Nearly recuperated from jet lag on Thursday

I came back to 100 plus temperatures in Texas after being in paradise for the last 3 weeks.  It'd been 74 every day for a high in Nairobi and in the mid to upper 50's at night, with flowers everywhere.  There had been some rain while I was gone, so the lawn needed mowing.

I took it easy Tuesday and Wednesday, unpacking, catching up on laundry, stocking up on groceries, mowing the lawn and napping when necessary.  I worked on pictures from the trip, made a few phone calls to close friends and began getting receipts together from the mission in preparation for settling up with our business office at church for the team cash that I was sent with.  Slowly but surely, I am getting back on schedule with sleep, but it's been a little harder to adjust this time after being 8 hours different for nearly 3 weeks in Kenya instead of the usual 10 days to 2 weeks. 

Even though we did nothing but eat, eat, eat during the after-mission safari, I was a little surprised to find that I had lost 10 pounds.  Covid is not a good way to diet, but it seems to work!

I answered a few computer questions by phone, but resisted going on any repair calls until today, knowing that I wouldn't be in any shape to work on my own computers, let alone for a client.  I am starting to schedule service calls again and will be heading to Redeemer tomorrow morning to work with our business office on mission accounting.  More to follow as I get pictures from the vision clinic and the safaris ready to publish.  Blessings everybody!    

Trip to Austin via RedCoach

 After waiting for a couple of hours at the Residence Inn by Marriot in downtown Houston, the RedCoach arrived about 6:35pm.  One of the other passengers got a little nervous and called the company at 6:30 and they reassured him that the bus was nearby.  The driver helped his previous passengers unload their luggage from the right side of the bus.  There were 3 large doors that could be raised to hold whatever baggage would be onboard.  They let you check two bags and you can have a carry-on in the bus.  As advertised, the seats fully reclined.  There were two rows of seats on the left side of the bus and one row on the right, with overhead bins to put carry-ons in if you wanted to.  There were maybe 20 seats on the bus and each had its own 110 volt outlet and a USB jack.  I used the USB with my phone and it was strong enough to keep it charged even while I had Google Maps running to see the progress of our trip.  We hit some traffic on the Houston expressways.  I was reclined with a sleep mask on and I nodded off on I-10 until we finally got out to 71 and headed towards Austin from near Columbus, TX.  The driver took about a 15 minute stop for refueling at the Buc-cees in Bastrop, right by Casa Chapala's other location.  He let anyone that wanted to get off the bus go in and buy a drink or snack.  About half of the 8 passengers took him up on it and everyone was back as the refueling was completed.  I was in contact with Pastor Kevin, who had agreed to pick me up, via text message and I kept him informed him of our progress.  With the late start and the brief stop, we were about an hour late getting into Austin.  Just as we were nearly in sight of the Embassy Suites where we would disembark, there was a wreck at Riverside and the I-35 access road and we needed to take a small detour.  As I was leaving the bus, I told the driver he probably wondered why being an hour late had not upset me.  I told him I had purchased my bus ticket two days before in Nairobi, Kenya and I had been on the road for nearly two full days.  An extra hour was just yet another speed bump in the big scheme of things!  I thanked him for his service as Kevin came over to help me with my bags.  We had a nice conversation on the way to my house in Wells Branch and more than a few laughs.  He was masked up, so I dutifully got my N95 out of my pocket and did likewise.  He let me know he would be taking the family on a trip soon and was being extra cautious, even though he knew I was no longer infectious.  I told him about needing to wear my mask on both Lufthansa flights, a 9 hour first one and a nearly 11 hour second flight from Frankfurt to Houston and how miserable that had been. 

We pulled up to my house before 11pm, I thanked Kevin and pointed him towards MoPac for his ride back home.  Even under less than ideal circumstances and at the end of a long journey, I liked the RedCoach experience and would recommend it to anyone that wants to go to downtown Houston, Dallas or San Antonio from Austin and back again.   I still don't know how they can make it work at only $30 a ticket including tax, but it worked out well for me.  It saved someone from doing a round-trip from Austin to pick me up at today's gas prices and I got home more relaxed than normal, although about 4 hours later than usual.  

Thanks again to so many of you that have followed along on our mission trip via my Facebook page and this blog.   Keep coming back for a while, I will be posting more stories and thoughts on the trip as they come to me and I will announce photo albums of the clinic and our safaris as they become available.  Blessings everyone!

Homecoming in Houston! Yay!

We took off over an hour late from Frankfurt with no explanation.  I’m sure we’ll make up most of that time over the course of a more than 10 hour flight.  I’m waiting for drinks and lunch to be served and then I’ll be napping. The Airbus we flew from Nairobi didn’t recline much. This 747 is roomier and the seats kick back quite a ways.  Much more comfortable,  that’s for sure.  There is a funny glitch on this plane however. The previous flight for it was from Newark and the Flight Info map in the onboard entertainment system got stuck on that. The Captain came on the intercom and joked about it. 

They finally served lunch and it was halfway decent. Pasta with a small salad, a roll and butter and chocolate cake for dessert. I put on an eyeshade and slept for about an hour afterwards. There are still about six hours to go in this final flight.  I’m hoping that now that the Covid test requirement is over that it won’t take too long to get my luggage and clear customs.  I’m going to need some time to take Uber to the bus depot and get checked in there. I’m so glad to finally be getting back to Austin. With one small exception.  I’ve been in paradise for the last 3 weeks.  74 every day, 59 at night with a light breeze.  Not sure I’m ready for the blast furnace just yet! I hope they’ve got a nice air conditioned lobby at the bus depot!

During the last hour of the flight the crew gave some folks hot meals and others,  including me, a “snack”. It was inedible. One lady complained and they brought her a meal.  I decided it wasn’t worth the hassle because the meal didn’t look very good either.

I got to Houston about half an hour late. Immigration only took a few minutes but it took about 40 minutes to get ny luggage.  Another 25 minutes in an Uber got me to downtown Houston to the Residence Inn where RedCoach picks you up. I’ve been making phone calls from the lobby, the manager is letting me sit in here since it’s 97 degrees out. I’ve got another hour before boarding the bus. Glad to be back and I’ll continue to post more stories and pictures for the foreseeable future.  Blessings everyone!

Got to Frankfurt

 Other than a screaming baby for about an hour at the start of the flight,  things were pretty uneventful.  We took a bus out to the plane and climbed 2 flights of stairs to a gangway In order to board. Even though there were more security checks than seemed necessary,  the Nairobi airport is much more efficient now with a lot less corruption possible.  This is a good thing since tourism is a major economic driver in Kenya.

I got some sleep after a dinner of chicken curry which was pretty bad. I made a couple of trips to the bathroom during the night, mostly to stretch my legs.  It’s easy to get deep vein thrombosis if you don’t move around and stay hydrated. We’re approaching Frankfurt as I write this with touchdown  only about 45 minutes away. It’s a monster airport,  with stairs and busses to navigate,  but we’ve got a nearly 4 hour layover, so I won’t be rushing myself. 

Got to Frankfurt a little early, so early our next flight wasn't on the board yet. I had a security check to end all security checks. I had to remove my outer shirt, get all electronics out, including laptop, cameras, Hotspot, cell phone and more. Once again I mentioned the artificial hip.  After the body scanner, I was patted down thoroughly and they even checked inside my shoes and socks. I must fit the profile.

They made us throw our water bottles away. I'm now sipping on a liter of Evian that cost 6.5 Euros. The Euro is worth $1.05 today, so this is my most expensive water ever at about $7. Hope I don't have to throw it out!

We've got about 2 more hours until the flight to Houston.  More to follow as I  can post. One leg of the journey down,  a flight and a bus ride to go. Blessings everyone!

Made it through security

It's almost 8 pm, had some dinner in a food court after clearing 3 security checks.The first one was as we drove into the airport.  We all disembarked and went through a metal detector while our vehicle was checked.  Next, we had to pass our bags through an x-ray machine and empty our pockets to enter the airport.  My artificial hip set alarms off and I was patted down. Then, after checking in with the airline and going through Passport Control, one more bag check, no belt, no shoes and another pat down because of  the hip. 

Waiting to board at 9pm for 10.25 takeoff. Had to go through one more document check to get into Gate 24. Now I get to relax for about an hour before boarding.  At least it's nice and cool. I have experienced 95 degree terminals here before. I'll write more on the plane and will hopefully have a post from Frankfurt.  Blessings everyone!

