Our Itinerary…

We’re a team of 15…well, 16 including our trip leader Shayla Davis of 410 Bridge.  Below is a day-to-day rundown of what we have planned…now, the Lord’s also got His plans…we’ll see how those match up!!  We already know of a side trip somewhere in the itinerary…

Saturday, 12/26…

Six team members leave directly from Atlanta – we’ll leave Saturday morning the 26th at 9:55am (Flight DL 1494 for JFK).  It’s recommended to get to the airport 3 hours prior to an “international” flight – - ugh – - that’s a 5am alarm and coffee event!!  (…strong coffee!!)

Four team members will be flying from New Orleans – Two will fly from Charlotte – One comes in from Indianapolis and one comes in from Detroit!

We’ll all meet for the 1st time face to face at JFK – departing at 6:25pm for London on British Air Flight #112.

Sunday 12/27…

We arrive at London Heath Row at 6:25am (about 12:30am Atlanta time!).  There we’ll push through quickly and get on the flight to Nairobi at 10:05am arriving Nairobi at 9:35pm…  Key to surviving this much travel is sleeping at the RIGHT times and staying awake when we’d probably rather sleep!!

Sunday night, we’ll stay at a hotel called the Heart Lodge – now, with some trepidation, I share with you how nice this place is!!  On the other hand – maybe you see that it’s not so bad – and you’ll come next year!!

So…see, it’s not so bad!!!  Now – we expect that we’ll have one or two cold showers – it’s just part of the deal – and we’ll need to use bottled water to wash teeth, etc.  No different than Mexico!!

Monday 12/28…

We’ll leave for Joska, a community just south and east of Nairobi – I guess we’d call it a “bedroom community”.    We’ll start with “welcomes” and introductions.  We’ll get a chance to begin connecting with the folks there…

We’ll start with some packing of Christmas gifts as part of the “Christmas in Kenya” effort.  We’ll focus on the children there doing activities at the Stream Tree Children’s Home – including games  and activities with the children.  We’ll also be doing some “household chores” (washing clothes/cooking etc.) -

Tuesday 12/29…

We’ll return to Joska for some community service work – hear there’s some painting involved – minor construction, etc.  This day we’ll do some home visits meeting the leaders and people in the community in their homes and also help with “Christmas in Kenya”…  This is the last day at Joska for us and so we’ll have one of those “goodbye for now” events – amazing that it takes so little time to make connections that last – it’s the “God-glue” which is His grace that makes that happen…

Wednesday 12/30…

This morning we depart for Kwambekenya where we’ll be a part of some community service projects to include painting at their Medical Clinic and road construction!!  Driving big yellow equipment!!  …not.  Pray for me – the old man – heavy construction I’m not so built for anymore!!

The afternoon we’ll spend some time with the children there in the community playing games and other activities.  Understand we’ll also be packing “Christmas In Kenya” gifts with direction from the Kwambekenya Leadership Council.

In Kwambekenya – which is north and west of Nairobi a couple of hours – we’ll stay at a place called the Panorama Lodge which overlooks Lake Naivasha (last year, we took the children of Havilla to this area the day after we arrived…).  It is a beautiful area – higher elevation so cooler – overlooking the beautiful valley and lake.

Thursday 12/31…

We return to Kwambekenya to continue to work alongside our brothers and sisters to paint the medical clinic and road construction in the morning.  The afternoon though will be very special – home visits and sharing the gifts donated by the Christmas in Kenya project with the children there.

Friday 1/1…

We’ll head back for a short visit to Kwambekenya for community New Year’s prayer and what will probably be another tearful farewell…  We’ll leave

Depart for Lake Nakuru Lodge where we’ll spend the day relaxing and in “debrief” – connecting with each other about the experience and people the Lord’s granted us the opportunity to meet.  We’ll do an afternoon “safari” (I learned last year – stay LITE on the coffee beforehand and go to the BATHROOM before leaving!!  …that hyena would just love to see a few folks step outside the van and…well, you get the picture!!

Saturday 1/2…

Sadly, this morning we will need to depart and head back to Nairobi.  On the way to the airport – we’ll stop at a local giraffe “park” in the city – and hit some shops along the way.  Fortunately, 410 Bridge has lined up “day rooms” for us Saturday late afternoon where we can shower and put on a clean batch of clothes for the long flight home.  It is good to be bald…I can shower fast and that might be very important (a lot of activity is shoved into Saturday!!)

Traveling Home…

We’ll arrive at the Nairobi airport around 6:30pm’ish for an 11:30pm flight on British Airways back into London (B.A. flight 64)  – we arrive London at 5:20am – it is VITAL we all sleep on this leg of the flight!!

At 8:20am, we’ll be on board British Airways #117 to JFK – and arrive at 10:55am.  It is VITAL we don’t sleep on this leg of the flight!!  …that will be tough!!  Then a huge wait…we hang at JFK until around 3:45pm to head back to Atlanta – to arrive at 6:35pm.  …exhausted for sure!

Jill flies directly from JFK to Kansas City – that just might be the toughest part of the trip!!  We will have been so blessed by the people – by Kenya – by you – by the Lord to have had the opportunity to step into His world in such a focused way -

At JFK, the rest of the team will split to head back to New Orleans, Indianapolis, Detroit and Charlotte.  To be separated on this earth – maybe never to stand together again here – but for sure, we trust that we’ll all stand together in Praise of the Lord when we all get Home…