It's that time of year again and we are getting ready to saddle up for our mission trip to Nairobi once again. This year, we have a team of 6, with 5 of us being veterans. That experience will come in handy, as we will be serving in Machakos County in a slum called Mlolongo. This is the first time on of our teams will serves with two local churches, so we expect to have great volunteers with a lot of enthusiasm for spreading the Gospel as we serve the people's vision needs. Many times, the first morning of the clinic looks like things will never work as our team and the volunteers figure out how things work. Usually by Tuesday afternoon, the clinic is running like a well-oiled machine, I expect things will get going much quicker as each one of us will be able to get a station of the clinic ready quickly and also get our volunteers up to speed.
We were prayed over and sent as missionaries at all three of our church services at Redeemer Sunday, which happened to be Pentecost. It doesn't get better than that! I always read a chapter a day in the Book of Acts for the 4 weeks leading up each trip, reading about how the early church grew in leaps and bounds, being led by the Holy Spirit, always gets me fully charged up for the work we are about to do.
The Dream Team
If you would like to see any of the services, they are available in Redeemer Austin's YouTube channel.
In between the second and third services, we divvied up various items we need either for the clinic or for the school in Kongasis. While some of us get two checked bags and a carry-on, we have traveled light for years and will only have on suitcase, a carry-on and the personal item that fits under the seat in front of you. Years ago, we used to take multiple footlockers filled with reading glasses, lenses and frames for making distance glasses, medications, tools and other things necessary to run a clinic. Sometimes, your carry-on was all you got. It's pretty doable for the guys, the ladies had a little more difficulty. Over the years, security has tightened up in Nairobi and we would often have to pay to bring supplies into the country, even though we are an NGO (non-profit) and have government approval. All of the team members pay their own way and for their lodging, with much help from generous friends, so it always seemed a little unfair to have to pay to do good works. We eventually woke up and realized most of what we were bringing had been ordered from China and we were carrying it with us when we could order the same things from Kenya and rent storage space much more cost effectively. I figure out of the 25 kilograms (52 pounds) that we're each allowed to bring in a checked bag, maybe 15 to 20 pounds will be for the clinic and the rest will be personal items like clothes, meds, etc.
Things you can be praying for are uneventful travel with no missed connections since the last three years has seen our teams scattered to the four winds. Some of us ended up in Doha, Qatar through no choice of our own last year, other times I've been in Istanbul or an extra day in London or Amsterdam due to missed flights or delays. Also, the jet fuel situation in Europe is very tight, so we are hoping our flight from Charles DeGaulle to Nairobi actually is able to fly out and that our layover of about three hours is enough. Some of us are traveling starting Wednesday to be able to visit the school on Friday, some are leaving Thursday, staying over for photo safaris and other activities and hope to visit the school on our way back to town Monday, June 8th before leaving that night.
I will try to update the blog on a daily basis and there will be multiple stories during our travel. We have formed a WhatsApp group for the team, so we will know where everyone is whenever we have WiFi in airports or hotels. This is a big improvement in our ability to communicate compared to when I first went on these missions in 2009. Here I am on my 24th trip and the world has changed little by little!
Blessings everybody, see you in the next post!
