Day One.

If only I could justly explain how WONDERFUL my first 24 hours in Kenya have been. 

Here’s a summary of my experiences thus far:

·      Martin and James picked me up at the airport with a sign in hand reading “Jenny Butler” – I was very thankful at this point to know I would not be left to fend for myself in Nairobi!

·      At 11:00 pm, we arrived where I would be staying that night— After I checked in, James and Martin offered to take me somewhere to get some dinner

·      I went to my very first 24-hour Kenyan restaurant— Surprisingly, the menu offered everything I would normally eat in America: pizza, hamburgers, steaks and Mexican food (yes, MEXICAN food! Can you believe it?)

·      At about 1:30 am I was finally in bed and by 4 am I was wide awake again

·      When James picked me up at 8 am for my flight to Kitale we ran into Nairobi’s immense traffic— Definitely as bad as Houston traffic, but on less high-end roads, with more pedestrian traffic and I was riding in a safari jeep

·      My flight from Nairobi to Kitale was on a small propeller plane (Side note, I saw the Great Rift Valley from the plane—google this, it’s an amazing sight!!)

·      Peter picked me up from the airstrip and drove me to Steve’s compound

·      Juliet and Hannah (two girls from Rwanda who also live here) were at the compound to greet me, and shortly there after vans of high school students from Saddleback Church arrived back from a trip to Sister Freda’s (they’ve been a blast to spend time with!)

·      Went into town with the 4 other college students (Jade, Michelle, Cody and Jason) who will be living here for the next 7 months (so excited to share in this experience with them!)

·      We rode piki pikis (moto taxis) from town back to the compound

·      Visited the main women’s prison in Kitale where we sang, danced and mingled with the women (and their children—if a woman has a child that child can live in the prison with her until age 4 and at that point will be sent to an orphanage)
·      I walked down to Shimo, the slums of Kitale, with a few guys who going there to deliver shirts to a family— While they chatted inside the family's hut, I played with probably a dozen children (I so enjoyed this time and it made me look forward to the many opportunities I'll have in the days ahead to play with these precious children)

·      The Mercy children (a group of orphans rescued from life on the streets 5 years who now live in a group home and attend Purpose Driven Academy) came over for dinner and to spend the night (3 of the girls taught me some Kenyan dances from their P.E. class)

·      We had a ridiculously AMAZINGGG dance party that went on for hours and included a dance off between students from all the various schools—the best was watching the Mercy girls and boys dance!

·      Two of the Mercy girls told us their stories— So impacting to hear them talk about our loving God who brought them out of their horrendous circumstances

·      The night ended with praise songs sung by the Mercy children (I know God was joyful beyond all understanding because their praises made my heart smile)

I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect first day in Kitale.   I was already able to take part in things I never even knew existed.  I can’t wait to see all that this journey entails.  I can certainly tell it is going to be more incredible, life changing and fruitful than I ever dreamed!