We're here!!

Hello all! I finally have a few minutes at an internet place and wanted to update you. The short story is that we arrived, on time, and had very uneventful travels. Thank you for your prayers. If you want the "long version", read on. :-) FYI: I have changed the time on the posts to Nairobi's time zone. We are 7 hours ahead of East Coast time.

Jon & Debbie Noetzel picked me up for the airport on Friday afternoon. The lines for check-in and security weren't very long. We had an opportunity to eat dinner and relax a little bit before the first leg of our flight. On the flight from Dulles to Amsterdam we had seats across the aisle from each other and neither one of us had anyone in the seats next to us, so there was lots of room to stretch out and rest even more. The seats each had personal television sets (I've never flown on a plane with that before), so we were able to choose our own viewing pleasure. Of course, I made a poor choice and watched the movie "Blood Diamond". Duh! It's a movie about the exploitation of people in Sierra Leone because of the illegal diamond trading. It was a good movie, but really a bit intense and about Africa, on my way there ... just a bit more than I needed. I should have picked a comedy. :-) The one thing in that movie that will really stick with me is the way that they use young boys, brainwashing them to become cold blooded killers. So sad!

Anyway, we arrived in Amsterdam's Schipol airport on time and had a few hours to get caught up on allowing the swollen ankles to settle and to walk around the shopping area a little bit. Our flight from Schipol to Nairobi was packed. Debbie and I were seated next to each other, the two middle seats of four in the very middle of the plane. There was a man next to me who I assumed was African. The whole time we were flying I noticed that he was reading a book called "Small Arms Trade". Made me a bit nervous. But, for no reason at all. Near the end of the flight he began to talk with us. It turns out that he is Kenyan. He told us that he is a "soldier" and was returning from a conference in DC where they learned more about military administration. He was enthusiastic and very passionate as he told us about the move to unify the military organizations of countries throughout Africa. It sounds like it is tied in to the idea of the African Union that I've been hearing a lot about when I listen to the BBC World News. Wikipedia has this article on the African Union. I know that Wikipedia's accuracy can be questioned, but it is a start. Anyway, he was a very nice man to talk with, and as I said, he was very passionate and enthusiastic about the new things on the horizon for African military organizations ... and I guess I didn't need to worry about the book that he was reading. :-)

After getting our visa for our stay in Kenya and getting our luggage, we were met by Brittany (Debbie's daughter who is part of our group) and several of the ladies from Amani. They were SO excited to meet us. They kept hugging and kissing us (three kisses on alternating cheeks) and patting our hands and holding our arms. "Karibu" is swahili for welcome. It was such a wonderful way to be welcomed.

Our rooms at the guesthouse are very nice. I guess that I never thought about the fact that we would be needing mosquito nets. But, mosquito nets are there, and are recommeded. It's strange to sleep in a bed that is surrounded by such a tent, but it's oddly comforting in a way. We are served breakfast by the nuns who run the guesthouse. The order that they are from is a German order (although not all of the sisters are German in origin). They run a children's home outside of Nairobi and the guesthouse is one way to help fund the orphanage. The breakfast is very European, lots of fruit and cereal and bread as well as cold cuts and cheeses and, of course, coffee and tea. Plenty to eat!

We left from breakfast yesterday to go to church. There was a church service that started at 10:30 that we wanted to get to, but we were running a bit late, and the driver had to drive someone else to the airport, so he asked if he could take us to another church (closer by) where the service starts at 10:00. It was 10:20, and he said, "You'll only be 20 minutes late!" If you know me, you know what that did to my heart. LOL! That was my introduction to what they call "African time". (By the way, there were people arriving at the two-hour service throughout ... so we were "early" in comparison).

The service was wonderful. The music and prayer times last for about the first hour. Some of the music was familiar and some of it was new to our ears. I think that their worship pastor may write some of their praise music for them. Except for one part of one song everything (including the sermon) was in English. It was so neat to worship in a church in Nairobi!

The pastor who preached was not their senior pastor. The sermon was fabulous, and I wonder if their senior pastor is even better. Anyway, the text was from II Timothy chapter 2. He wanted to disprove the saying that "God helps those who help themselves" and he talked about three metaphors that Paul uses in the passage, the first that we are to be unashamed workmen for the Lord, second that we are to be purified vessels, and finally that we are the Lord's bond-servants. At one point, he talked about Dr. Howard Hendricks (a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary who has spoken at our church in Virginia and is oft quoted by our pastors). It was fun to hear Dr. Hendricks quoted from a pulpit in Nairobi. Made us feel very much at home.

After church, our driver met us again and took us to "Ya Ya's" which is a local mall and street market. Inside, the mall looks just like (and I mean JUST like!) any mall in middle-class America. Rather upscale, gorgeous shops of great variety. We had lunch at an Italian place (I had pizza!) ... we have yet to have Kenyan food. :-) Afterwards, we went outside to the street market held right there. It was a great market, and we'll be going to a similar one later in the week, so I didn't buy much. But I KNOW that when we hit the market later in the week, I have a lot of things that caught my eye. :-) I think that my new home in Colorado will have lots of African decorations!

We spent the rest of yesterday afternoon relaxing. We attempted to come to the internet place where I'm typing now, but missed their closing by a few minutes. Then we went to a nearby coffee shop and enjoyed lattes. (Yes, gotta have my fix!) We had dinner back at the guest house and sat up in a little lounge room there chatting until the sisters asked us to go to bed (it was 10:30 and they close everything up at that time). Just for your information, there is a gate at the entrance to the guesthouse (there isn't a "parking lot" so to speak, but there is a security guard that has to open a gate for any vehicles that want to enter the property), there is a locked door at the entrance to the building that has to be unlocked and opened by one of the nuns, there is a metal gate just outside of each room door, and each room door has a separate key. Our stuff is safer in the rooms than on our persons as we walk the streets of Nairobi!

This morning (today is Monday) we had breakfast at the guesthouse again before coming back to the internet place where I'm typing now. At breakfast this morning at the guesthouse we were joined by another guest who is a Kenyan woman but who lives in California. She is a professor at the University in Santa Clara. We had a great conversation with her ... her research has to do with women's issues and faith. She had attended a conference in Botswana and was in Kenya for two weeks visiting family. When she told us about her research and her heart for working with women, we were so excited - we told her all about Amani ya Juu. She had heard of the center and was planning to go visit. When we told her about their mission there, she realized that the ideas that drive Amani fit right into what her research is showing. That the empowerment of women around the world is best achieved through faith organizations. We plan to connect with her again throughout the week and compare notes.

All of that brings me up to date here, sitting at this internet store. And, the other women have all finished their e-mails and are waiting for me to finish up, so on that note I will go. Kwaheri! (Swahili for "goodbye").