Karibu Kenya - Welcome to Kenya!

Hello friends!
This will be my personal blog for the next 8 weeks as I live and serve in Kijabe, Kenya with a team of 13 college students and 2 leaders through the Real Life program of the organization Adventures in Missions. I hope you enjoy reading about this journey, our team's experiences, and my life over the next 2 months!

After a whirlwind four days at training camp, 11 hours spent driving and waiting in airports, and a whopping 17 hours in the air, our whole team (and all our luggage!) made it safely to Kenya last night. After about an hour drive to Kijabe, we were all shocked to find out that we will NOT be sleeping in tents the whole time, as we expected, but rather we are staying in a huge church building with BEDS and MATTRESSES! Not only that, but we have an actual bathroom and even a shower! (still cold, of course). What a wonderful surprise, to say the least. We will, however, still be traveling often to surrounding villages and different tribal areas, where for a week or so at a time we will be camping using our tents and all our gear :)

Our hosts are the wonderful Pastor Simon and his wife Margaret. Their niece, Vicki, has been cooking for us and the food is seriously AMAZING! Today we spent the day walking around Kijabe and Pastor Simon showed us all the various hospitals and schools that we will be working at during the next 2 months. Kijabe is in the mountains and the views are spectacular, the people so welcoming and kind, and the children full of excitement and joy. I could not be more thrilled to now call this wonderful place home! I will likely only have internet about once a week (possibly even less) so check back every week or so for new posts/updates. Tomorrow we are traveling to a nearby village so I definitely won't be posting again for the next week.

Love to all!
Bethany