Sunday morning worship

 The six of us gathered outside at 10 am.  I opened the worship with a prayer and proceeded to present the Oswald Chambers devotion called "What is a Missionary?"  It sparked a good conversation about how each of us were called over the years to become a part of our various projects here in Kenya.  Kristin then asked each of us to talk about a couple of highlights from this trip, which also prompted the veterans in the group to recount some of the most memorable moments from over the years.  We spent a little over an hour together.  Chris, who served wtih Salem, read from the 1 Peter, the first chapter and then Richard closed us with prayer followed by the group praying the Lord's Prayer together.  Everyone said it was a meaningful service.  I'm so glad we had this time together to encourage each other and to get to know one another a little better.

It's about 11:30am here as I write this, lunch should be around 1pm. Our dear friend Catherine will be here around 4pm to conduct business with the team leaders. I'll get one last shower before then.  We will be leaving for the airport at 6pm, arriving there about 7pm, ready to clear security and check-in for our flights.

More to follow as time and Internet access permit.  Blessings everybody!

Sunday morning, the last day!

I got up at 11:25pm last night, 23 hours before our flight out of Nairobi to Frankfurt, Germany.  Lufthansa won't let you do online checkin until that weird hour, all the rest of the airlines I have experience with, it's 24 hours ahead of liftoff. I was happy to see that I had aisle seats on both flights until I realized I was in row 45 on both of them, more than likely a bulkhead seat, meaning you can't lean back.  I was in one of these seats on a three hour domestic trip, never again!  It might be wonderful for your posture to sit bolt upright, but a 9 or 10 hour flight like that would be torture.  I proceeded to get seat 25C and 19C respectively.  I'll be off both planes a little sooner that way.  I have a 4 hour layover in Frankfurt, which is a small blessing.  It's a huge airport and navigating from one end to the other involves several staircases and maybe more than one bus ride.  It will be nice to do it at a leisurely pace for once.

I thought a little more about our "worship" service this morning, in addition to a couple of Scripture readings I have, I'm hoping that the group knows a couple of the simple songs that we sang during our clinic in Waithaka with our volunteers.  And I'll entertain ideas from the rest of the group.  We'll be outdoors in the cool of the morning, praising God in paradise, surrounded by His beautiful creation.  I know it will be a high point for me and hope it is meaningful for the others.

I've got all my luggage out and am preparing to rearrange things to balance the load.  Checked bags can't be over 50 pounds each which is no problem as I left a fair amount of stuff here for Catherine and carried supplies for the clinic that are staying here.  The new Lufthansa limit for carry-on luggage is where I have a problem.  Everything with batteries and electronics must be in this piece and rather than 26 pounds like the other carriers, Lufthansa has an 8 kilogram (about 17.6 pounds) limit.  I have two lenses, one quite heavy, two camera bodies, about 2 pounds of spare camera batteries, my laptop and assorted chargers.  I have an HEB bag with a Velcro top just in case.  If need be, I can move the lenses and laptop to it and use it as my personal item that fits under the seat in front of me, but it'll be a pain.  On the way to Kenya, two of my team members each took a lense for me, making it much easier.  I didn't realize the lighter limit until we were already at the Houston airport.  Ah, the joys of travel! Always another detail.

Well, back to sorting my stuff out.  More to follow before we leave if I have Internet.  Thanks again for everybody's diligence in praying for me and those who were left behin last Tuesday.  I feel great and can't wait to be back in 105 degree Texas heat!  Blessings everyone!

  

More Saturday afternoon happenings

I got a nice nap after lunch and, as promised, got a few more pictures of the incredible birds here on the grounds of the Little Daughters of St. Joseph convent.  I know I got a few winners among many, many bad shots.  Such is the nature of photographing small, erratic birds.  The occasionaly diamond makes it all worth it and is its own reward for the effort.  All 6 of us from various parts of our Vision for Africa project will be traveling home tomorrow night, some on British Air and others, like me on Lufthansa booked through United, their US partner.

Once it became clear to me that I really am going to fly out of Nairobi late Sunday night, I got down to the business of booking the RedCoach from Houston to Austin.  I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like.  It's a great idea, I just don't see how in the world they can do it for $30 per passenger.

Several people came out of the woodwork this afternoon, dear friends all, asking if they could pick me up anywhere from Houston to Austin and all points in between.  I'd hate to see somebody spend 6 hours or more to save me a couple of hours, but I am humbled and very appreciative by the offers.  As it turns out, Pastor Kevin will pick me up at the bus stop on South Congress and get me home Monday night.  I've got a lot to share with him from this trip, that's for sure!

I contacted the other 5 missionaries here about doing an evening devotion and we decided we would get together at 10 in the morning.  I've got a couple of topics including one of my favorite devotions by Oswald Chambers entitled "What is a Missionary" as well as a few words about the end of the 2nd chapter of the Book of Acts which describes the fellowship of the believers.  I think it'll be a fitting end to the trip.  We'll have lunch, get one last shower and head for the airport, probably around 6pm.

I'l post more as our travel becomes imminent and then there will be a blackout during my flights.  I may be able to write a bit on the flight to Frankfurt and post from there.  The bus will have wifi, so I should be able to get word out that I made it back into the country OK by Monday evening.

Stay tuned, the final chapter is about to be written 

The Doctor's Visit

 After getting my flights booked early this morning, I brought breakfast up to my room.  I had a couple of slices of toast, some bacon that was almost Candadian style and a banana with a cup or two of Nescafe.  Nothing but instant coffee here, but it's easy, the water cooler right outside of my room has a hot spigot on it, so it mixes up quickly.  It's now 10am and we're waiting to hear from the medical folks.  I think I'll wander the grounds for a while with my camera and see what I see.  

I spent about 45 minutes being very still in several locations and got a few good shots of the little sunbirds, sparrows and a bird that looks very similar to our American Robin, but without the distinctive white eye ring.  I've gone out and done this several times a day to get some fresh air and a stretch.  I think when I publish images from this period I will call it my Prison Series.  I would say one out of 20 shots trying to keep up with the little guys will be worthy of editing, they are very tough subjects indeed.  I've been known to try to get Dragonflies in flight, so I'm always up for what looks impossible.  Occasionally it works out and you get a very rare shot, since very few people have the patience, skill or desire to even try.  After all, a golfer is alwasy trying for a hole in one.  Without trying, it never happens.

I just came back from dealing with our local doctor.  Because United was quick to remove the test requirement for Covid from their system, I won't need a letter and am cleared to fly tomorrow night.  Yay! My next step will be to book the RedCoach bus from Houston to Austin, try to arrange for Catherine's son Mark to get me to the bus stop and finally to procure a ride from downtown Austin to the north side where I live Monday night.  It's finally all coming together.  What a relief.

It's just about time for lunch, I'll have a bite to eat and then a little nap as is my custom at home.  It's absolutely gorgeous outside, so I'll spend a little more time this afternoon with my fine-feathered friends posing for the Paparazzi.  More to follow as the travel begins to take shape.  Blessings!

Got my flights rebooked for Sunday night

 I spent a couple of hours trying to rebook my flights last night using my travel credit from the previously canceled retrun trip without luck.  Spotty Internet didn't help.  I failed on my laptop, I failed with texting back and forth with United and I failed using the United app on my smartphone.  Three strikes and you're out!  Before turning in, I had a text exchange with Richard, one of the other team leaders who is holed up here like I am, and he mentioned that he's a big MileagePlus member with United and has a secret 800 number.  After showering, I masked up and met him in his room.  It seemed a little absurd, what were we going to do, give each other the virus?  He dialled the 800 number and within 5 minutes, Sharon, a representative in Chicago had things cleared up.  At first, she said it would cost me $143 difference, but after she punched a few buttons, it became $25, which is usually the fee for getting a live agent involved theses days.  She was worth every penny.

This morning, we have a doctor's visit scheduled to the convent so that we can each get a letter declaring that we are fit to fly.  We are taking this extra precaution because our passport numbers were required for our Covid tests and we are really not sure how fat the reporting of the positive tests has gotten by now.  United was fine with me flying and said their system has been changed to reflect the dropping of the test requirement to enter the US.  When Richard spoke with British Air, they acknowledged that the change was official but that their system had not been updated yet, so he and his wife could be in a strange sort of limbo between reality and computer updates.  I'm convinced that the last couple of years will one day be used as a case study for what not to do!

