westshorefree.com - Young Adults

Out of Africa Comes ... Well, a Love Story

The circuitious routes to marriage of two members of the Becomers groups

Miriam Miller was born at the same Kenyan hospital, in the same room, and probably in the same bed, seven months after Josh Smith. About two years later, she and her family move back to Oregon; Josh and his family return to Texas on furlough a year later.

There's more.

Josh comes back to Kenya at age four, to Mombassa, and to a Kenyan school, where he stands out as a sprouting white kid who could not speak the local language of Kiswahili but was fluent in the language everyone wanted to learn: English. Then, for fifth grade, he gets sent to Rift Valley Academy (RVA) at the Kijabe Mission Station, his birth place, which is about 8-16 hours away from his parents, depending on road conditions.

Go on.

Children of the Field

A Conversation with MKs (Missionary Kids): The Smiths

In our interview with Josh and Miriam, we asked them how their upbringing in Kenya had shaped their lives today.

Josh told us that they both are laid-back people. “That’s due partly to wiring, but it also comes from the pace of life in Kenya and at Rift Valley Academy (RVA).” Both Josh and Miriam attended Rift Valley Academy outside Nairobi, Kenya.

Says Miriam, “The school kept us busy with activities, but there were lots of sitting around time just talking. We’d spend hours in the gym, for example,” says Miriam, “talking with friends.”

“In Kenya, life typically stops twice daily, for tea time,” adds Josh.