Nairobi and Turtle Bay

Monday night we arrived in Nairobi, and stayed at the Fairview Inn. Tuesday morning we were able to get up and take a little look around before flying to Malindi. Here’s a shot of the building Kyle, Sarah, Susan and I stayed in. Kyle and Sarah’s room was behind the arch to the right, ours was the first room on the right. They enjoyed the room until 8:35 when we finally woke them up for our 8:30 departure for the airport.

Along the building were little birdhouses filled with cheerful little birds, not the annoying birds that started squawking at 4:30am, waking most of us up.

By the reception was this nice little waterfall. The grounds were quite lush and tropical. The Fairview was much more beautiful than the barbed wire, young men with automatic weapons and concrete barriers of the Israeli Embassy across the street. However, we did feel well protected.

The Nairobi airport claims to be ISO 9001 compliant, and has it’s quality policy proudly on display. I was concerned because my ticket had my nickname, rather than my full first name on it. Our passports were never checked, so it was a needless worry.

We were hoping our flight was on this nice Fly540 regional jet. The plane was nearly an hour late getting to Nairobi, but it wasn't this one.

Actually, our flight was on this 37 passenger TurboProp. Susan, Tim, Bekah and I were in the 5 across back seat with a ground crew member between us.

Landing in Malindi, the grounds were very lush. We took the hotel shuttle from the airport, and shared it with a couple UTB missionaries, and their children that we’ll be working with this week.

Driving out to the Turtle Bay Beach Club, we drove through a couple small villages. Poverty abounds in East Africa. Here’s a butcher shop.

I believe this is a house – we saw lots of structures like this on the drive from the airport.

Tuesday afternoon we got acclimated with Turtle Bay, and we shared dinner with Don and Jolene. They and the other UTB missionaries are very grateful to have our team here to work with their children this week. It is a blessing to them. They recommended a beach walk in the morning before breakfast, but we didn’t manage it until after breakfast.

The grounds are lush, with coconut palms and lots of other tropical foliage. Between the buildings is a garden area where dozens of these Golden Palm Weavers have their nests. Susan said the birds really reflect how obsessed we were about the details of the trip, and could have relied more on God. Certainly our trouble-free, prayer covered travel reflected God’s blessing for us. Susan and I carried several pounds of macaroni in our checked baggage for the trip, and it seemed like not a noodle cracked. Mathew 6:26-27 - Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father provides for them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? God is showing us how he is in the details for this trip. Keep praying for the rest of the team to arrive safely.