Day 1 in Kenya!

Hi everyone! It’s Kara & Jeanette. We’re here in Kenya and we are loving it! It is even better than we could have imagined. Thanks to everyone who has prayed for us - we have had a great trip so far. We had two very smooth flights, everything was on time, and we got all 27 of our checked bags without any problems (10 crates, two guitars, and 15 personal bags). Everyone is fairly well adjusted to the 8-hour time change, which is great. We were a little worried about whether or not we would like the food, but so far we have had three delicious (and very LARGE) meals. Most importantly, everyone on our team is healthy. Thank you for your continued prayers for our trip.

We have only been here for a day, but we have already fallen in love with Kenya. It is absolutely beautiful. And the people here are so nice! As we were driving, people on the side of the road would smile and wave at us. (We also saw donkeys, cows, goats, sheep, turkeys, and chickens on the side of the road… they didn’t wave.) Today we went to a tea farm near Nairobi. We tasted fresh tea, learned about the history of the tea farm, and took a tour of the grounds. Then they served us a huge FEAST for lunch. We were full after the soup course – but there was still the main course and dessert! After the tea farm, we visited The Nest Home, which is a home for children whose parents are in prison. The kids greeted us by singing; it was precious. (Mom cried!) Then we went on a tour and saw the bedrooms and school. After that, the kids sang to us again, and then Dan taught a brief lesson about God’s love. Quick Swahili lesson: Yesu penda mimi = Jesus loves me. When it was time to go, the kids sang to us AGAIN – they love to sing! – and then we took pictures with some of the children. They loved the camera! We were so sad to leave them, and wish we could have spent more time there. But this experience made us so much more excited for our time on the Hill!

Now we are at Ann’s parents’ house in Kijabe, where we’re spending the night. (It's 6:30 at night here.) Tomorrow we’re taking a tour of the Kijabe hospital, where Mike (Ann’s dad) works, and then we’re driving up to the Hill. We cannot WAIT to get to the Hill and meet all those beautiful children!

We are having an incredible trip so far. We've taken over a hundred pictures already. Thanks for all of your prayers! We’ll try to blog on the Hill, although we’re not sure how much internet access we’ll have while we’re there. Talk to you soon!