This is our first blog entry from Kenyan soil. We greatly miss our friends and family back in the U.S. but we understand God brought us here for a reason. We ma
y be moving a step slower from all of our travel, but we are fully energized to get to Africa Based Orientation and to our ultimate destination of Rift Valley Academy. Our prayer support and financial support teams have been awesome! If we had written the script on how everything would have come together I don’t think it would have been nearly as incredible as what we have and will experience. Our goal is to share this journey with everyone so they can see the marvelous work of our God. Now let’s see how this story continues………
I (Michael) am sitting here in the Mayfield Guest House around 4am Kenyan time, 9pm back in Wilmington. MOST of us have adjusted pretty good to the time difference, but right now Brody (wide awake) is having quite an exciting one-sided conversation with Amy (half-asleep). Our trip has gone well so far. A few glitches here and there. The kids did really well trav
eling. They got antsy every once in awhile, and Brody and MiKenna each got sick during the flight from Paris to Nairobi. All in all the 36-hour escapade from Atlanta through Paris and onto Nairobi was a positive adventure. All of our luggage made it. Nothing seems to be missing, but we will have to find out for sure in a few weeks when we catch back up to it after our Africa Based Orientation.
The first morning at the Mayfield Guest House was a little rough. Everyone slept through breakfast and probably would have slept through lunch if not for a short meeting scheduled at 11:30am. After lunch we were able to go and purchase SIM cards for our phones and this afternoon our friends from Wilmington, the Cooks, who are now living in Kenya, stopped by for a little while. It was good to see some familiar faces. Kind of knocked off the edge of what little culture shock we have had so far. We know it’s coming, but putting it off for a little while longer won’t hurt anything. MiKenna, Brody and Maverick 
have begun to meet the other kids who will be traveling to ABO with us. Brody has transitioned the best, it seems, to the shoes off/clay-red feet culture. He has been full speed and loving it. MiKenna has made several friends and is enjoying climbing,
playing cards and pretending to run a little Maasai market that sets up daily here at Mayfield. As you may have guessed, Maverick is moving around quite nicely. He has Frankenstein (toddler) walked into everyone’s hearts already.
Over the past couple of days we have had 
the chance to do a little exploring. We did step inside Nakumat, which is Kenya’s version of Walmart. It had pretty much everything you need/want. A Cadbury candy bar was purchased for us to share for dessert. The
church we attended was a wonderful experience. We could actually understand the pastor’s Kenyan accented English, and it was good to be refreshed by God’s Word. Later, we made our way to the Maasai market up on the third level of the Yaya Center (small mall). That was an interesting experience. Everywhere you turned someone was giving you (their “friend”) the “best deal” on anything from a spear to a carved animal to a colorful piece of cloth. There really were some great things there, but the environment did get a little overwhelming and we don’t have any room right now to purchase anything. There is a good chance we’ll be back and believe me, I’m going to get that spear for the 1000 KSH ($10) “my friend and brother” offered me right before I left. Our final find was the much awaited Java House. This is Kenya’s version of Starbucks. Future note, they do not accept the Starbucks app for payment. A little disappointed, but we purchased a couple of Double Mocha Shakes anyway. They were a great ending to a great day. Soon we will be taking a 3-4 hour bus ride to Nakuru. We’re looking forward to seeing what the months ahead bring our way. We’ll keep you posted.
Among the Nations 