My next step today will be to book the RedCoach from Houston to Austin and then I'll see who wants to pick me up at 300 South Congress around 9pm Monday night to help me finish this odyssey.  Maybe I'll hold a lottery! Even once I'm back in Austin, I'm going to check with my doctor to find out what more I may need to do to protect those whom I love that are around me for a while.  I'm hoping it's not too many more Covid tests, my nose can't take much more!  I had assiduously avoid even having one test before this trip and had resigned myself to the fact that those days were over, but this is getting ridiculous...

That's it for now, time to make sure I get some breakfast today, missing it yesterday and waiting until 1pm for lunch wasn't too good.  More to follow as we see what the doctor's visit brings.  Blessings on yout day, everybody!

Things to be thankful for

 It would be easy to be all upset with the situation I'm in at the moment and over which I have no control.  I sat outside for about an hour and a half this afternoon with my N95 mask and my camera watching little sunbirds and others flit from flower to flower.  I staked out a birdbath for a while and was rewarded with several species drinking or bathing.  It's sunny, 74 degrees and there's a nice cool light breeze.  In a word, paradise.  It was 59 last night and I slept like a baby with the window open.  I feel great, and even though I tested positive again this morning, the lab tech said things are moving in the right direction.

I have friends all over the world praying for me, perhaps this is one of the higher purposes for me right now, to be a focal point for continuous prayer.  I've been vaxxed and boosted, so I'm sure this mild case is not going to do me in.  I'm getting three good meals a day, I have my own room with a good hot shower, flaky power and Internet, but compared to the joyous folks that I worked with in Waithaka last week, I'm living in tall cotton having running water, lights and good food.  It really humbles you when you work with people here with very little in the way of material goods, but what they do have, they gladly share.  Very refreshing to step outside of our me, me, me culture for a while.

Yes, this little speed bump is an inconvenience, especially to the guys in my business that I need to get paid as soon as I return, but this too shall pass.  We've got friends and family on the ground in Austin looking in on Adrienne while both Elaine and I are on the road, soemthing that almost never happens simultaneously.  We've been a good tag team ever since Covid hit in 2020 and we have taken care of her daily needs since, especially during the early scary days before there were vaccines.  When I do return to Texas, I may have to wait a while to see her and Pete, my favorite dog in the whole world, until a decent time has passed or at least make sure I'm masked up and keep visits brief for her protection.  I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

My friends Alison and Billy should be able to pick my meds up for me today, I never expected to be here this long.  That'll be a blessing as well.  Catherine had another dawa drink sent over, that stuff will cure anything.  That along with Kenyan chicken, the combination works like a charm.

So, I'm in good spirits and thankful for that too.  Being depressed would be a very dark place indeed and is really not how we're designed.  I honestly believe joy is our natural state, happiness comes and goes and is dependent on external circumstances, joy is a spiritual gift that no one can take from you unless you let them.  More too follow as the muse strikes me and I have the means to publish.  Blessings all y'all (that's plural for you non-Texans out there!)

The big morning, what will the result be?

 As I write this, it's 8:30, half an hour before my test.  They didn't bring breakfast this morning, luckily I've got some snacks and have stored up some fruit from previous meals.  They serve way more here than an average American can eat in one sitting.  I've just prayed for peace for whatever God's will is today, it's a good petition, seems to me it's included in the Lord's Prayer somewhere!  I can only go with the flow anyway, stress is self-imposed and is usually caused by things over which we have no control anyway.  Better to take each moment as a new surprise waiting to unfold.  I'm going to head down to the conference room in a minute or two where the testing will take place and maybe they'll be early.  More to follow when I have more to report in a while.

I just got back from my test.  John Paul, who administered it, is a very nice guy and couldn't believe I wasn't upset at all when it turned out to still be positive, but less so than on Tuesday.  I told him abou tmy prayer and showed him a few nature pictures while we waited 15 minutes for the test to complete.  I'm scheduled for my next test at 9am next Monday and am very hopeful that it will be the one that allows me to begin the journey home.  I'll write more as I can, but I thought I'd get the news out as soon as I could so that the many folks who have taken an interest and have been praying for me will know where we stand.  Blessings everybody!  This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Thursday afternoon and I have my appointment for my next Covid test

 There have been rolling blackouts all over the countryside today, the power has been out for an hour or more several times today here in Karen, a nice suburb of Nairobi.  Catherine got back with a team from Nakuru, about 2 hours away, and they were having power issues as well.  No one is saying what's going on with the grid.  I was able to get the phone number of the service we use to come and give you a rapid Covid test.  It's only about $30 plus a $15 house call.  When the team and I did ours on Tuesday, the house call fee covered everybody.  Too bad I don't have anyone to split it with.  Actually, Redeemer as a church and my various friends have all stepped up and offered to cover any extra costs that I am incurring and I'm very thankful to be a member of such a generous congregation.

My test will be at 9am and I should know if I'm cleared to leave by 9:30.  The fun will start then.  I'm hopeful I'll be able to get on the flight leaving Friday night, you have to test negative the same day you are flying in order to gain entry back into the States at the end of the trip. It was 72 hours up until last December and then Omicron hit and the rules changed.  If you are planning on any international travel, I would highly advise reading everything you can find on the CDC web site.  It's kind of staggering for one person, imagine leading a team of 9 through it. Each of my team members seemed to come up with some new requirement that I had never heard of right up until we left for Kenya.  It's keeping a lot of people employed, I'm sure of that.

I was able to get quite a few pictures edited today, in between power failures and an occasional nap.  I feel good, but my energy level is still a little lower than normal.  I've been getting lots of texts and social media messages from friends around Nairobi wishing me well and offering any help if I continue here for a while.  I'm assuming if I still test positive tomorrow that I probably won't be tested again until at least Monday.  I've already trimmed my fingernails out of boredom.  Who knows what I might do to my beard!

Not a lot to report from this afternoon other than that I'm glad I get another go at the test.  Please keep me in your prayers that I might accept whatever the outcome is.  In the big scheme of things this is small stuff.  I told one of the other team leaders who is in the same boat as me that this is nothing compared to the travel woes of St. Paul.  Our first world problems pale in comparison to what saints and martyrs before us suffered gladly.  

Thursday morning

 I got a solid 8 hours of sleep, it's about 5:30am here as I write this.  Breakfast is at 8.  I've got some fruit here in the room to tide me over.  I gave one of the sisters here a plastic bag of laundry yesterday morning full of mostly underwear and it never returned.  I hope she didn't think I was donating it, we do leave clothes behind after each trip.  I kinda need a few more days worth of skivvies to get home!  Yet another travel story that's not so funny at the time but will get better with each telling.

If I do get stuck here after Friday, my friends Alison and Billy are going to find my daily meds for me.  A pharmacy here is called a chemist, after the British tradition. If you know what you need, you can get most anything without a prescription, similar to Mexico.  You just talk to the chemist about it and you're good to go.  Kind of refreshing compared to our system where the patient is not trusted at all.  I understand restrictions on strong narcotics and other addictive drugs, but common antibiotics seem OK to me with a pharmacist's approval and getting a doctor involved as needed.

My team should all be home by now, having arrived in Houston around 2pm Tuesday and hopefully back in Austin by 6 or 7pm.  It was my joy to serve with each of them, they all brought unique skill sets and lots of love  and good cheer to bear on the mission.  I thank God that they all answered His call on their lives to place service above self for the people in Waithaka.  I'm praying for good rest for them after the long journey and that none of them comes down with the virus because of my failure to recognize what ailed me.  I'm still very sad over that.  If there is one bright spot, it is that it was me who ended up here, an experienced traveler that will be able to navigate my way home one way or another.  I know how scary it can be as a first time international traveler, not knowing what to expect around the next bend in the road.

I'm hoping to make some good progress on pictures from the trip today and who knows?  Maybe I'll be able to get one or two of them posted if the intermittent power failures and weak Internet cooperate.  More to follow as the day progresses.  Blessings, my friends!

