Day Six...African Animals!!

Today was our last free day so we headed to the city of Nairobi early this morning (of course after our tea or coffee and fresh banana from the tree outside).  We had about an hour to waste so we went to the city market and looked around at all the items they have for sale.  Most of the shops have the same "tourists" items but 3 times higher than the prices we were told at the wholesale market yesterday so we are going to wait and go back there Monday or Tuesday to do our shopping.  I did get Gray a t-shirt (it's his 1st birthday today!!) for 500 shillings which is about $5.55 I think so that is not too bad.  Me and Mary walked all through Nairobi and went to the sight of the bombing on the American Embassy in 1998...they have a nice memorial park built where the building used to be.  After shopping, we met up at the Marble Arch Hotel which is where we will be staying starting tomorrow night, it’s really nice and they gave us a great deal.  We then headed out of the city to the Nairobi National Park and Animal Orphanage.  On the way, we stopped for lunch and I saw a KFC!!  I got so excited as I thought we could eat there but it wasn't opened yet, still under construction.  So we had pizza instead...and the pepperoni's here are very different than ours at home...not sure what kind of meat these were but they were ok.  After pizza I got a vanilla ice cream cone for 90 shillings and it was actually really good, kind of a mix between ice cream and yogurt probably made from goat milk.  Then we arrived at the animal orphanage and we got to see all kinds of African animals including lions, tigers, cheetahs, monkeys, birds, zebra, giraffe, water buffalo, and many more.  I took lots of pictures but they are in cages so it was hard to get a good shot :(  We were pushed for time since today is Wednesday and we had church starting at 4 but we are hoping to get to go back on Monday and do that walking safari which is where you get to walk through the park and see the animals roaming around in nature.

Tonight's service at church is called Fellowship and they had a guest Pastor preaching to encourage and pray for the Crusade which starts tomorrow morning at 8.  He preached in his mother language which was interpreted into Swahili so I didn't understand either one but I think his message was on Goliath.  Then Ms. Penny spoke out of 1 Samuel 30 where God tells David to pursue on.  It was very encouraging and many people came to the alter to pray for healing and restoration.  After church we saw how they were going to set everything up for the medical camp tomorrow then we stopped by the village market for to-go food (I got a hamburger which was labeled "just like McDonalds" but it was not) and then came home.  It's been a long day but tomorrow will be even longer.  We have to leave here at 7:30am (12:30am your time) to head to the church.  They are expecting over 10,000 people to come tomorrow for the free medical and eye clinic so please keep us in your prayers...we are going to need it!  We want to send a HUGE Thank You to Ken Day and Nick Spratlen from Marietta Baptist Church/ The Lions Club who have donated 500 pairs of glasses which we will be able to give out for free to people in need tomorrow!  We also picked up some free medications like antibiotics and blood pressure medicine from UCL pharmacy in Kikuyu town and they are willing to make donations for future medical camps!  These are a true blessing as most of the people here cannot afford eye care or medications so they never get to see a doctor or get any type of medical care or supplies! I am sure I will have lots of pictures and stories from tomorrow's first day of the Crusade!  God is sooooo good!

Hakuna Matata! ~ leave a comment if you know what that means and where you have heard it before :)

Leslie / Chiro

Happy Birthday Gray! Your sisser LOVES you!!!