I'm Two Years Old.

I'm sitting here in my living room in Kenya under a ceiling fan that was just installed thinking about how I can summarize my first 3 weeks here. As I adjust to life here in Kenya, stick out like a sore thumb, and learn all over again how to do basic tasks I've been doing for years, the theme of the 2 year old continues to come up again and again. Anjela, the Omondi's daughter, just turned 2 this week. She's had 2 years of experience now in Kenya. I've had a grand total of 3 months. So, I'm a two year old? Yep. Exactly. Other friends I have that are just entering the mission field have expressed the same kinds of feelings. One realized that his teammates' daughter knows the English alphabet better than he knows the Arabic alphabet! Hi, I'm Ben Warren. I may look 28 years old, but really I just turned 2.

Reminding myself of this is helpful. I think a large part of me expects to be able to jump right in to ministry here. I feel awkward when someone asks, "What do you do here?" I say, I'm working with Dennis and Serve. They say, "Well what do you do?" I say..."Figuring out what I will be doing" Remembering I'm a two year old takes some of the pressure off of myself that I need to have an established ministry already. Jerry Clark from Denton Bible came out last week. As we traveled around and spoke to many pastors and church leaders, he told me something he had heard from Mel Summrall: "When you come to a new place, you can't expect for the people to catch your vision or listen much to you. First they have to know you, then they have to like you. This has to happen before anyone is willing to follow you or hear what you say."

So this is what I'm doing. Getting to know people. Learning Swahili. Learning how to live in Kenya. I'm a student. I'm a 2 year old. I'm a missionary.

Here are some pictures of my home in Kenya