Today was another work day – not much to report – so I thought I’d go back and catch up a bit on days we missed before getting our laptops configured for wi-fi.

We arrived in Kenya at about 5am. Moriah slept on my lap most of the way, but I stayed awake. We left the plane and crammed into a tram that shuttled us to a ramp that went up to the terminal.

Because of the luggage problems our team had in Bujumbura, I was concerned about what might happen to ours if we left it for too long while we waited for the Kenya team to arrive. Our flight was about a half hour early, so we had an hour and a half to wait.

Before you get your luggage, you have to fill out your visa application and pay for that as you go through customs. Since Tim had all the cash for us to pay for our visas, and since the team would be looking for us, I did not want to do that early. So I thought I would check to see when their flight was coming in and what gate they would arrive at.

Unfortunately, the Kenya airport only shows departures on their board. So we waited in line to ask some questions. I was told that our luggage would just be moved aside if we didn’t claim it right away. I did not know what airline the team was flying, but knew they were due at 6:30. The best answer they could give me was that the flight would disembark from the other side of the airport, and that they would probably use the baggage claim ramp near gate 11.

So that is where we camped out. Moriah was still tired, so she slept some more on my lap, and I told God that I would simply trust Him to bring the team to us.

At about 6:20am a Kenya Airways plane pulled up to park at gate 11. Pastor Tim was one of the first to come out after first class exited. Praise God – He can be trusted!

At this point I had been awake for 21 hours straight.

Once everyone made it off the plane, we all made our way to customs. Tim gave each of us $25 (US) for our visa anad we got in line. Some on the team noticed that even though our $20 bills were brand new, they were dated 2004. But when we got to the agent, he was very efficient, only glancing at a few things in our passport and visa applications, and didn’t even look at the bills beyond seeing that it was $25. He even said he did not need our Yellow Fever Vaccination cards (even after I pointed out that we came from Burundi).

Everyone found their luggage, including us, and we walked through the final checkpoint without having any of our luggage checked – including the two locked rubbermaid cases full of tools we are using and donating to DOOR.

Josh Cadd recognized Tim and I – which kind of surprised me since I had not emailed him since March or April. We loaded the bus with luggage and most of the team, and Tim and I rode with Josh in his van.

We unloaded at the African Nazarene University Guest House, on a beautiful campus, and had a short orientation before Mike and Linda Buss, and Harry Harm showed up to take us on a tour of Nairobi.

We first went to the Baby Elephant Orphanage, and then the Nairobi Giraffe Center, both of which we visited two years ago. Moriah grabbed some pellets and immediately put one in her mouth to receive a giraffe kiss. Everyone started taking pictures.

I am glad we had already seen these places, as we weren’t able to spend as much time at them as we did two years ago.

In between these stops we went to “Sister Pat’s,” which is what Mike calls a restaurant he can’t remember the name of, where he used to meet a nun for lunch. There is a curio shop there and some bought souvenirs there – though most of what we saw there can be purchased for less at the market we will visit next week.

By this time I had been awake for over 24 hours, but was feeling fine.

I think I’ll stop there and post some pictures, taken by Moriah:

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Another work day tomorrow, and then dinner out, so I’ll probably do another catch-up post.

The end, for now…

–Mark