Photos from Kenya 2023

We arrived in Kenya on Tuesday, January 17. Jodi and I woke up at midnight on January 16 to run a 5k before our flight (just to keep our 5k every day streak alive), and we knew that we would have to run as soon as we got to the place where we would be staying in Kenya.

We knew that we would be tired when we got to Kenya (it was a LONG flight), but we did not anticipate that my guitar would fail to arrive with us. #SadDay

After walking around the baggage claim for roughly 30 minutes, unable to locate my guitar, we finally decided to go to the help desk. Being an American, I fully anticipated standing in line to talk with someone helpful. What we experienced, instead, was definitely not a line. It was a cluster of bodies all crowding towards a worker who was talking to three people in person, holding a phone to each ear, and texting on a third phone. In mid-conversation she would abruptly stand up and walk somewhere else for a while, only to return and pick up where she left off.

It was rather infuriating.

We were finally able to claim lost luggage, and they confirmed that the guitar was still at the airport in New York City.

Bummer.

We loaded up with the rest of our belongings and were finally able to leave the airport and enter the welcoming Kenyan sun. As an interesting side-note, I randomly saw Patrick Miller at the airport in Kenya. That was certainly unexpected! I did not anticipate traveling halfway across the earth only to find someone from our area in Ohio.

Paul Mullet was waiting for us at the airport with open arms and a big smile.

Paul is the biggest reason that we decided to go on this trip to begin with. He is a great friend. He has been traveling to Kenya for years, and I have been wanting to join him for years. I wanted to see first-hand what God was doing through my friend. I wanted to be there to support him. I also wanted to experience Kenya for myself.

Finally, we were together in Kenya!

After about an hour drive to where we were staying, in Thika, Kenya, Jodi and I laced up our shoes and ran a 5k. #GoodTimes

We got to meet the family where we were staying, and the rest of the team (who would become family in just a few, short days), and then we fell asleep.

That was a long day.

The following morning we loaded onto a bus and drove about four hours outside of town to a remote village. I believe the town was called Mwingi. I’m not actually sure where we were…

The first person we met in Mwingi was Pastor Elijah. Elijah currently pastors near Thika, but he met us in Mwingi, which is where he grew up. Elijah’s brother, Boniface, is currently pastoring the church in the village.

Here is a photo of Pastor Elijah addressing our team. His brother, Pastor Boniface, is standing off to the side.

We spent a couple of days in Mwingi. I’ll be talking more about our time there in the next few posts.