Wednesday afternoon

 I had a productive afternoon.  I was able to file my sales tax with the State of Texas for May's business, they don't like it if you miss a payment.  I did some online banking and made sure all current bills will be paid on time.  I talked to Pastor Kevin and told him about the bus that I'll be taking from Houston.  It's called Red Coach and is only $30 to Austin.  It arrives in less than 3 hours.  They take two checkin bags and a carry-on for free.  The seats are recliners with wifi, plugs for laptops and an onboard entertainment system you can stream to your phone or tablet.  They start out from dowtown Houston and end up in downtown Austin.  Catherine may be able to get her son Mark to pick me up and get me to the bus which is about 40 minutes from Bush International Airport.  I could rent a car, but the drive is brutal after all the travel and the jetlag.

I was also able to alert the Travel Insurance that I may be filing a claim.  I have 20 days to get a claim in with documentation, so I'll deal with that when I'm back home.  I perked up quite a bit during the afternoon and then took about a 40 minute nap prior to 7pm dinner.  They brought it to my room.  Rice, mashed potatoes, steamed brocolli with cauliflower and lamb with what I think is papaya for dessert.  It filled me up!  They have a large garden here and the bulk of the veggies are grown at the convent.

It's nice and cool and raining outside my window.  I'll probably edit a few pictures before turning in early.  Getting as much rest as I can to try to shake this bug.  Blessings everybody.

Cooling my jets at Little Daughters

 Slept in until about 6am, which is late for me.  It's Wednesday here. Had a pretty good night's sleep.  Took a hot shower and rinsed out four or five shirts and a pair of pants.  They dry very quickly at sea level, not so much at a mile high or more in Nairobi.  Still drinking, drinking, drinking water to stay hydrated. I'm feeling pretty good, my cough is pretty much gone and I'm just a little tired.  I've been going down to get my food at each meal in an N95 mask and bringing it back to my room.  Mid-morning, I strolled the grounds and got some great close-up shots of the incredible flowers here.  There is bench out front under a canopy of trees where lots of little birds have been flitting about.  I'm about to have lunch, then a nap and may sit out there with my big lens this afternoon to see if I can get some new species and take my mind off of the jam I'm in at the moment.  

I'm so blessed to have dear friends here to take care of me.  I will run out of my daily meds for blood pressure and malaria prevention Friday, fortunately most everything is available over the counter here, similar to Mexico and inexpensive to boot.  I'll have somebody make a run for me tomorrow to get me maybe 5 days worth of each on the hope that I'm winging my way home soon.

One of my friends mentioned the cheap bus service between Houston and Austin, I may have to buy an extra ticket for my bags.  If I can do that, I'll just need to get somebody to pick me up once I get back and get me home.  These buses have wifi and other amenities, but I'll probably be fast asleep the whole way!

That's it for the moment, more to follow as things change on my end.  Blessings everybody!

Tuesday Travel back to Nairobi and more, never a dull moment

 We breakfasted and were on the road by 7am in our two vehicles, a Toyota van and a Land Cruiser.  We left early for a 4 hour or so drive because of all the things that could happen and usually do.  Everything from traffic jams to getting behind slow trucks in hilly areas or mechanical problems.  Today, it was mostly the latter choice.  About 100 miles outside of town, Simon felt there was something not right with the right rear tire.  We pulled into a gas station, and while everyone was getting a restroom break, he had it topped off with air.  Not too far down the road, it went flat.  He carries two spares, since on these distant safari trips anything can and does happen.  Our drivers in our van helped him and inside of 15 minutes we were back on the road, practically a NASCAR pit stop!  

Our plan was to stop by the airport for a rapid covid test for the team, but Catherine called and said she had a nurse and doctor at Little Daughters lined up. We were doing pretty well until only about 10 minutes from Little Daughters, which is when the spare tire went flat as well.  We packed everybody into the Land Cruiser so we could get tested for our flights, the first of which is leaving Nairobi at 10:25pm.  The team all passed their test with one exception, the team leader, me.  I paid for a second test, since the doctor said a negative really is a negative but that there are false positives in a fair number of cases.  No such luck, I am writing this from a room at Little Daughters.  Catherine will move me to a nice hotel with good wifi tomorrow so that I'll at least be able to work from here.  I guess a lot of my pictures will get edited and my email Inbox will get a cleanup!

I don't feel bad right now, I was a little down for the last two days, but I thought it was allergies due to all the dust and smoke in the park or maybe a chest cold.  My reaction to the third Pfizer shot was worse than this.  I didn't lose my sense of smell or taste and my head wasn't plugged up.  I bid farewell to the team in an N95 mask at a distance.  I feel bad that I probably exposed some of them to this, I have a feeling I picked it up during the clinic, given the large number of people we dealt with, most of whom were unmasked.  For the most part, we stayed masked all week, but it only takes one slip-up.  Would I do everything the same again?  Probably so except I would be more cautious once I felt sick and would have found a way to get a Covid test.  By then, though, the team would already have been exposed, but we would have known sooner about it. Thankfully, they'll all get home on time. 

The team went out to dinner with Henry and Catherine and then headed to the airport.  I spent more than an hour online trying to contact Lufthansa and finally gave up.  I called the American number for United Airlines, through whom I booked the trip.  An automated phone call offered to have a text message exchange with me.  After half an hour, the system put me in touch with a live agent and when she realized that it was international travel, the text said they were transferring me to the international team within United.  Half an hour later, I got a live agent who cancelled my flights and told me how to rebook them at no charge.  She also said I needed to stay in Nairobi for 10 days.  That's not going to happen, I know for a fact that I'll be allowed to fly the minute I get a negative test result and a doctor's note.  My next test will be Friday, with any luck I'll be able to start my journey Friday night and get back to Houston Saturday afternoon.  That would be great except I don't have a vehicle there, 5 of us rode together from Austin.  I hate to think I'll have to deal with renting a car and driving home after about 30 hours of travel.  It'll be another one of my funny stories someday, but not while I'm living it.

That's it for now.  Please pray for a full and swift recovery so I can get back to my regular life and into my own bed after what seems like a lifetime at this point.  Thanks everybody and may the Lord bless your day!

Monday happenings at Amboseli

 Five of us did a morning safari from about 6:30am until 1pm today.  Four of the group went with my driver Willie and my good friend Daniel, while I was alone with Simon in his van.  He is an accomplished birder and once again I got over 1400 pictures today.  Early on, we found a pack of 18 Hyenas finishing off what apperared to be a Wildebeest.  There were Jackals and Vultures waiting in line for any leftovers.

I got four lifers today and lots of the usual suspects for both animals and birds.  We were blessed with some closeups of a male and female Lion having a squabble, we think he wanted to go to one of the other females and she wasn't having it!  Some great Elephant pictures, whole families with babies that we very young.  

I've had a cough and cold for the last couple of days, so I took yesterday afternoon off as well as this afternoon and am feeling much better.  It is very dry and dusty here in the mountains, I think it's a reaction to that, I hope it's nothing worse.  We drive back to Nairobi tomorrow, Tuesday morning, and will get rapid Covid tests at the airport around noon in order to leave the country.  Our flight from here to Frankfurt, Germany is at 10:25pm. Please pray that we all test negative, since it's a 10 day quarantine for anyone who doesn't.  From the airport, we will go to Little Daughters and maybe order pizzas and Cokes, they hve the real thing with cane sugar here, and yes, there is a difference! We will shower and get our luggage ready, since we took part of it to the safari and left part at Little Daughters.  Electronics and batteries will need to go in my carry-on, including my laptop, cameras and lenses.  It's always fun evening out the weight from one bag to the next.  We'll have an early dinner with Catherine, her Mom and others before getting to the airport around 7 to clear security and get checked in.

I would highly recommend this game park, there were animals and birds around every corner, it's easier to get to than Masai Mara and I feel our accomodations and food were a little better.  We book our activities when we're in Kenya through Mission Opprtunities, Catherine's travel business.  All drivers, vehicles and lodges are first class at a very good price.  I can put folks in touch with her who may be interested in an adventure like this.

I hope to write some more from the airport before we leave Nairobi tomorrow night. Blessings everybody!

Sunday at Amboseli National Game Park

 I woke up from the best sleep I have had the whole trip around 5:30.  Breakfast was at 6, I had pancakes, an omelet and sausage, knwing a hearty breakfast would help get me through the morning.  Three of us decided to relax in the morning.  The other five team members, after making sure I wouldn't be offended, suggested that I take the Land Cruiser by myself with the bird guide and driver.  They were interested in more animals and birding takes some patience once you are lucky enough to spot a special one, so I told them no offense and I was happy to oblige.  They gave me a nice gift.

