Paul with students at the entrance to ATS.
I (Paul) have been in Kenya for a little over a week. While I am thankful to be able to work remotely, there are things you miss working remotely. Below are some examples.
I knew one of my Kenyan colleagues was sick. However, when I saw him, I thought, He does not look well. So I asked, How are you feeling? He said, Oh, I feel much better, and I am making steady improvements. If he is feeling better and making improvements when I thought he did not look well, I can only imagine how bad he looked while I was not present.
While Africa Theological Seminary (ATS) is fully accredited with the Association for Christian Theological Education in Africa (acteaweb.org), ATS has had some local issues around accreditation. I have followed these remotely, but now that I am here, I am gaining a new appreciation for the difficulty the faculty has had.
With any institution, policies are constantly changing. ATS is no different, and there have been some policy changes related to the above-mentioned accreditation issues. Again, I knew this was in the works, but getting on the ground and having to implement these things is different from knowing about them.
If I were in Kenya full-time, these things would come up over the course of several months. However, after being gone for some months, I am hit with all of these types of things all at once. It is like double (or triple or quadruple) trouble.
Pray for the above-mentioned issues. Pray that I respond with grace, wisdom, cultural understanding, and in ways that are helpful rather than critical. I am hoping to find better methods to stay in touch remotely; pray for God’s guidance. Also, pray for Donna, who leaves in a week and a half for Kenya. Donna’s mom, Mary, has a great support system while Donna is away. However, Donna has become Mary’s go-to “person,” and Donna is deeply missed while gone.
Grace & Peace — Paul