tTonight we are in Mbale, a few short kilometers from Majengo and the Agape Care Net Clinic and the internet is fairly good so I'm taking advantage of the connection. It has been non-stop since we arrived in Kenya late Thursday night so this is the first moment I've had to write. Five of us (Linda, Ben, Rob, Kim and myself) flew from SeaTac Wednesday and met up with the rest of our team, Jay and Toni in Amsterdam. The real fun began when we landed in Nairobi as we waited for our baggage to arrive.
After waiting for about an hour and a half for our last bag to appear, we concluded that it wasn't going to come so the rest of the team went through customs with what we had and I went to the lost luggage counter to fill out the paperwork. Meanwhile, one of our bags was tagged at customs, and when I finally finished with the lost luggage people, I found Ben in the customs office with the bag of Bibles for which the customs people were telling him he owed $250 in duty fees. Apparently the new president, Ruto, had changed the rule on bringing gifts into the country. We finally agreed on $130 (everything in Kenya is negotiable) and got out of there. We were grateful they didn't inspect the other 4 suitcases of books! Meanwhile, the rest of the team had been waiting ourside all that time, tired but still smiling!
The temperature was in the high fifties so our API associates, John and Frank showed up in winter wear.
We finally arrived at our hotel around 2:30 in the morning thankful we all arrived safely with most of our luggage. Friday was spent preparing for our drive to Majengo on Saturday. We began by having a great breakfast.
Kim and Toni enjoying the sun.
Saturday morning, we packed up to leave for Majengo, but we had some logistical challenges. Our API Prado had developed some mechanical issues we couldn't resolve in time for our departure, so we had to procure another vehicle. We had planned to use our trailer to transport most of the luggage so we could fit everyone in the vehicles, but none of our hired vehicles had a trailer hitch so we had to go to plan B, which was to divide our luggage into what we needed in Majengo for three days, and send the rest to Olulaimutia with John's pickup. Ministry in Kenya demands flexibility!
We are blessed to have two master packers on our team, John Kamau and Frank Maina.
We left Nairobi at nine Saturday morning for what turned out to be a 9 hour drive to Majengo, with stops along the way. Naturally Java House was one of those stops.
We arrived at our hotel, Enzogu Gardens (Elephant Gardens) around six, settled in, ate dinner and fell into bed. We want to thank all of you who are faithfully praying for this ministry trip. We will try and bring you up to date later. Right now I am finishing this Monday morning because the internet keeps going in and out and I'm trying to finish before I lose it agaiin! God has been faithful to keep us in His gracious grip.