I got over 1400 pictures including lots of birds, a whole lion pride with Mama, 6 cubs and Dad, a hyena, a pack of Jackals on a fresh kill, elephants, and much more.  Birds included pink flamingos in flight, African fish eagles, lots of shore birds, the Jacana (also known as the Jesus bird because it appears to walk on water as it takes flight!) and many more.

We all got back about 12:30, lunched at 1 and got ready for the two afternoon safaris.  I decided to take the afternoon off to relax, get caught up on the blog and begin to cull through all the images from the trip so far.  It's time for a break before we finish strong with a morning and an afternoon safari Monday, with one group going to a Masai village in the afternoon to learn about their culture.

That's it for now, I have lots of notes for many blog posts and there will be a big photo album within a week or two of returning home.  I am at the Tanzanian border now and am lucky to get this text out to the world.  Blessings everybody and thank you Jesus for an amazing trip so far!  I've checked a lot of items off of my bucket list this time!

Travel to Amboseli and our first Safari

We got up at dark thirty to be on the road.  We had to cross Nairobi to get to the new train station for the high speed rail.  While waiting to board the train, many of us had food delivered to us in the First Class lounge.  The regular seats were about $3, ours were a whopping $8!  The line goes from Nairobi, all the way to Mombasa, but we only traveled about an hour and a half to the small town of Emali where our drivers picked us up in two vehicles.  One is a Toyota van converted for safaris with a pop-up top and the other is a Toyota Land Cruiser, also converted.  On the way to Amboseli, we could clearly see Mt. Kilimanjaro with no clouds obscuring it, a rare sight and a good omen of things to come.  We stopped several times as we got closer to our destination and took photos, including a nice team photo.

We arrived at Kibo Safari Camp, each got our tents and then had a buffet lunch.  The buffet had everything from salad fixings, to various kinds of rice, potatos and other starches and vegetables to various kinds of meats and it was all good.  I know, because I tried it all!

We rested for a while after lunch and then did our first safari from 3 until about 6pm.  We saw everything from lots of birds, to warthogs, wildebeests, impalas, gazelles, pink flamingos and lots more.

After the safari, we had time to shower and rest until a 7:30 pm dinner.  Once again, everything on the buffet was excellent.  More to follow.  Blessings!

The Clinic ends with our Biggest Day Yet

 We had breakfast with several other teams that were ready to head out into the countryside for their vision clinics and for their malaria net projects too.  We said our fond farewells and wished blessings on each others missions.  We arrived at the clinic with about 40 people already waiting for us.  We weren't sure what the day would bring, but I knew from past experience that Kenyans are a last-minute people.  We saw great numbers of patients all morning, but because we had fine tuned things during the week, it was manageable and a steady drip, drip, drip of patients added up to around 350 people at noon.  By the time we needed to begin shutting down around 3:30, the 500th patient was on the premises.  We finished strong and ended up with 547 patients on the day, 97 cataract surgery referrals for the week and about 2360 total patients for the week.  They were all told about Jesus and each and every one of them was prayed over by someone on the team.  Thank you, Jesus!

We got back to Little Daughters and showered right away, since our luggage with any liquids in it can not be taken on the train and we need to load our van with our other bags tonight.  We have a storage room at Little Daughters where whatever we are not taking with us to Amboseli will stay until we return Tuesday afternoon.  We are taking a high speed train to Emali and will breakfast at a nice restaurant there while we wait for our drivers with the luggage.  We will have a Land Cruiser and a four wheel drive van, each with pop-up tops for the safaris at Amboseli.  We will complete the drive to the game park, get checked in for the 3 days we will spend there, hit our lodge for lunch and then do an afternoon safari until sunset. Dinner will follow that.

I am going to work on both clinic and game park pictures upon my return to Austin and will be posting several on-line albums of the best photos, so pleae be patient.  I also will be publishing stories here for the foreseeable future, since it is so hard in the midst of the work we have done.

Everyone is happy, healthy and looking forward to our next adventure.  The clinic was a spiritual high for all of us and now we get to enjoy God's creation at a world-famous game park. To God be the Glory!

Other teams arrived last night, the Thursday clinic and Worship at Little Daughters

 I heard some commotion in the hall around 12:45am last night and lo and behold!  It was Pat Ficke and her team.  They looked about as weary as we did when we arrived.  It was great to see her, I seem to run into her in Kenya more than I do in Austin!

We breakfasted with the other teams and then headed into the clinic, hoping our momentum would continue.It did, we saw 522 patients and we are now at 74 cataract surgeries and holding.  The clinic was as smooth as ever, with one exception.  It got cloudy and very dark inside and the eyechart exam just wouldn't work well.  We had to move the eye chart outside to a different location and by afternoon it was in the sun, so we had to rotate volunteers in and out of there.  Also, our aging autorefractors are not holding a charge on their batteries very well, but with us using more and more negative readers (reading glasses designed for distance vision), I think this technology may be unnecessary soon.

We got home, freshened up quickly and then were led in worship by my good friend Isaac from the Lutheran Hour Ministries (called Nuru or Light here) and a children's dance group from Waithaka.  It's always a blessing to see old friends and wide-eyed newcomers at these first worship events.  We had dinner and then my team got down to the business of packing for our weekend safari trip to Amboseli, a world famous game park on the Tanzanian border.  We will be taking a high speed train for about an hour and a half and then our drivers will meet us with our vehicles for the rest of the journey.  They will be taking our luggage, so we need to separate out what we need for the weekend from what is coming home to Texas with us next Tuesday night.  My room is a disaster, with team stuff, personal stuff, camera and laptop gear to sort out.  A good problem to have!  Been a long day, need to move on to other things.  Blessings everybody!

Wednesday's holiday was very good to us

 There was a tent full of people waiting for us to start the clinic when we arrived.  It was a nice cool 59 degrees and we got setup quickly and began to see patients after our usual group devotion.  By noon there were already close to 250 people on the grounds.  Now that things are running very smoothly, some of the team member tried other jobs and we all kept an eye on bottlenecks and worked hard to keep things flowing nicely.  Being Independence Day, we saw more children than we normally do and were able to bless many of them with the care they needed.

From around 12:30 to 1:30pm, I got to visit a local non-profit called the Samkin Foundation that empowers people to get training and to set up various types of businesses.  It is always good to meet other go-getters that are out making a difference.  The head of it, a man named Samson really inspired me by his can do attitude and the many interesting ways he has thought of to help people empower themselves through hard work and learning skills.  I plan to write more as I get time over the coming weeks about his projects for various groups in his community that benefit everyone from the very young to the very old.

When I got back to the clinic, I signed for 5 more cataract surgeries in short order.  By the end of the day, we had already authorized 50 surgeries for the week, our normal quota.  I reached out to Pastor Kevin yesterday and we will do at least 75 of them this week.  It's a miracle, the blind shall see!  This is one of my favorite things that we do here, making a huge difference in someone's life.  I think there is a pent up demand, since this is our first time back to the area since 2019.

By the end of the day, we had served 455 patients with everything from reading glasses, distance glasses, surgery referrals or medications, with many people receiving several of our services.  That's it for now, it's been non-stop and there are still a few more things to do before bed-time.  It is 8:30 pm here in Nairobi, 12:30 noon in Austin.  The team is pretty well acclimated to the time shift now.  Blessings everybody!

A few pictures from yesterday's clinic and dinner

 Just got these done at 5am before getting ready for another day!  The pictues came in oddly ordered and are described in order at my Facebook page.

The evangelism and registration tents

Mama and her "baby"

My end of the table

Our Kenyan family

The rest of the team

Another view

Geoffrey about to tell the Gospel story. He's in the blue jacket on the right.

Tuesday happenings at the clinic

 It was a much easier start to the day, thanks to the organizational skills of my whole team.  We were smart in the way we put everything away for safekeeping overnight, grouped by each station of the clinic.  On Monday, we had to open every footlocker and figure out what was in it, where it was going, etc while about 50 people were already inside of our building completely blocking everything we needed to do.  I'm glad I took my blood pressure meds yesterday!  As usual, we gathered together with the volunteers and had a brief devotion and sang together.  

