The Refresh

Strolling through the Kenyan tea fields

When you live in a place like Mozambique, it's not all pristine beaches and tropical smoothies. Life can wear on you, from frequently failing electricity to corruption to ministry disappointments. So when you're given the opportunity to travel to a different part of the continent, one with a cooler climate and familiar language, and attend a training conference put on by your missions sending organization (the IMB), you eagerly sign up for the conference and look forward to it with anticipation. Especially when the name of the conference is Refresh. Ah, sounds so lovely!

The last time we traveled to a conference was in April, and that means this has been the longest stretch that we've stayed in Mozambique since we moved overseas—six months. (Timeline, in case you're curious: Arrive April 2018. Travel to Zambia July 2018. Travel to Kenya October 2018. Travel to South Africa December 2018. Travel to South Africa April 2019.) And we've now been on the field for a year and a half, which means we're halfway through our first missionary term (!). Seemed like the perfect time for a retreat from ministry and life in Mozambique.

The week before the conference began, our kids had a midterm break from school, so we traveled to Nairobi early and spent the first week on vacation. I shared some of the delights of Kenya when I posted about the conference we attended there a year ago (read it here), things like the cooler weather, lush vegetation (including tea fields), shopping, and restaurants. 

Enjoying the beauty of the tea fields

Sister-brother love

The gorgeous hills of Kenya

Judah practicing her photography skills

Our Burger Queen at Burger King

Asher happy with his lunch

Checking out a music pop-up shop in a Nairobi mall

Gracie trying crocodile meat

Bring on the meat!

Satisfied smiles

We found one shop that carried American imports like Heinz hot dog relish, Jack Daniels barbecue sauce, Old El Paso products, Nestle semisweet chocolate chips, and Old Bay seasoning. We also enjoyed the food and coffee at Java House, a ubiquitous Nairobi coffee shop (think Starbucks but with a full lunch/dinner menu). And we took a day to visit an elephant orphanage and a giraffe reserve where you could pet and feed the animals. No, I didn't kiss a giraffe, though I could have (have you seen their tongues? ick)!

The Refresh conference, which was just outside of Nairobi in a town called Limuru, was a sweet, encouraging time to be with other first-term missionaries from around the continent and learn from missionaries with more experience on the field. A wonderful volunteer team from South Carolina worked with our kids all week while we were in our meetings. Our kids also got to go out into Nairobi and share their testimonies and the Gospel using methods they learned at the training. We were amazed by their courage and the way the Holy Spirit worked in their lives to share truth with people who needed to hear.

Judah dancing with other missionary kids
at the Refresh conference

Church Clap

Judah with one of her teachers at the meeting

Judah saved these from the treats she got
during our time in Kenya and made this collage 😂

We left the Refresh conference with new ideas for ministry, further language and culture learning, and managing time and stress. When the time came to say goodbye to Kenya, we were actually ready to be back "home" in Mozambique, in our own house and our own beds. Sometimes absence makes the heart grow fonder, even if the absence is from a challenging place to live like Mozambique. We loved Nairobi, but we still love the city we've been called to, Pemba, our diamond in the rough.