Sunday, July 16.
Two weeks ago, a missionary team from London came to BCEA. They went to Masai (where I'll be in a week), and on the day I arrived to Kenya, they went to the new Bible College in Tazania. On Friday afternoon, they came back to BCEA, and so I got to meet them. They are leaving tonight on a flight that leaves at midnight, and I just came back from the airport saying goodbye to them. It's only been two and a half days getting to know them, but somehow I miss them so much. When I first came to Kenya, I didn't feel lonely at all, but now that they're gone I feel something really heavy in my heart. I wonder if this is what people felt when my team of missionaries left Japan, and also from Sierra Leone. It's a feeling I've never felt before. When I went to Sapporo for a month on a missions trip two years ago, and when I went to Sierra Leone four months ago on a medical missions trip, and then when I came back to the States, I don't remember feeling so lonely or missing the people in Japan/Sierra Leone so much. I did miss them, but I was going back to my normal life, and my mind quickly got preoccupied that I didn't really think about people back in Japan or Sierra Leone that much. I wonder if the team from London would feel the same way, too. It's so strange... I was perfectly fine before I met them, but now that they're gone, I wish they were still here. It was so nice having them around.
One of the reasons it was nice having them was that most of them were close to my age. They are part of a young adults group from a Korean church in London (young adults meaning college and up). They were all Koreans and had British accent, which was really interesting (I've never met Asians with British accent before). I love British accent. They were all really nice and friendly too. Many of them had familiar facial features (since they are Koreans), and some of them reminded me of friends back in the US and some old friends. I guess they made me feel really at home. What's strange is that I usually put myself in a racially diverse environment (such as CCC and my fraternity), but I felt so comfortable being with them even though they are all Koreans. Even in UCLA, I didn't know very many Koreans. All of the team members were quite fluent in Korean, so they talked among each other in a mix of Korean and English. I guess that reminded me of the times when I went to conferences in Korea for 1.5 and 2nd generation Koreans all over the world (called Remnant). Those were really good times. I guess the London Team, being the bilingual group of Koreans and being close to my age, reminded me of a lot of good memories from the past.
Well, even if it wasn't for the past memories, it was just nice having them here. Although it was for a short time, I got to be with people I could connect with in ways I couldn't with those around me right now. Eben is 8 years older than me, and Richard is 8 years older than Eben. Rev. Kim and his wife is in their 50s, and all the students (except for probably just Peter) are older than me. So it's been a bit hard to connect with them in deeper levels. Besides, the students come from a different cultural background, so it's even harder to connect. Rev. Kim's daughter HaYoung is 3 years older than me, and she went to college in the States, so I could probably connect with her more. But she's usually busy doing something for the school, so I hardly see her around. Also, she's leaving for seminary (Talbott) in California early August. I think the real reason I'm feeling lonely now is that I realized I haven't had much connection with others (besides the fact that I've been "disconnected" from the rest of the world (a.k.a. the Internet) since Thursday). I need to learn to connect with more people around me. When I go to Masai, I hope I can connect with the people there in deeper levels.
I got to hear a lot about Masai from the members of the London Team. Overall, they had an amazing time there, and many of them wish they could go back and stay there longer. This one girl named JiYoung was so heartbroken for the kids in Masai and loved the people there so much that she didn't want to go back to London but stay in Kenya. She didn't really have a choice this time, but I think she'll be back again in December. I think it's really courageous that she would even want to come back by herself. I really want to learn to love the people like JiYoung does. That's one reason I want to be a medical missionary, but I'll probably talk about that some other time. Anyway, now I'm really looking forward to going to Masai. I was really encouraged because of the London Team. Three things I should remember to do when I go to Kilhani: 1. ask the pastor to take me to THE hill; apparently the view from there is really amazing. 2. Setup a trap for some kind of wild chicken, catch it, and eat it. 3. Try some of the special herbal teas; it might give you long life, higher IQ, lifelong beauty, or all of the above... Jk.
Pastor Kiarie got married on Saturday. I'll talk more about that later. I must sleep now. The London team must have just departed by now... I hope I'll get to see some of them again next year in July.
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