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Shopping and Departure Day

Everyone was up early and ready to head into town to try their out their bargaining skills! We parked at Sarit Center (a mall) and from their the group could spread out and shop both at the mall or at the "Blue Shacks" across the street! Most headed for the "shacks" to see what kinda of African treasures they could get!

Everyone was given some cash to spend for purchasing their lunch at the mall - all though some did spend it on curios instead of food - SMILE

After shopping for several hours we headed back out of Nairobi towards the Division again - stopping just briefly at another shopping center so that I could pick up some items for the Mt Kenya group.

Back and the division the group re-packed all the goodies they had bought, we had worship and supper and then headed to the airport. All flew out, except for 9 of us! Our next goal was Pt. Lenana - on Mt Kenya.

This was a great group of people! I enjoyed each of them! I know they were a blessing to those they came to serve - and I KNOW they blessed me!
kim

Monday March 22nd

We woke up to a fantastic breakfast buffet! There was just about anything anyone would want to eat for breakfast and more! The group packed up, stopped briefly by the pool for a group picture and headed out to the truck for the ride back to the East Central African Division Guesthouses.

Not to far out of the park one of the truck ran out of fuel, but fortunately we were close to Narok and so the the first truck filled up a container with fuel and drove it back to those waiting. It was not long before we were on our way again -

Back and the Division we unpacked the truck and re-sorted and packed ALL the supplies so they would be ready for the next trip in July. It is a long job and not fun! But most were real troopers about it! A special thanks to Amanda, Jill, Lindsay, and Leon for staying up till the job was complete! They were a huge blessing!

Everyone was tired from the trip and ready for bed at the end of the day!
kim

Sunday - March 21

It rained all night and many woke up to wet mattresses and sleeping bags (some of us had nice toasty dry ones....SMILE) We warmed up by the hot coals from the fire during the night, had worship and then enjoyed a breakfast of fresh fruits, cereal, boiled eggs and hot drinks.

After we packed everything up we headed back through the Mara to Sarova - a fantastic lodge where the hospitality is heavenly! We pulled in just before lunch and were greeted by the staff handing out cool wet wash clothes with eucalyptus oil on them, and a cold glass of fresh passion fruit juice. Everyone was briefed on their room assignments, and what was available at Sarova then headed for lunch and an afternoon of sunbathing, swimming, ping pong, sleep, reading, massages, and hot showers.

There was an optional game drive for those who wanted it at 4pm and the other truck took Marlin Meharry to the airport strip at Keekerok (in the game reserve) Marlin had to head back early to the US to start back to work on Monday.

Supper found everyone rested up and relaxed - as we enjoyed a candlelight meal and headed out to bed (our rooms were ready - with beds turned back and hot water bottles tucked inside to keep our toes toasty warm)

Sleep came quickly for most - Sarova was a well earned treat! There is truly no better hospitality found in Kenya - then at Sarova Mara Lodge!

Good night all!
kim

Sabbath in the Mara

Clinics are over and everyone gets to sleep in a little on Sabbath morning! The drivers and I are up bright and early though, cause we are heading back to Siana to pick up the academy kids and bring them back for a pancake brunch.

When we get back to camp the adults have all eaten and are sitting under the big Fig tree talking, bird watching and reading. The days already feels different then all the rest of them. It's going to be relaxing and much slower paced!

The academy kids enjoy their hot showers before we pack up the two trucks, then we had a group worship and headed out to a game drive, with a picnic a long the way. We stopped at the Mara River where the wildebeest cross in July and took pictures of huge crocodiles laying on the banks sunning themselves. The Mara is green and the grass is long, so it makes spotting some of the cats a bit harder.

Because the sun is so warm we opted to just go to our campsite for lunch where there is lots of shade. Tonite we are at a new campsite, not the one that the group has been at for the past few days..... tonite we are camping on the edge of the Mara River out in the middle of nowhere! There are not fences, no guards, not people, just us and the animals. From camp we can see two female lions laying around, elephant wonder around the edges of our camp eating and you can hear their stomachs rumbling as they communicate back and forth with each other. Hippos snort in the river next to us - and we feel blessed by nature and all God's creations.

At 5pm we did a short game drive, stopped at the gate to the park which was not far away and everyone went into the bathroom, then on the way back to camp sat by the pride of lions in the area - there were 4 cubs that were full of energy, pouncing on each other and their moms. It was hard to pull away from them.

Back in camp we had worship around the fire as the sun went down, enjoyed fresh fruit and Raman noodles for supper and then some headed to bed while others sat and visited late into the night. The night was quieter than normal - other than an occasional hynea laugh, or a hippos snort. At 2am I got up and put more wood on the fire and a baboon alerted the others that someone was up and moving around. About 3am in started raining and rained the rest of the morning - several had wet sleeping bags by morning time.

It was fun! Most seemed to really enjoy it
kim

Clinic at Siana

Friday morning we got up early ate breakfast and left for Siana with a 2 hour game drive on the way there - we were blessed with a rhino, lions and huge herd of buffalo, plus all the regular grazers.

We set up for clinic and I headed up to check on the kids working at the building site nearby and drop off some more food for them. They looked worn out, but happy and begged me to allow them to stay there one more night. So I agreed and told them we would be stopping by after clinic at Siana to tour the site and check out the work they had been doing.

Clinic went well. We had plenty of patients. Had to send one to hospital because of a possible brain tumor - the childs mom was 17 years old, she was married at 12 years old and this was her second child. Praise the Lord for all of you who have sent in donations to "Charitable Medical Funds" for the mission trips. That money will go to help the child above and another one that we had to send in for emergency surgery in Oliotokitok.

After clinic the group toured the building site before heading back to our campsite for the evening. Tomorrow we pack everything up and head out to the Mara River for the night! Cant wait - all though there seems to be some rain clouds gathering over the Mara.
kim

Clinic in Talek

Thursday morning we had an optional game drive before clinic. Our first drive out we saw a bunch of lions, tons of elephants and lots of grazers! It was great fun seeing the excitement of the group seeing all the animals in the wild for the first time.

We headed back for breakfast (coffee cake and scrambled eggs) and then we loaded up for clinic in Talek. The academy kids stayed in camp and packed up their things cause they were heading to Siana to spend the night and do some construction at the MDP building site.

After I got the adults all settled in at clinic in Talek, I headed back to load up the academy kids. We got to the site about 11:30am and the kids piled out and went right to work, some shoveling sand, some pouring cement and some smoothing out the cement. The spend the night out on the ground under the stars on mattresses.

Back at clinic the adults were working hard - I got back to them just as they closed up clinic and we loaded them up, took them back to camp to freshen up and head out on a optional game drive. A couple of them came with me up to check on the burned baby that had had surgery on his foot this past Christmas. He was doing great!

Back at camp we loaded everyone up and headed out for another game drive - saw three cheetahs and some more lions, besides lots of other creatures. It was a great day - and once again we sat around the fire for worship and then headed to bed.

God had blessed us once again -
kim