Glimpse of the goodbye to come

Monday was the last day here for one of the VIM missionaries who has been here since January. Yesterday, many of the kids were sad because of the fact that she had left and they don’t know when they will see her again. They were sitting around very sad, singing about her leaving, etc. As I was there, I brought coloring books, and came up with some other activities to try to keep their minds off of this. By the afternoon, the majority of them were back to normal playing and having fun. As it became time for me to head home, I began to say goodbye to the kids for the night. There is one kid in particular named Sammy who is always the first to greet me with a huge hug, and the first, and last to say goodbye each night giving me multiple hugs, not wanting me to go. He is almost always hanging on me, or wanting to be around me, and quickly became one of my favorites.

But, last night as I said goodbye to Sammy, I believe he thought I was leaving for good just as the other person was. So as I gave him a hug and said goodbye he retreated back, his eyes filled up with tears, and he gave me a look like I can’t really explain. I had to say “Kesho” (tomorrow) many times before he realized that I would be back tomorrow to see him. He quickly changed and was smiling again, but something inside of me hurt when I saw him react that way. When our team heads to Nairobi in just under 2 weeks, it is going to be a lot harder for me to say goodbye than I imagined (especially to him). I have fallen in love with each and every one of these kids, and it will be very hard to say goodbye to them. Yet, I still have just under 2 weeks to be with them, and for that, I am thankful to God. I hope that I might make the most of my time left here, and that it may be honoring to God.

In Christ with love,

Jordan