The Mayfield...

So I'm an introvert.

Yes, yes, some people have a hard time believing this, but it's true: In my heart of hearts, I defintely get my energy from spending time alone. Now, consider that I live in Africa and serve on a team of 24-26 people. Now, imagine that I haven't had more than a six-hour span of time of being absolutely alone for the last 14 months or so. It's a wonder--to me--that I've survived.

So I came to Mayfield--AIM's guesthouse in Nairobi--to be alone and relax. Bad idea. A good idea would just be to finally realize there is no possible way to be absolutely alone in Africa, serving in Missions, haha. Anyway, Mayfield is a great place. It's full of missionaries and you eat all your meals family-style, so you spend nearly every meal answering the same questions from different people--Where are you from? Where do you work? And, wow, what do you think of working THERE?! It's actually nice to get to know new people and hear about what God is doing and make connections, but--like I said--I'm an introvert gasping for breath, so it's a bit of a challenge. :)

It can be sort of funny, though. Sometimes, especially with young missionaries or people going through culture shock, there starts a competition--real or imagined, conscious or unconscious--to discover whose situation is actually worse. Haha. It makes me laugh, to sit back and listen. Yes, missionaries are people, too. Pride can sneak in the weirdest places. I'm certainly not immune!

Now, talking with our friends J and E from the Horn team is a completely different animal. We're both on TIMO teams in very different but *perhaps* similarly challenging places. They love the Horn. We love Sudan. So normally it turns into more of a "Wow, YOUve got it so bad!" conversation--quite antithetical of the aforementioned race to the bottom. Since they can make no answer to my blog, I will simply say it now and you'll have to take my word for it: They have it much worse! :)

Anyway, despite my introvertedness, it's been good to talk to folks here at Mayfield. We've come across folks from different TIMO teams at varying stages of the two-year term (which has been really good for our perspective), a couple who plans to lead another team in the So Sud who we've heard about a lot but never met, and a whole bunch of folks from all over. I even traded blogs with a missionary/photojournalist. (Hi Adel!)

Only a few more days until we get to go home!!!