Yesterday, I made everybody form a Zebra before we did our afternoon end of the day devotion. I started this years ago when I noticed that even after a day of working together, we all separated into black and white when the group came together.  I started grabbing people, alternating each of us and we all held hands and swayed together as we sang.  Sometimes crazy Dave has a cool idea that works out, it's become one of my traditions and everybody was all smiles.  It's a good icebreaker.

There were people waiting when we arrived at the clinic, but now that we have a little experience as a team and understand more due to the card counting and sorting exercise last night, things got off to a good start.  We got up and running in record time and the whole day was a drip, drip, drip of people.  Tressie had an idea for making the clinic flow better when she wasn't sleeping well overnight and it worked like a charm. We ended up seeing 428 patients and were not half as tired as at the end of the day Monday.

We had our "nice" team meal tonight after a shower.  We met Catherine, her mother and our local missionaries Alison and Billie at Talisman, an upscale restaurant only blocks from Little Daughters.  A good time was had by all and it was so good to see Mama, Catherine's mother.  Ever since Mark's high school graduation in Missouri in 2012, when I was the driver back to Austin for the family, I have been dearly loved by her.  What a blessing to have a second Mama, most of us only get one to a customer.  My team knows I am 70 years old and Mama calls me her baby, so the question naturally came up how old Mama was the year I was born. She's 93, so the math works out fine!

It is a national holiday, Kenyan Independence Day, when they too were finally free from British rule.  We expect to have either a great day (my preference) or not so good as people relax.  I think we'll see more children than usual since they will be out of school.  Time for bed, been a long day and need to get recharged before we do it again!  Blessings everybody and thank you Jesus for a great day!

Monday, the first day of the clinic

 I got a good night's sleep Sunday with the exception of the loud dance club's persistent thumping bass coming into my room.  They shut down around midnight and it was better after that until one bird was singing around 5.  It was probably some kind of Weaver.  Not too bad.  We had breakfast and headed to the clinic a little late, since our footlockers full of supplies needed to be delivered by our van before it could pick us up.  After several false starts at trying to make the layout of the clinic we had gone over as a team the night before, we got something that was workable if not ideal.  There are always tweaks that need to bad at every one of these clinics that I've been involved with.  I told the team on the bus on the way in that I had been thinking overnight and I came to the conclusion that every single one of us on the team is already a leader, both in their daily lives as Christian educators, coaches, business people or other vocations and I just knew that my job would be to coordinate things based on past experience.  Every one of the team took ownership of everything they did and were joyful doing it.  I've been so blessed this time to have a team which only gets better and better.  

Once early morning hurdles were overcome, things began to run smoothly.  This may be the best first day of a clinic I've ever had.  By around 1:30, we had seen about 350 people.  Even though it slowed down a bit, giving us a chance to have some rice, beans and cabbage that Catherine's sister had prepared for our team, I'm guessing that we ended up with around 450 patients for the day.  Part of this was due to our having been gone since 2019, part was the good job the church did in advertising the clinic through posters and the rest was a God thing!  We will be having dinner soon, at which time the team will help me count and classify the cards for statistics that the Kenyan government wants to see and I will have final figures before posting this.

I was interviewed by local media about what we are doing and why.  I gave what I thought was a good explanation and they were happy after one take.  Cool!

I worked a little bit in each of the stations of the clinic throughout the day, teaching and encouraging where I could.  Some of the rest of the team worked in more than one area, which is good, because some jobs are mostly sitting and some stainding and it makes the day go when there is a bit of variety.  Also, the goal is to get more and more involvement from the local church volunteers, to give them a sense of purpose and accomplishment.  It's fun to see young people given some responsibility and watch them begin to shine.

I'm just back from dinner, we saw 410 people according to the registration cards we counted and our log book had 419 entries.  Usually we see maybe 4 or 5 cards get away from us, but this is fine on a first day.  The team learned a lot while counting the cards, it give you some insight into the other areas of the clinic and helps prepare them to work in different area during the week.

That's about it from here, need to get some sleep to get rested up to do it all over again.  Word of mouth is our biggest friend and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see 800 or more people tomorrow.  Wednesday is a question mark, it's a holiday and it could be very good or very dead.  I've seen it both ways before.  Regardless, we will do our best to serve those whom God brings us.   Blessings everyone!

Sunday worship and more

We all had a pretty good night's sleep. In the early days of the project I must have worried more. It was at least Monday night before I slept soundly. Having an exhausting Saturday is a good plan. 

We had breakfast with the other teams that were heading out today and wished them well. We boarded our 14 passenger van and arrived at the Waithaka church in time to greet old friends before we worshiped together.  Our friend Immanuel led the service. There were several adult and youth choirs as well as dancers. Every number was also choreographed beautifully. The sermon was on Jesus's High Priestly Prayer in John Chapter 17 and how it applies to us today. I took a number of pictures which will probably have to wait until I return home due to our connection issues this time around. 

We scouted out the clinic site which has changed dramatically since I last saw it in 2019. A building and a wall are in an area where we had a large 50 person tent and two smaller ones for evangelism. We are literally going to use the community center backwards from our earlier clinics.

We had lunch at a nice western style restaurant and everyone seemed to like the food. We hit a grocery store in the same mall for snacks, water and clinic essentials like hand sanitizer and paper towels. We got back to Little Daughters about 4 pm and relaxed until dinner at 7.

It was a good meal of chicken,  mashed potatoes, green beans, pumpkin soup followed by watermelon for dessert.  I led a brief devotion and we went over the clinic layout we will start with. We said goodnight at 8 and the bed is not far off. Goodnight everyone!

Travel indignities

Once I got settled into my room around 12.30 am Saturday after about 30 hours of travel, it was time for a hot shower. I got the right mix of hot and cold and turned the valve to redirect the flow from the faucet to the shower head. Nothing. No matter how I twisted the head or adjusted things, nothing. Anyone who has flown to the other side of the world will tell you that no matter how many times you freshened up on the plane or in airports,  there is a special kind of travel grunge only a hot shower can cure. What to do? I put my shampoo and soap on the hard shower floor tile, got down on my hands and knees and made the best of it! It was not easy but I felt blessed anyway.  Many people where we will be serving make do with far less and struggle just to have clean drinking water. I've learned on these trips over the years that situations that were no fun at the time often make the funniest stories and can be teaching moments. My team and Catherine were amused over breakfast.  It looked like it would not be fixed until Monday and the nuns wanted me to change rooms. I didn't because I have 2 power outlets and will be able to help keep clinic equipment charged up every night. Somehow, the handyman came Saturday afternoon when I was longing for a nap and managed to fix it. He wanted no pay but I gave him $10 and we both praised God for each other. Another new Kenyan rafiki which means friend.  Thank you Jesus!

Outstanding safari etc today

I got to sleep around 1.30 last night and got about 4 hours of pretty good sleep. We had breakfast and hit the road at 6:45. It was cool and overcast at first but brightened up as the morning went on.  We saw hippos, rhinos, lions, giraffes, zebras, hartebeests, gazelles, elans, impalas, and a wide assortment of birds and butterflies.

After the Nairobi Game Park  we went to the newly refurbished Giraffe Centre. Our friend Daniel guided us and gave a fascinating presentation on giraffes. He will be one of our drivers next weekend.

We then went to the Veranda for lunch. 

We relaxed the rest of the afternoon and had dinner at the convent at 7.

The Internet is spotty tonight.  I had to write this on my phone. I'll try again tomorrow afternoon to fill in more details. Going to get some sleep,  it's another big day tomorrow with church and designing the clinic layout. Blessings everyone!

Frankfurt to Nairobi

We took two flights of steps down to a shuttle to our plane, an Airbus A330-300, and then climbed up into the plane. We certainly got our exercise and my artificial hip passed the audition!

We’re masked up again, I hope it won’t be required on our return flights in a couple of weeks.  I’m getting hungry so I hope lunch is shortly after takeoff. Our breakfast on the previous flight was a fruit cup, granola bar and some inedible veggie burrito thing. I thought I’d never say this, but British Air has serious competition from Lufthansa for worst food in the sky. It’s too bad, my previous experiences with them have been very good. 

The flight is fairly full but not nearly as much as the last one. We just pulled away from the terminal and it looks like this leg of our journey will be on time. 

