4/27/2012 As I write this, we are at 37,000 feet and traveling past Greece with about 6 hours to go until touchdown in Nairobi.It has been a fairly routine trip so far. I picked up Lupe and Pastor Kevin at Casa Westergren around 8:30 Thursday morning and we drove to Brenham and met Kay, Ralph and Louise for our traditional Blue Bell. It was a little bittersweet for me, since I missed Martha saying "I shouldn't do this, but I'm old enough to have ice cream at 10:30 in the morning if I want to! " Other than an advance trip with Salem, this will be my first time without Howard and Martha Faske and it's not quite the same. They are helping with a new grandbaby and we all thank God for that. We arrived at the Hot Biscuit Restaurant around 11am and proceeded to break bread together in what would be the last meal that we had much say so over for next 10 days. Charles and Jeanine Kriegel joined us at the diner, since they live in Houston.
We got our vehicles stowed at a longterm parking facility and took a shuttle to Terminal D at Bush International Airport, where we met the rest of our team prior to checking in. There are 10 of us this time. Kay Allensworth, Charles Kriegel, Pastor Robert Preece and his son Justin, Ralph and Louise Genz, Lupe Barragan, myself, Kevin Pieper of Salem and Pastor Kevin Westergren, our leader. The two Kevins and I have all led multiple mission trips to Kenya and we have four team members that are new to Africa. It is a good mix of different talents and skills. We all have a heart for spreading the Gospel via this human care ministry.
We were delayed in leaving Houston by nearly an hour, but made up some time and arrived in London about half an hour late. It's a good thing, since we had to circle for about 20 minutes before a spot opened for us at Heathrow. Our normal 3 hour layover was shaved to 2 hours. We were lucky, since many passengers on our Houston to London flight missed their connections. The trip has been fairly uneventful so far, with just the usual glitches getting through security. I was one of the first to get in the security line in Houston only to find that I had been issued two London to Nairobi boarding passes but nothing good for the flight from Houston to London. The kind TSA screener sent me back to the ticket counter and she said I could come right back, since I had already been waiting in the line for about half an hour at that point. I got my new boarding passes printed and then came back through the express lane reserved for first class, crew and VIPs. Lupe and others in our group spotted me and wondered what was up. I explained it to them later and we all had a good laugh! Note to self: look at your tickets closely while you are still at the checkin counter.
If all goes true to form, we will arrive in Nairobi around 9pm local time, will clear security, exchange our money for Kenyan shillings, gather up our footlockers and take a 45 minute ride to Scripture House, where we will be staying. We will get assigned rooms and roommates, find out what time breakfast will be for those of us going on a game park safari at dark thirty Saturday morning and our heads will hit our pillows sometime after midnight depending on whether one wants or needs to shower after a day and a half journey. Let's see how accurate I am in hindsight when I've had time to reflect on the events yet to come this evening.
We are now in Nairobi and all is well. Thank God for a safe trip!
We got our vehicles stowed at a longterm parking facility and took a shuttle to Terminal D at Bush International Airport, where we met the rest of our team prior to checking in. There are 10 of us this time. Kay Allensworth, Charles Kriegel, Pastor Robert Preece and his son Justin, Ralph and Louise Genz, Lupe Barragan, myself, Kevin Pieper of Salem and Pastor Kevin Westergren, our leader. The two Kevins and I have all led multiple mission trips to Kenya and we have four team members that are new to Africa. It is a good mix of different talents and skills. We all have a heart for spreading the Gospel via this human care ministry.
We were delayed in leaving Houston by nearly an hour, but made up some time and arrived in London about half an hour late. It's a good thing, since we had to circle for about 20 minutes before a spot opened for us at Heathrow. Our normal 3 hour layover was shaved to 2 hours. We were lucky, since many passengers on our Houston to London flight missed their connections. The trip has been fairly uneventful so far, with just the usual glitches getting through security. I was one of the first to get in the security line in Houston only to find that I had been issued two London to Nairobi boarding passes but nothing good for the flight from Houston to London. The kind TSA screener sent me back to the ticket counter and she said I could come right back, since I had already been waiting in the line for about half an hour at that point. I got my new boarding passes printed and then came back through the express lane reserved for first class, crew and VIPs. Lupe and others in our group spotted me and wondered what was up. I explained it to them later and we all had a good laugh! Note to self: look at your tickets closely while you are still at the checkin counter.
If all goes true to form, we will arrive in Nairobi around 9pm local time, will clear security, exchange our money for Kenyan shillings, gather up our footlockers and take a 45 minute ride to Scripture House, where we will be staying. We will get assigned rooms and roommates, find out what time breakfast will be for those of us going on a game park safari at dark thirty Saturday morning and our heads will hit our pillows sometime after midnight depending on whether one wants or needs to shower after a day and a half journey. Let's see how accurate I am in hindsight when I've had time to reflect on the events yet to come this evening.
We are now in Nairobi and all is well. Thank God for a safe trip!
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