Click on the picture above to see the preparation during the past months and new pictures that will be added as access to the Internet permits throughout the mission trip.
Thursday, November 10th
We saddled up again at 8:00 this morning as Pastor Dave and Risa picked up Josh and I at my house. We drove to Manor, where we met Howard, Martha, Ralph and Louise at the 290 Cafe. We had an uneventful drive through Elgin and Giddings, arriving in Brenham for our traditional Blue Bell and rest stop at Scoops. While there, we encountered some parents with an adorable little girl that had an ice cream cone as big as she was and more of it on her face than anywhere else! I took her picture and both she and her Mom got a laugh out of it. We proceeded on 290 to what had been The Kettle on the periphery of Bush International Airport but now had a sign announcing it as the Hot Biscuit. We each ordered items ranging from a late breakfast to burgers to my chicken fried steak special. We knew that this would be one of the only meals for the next 10 days that we would have much choice over. From now on, it would be as my Dad used to say "You will eat that AND you WILL like it!" That last part was always the hardest. Our waitress confirmed that only the name had been changed by the chain, allowing that she had been there for 9 years. We left for the long term parking around 12:30, and the Fast Park shuttle got us to our terminal at 1pm. We old hands renewed acquaintances and introduced our new team members to our friends from the other congregations. Check in and going through security were pretty smooth with the exception of my being treated to yet another full body scan. I guess I passed because we spent the next couple of hours in the terminal and I am writing this from British Airways Flight 194 near Newfoundland at 37,000 feet doing 678mph. Dinner was pretty good for airline food, I had curry chicken with a salad, roll and cheesecake while others got a pasta dish. I got a little sleep afterwards, but it's only 9pm at home and sleep will come easier in a while. We gain 6 hours when we get to Heathrow Airport in London and will add another 3 hours to that by the time we land in Nairobi at 9pm or so Friday night local time. We veterans of these mission trips have stressed drinking plenty of water to our teams and making sure to get up every hour or so during these long flights to avoid health issues like phlebitis or deep vein thrombosis in our legs and to get a jump on altitude sickness in Nairobi by getting well hydrated in advance.
We're about an hour out from London now and the cabin crew is beginning to distribute box breakfasts. I got a bit more sleep during the flight, it's approaching midnight in Austin and 6am in England. Once on the ground, we will probably climb down some portable steps and board buses for the ride to the terminal. Heathrow has been undergoing renovations for the past year or two and it's invariably 50 degrees and raining when we arrive. It would be nice to pull up to a terminal just once! I am currently munching on a mysterious muffin from the breakfast that seems to be made from some form of cardboard, judging by the lack of taste. At least the black coffee they served me is hot, strong and quite good. British Airways takes pride in their Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee, I guess Juan Valdez is out of work and his children and burro are now going hungry. I always liked that burro!
Friday, November 11th
It's now Friday both at home and Shannon, Ireland, which we are nearly over. Less than an hour to touchdown now. Once we clear security, we will be getting a leg up on our Saturday lunch in Nairobi at a nice restaurant called the Veranda. Gus was able to obtain a copy of the menu and we're going to try to get a sense of what people might want for lunch a day in advance to allow the restaurant to be better prepared for our large group. Since Pastor Dave and I are scheduled to meet with Bishop Obare and others from the ELCK Saturday afternoon, it would be nice if lunch were a little bit more efficient than usual. The Kenyan culture moves at a graceful, slower pace than our hectic world and it can be maddening to us when things seem to take forever. I, for one, think we can learn from our hosts when it comes to being more relaxed and enjoying the moment. After all, we live in the present, but the western way is to try to rush into the future. We don't savor the present when we get there, because we're already scurrying to the next future. It will be interesting to see if this grand menu experiment pans out.
We're at Heathrow now and we got a very pleasant surprise. The remodeling is done and we pulled right up to a real terminal instead of being bused from the tarmac in the ever present morning mist and drizzle that is London. Not only that, but we went through a much smaller and vastly more efficient security checkpoint in record time. Our layover is a little more than 2 hours, then it's on to Nairobi.
Well, we are finally airborne on British Airways Flight 65 after about a half hour delay waiting to take off. The plane is completely full, so it also took a bit more time for passengers to jostle all of the carry-on luggage to make it fit the always limited space allotted for it. I'm writing this on my Toshiba Thrive Android tablet that I've gotten since the spring Kenya tip. It is much easier than dealing with my small laptop in the very cramped quarters of today's economy class air travel. I'm pretty confident I'll be able to crank out blog postings complete with pictures fairly readily using it as long as we have good Internet access. It will feel very good after this long flight to get some exercise helping to shepherd the approximately 60 footlockers from the baggage area late tonight to the waiting truck that will transport them to our compound. It will feel even better to get a hot shower before bed after a day and a half of travel. With any luck, We'll get some sleep before a very busy Saturday. Stay tuned!
