I'm not typically one to leave "creature comforts" behind and yet that is exactly what I did when I lived in Kenya for a year. After undergrad, I believed I was called to serve people in some capacity and decided that the best place to do that was in a non-Western country. I wanted to break out of my comfort zone and decided to participate in a program with the Lutheran Church (ELCA). This program sends young adults overseas for a year in order to live and serve the people of that country. While I never dreamed of living in Africa, after some research Kenya seemed to be the perfect place! I was placed at a girls' secondary school about an hour north of Nairobi, the capital city. At the school I taught courses on religion and acted as the school's chaplain. I lived on the school compound in my own house and participated in daily Kenyan life - walking to the market, riding public transportation, and befriending local Kenyans.

On one morning during a tea break with the other teachers, I found myself in the middle of an informal discussion about different pedagogical styles. They were debating between a more traditional way of teaching which many of them had grown up with and a newer, more "Western" style that the government wanted to implement. As the dialogue progressed, my colleagues, who at this point were quickly becoming my friends, turned to me and asked me how I was taught back in the U.S. and what I thought about the new teaching method. I answered the interested audience honestly and to the best of my ability and then the conversation continued its dynamic route. Yet, the experience of being present and included in such a discussion served an important moment in my year abroad. By living and serving in the midst of my new friends, I was invited to participate in their life and decision-making as a unique equal. The experience was both honoring and humbling and serves as paradigmatic of my life in Kenya. That year revealed a wholly new way of life and touched both my personal and professional life deeply.

Since returning to the States, I've entered a Master of Divinity program at a Divinity School. I continue to be positively shaped by the residual effects of my global experience. Kenya not only opened up my eyes to the way in which most of the world lives, but profoundly impacted my vocational discernment. For instance, I've always known that my future job would involve interacting with people, and since Kenya I've begun to see how that might take shape as a teacher or a minister whether in the United States or abroad. My time in Kenya also exposed and challenged many of the underlying assumptions I brought to my intellectual, emotional, and spiritual life. Kenya offered a radically different vision of life that has stuck with me and continues to inform my personal and professional course.

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