Melanie - Update 7: Debrief Blog 1

Journal prompt: What is one lesson I’ve learned from my East African friends that I will never forget?

A lesson from one of my friends I made that I’ll never forget is an acronym that’s called F.A.T. I had the privilege of sitting next to a Kenyan pastor named Samson on our way to the GOD campus. Throughout our time on the bus, Samson shared with me stories of his life growing up to when Jesus called him to be a pastor, and photos of his sweet kids and wife. Flashes of the towns we passed went by in the window behind him. People selling fruit at wooden stands, boda bodas (motorcycles) revving their engines and goats with rope ties around their necks filled the frame of the bus window. 

Samson asks me about my life in America and I tell him about how God called me to The Institute. He attentively listened with a wide bright smile. He encouraged me to keep working hard and that God will always take care when we obey him. 

He then said all you have to be is F.A.T. I laughed and said, ‘What Samson?!” He said, “Be Faithful. Be Available. And Be Teachable.” He said God will do much with your life if you are those three things. I will never forget Samson and the lesson he taught me on that bus ride.