WORTH THE WAIT!!!!!

WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!

WE TOUCHED DOWN IN NAIROBI ON NOV. 11TH A AROUND 10 PM!

THE TRIP WAS LOOOONG, BUT NOT TOO REMARKABLE. IT WAS EXCITING TO HAVE THE TEAM, & CLOSE FRIENDS TOUCH DOWN IN MIAMI & BE IN THE U.S. EVEN JUST FOR A BIT. WE GOT THROUGH IMMIGRATION & CUSTOMS SMOOTHLY, RECHECKED OUR BAGS TO NAIROBI, MET UP WITH PATTY'S UNCLE WHO LIVES IN MIAMI, HAD A MEAL AT CHILI'S IN THE AIRPORT, & NANO, ROBERTO, KAREN & CINTHIA HAD A STARBUCKS FOR THE 1ST TIME.

AFTER A 10 HOUR LAYOVER IN MIAMI, WE TRAVELED ON TO LONDON. THE PLANE WAS A LOT MORE COMFORTABLE, & EACH SEAT HAD A PERSONAL T.V., FROM WHICH YOU COULD CHOOSE THE PROGRAMING YOU WISHED. THE GUYS WERE VERY IMPRESSED & DIDN'T SLEEP MUCH WATCHING MOVIES MOST OF THE NIGHT. HEATHROW AIRPORT WAS VERY NICE - AT LEAST THE PART WHERE WE WERE - & WE ALL WERE IMPRESSED AT HOW INTERNATIONAL THE DEMOGRAPHICS WERE THERE. PEOPLE OF ALL SHAPES, COLOR, RACE & NATION IT SEEMED LIKE. MANY DIFFERENT LANGUAGES BEING SPOKEN. WE DIDN'T HAVE NEARLY THE LAYOVER THERE, AND EVENTUALLY BOARDED OUR BRITISH AIRWAYS FLIGHT TO NAIROBI.

THE FLIGHT TO NAIROBI WAS MEMORABLE AS WE FLEW OVER THE SAHARA DESERT. IT SEEMED LIKE FOREVER. IT WAS VAST, BEAUTIFUL & LOOKED READY TO SWALLOW YOU UP. OCCASSIONALLY YOU WOULD SEE SIGNS OF LIFE OR LITTLE HOUSES BELOW. THAT WAS IMPRESSIVE. THEN...

KENYA!

AFRICA!.... at last.

ARRIVING INTO NAIROBI WAS WONDERFUL. THE AIRPORT SEEMED REALLY OLD, BUT A GREAT DEAL LARGER THAN BOLIVIAN AIRPORTS. WE WERE VERY TIRED AT THIS POINT (WE'D SPENT OVER 24 HOURS IN THE AIR), BUT ECSTATIC TO HAVE FINALLY ARRIVED. AFTER TAKING SEVERAL PICS UPON ARRIVAL WE MADE IT DOWN TO IMMIGRATION TO GET OUR VISAS. THE VISA PROCESS TOOK ALMOST A FULL HOUR FOR THE TEAM. ALL OF OUR BAGS SAVE ONE ARRIVED SAFELY THANK God!

WE TRAVELED FROM NAIROBI TO WEBUYE BY BUS ON THE 13TH. IT WAS VERY COOL TO GET TO SEE THE KENYAN COUNTRYSIDE, AS WE GOT TO TRAVEL THROUGH MUCH OF THE COUNTRY. WE SAW GAZELLES, ANTELOPE, WARTHOGS & ZEBRAS ALONG THE WAY. MOST OF THE TRADITIONAL AFRICAN ANIMALS ARE CLOSER TO THE EAST SIDE OF THE COUNTRY, CLOSER TO NAIROBI. WE WERE ALSO ABLE TO WITNESS THE MAJESTIC GREAT VALLEY RIFT WHICH WAS VAST, GREEN & BEAUTIFUL. A MUCH SMALLER VERSION OF THE GRAND CANYON, ONLY GREEN.

WE ALSO CROSSED THE EQUATOR.

ANOTHER THING WE REALIZED THAT WAS PRETY EXTRAORDINARY, WAS THAT THE JOURNEY HAS ENABLED US TO TRAVEL THROUGH ALL 4 OF THE EARTH'S HEMISPHERES!

