One of the highlights of 2015 was our mission trip to Kenya.  We planned this visit for for almost two years and prayed often for God’s hand to guide us. God was faithful and answered our prayers.

Our flight plan included leaving Nashville, to Detroit, to Amsterdam, then Nairobi. On the morning of our departure, I received a text message from American Airlines that our flight from Detroit to Amsterdam had been cancelled. All but two of our team members were re-routed through Paris, and the other two were re-routed through London. The group I travelled with arrived as scheduled, but two of our team members faced a storm in Atlanta, and their London flight was delayed so they missed the connection to Nairobi.

We went straight to the Heart Lodge in Nairobi and went to bed because we had traveled for 28 hours.  Scott and Wanda arrived while we were having breakfast the next morning. They had traveled for 38 hours without rest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

With a quick shower we were on the move to the home of our missionary host family.  We attended orientation, reviewed our schedule,  then enjoyed lunch at an outdoor restaurant. We napped during the afternoon and planned to leave for  Tharakaland District on Saturday morning.

The grounds at heart lodge.

 

Our room at the Heart Lodge

This is a picture of the home of our host missionaries.

 

Lunch in Nairobi.

Time to load the truck and head toward Tharakaland District.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The trip to the Tharakaland district was long.  After four hours of travel, the paved roads turned to dirt. Most locals travelled on motorbikes, called piki pikis. We stopped for lunch and enjoyed a box lunch.

This tree has a bee hive.  Can you imagine climbing so high to harvest the honey?

After another 3 hours of rough roads we reached our destination and we exited from the truck and walked the last bit of the journey because the road had huge gullies and it was jarring.

 

 

 

We walked the last stretch of road to the tree where the believers worshiped because of the rough terrain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It took us about thirty minutes to set up camp.

 

Our camp.

Some of the believers brought benches form their homes and visited with us.  I could only see one home within seeing distance. I don’t know how far people had to walk to visit with you.

We spent the first morning working in small groups to teach the local Kenyans how to share the gospel using salvation bracelets and “From Creation to Christ” cards.

 

This is a picture of Scott with his team.

And this is a picture of Wanda with her team.

I was on of the lucky ones who had the chance to visit people on a piki piki.

Others had to walk in the brutal heat across difficult terrain to visit with families.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris had to fight his way through the thorns.

This may be a home or a storage building.

On the second day, the children came for VBS. We realized that the adult were just as interested in the stories as the children and did our best to include the adults in activities if we had supplies. Judy and I entertained the kids with Bible stories and puppets while the women attended a health class.

 

 

 

We are telling the story of Creation.

The parachute served double duty.

 

 

 

We also had a small parachute for the smaller children thanks to Judy.

Everyone loved Play Dough

During the evening we showed the Jesus film.  The actors spoke in Swahili.

This is a picture of women who arrived early for the  movie.  You can see the project and screen to the right. I don’t know how many attended the film but over 60 accepted Christ as the end of the movie.

This is a picture of the fly trap for cattle that Chris demonstrated.

Mike is demonstrating how the water purification using clear plastic water bottles.

Two of our team members treated minor medical issues.

 

One of my favorite pictures under the Baobab tree, capable of living thousands of years. Just think, this tree might have been alive when Christ walked the earth.

 

“And how shall they preach, except they be sent. as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” Romans 10:15

#africanmissions #missions #friendshiphope&friedfruitpies