We are in Amsterdam.  And tired!  It is 1:40 am Missouri time but morning here in Amsterdam.  We didn’t sleep much but hope that will happen in the next eight hour flight.  We depart at 10:15 am for Nairobi.  We will arrive at 7 pm Nairobi time.  Pray for us to catch our sleep. While I’m blogging via wireless here at the Amsterdam airport, Emily is catching some zzzs.  

Emily sleeping on the airport floor.

The flight was very smooth and uneventful – just the way we like it.   There is a large group of Baptists folks from Missouri and Tennessee on our flights. They are going to build churches in Kenya.

I apologize for the crazy postings earlier.  I was blogging via text and didn’t realize that there was a limit on how many words I could send at one time.  Thus – the 15 different posts!  I have wifi here so am taking the time to correct that earlier post and update.

From here on out, internet access is not guaranteed.  I will be able to text and will keep them to a sentence or so.  It will be a good discipline for me.

Again, thank you for all of your prayers. It is so wonderful and peaceful to know that we have your support and that you are here with us in the Spirit of God.  May God continue to go ahead of us and prepare the way for Kingdom experiences and relationships with our partners.  We are so humbled and blessed to have them open their doors, churches, and ministries to us.

Shalom,

Melissa (and Rand, Emily, Susan and Lori)

** Sorry about the earlier posting trouble.  Apparently when you blog via text, you are limited in how much you can send.  No more novel-length texts.

We are in Detroit now and preparing to board for Amsterdam in about 30 minutes. Our flight leaves at 5:40 pm (EST) and we will arrive at Amsterdam in about 30 minutes.  Our flight leaves at 5:40 pm (EST) and we will arrive at Amsterdam at 7:40 am.  Things are going very well so far.  We are all very excited about finally arriving in Kenya after months of preparation.

The tons of stuff church and community members donated are boxed and being loaded on the plane as I type this.

Also, Emily just was informed by her dad that she was named Defensive Player of Missouri region.  Great news as she heads abroad and brings her soccer skills to the children of Naivasha, Kenya. 

Thanks for your continued prayers.  Two more flights to go.  We had a little “Fun” on this last flight. About halfway through, the pilot announced that we had a little problem with the nose wheel steering thingymabob and not to worry.  When we landed, some firetruks would be there to meet us as a precaution.  Sure enough, as we prepared to land, we saw the lights of the fire trucks. The landing was smooth an dseeing no danger, they drove away.  My biggest concern was that I might have to slide down the blow up ramp in a skirt.  Not how I wanted to be seen on national TV. 

I’ll post more from Amsterdam!

I am traveling with four others for a 11 day trip to our partner country, Kenya.  Although we will not be working directly with our partner school on this trip, we will be working with some missionaries there that we have connected with on our previous trip.

Our Itinerary:

• Depart Monday, June 1st
• Arrive in Nairobi on Tuesday night and travel to the town of Naivasha
• Work at the House of Hope orphanage in Naivasha from Wednesday – Sunday.
• Monday, June 8th, we travel to Masai Mara National Park and stay the night there.  (As I type this, I am watching a special on the Discovery Channel about the animals in this region. It is a fascinating and inspiring place.)
• Wednesday, June 10th, we travel to Nairobi for the day and flight out that night at 10 pm.
• Thursday, June 11th – arrive to St. Louis at 4 pm.

We are so grateful for your prayers!  I will continue to post brief updates from the trip so please check daily throughout the trip.