to treasure his family even more. I think this will help him mature in being who he is and in becoming a man. “
