Africa, Thanksgiving, etc.

Hi Folks,

I’ve finally recovered from jet lag and overeating at Thanksgiving . I have so much to tell you, I have been procrastinating because I was trying to figure out how to get it all in one blog. I have decided I will break it up into more than one. Hope it will work for you.

I left for Kenya with Kay and Steve Carpenter Friday, Nov 4 at 9:35 p.m. For those of you who don’t have a clue why I went to Africa–I went for a CMF Church Planting Forum for all CMF missionaries. We arrived in Nairobi on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 7 a.m. (keeping in mind that Nairobi is 9 hours ahead of Mexico). We spent 5 1/2 hours at the very nice airport in Amsterdam. Both of our flights were night flights, which should have been conducive to sleep. I slept about 2 1/2 hours, so was very tired when we arrived in Nairobi. We all rested at the Mennonite Guest House (a wonderful, very inexpensive place for missionaries) where I have stayed many times) most of Sunday, and went to the Nairobi Java house for dinner–one of my favorite places. They had Ethiopian Coffee!!!!

We all flew to Malindi and the Turtle Bay Resort on Monday morning to spend 2 days before the forum. I was so excited about going because I had been there before and it is a great place to snorkel. Unfortunately, I started feeling really bad–sore throat, cough, and congestion. I thought it was probably a virus and had to wait it out. I went to the Turtle Bay doctor on Wednesday and got some cough medicine. Though it helped the cough, I was getting worse. Finally on Saturday, I went back to the doctor and got an antibiotic, which was what I needed and I was feeling much better by Monday, when we went back to Nairobi.

Yellow weavers in the garden

housing and gardens

eating area

monkeys on the roof

spider on the walkway (he wasn't alone)

Kenyan acrobats--very good

Moray eels in the pools left by low tide--they BITE

Sea Urchin

live star fish in my hand

baby star fish (not my hand)

the beautiful pool (I did go in a couple of times)

dinner and birthday party

rock off shore shaped like a Turtle (hence the name Turtle Bay)

Thank God, I was still able to attend the Forum and I am so grateful to have learned so much from my fellow missionaries about CHE and was able to share my experiences with them. I just wasn’t able to snorkel or enjoy the resort as much. I was so thankful to see friends whom I haven’t seen for a long time. I am so happy to bring back some CHE strategies that we can use in Pachuca. Most of the missionaries there were, of course, serving in Africa, but Kay, Steve, and I came from Mexico and Tammy and Tim Aho came from England. I wish all the CMF missionaries could have been there. It was well worth the effort to go. Please pray for all CMF missionaries, especially the ones in Ivory Coast, who are now dealing with meningitis especially with their HIV + patients. Check out the next blogs for more exciting stories and pictures! Love you all.