While I  had wifi at the airport,  I was able to let Catherine know we’re on the way and she was able to confirm our safari and other plans for Saturday. 

A little way into the flight, we were served lunch which was a repeat of the pasta with tomato sauce we had yesterday.  Filling but some variety would be welcomed. 

I was able to get some sleep and I remembered that I got distracted getting to our flight and forgot my daily meds, which includes doxycycline for malaria prevention.  I downed my pills around 3pm and will get back on track tomorrow morning.  Actually,  3pm is 7am at home, so I wasn’t too late.

We will be given dinner about an hour before touchdown.  I hope it’s worthy of being written about!

Once we’re at the airport in Nairobi,  if things haven’t changed, we will first go through the process of presenting our electronic visas and Covid related paperwork in order to be allowed into the country. We will then collect our luggage and it will be x-rayed on our way out. Several of us have supplies or equipment for the vision clinic. I have an official government document stating that our clinic is sanctioned,  so maybe I won’t have to pay too much “duty” on our stuff.

Catherine will have a truck waiting to put our baggage in and we will ride to Little Daughters and check in with the exception of two of our group that will need to take rapid Covid tests. Catherine will stay with them and personally bring them to our lodging. It will be a short night, breakfast a little after 6am and we’ll be on the road to our Saturday activities by 6.30.

We got through customs but the xray machine was broken and we were torn apart. Waiting on Yancy to pay duty for a bag or leave it behind. It has school supplies in it.  Catherine is going to try to negotiate.  It’s  after 10pm and we're still at airport.  I love international travel!

Thank you,  Jesus for travel mercies.

Made it from Houston to Frankfurt

I want to thank my brothers and sisters who have called to pray over me and the team. You know who you are. It means a lot to us.  And thanks to Pastor Kevin for all of the behind the scenes planning and support he gives to the project.  We dearly wish he could be with us, I’m hopeful it will work out next time.  Also, thanks to all of you who have contributed to us in time,  talent and treasure.  It truly is a team effort. 

The Parsons and the Glienkes picked me up as planned about 9am today even though we knew our flight would be about an hour late.  We stopped in Brenham for a rest stop and most of us took the opportunity to have some Blue Bell ice cream as is our tradition.  Yancy dropped us off at Terminal D with our luggage and went to park the truck. We met up with Sandra, Ken, Anthony and Tressie and got all 36 or so pieces together. Lufthansa sent out an email overnight and I missed one detail.  They lowered the weight limit for carry-on luggage from 26 to 18 pounds. Sandra and Ken each graciously took a camera lens from me and I put my laptop, camera bodies and a few other items in a cloth shopping bag for a personal item to stow under my seat. I prayed over the team for easy travel and an effective mission and we then made it through security in record time except one glitch. I had TSA PreCheck and was doing great til I told them I have an artificial hip. I was sent to a different scanner and then patted down and scanned for explosives. Wow!

We met after the security check and had lunch at Hugo’s,  a pretty decent Mexican restaurant. We ordered our meals using a phone app by scanning a QR code and also paid via phone. Pretty efficient! I was hungry, so anything would have tasted good!  We waited about 3 hours before boarding, which also went well. 

I’m writing this on my phone from the plane as we just passed Shreveport. The captain said we have a strong tailwind and should make up lost time.  The beverage service is coming, it will be fun with a surgical mask!

Dinner is beginning to be served around 6:15pm Houston time. The special meals are arriving meaning the masses will be fed shortly. The regular meal consisted of pasta, a roll and butter, a piece of cheddar cheese, a saltiness and a chocolate dessert. It wasn’t great but it was filling. It was also nice to remove my mask for a little while. 

I sat next to an Indian woman on her way to Mumbai with her 12 year old son  She’s a professor in San Antonio. I told her about our mission and we talked about traffic between San Antonio and Austin among other topics.

I got some sleep on the flight but not nearly as much as I wanted.  It’s difficult in a mask. It looks like we’ll be 25 minutes late getting into Frankfurt,  so we’ll only have maybe two hours to clear security and catch our flight to Nairobi.   It’s always a scramble.  I hope it’s as easy as Houston was.

We got to Frankfurt and navigated to our gate. Two flight of steps down, a shuttle bus and then 2 flights up, carrying our stuff the whole way! We will make our flight with about 45 minutes to spare. No security check here, I was surprised. I better post this while I have wifi. Blessings!

The Travel Begins!

 Everyone on the team received an email from Lufthansa at 3:30 this morning telling us our flight has been delayed 40 minutes.  With a little less than a 3 hour layover in Frankfurt, I'm a little concerned about missing our connection if anything else happens, so prayers for travel mercies are welcome!  Another email said the flight is nearly full and they're asking for volunteers to check their carry-on luggage.  Mine is full of cameras, a laptop, lenses and all sorts of other stuff with batteries which can't be checked, so I hope I don't draw the short straw.  Even if I kept my most fragile and valuable stuff under the seat in front of me, it would barely fit.  As I said on my Facebook page, anyone who thinks international travel is glamorous has not done it.  You just have to go with the flow.

The Austin team members will be driving down to Bush International Airport in Houston and hope to arrive at our terminal around noon.  The others are taking a shuttle from College Station that willl arrive at 12:30.  We'll make sure everybody has their assigned luggage for the team and themselves and then pray over our travels and the mission.  Then we'll proceed through security and get some lunch. I'm hoping my next blog post will be after an uneventful trek through security.  I'm currently waiting to be picked up, 5 of us are traveling in a pickup with about 15 pieces of luggage, it will probably look like the Beverly Hillbillies without Granny on the top!  Blessings everybody!

Go!

 About 3 weeks ago, Rob Gerlach, our Minister of Music, who also arranges for the lectors that do the Scripture readings in church, sent me an email and asked if I could serve on May 22nd.  I said sure, what will the readings be?  "They're from the Book of Acts and the final chapter of the Gospel of Matthew."  At that moment, I realized a "God thing" was happening.  We have been doing a chapter a week as a church in Matthew and I knew that the Great Commission would have to be part of the thrilling conclusion.  It's the mission statement for our vision project, it's why we do what we do.  Here it is:

The Great Commission

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

How special is this?  Being sent by Jesus to do his command.  It was very profound for me, as I'm sure it was for the rest of the team.  While we are going on a mercy mission to help people with their vision needs, I like to say that we are an Evangelism Clinic disguised very cleverly as a Vision Clinic.  We help people to see clearly in both this physical life and hopefully have an impact on their spiritual one as well.  

One way we do this is every patient that comes to the clinic waits in tents outside until it is their turn.  Local church members use an Evangecube to explain the Gospel simply in local languages and each person gets a tract (little pamphlet) with the same pictures and story.  Here is a link to the maker of the cube's website where there is a short video explaining how the cube works near the bottom right of their page: Evangecube | eCube Classic | Fun & Portable Evangelism Cube – e3 Resources

Even young people with smartphones and other gadgets are fascinated by the cube, it works in any language!  More to follow as we begin our travel today.  Blessings everybody!

 

One final day of packing and taking care of last minute details

 As many of you know, I have a computer repair business, so some of today will be spent getting start of the month invoices out to our regular customers a little early with an explanation as to why they were not sent on the 1st of June.  Any final checks that come in the mail will be deposited and I'll make sure that all bills that are due while I'm gone will be paid.  I usually don't publicize that we're on a mission trip but wait for somebody to spill the beans online, since I don't want to signal that I am out of town.    Since it's been three years since I was in Kenya, it's not a very well-kept secret this time.  Don't worry, my house is being well looked after while I'm gone.

There is also laundry to do, last minute packing of my clothes and personal items in my suitcase and getting all of my camera gear and laptop into my carry-on, since that stuff is not leaving my sight!  I'll be taking 2 camera bodies and 2 lenses with me.  My new mirrorless Nikon Z6II and Sigma 150-600mm lens will be reserved for wildlife, while a more mundane wildlife camera, a Nikon D7500 and a Sigma 18-300 lens will be my walking around camera of choice for sight-seeing and for photography at the clinic, supplemented by my smartphone.  The D7500 will be good for candid shots zooming across larger rooms, while the cell phone is great for posed shots of friends.  I do still have a Nikon D500, a very capable wildlife camera, but it is bigger and heavier and has over 310,000 shots on it, while the D7500 has only about 30,000 and is good enough for the purposes I have for it.  

