Bekah and I flew to Paris yesterday—actually it was two days ago, yes? We had a layover long enough that we could go through customs to grab coffee with my sister and two of her little ones. After a quick 30-minute rendezvous, we went back through security and met with Dr. David Galletta, who is a veteran missionary with World Witness’s Mobile Theological Training Team (MT3) and my mentor on this mission. (See the Background section on the mission description page.)

The second flight, from Paris to Nairobi, was a bit worse than the first. Although it was about the same amount of time and the service was on par and the flying was smooth enough, Rebekah and I weren’t seated together and my neck and upper back started to feel the strain from sitting in a seat that would not recline at all. Anyway, enough griping, the travel went smoothly.

I thank God for our uneventful air-travel and for all of you who were praying specifically about that aspect of our trip.

Once on the ground in Nairobi, we met Rev. Kim, the Principal of Common Ground Theological Institute (CTI), his wife Susan, and Rev. Sam Cotten, another MT3 missionary. This past week, Sam taught an introductory course on biblical hermeneutics to the same students who will be taking David’s course on preaching Christ from the Old Testament (this week) and my course on Ezekiel (next week).

Rev. Kim and Susan have been very gracious and kind hosts. Today they took us to an international-church’s worship service, then out to lunch at a South Africa-based restaurant called Mugg & Bean, and then to a grocery store so that we could procure rations for the coming week.

As a team we are responsible for preparing our own breakfast and dinner. The kitchen (below) is quaint but clean and has just about everything that one would want. Rebekah made a delicious stir-fry for all four of us just before Sam left for his flight to Wales.

Sadly, says the American, the bathroom’s heating apparatus and showerhead are not functioning, so the closest thing to a warm shower is to put some hot water into a pitcher and pour it on. It gets the job done.

Bekah and I hope to walk around a little bit in the next couple of days and snag some photos of the Nairobi Korean Church’s campus where CTI is located.

We have a wifi hotspot. It slows down a bit when I try to upload and download at the same time, so blogging with photos takes a while. But it is worth it to keep in touch with you all!