Happy New Year! Well we finally made it - here it is - about 4:30 PM back at home. It’s 12:30 AM Kenya time! After embarking on our adventure at 7:30 AM EST yesterday, we’ve finally arrived at our destination, Karen Holiday Homes in Nairobi. I’m sitting here having already been confronted by my own materialism and selfishness and we really haven‘t even begun to see anything yet. At the airport, all I could think of was how very hot it was and how I couldn’t wait to take off my sweater. And now we are here in a very nice hotel…much nicer than many of the homes here. I am thinking of my nice queen sized pillow top mattress that affords us luxury and comfort every single night at home in my air conditioned house as I sit here in my very hard bed in an itty bitty (but nice, don‘get me wong) room surrounded by a mosquito net that we just sprayed with OFF with the windows closed because you definitely don‘t want to let in any stray mosquitos. You can imagine, it smells pretty good in here! Ha!
Our trip getting here was pretty uneventful, although Dr. Bunge’s bags were completely lost once we made it to Nairobi. We were met by two gentlemen with very big smiles who welcomed us warmly and carried our bags out to our matatu - a Toyota vehicle that has room for 12 people to cram in. I guess it is similar to 15 passenger vans in the States, just much smaller and you pack in like sardines. Evidently, they are quite the popular vehicle here. Did you know they drive on the wrong side of the road in Kenya? That took some getting used to. There were a few times I jumped because I thought traffic was coming head on! At first, the roads seemed pretty normal, but after we got a few miles away from the airport, true Kenyan roads showed their faces. I thought of Mason who, whenever we go over bumpy roads, just says “Ahhhhhhh” for as long as he can to hear his voice bounce. He would have had a hay-day here. I’ve never been on such bumpy roads - and they were even paved! Have you ever seen the movie, “Cars,” where Lightning McQueen fixes the road in about 2 hours? That’s exactly what it was like.
Our driver, Pastor Charles, told us all about the political uprising that happened here a few years ago between the different tribal groups. Thankfully that’s all over now, but there still is a lot of animosity amongst the people. Pray for peace to come over this land. I just cannot imagine.
Tomorrow, we are going to sleep until about 9:30 or 10 (if we can - this jet-lag stuff is really tough!) and then at noon, we are going into the slums of Nairobi. I’m sure it will be a wonderfully educating and very emotional day. Pray for us, please, as we go into this part of Nairobi - for our safety, that we would see these people with the eyes of their Loving Father, and that we would be effective witnesses of His Grace and Mercy.
And the adventure begins….Good night.
(I have been trying to add pictures for a while, but it won't let me. I'll keep trying...could just be a weak internet connection. Sorry)
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