And then there is the bag I need to pack as the team leader.  It has everything from duct tape to BIC pens to the last of the inventory of distance glasses lenses that we still had here in the States.  It is a conglomeration of items based on past experience and it never anticipates some of the unique situations we find ourselves in.  Our checked bags are limited to 50 pounds and our carry-on can be 26 pounds.  I try to err on the light side, since excess baggage fees are stiff.  Some items, like batteries, can't be checked but must be in carry-on luggage or the personal item you are allowed on the plane that has to fit under the seat in front of you.

We are staking some suitcases with Redeemer T-shirts in them for Catherine's school and the rescue center, something I found out they were about to order and have printed.  It feels good to have anticipated that need and the Lord is helping us fulfill it. 

I've already notified the credit card companies of my travel.  Visa and Mastercard are honored around the world, Discover not so much.  I'll have enough cash for normal needs with me, credit cards are a safety net in case some large unforeseen need arises.  Even after chip cards came into vogue, I got hacked once and a card was canceled while I was halfway around the world.  I had one more card in reserve, but that was scary.  Shortly after I paid for a team dinner in Nairobi, 4 different Auto Zones in Round Rock, TX, near where I live, each had a charge of $175 simultaneously.  Luckily, the credit card company picked up on it right away, since they knew where I was and notified me via email.  Unfortunately, they had to issue a new card with a new number, meaning I had to deal with changing a bunch of auto-pay accounts when I got back, since it was my business credit card.  Ouch.

I'll be bringing a small travel Bible, since we do devotions at the beginning and end of each day at the clinic, and we also have a brief one at dinner before we discuss the way each team member saw God moving among us that day.  Of course, I have a Bible app on my phone, but having a real one is a comfort, especially if I get called upon to say a few words in any public gathering during the week.  We're usually pretty tired at the end of the day and I like to respect everyone's time, so most folks retreat to their rooms for the night right after we eat.  An exception is the one night where we go out as a team for a nice dinner at a local restaurant.

I'll be writing more for the blog each day and hope to have a description of our travel and our experience going through security in Houston before we take off for Germany on Thursday.  Many times, I also compose blog posts during the long flights, either on my phone or laptop and post them once we have Wi-Fi at an airport. I've also got a portable hotspot with 6 days credit on it from previous trips that works almost anywhere in the world on local cell networks.  It's not blazing fast, but good enough for email or a blog post with a minimal number of pictures.  Each day's worth of credit is a 24-hour day, so sometimes I'll start later in the evening one day. The nice thing is that it will still work early in the evening the next day, giving me in effect 2 days for spending one day's credit. Day passes were 5 for $40 when I last bought them in 2019, they've gone up to $10 per day or 5 for $45 if I need to reload.  I'm interested to see if it will work near the Tanzanian border when we're on safari after the clinic. 

I hope you like to learn of the intricate details of putting a trip like this together.  It wouldn't be remotely possible without the expertise, love and care of our friend Catherine Wangari on the ground in Nairobi tying up every loose end.  More to follow as time allows.  Blessings everybody!

Preparation for the trip is progressing well

 We are currently emailing back and forth and there may still be a phone call or two, but things are coalescing.  Each team member gets two checked bags on our Lufthansa flights plus their carry-on.  In the early days of our project, we would take maybe 60 footlockers with us for four or five churches, loaded up with clinic supplies, and we were required to take responsibility for two footlockers each, meaning we lived for 10 days out of our carry-ons.  Easy for a man to do, not so much for the ladies!  These days, we order the bulk of our supplies through local Kenyan businesses, boosting the local economy and meaning we get a little more luggage space for ourselves.  Many of the things we used for the clinics came from China anyway, so they would go from there to America and then come with us to Kenya.  Much easier just to cut out the middleman!

As always, we bring things for our missionaries that are on the ground all year round for our project.  For example, a bottle of shampoo or conditioner is the equivalent of $15, so rather than bring travel sizes, we pack full sized bottles and give the bulk of it to our friends when we leave.  There are certain brands of cereal or candy that folks get a craving for that are not available in Kenya, although much has changed since I first went there in 2009.  They now have KFC and Subway, neither of which I've been to there.  Why go halfway around the world to do something I can do at home?

We will be flying out of Bush International in Houston Thursday afternoon and will arrive in Frankfurt, Germany around 8am local time Friday morning.  We'll be screened for Covid as they examine our vaccination records and online documents we have already uploaded and I'm sure we'll go through a security check before we board our next flight.  We have almost a 3-hour layover, so that should be plenty of time as long as our flight out of Houston isn't delayed.  I don't need any big adventures like the time we missed our flight in London and ended up in Istanbul.  Pastor Kevin always likes missions that are "uneventful" and so do I!  Adventures make for great stories afterwards but aren't so much fun at the time.

Our flight from Frankfurt should arrive in Nairobi around 8:20pm and I hope to be at our lodging by around 10:30 or 11pm after going through Immigration and Customs, which will also include Covid checks of our paperwork or rapid tests for some of us.  

One of my new team members asked how I entertain myself on these long flights.  I mentioned bringing my own movies, music and Kindle books on my smartphone and that newer planes on international flights usually have USB and sometimes power for plugging in laptops, plus an on-demand entertainment system where you can watch a movie and pause it for dinner or a bathroom break.  My best option personally  though is closing my eyes and dreaming!

That's it for now, I'll try to write another post or two before we depart with more thoughts on travel and what we will be working to accomplish through our clinic in Waithaka.  Blessings everybody!

The Adventure Continues, Back to Kenya after a 2 year Hiatus

 At long last, we are preparing to saddle up and head to Kenya next Thursday.  We were all ready to serve again in 2020 and Covid got in the way.  God had a different plan and we ministered to our own neighborhood instead for the last 2 years.  This will be my 20th trip to Nairobi, there just seemed to be something wrong about stopping at 19!  Of course, someone will challenge me to 25 and I'll say yes as long as the Lord gives me the strength and good health to do so.  After that, I'll support whatever mission work Redeemer is involved with.

We have a team of 9, including me.  Half are first-timers and half have been with me before.  It's a great group, no high maintenance people in the bunch.  It's been a blessing to see this team form over the last 6 months or so.  I love the energy and the sense of awe that new members of the team bring and the steadiness that the old hands contribute.  It's a good mix.  Here are some pictures as we were commissioned and prayed over this morning at all three worship services.  Click on an image to see a larger version.

We will be serving in Waithaka at a recently refurbished community center that I have been to twice before.  The nearby Waithaka Lutheran Church, where we will be worshipping next Sunday, is a daughter church of Kawangware Lutheran Church where we got our start almost 15 years ago.  It will be so good to see many old friends and also to reminisce over those that did not make it through the pandemic and are waiting for us now in Heaven.  Our mission this time is to host a vision clinic, providing distance and reading glasses, medications and cataract surgeries to the people at no charge.  I am wondering if there will be a great deal of pent-up demand, since it has been so long since we were there.  I expect that we may see anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 patients during our Monday through Friday clinic.  Each one of them will receive a Gospel presentation in their own language, usually Swahili or English, as they wait in large tents outside the clinic for their turn.  Besides caring for their physical needs, we talk to each and every patient about their lives and pray over the needs that they

express to us, one-on-one.  It's a very powerful ministry.

We will be staying at a familiar convent, the Little Daughters of St. Joseph.  It will be good to see our friends there who have taken such good care of us over past missions.  We will each have our own rooms with our own shower and commode but will eat buffet style as a group for most meals. 

Most of my concerns will fade away once we are in Nairobi.  It is a whole different world today, with differences from one country or airport to another regarding vaccinations and Covid tests.  Please pray for us that it all goes smoothly and none of us ends up in quarantine.  We are flying United/Lufthansa from Houston to Frankfurt, Germany and from there on to Nairobi.  The Frankfurt Airport doesn't require masks now, but when you can't socially distance in the security lines, they will not settle for a cloth mask, it must be a medical grade N95 one.

Rather than speculate any more, just stay tuned right here every day and I'll do my best to report on our travels and on the clinic.  I will be posting here as often as possible as we do our final preparation for the trip and as I can during the mission.   I always try for every day, but Internet and even power can sometimes be spotty, especially if there are heavy storms.  Blessings everybody!