WEBUYE WAS UNBELIEVABLE. WEBUYE IS WHAT YOU IMAGINE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN BEING LIKE. THERE'S PROBABLY 10,000 PEOPLE IN THE TOWN - MUD/ADOBE HOMES, MANY ADORABLE CHILDREN EVERYWHERE, BICYCLE TAXIS, ONE PAVED ROAD THAT RUNS THROUGH TOWN, WHAT WE'D CONSIDER UNDERDEVELOPED BUT BEAUTIFUL. IT'S ALSO HOME TO KENYA'S LARGEST PAPER MILL WHICH SWEETENS THE AIR QUITE A BIT : ) (actually the mill is on the outskirts of town, so you really aren't affected by it from where we are)

AS WE ARRIVED SOME OF BISHOP ALEX'S PEOPLE MET US ALONG THE MAIN ROAD. PASTOR BEATRICE, PASTOR FLORENCE & PASTOR ROBERT (FROM UGANDA WERE AMONG THE WELCOMING PARTY). THERE WERE SO WARM, SEEMED SO HAPPY TO SEE US, & FROM THE BEGINNING SEEMED ALMOST ANXIOUS TO BEND OVER BACKWARDS TO MAKE US FEEL AT HOME AND COMFORTABLE. THE SUN WAS VERY STRONG IN WEBUYE & SOME OF US WERE A BIT OVERWHELMED & ANXIOUS. RIGHT AWAY WE COULD TELL EXPECTATIONS OF THE TEAM WERE VERY HIGH, BUT WE ALSO UNDERSTOOD THAT WE WERE MAKING HISTORY, (& THEY'D NEVER SEEN SOUTH AMERICANS BEFORE) SO THEY HAD TO BE.

WE WENT DIRECTLY TO THE CHURCH (which was quite a ways off the main road, in a agricultural area called Nangili, that could be thought of as a 'rural suburb' of Webuye), GREETED THE CONGREGATION & WERE WHISKED AWAY BY PASTOR ALEX TO HIS HOME FOR LUNCH. AFTER A NICE LUNCH & MEETING MOST OF ALEX'S FAMILY, WE WENT STRAIGHT TO THE OPEN AIR MEETING THEY HAD ARRANGED ON AN ASSEMBLED PLATFORM AT AN OPEN FIELD NOT FAR FROM THE CHURCH.

THAT 1ST EXPERIENCE BLEW EVERYONE AWAY.

CHILDREN, GORGEOUS, FASCINATING CHILDREN MOBBED US AS WE GOT OUT OF THE VAN. IT WAS PRECIOUS & FLATTERING. SOME MAY HAVE NEVER SEEN A WHITE OR HISPANIC FACE BEFORE. AGAIN, JUST THE EXPECTANTCY IN THEIR EYES REALLY STOOD OUT TO ME. WE WERE INTRODUCED TO A FAIRLY SIZEABLE CROWD. THEY ASKED ME (LARRY), TO SAY A FEW WORDS & THEN THE TEAM CAME UP TO DO THIS 'STOMP' DANCE NUMBER. IT WAS WELL RECEIVED & THE KIDS WERE ALREADY MIMICKING THE STEPS. WE GOT DOWN FROM THE PLATFORM & THEN THE REAL WORSHIP BEGAN!

YOU SORT OF HAVE THIS VAGUE IDEA THAT AFRICAN CHURCH IS GOING TO BE A BIT MORE LIVELY, & THAT YEAH THERE MIGHT EVEN BE DANCING. . . NO ONE WAS PREPARED FOR THE WORSHIP EXPERIENCE THAT FOLLOWED. WITH JUST A KEYBOARD AND A MICROPHONE - AFRICAN RYTHMS STARTING PUMPING OUT OF THE SPEAKERS, AS WORSHIP WAS BEING SUNG IN SWAHILI. ALMOST IMMEDIATELY, 3 YOUNG GIRLS, ABOUT 8-9 YEARS OF AGE TOOK THE STAGE & STARTED DANCING, BUT I MEAN REALLY GLORIFYING GOD WITH EVERY PART OF THEIR SMALL FRAME. IT WAS UN BELIEVABLE, THE TEAM WAS SO BLOWN AWAY THAT THE GUYS JUMPED IN AND STARTED TRYING TO LEARN THE DANCE STEPS - JUST TOTALLY CUTTING LOOSE. IT WASN'T JUST ON STAGE EVERYONE IN THE CROWD WAS BREAKING IT DOWN - I MEAN EVERYONE! CHILDREN, YOUTH, MEN, WOMEN - JUST PURE REJOICING & DANCING WITH ALL THEIR MIGHT! UTTER INHIBITION IN PRAISING THE ONE TRUE GOD!

WAS THIS WHAT IT WAS LIKE ALL THE TIME?

WHERE WERE WE?

WHAT ARE THE NEXT 2 WEEKS GOING TO BRING?