Babysitting, Car Maintenance, and Flying Lessons

Jambo from Kenya!

As Joe mentioned in our previous post, we are safely here in Nairobi, Kenya and are staying with our dear and wonderful hosts, Ali and Tom Brown (friends from Mount Hermon).

Looking South after clearing Nairobi

Tom works as a pilot for Africa Inland Mission Air (AIM Air) and flies food, medical supplies, people, communications, etc. to various parts of Kenya a couple times per week.  Amazingly, Tom had an extra spot on his plane yesterday and Joe got to join him for a flight in one of AIM's Cessna 210 aircraft to the small village of Daba about an hour and a half east of Nairobi to deliver some cargo and pick up a couple passengers who were returning to the States.  Daba, truly in the middle of nowhere and hardly even noticeable from the air, had a sand/dirt runway adjacent to a few huts where missionaries Roger and Sue Scheenstra have made their home for the past 27 years, raising four kids and serving the local semi-nomadic tribal people with their lives. The flight out from the higher elevation and greener plateau on which Nairobi sits down to the drier, lower elevation desert conditions of Daba was amazing (see pictures), and Joe was extremely blessed to meet some of the Scheenstra family and their friends in Daba, hear very briefly about their work, and simply learn through direct contact more about what Tom and Alison are experiencing here in Nairobi.

Goodbyes at the Daba airstrip before heading back to Nairobi

Carol spent the day hanging out with Ali and also doing some baby-sitting for the 2 boys of some other missionaries (Jeremy and Jenell) who have temporarily staying here in Nairobi.  Jeremy and Jenell are good friends of Tom and Ali from when they were all living in Spokane.  J and J are preparing to head back into Tanzania where they have been serving the past 6 months and I was so glad to be able to offer a helping hand and watch their kiddos as they repacked their things.  (As a side note, they were hoping to leave this morning but were unable due to both being quite sick with sinus infections, fevers...  I know they would be so grateful for more prayers for their health so they can return to the village they have been living in in Tanzania!)

Carol hanging out at Toi Market in Nairobi

Our hope with this journey has been that Joe and I would be able to serve and bless the people we visit with throughout our travels when possible.  God has answered this prayer these past few days in Nairobi in various ways.. my baby-sitting efforts, Joe helping to build a sound proof box for Ali and Tom's generator,  jump starting a car and sorting out what the problem was (a dead battery) as well as getting the new battery and taking/editing photos to give to Tom and Ali.  We are so glad to offer a helping hand in return for the wonderful hospitality we have received!

We also spent some time chatting with some other missionaries living here in Nairobi that also work for AIM in various capacities.  One couple, Mike and Renee Delorenzo, work for AIM's On-Field Media team which uses professional videography and photo journalism encourage people around the world to find ways of helping, and sharing stories of God's faithfulness. This was especially interesting to Joe, as they are about halfway through post-production on a full length film called The Distant Boat which was produced to "challenge current understanding and attitudes about missions in the African church today" and which they are hoping find the support to release in movie theaters in the US. 

Okay! Time to sign off again, but thanks so much for reading along. In short, it has been awesome to meet and be blessed by such amazing people here in Nairobi. With luck, you'll next hear from us in Eldoret.

challenge the current understanding and attitudes about missions in the African church today - See more at: http://distantboat.com/about/#sthash.V0O0Kdhe.dpuf

- Joe & Carol

challenge the current understanding and attitudes about missions in the African church today - See more at: http://distantboat.com/about/#sthash.V0O0Kdhe.dpuf