Speaking of Exhausted

We arrived in Eldoret and ate a delicious lunch. You would not believe what happened next.....

We Made It!!!

We left London and 7 hours 45 minutes later we landed on the continent of Africa. What was once a dream for many became a reality. We arrived in Nairobi at 6:30am and slowly made our way to immigration. We completed the finger printing process and headed for our luggage.

We impressed ourselves with our organization as we lined up with our luggage carts and began loading luggage from the carousel. We praise the Lord because every single suitcase made it to Nairobi! An even greater praise; as we went through customs the agent asked who we were and what we had come for. When I explained to him why we had come, he raised his hand and waved us through without opening even ONE BAG! PRAISE THE LORD.

Our Host, Randy, and three public transportation vans were waiting for us outside. We loaded and quickly headed North to the city of Eldoret.

That was a wild ride. We stopped to see the Great Rift Valley and the equator.

A man named Steve showed us that when you are in the Northern hemisphere water runs clock-wise and in the Southern hemisphere water runs counter-wise. When you are standing on the equator water flows straight down. We watched him demonstrate.

I was a wild ride up country as traffic laws are very different than in the USA. They are more of a suggestion and so we learned that more often than not people are passing on your left and on your right. I will never complain about Boise traffic again. :)

We saw Zebra, Baboons, Thompson gazelle, and wildebeest on our way up-country. The Baboon were literally walking along the side of the road. I have to be honest, they are not as cute in real life, they were a little scary looking. Although just the opportunity to see them on the side of the road was worth it.

We are excited to be here. We are thankful to God for protecting us and giving us this amazing opportunity. We are exhausted.

Kenya or Bust

We arrived at the Boise airport and were truly overwhelmed by the number of families who came to pray over us and with us. Our Church family has showed so much love and support and we truly thankful. Arriving at the airport was an overwhelming experience of excitement, anticipation, and apprehension. We checked in 31 bags, posed for a pictures and rushed through security. I am starting to realize that nothing is a breeze with 25 people. The same few team members seem to have been stopped everywhere we go for a pat down and their bags searched. It was entertaining at first but now we are starting to wonder....:)

We have arrived in London. It has already been a long trip and our energy is lacking, although our excitement and anticipation remains high.

We left Boise and due to the weather in Denver we sat on the plane for several hours. After we finally took off it took us three hours to make an 1 hour and 20 minute flight. They circled around Denver forever before we could finally land. Matt said at one point he saw seven planes circling nearby. There was use of those beautiful little white vomit bags which was no fun...and the turbulence was intense. We arrived 5 hours past our initial plan and it was God's grace that our plane headed to London was still on the ground.

Imagine 25 slightly nauseas people sprinting through the terminal. Sprinting~Home Alone style. We had 28 people on our flight from Denver who needed to connect to the flight to London. The steward on our plane said that United would wait for us because they could not reschedule such a large group (ours being 25) and a few others.

7 hours and 52 minutes later we arrived in London. Heathrow is HUGE and we are learning our buddy/team system and have done well keeping together.

We found our terminal and enjoyed some airport duty-free shopping and some food. Chance, decided to do as the English would and he ordered crumpets. (We have an awesome video of Chance and his crumpets but it would not upload...will try again at a later time.) Shane enjoyed some fish and chips.

Converting pounds to dollars has been a challenge but we will be leaving in three hours for our final destination. Once we arrive in Nairobi we will have five hour trek up to the city of Eldoret. We are tired. Pray for our stamina and some sleep in the next 12 hours. Great things lie ahead and we feel overwhelmed and grateful.

Commissioning Sunday Video

Song by Fee from their CD Hope Rising

Photos by Jennifer Mckinney

46 texts and counting

We are less than 24 hours from leaving Boise. Everyone is getting excited and the questions via text have been pouring in....

Can I bring tank tops?

Can I wear jeans with holes in them?

My luggage is 48lbs is that ok?

How hot is Africa?

Is it alright if I wear a belt tomorrow in the airport?

Can I switch groups?

If I bring $$ how am I going to transfer it to the right currency?

And many, many more.....

We are thrilled that so many friends are coming to pray over us when we leave the airport. Let's see how many hours we actually manage to sleep tonight. :)

Thank you

Dear family, friends, neighbors, and Church family:

Thank you! Thank you for your supporting us. Thank you for giving generously. Thank you for setting aside time to pray for us. Thank you for stopping us in the Church lobby and asking about our vision and our journey. We are humbled and thrilled to have this opportunity.

We leave in less than four days and so our suitcases have found their way out of the closet and into our rooms. We are slowly crossing of items, one by one, on our packing list. We have each taken 4 or 5 trips to wal-mart and Target to make sure we have everything we need. We each have a mental vision of what Africa must be like and what we might feel, although I am certain that reality will be far from what we can imagine.

Our prayer is that during these 12 days that we will allow God to teach us, break us, and speak to us. Kenya is a land that God loves, deeply. I pray that same love will overcome each of our hearts. I don't want to come back the same way I left.

As the internet allows we will be posting our daily journey on this blog. Join us and see what great things lie ahead!!!

Trip Itinerary

Friday, June 11th

leave Boise @ 4:30pm

arrive in Denver @ 6:20 pm

leave Denver @ 7:59 pm

Saturday, June 12th

arrive in London/Heathrow @ 12:15 pm (5:15am Boise time)

leave London/Heathrow @ 8:00 pm (1pm Boise time)

Monday, June 13th

arrive in Nairobi @ 6:30 am (9:30pm June 12th Boise time)

Monday, June 21st

leave Nairobi @ 11:45 pm (2:45pm Boise time)
Tuesday, June 22nd

arrive in London/Heathrow @ 6:45 am (11:45pm June 21st Boise time)

leave London/Heathrow @ 1:05 pm (6:05am Boise time)

arrive in Denver @ 4:01 pm

leave Denver @ 6:15 pm

arrive in Boise @ 8:13 p