Today we will look at a letter given to me by a boy named Jeff. Jeff's letter seems to ask most of the questions that you're probably wondering yourself. Here is the letter...

We'll do a short expository study on this epistle, line by line, and then I'll answer the questions that it poses.

It starts, "Dear Eric Wildjen..." I'm actually quite surprised that he almost got my last name right. He must be smart young man because even my college professors couldn't get my name right. I had one professor, who, by the way, had a Doctorate in something, who couldn't even get my first name right, always calling me "Aaron" and calling my last name things like "Wingding", "Willegen", "Wildebeast", etc. So kudos to Jeff for almost getting it right. For the record, it's "Wildgen" with a G not a J.

"How is it over there?" It's actually not that bad here. Although it's not like America at all, and sometimes that it frustrating, still it has it's own charm here. It's like perpetual summer, which I don't mind. The people are nice. The food is edible. All in all, I can't complain.

"Where do you work?" I work in Kenya. Kenya is in Africa. It straddles the equator and lies on the east coast of Africa. Kenya's neighbors are Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia. Specifically, I spend my time in two places: (1) Nakuru, which is Kenya's fourth largest town, with a population of about 500,000 and is about 100 miles from the capital, Nairobi. (2) Samburu District, which is a region in northern Kenya. It is very dry and arid there and most of the people living there are nomadic.

"What is your job?" I am a missionary. More specifically, I do two types of ministry: (1) Discipleship. That is, I try to help and encourage people to grow and mature in their faith. (2) Evangelism/Church Planting. I share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people who don't know or who may have never heard about Jesus Christ.

"How do you learn the language?" Very Carefully. In Kenya, many people speak at least 3 languages: English, Swahili, and their tribal language. So I already know English (but the people here speak African English which is a little bit different from American English). I'm learning Swahili and I can speak quite a bit of it. I usually don't have a problem around town using my Swahili, but I'm not fluent with it and when people start talking fast I have trouble understanding them. Lastly, not only must I learn Swahili, but a lot of my work is with the Samburu people who speak 'Maa'. So I have to learn that also. Maa is much more difficult than Swahili and I've really struggled to learn it. Pray that I'll be able to learn it.

"What is different about there than the USA?" Lots of things. The people are different, the language is different. The food is different. People drive on the other side of the road here. One of the most frustrating things is that Kenyans don't like cold drinks. So it's hard to find a cold Coke or ice water or even ice-cream. Sometimes when the weather is really hot I just want a cold pop, but I can't find one anywhere. Also, life is more difficult sometimes. We have power outages a lot, we don't get water all the time, and I have to wash all my clothes by hand (I hate doing that!)

"Do you like it better there?" What I like about being here is that I know that this is where God wants me to be right now. I knew ever since High School that God wanted me to be in ministry. There was a restlessness in me until God brought me to Africa. Life here is difficult and there are definitely things I miss from America, but I know that God wants me here right now.

"Sincerely, Jeff" Thanks for being sincere.

"PS. as you can see, my name is Jeff". Yes I can see that. Thanks for giving me this letter, Jeff.