9.09.2010

First Update

Dear Friends,

Our very fine African adventure has begun.  Luke and I left Tuesday in a flurry of preparations and last minute errands.  Bags had to be weighed, repacked, and reweighed.  Money had to be changed (post-2001 series, please), and friends and family needed farewells.  In what may be the first miracle of the trip, a package of LSAT study materials and a letter for me made it into the PO box at Collegedale literally moments before we left for Atlanta.  Thank you Lord!

Thanks to Emily, Luke's extremely gracious sister (thanks again for the burritos!), we made it to ATL in time for our flight, only to realize that Luke had left his laptop bag back at home :(  Anybody coming to Kenya in the next week or so?  

Those seat-back display screens have been upgraded since the last time I've flown.  Luke and I learned lots of interesting trivia facts and figured how to play Othello on our way to Amsterdam, and we started to learn Arabic and sent text messages en route to Nairobi--all via the little display in the seat in front of us.  Amazing!  The food was pretty good as well, although we were definitely glad to supplement it with Kristin's granola and Mom's trail mix.

Upon arriving in Nairobi, we realized that we didn't know "the precise address of our stay in Kenya," as requested on our visa forms.  Fortunately this oversight apparently wasn't a deal-breaker, as the customs officials were more interested in whether or not our money was counterfeit or not.  Outside we met up with Jared Busl and Andy Aho, and after a few errands, we eventually arrived at Andy's house outside Nairobi.

Our tentative schedule for the next week or so includes finishing up an orphanage for the Masai Development Project that Jared has been working on near Masai Mara, getting supplies here in Nairobi, and doing some maintenance on our little Toyota truck.  Apparently the front axle needs some TLC before we hammer it for 1500 km on our way to Sudan.

Thank you for your prayers and for all the encouragement and help!

Excelsior


6 comments:

  1. Glad you made it safely and that God has blessed so much already. :) I look forward to hearing the many more ways to come!

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  2. So glad you guys made it :) I must say I'm a little jealous of the adventures and life lessons God has in store for you ;)

    But I suppose God has his own lessons for me to learn here right now. Praying for you guys a lot!

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  3. I don't think this little comment box can hold everything I want to say! I'm so happy you are there safely, and my prayers and thoughts are with you and Luke :) Here is something I read this morning:

    "None can know where or how they may be called to labor or to speak for God. Our heavenly Father alone sees what He can make of men. There are before us possibilities which our feeble faith does not discern."--Christ Object Lessons, pg. 333

    Expect great things from God. He's teaching me that every day.

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  4. I am so glad that you boys made it safely and that you wrote a blog so soon- Keep them coming! It is painful to say... but Luke actually left his laptop in the backseat of my car. I didn't see it because it was right behind my seat. (sigh...) But I think Eric will bring it next week. Don't forget that there are many of us praying for you and Luke.

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  5. Thanks for the blog, Joel! Glad your LSAT materials made it! Praying for you guys!

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  6. Delighted to see your first posting!

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Sorry - I was getting too many spam comments so I turned on moderation. As long as you're not a bot or a troll, I'll approve your comment :)