Update from Jill

Hello everyone!

We just wanted to give you a quick update of our new set of plans for our last seven weeks here in Africa and ask for your prayers as we travel. We are still planning on going to Nairobi tomorrow morning to renew our visas for Kenya and if all goes well we will be booking bus tickets for EARLY Wednesday morning to go to Tanzania. Our original plan was to make a loop of East Africa—traveling first to Uganda, down to Rwanda, and back up to Kenya through Tanzania. However, given the current political situation, Western Kenya is relatively unstable and the road to Uganda has no guaranteed safety. So through some talks and advice from friends, we’ve decided to do the loop backwards, starting with Tanzania, where the roads of Southern Kenya are much safer. Parliament re-opens on Tuesday (which could create some tension) and on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday Raila wants to have countrywide protests. However, if we leave early enough Wednesday morning, we shouldn’t have any problems and we’d like to get out of Nairobi before things potentially blow up again. The bus ride to Arusha (where we’ve heard a good number of Kenyan refugees have headed) is about five hours, so we should get there with plenty of daylight to find our way around. Jason and Lisa (the missionaries we’ve been living with in Naivasha) have given us some contacts in Arusha, so we may be there for about a week and then make our way towards Rwanda. Our desire as we travel and experience the cultures of these different East African countries is to serve and join in any opportunities that arise along the way. God has really been doing a lot of work in each of our lives individually and our whole group over the last few days and we are continually being reminded of his faithfulness. We are SO excited to embark on the last leg of our journey together and we trust that God is really going to bless this time that we have left! Your continued prayers for our safety, our experience, and peace in Kenya would be much appreciated.

In other news, we had a safe drive back from Malindi on the coast, where we went snorkeling in the beautiful Indian Ocean, hung out on the white sandy beaches for a week, and ate fresh fish and lobster for dinner every night! ☺ I am writing now from the bank of Lake Naivasha where Will, Bethany and I are about to go sailing! (And about to use up the last few drops of the sunscreen we brought from home. Turns out sunscreen costs like $30 dollars here… surprise surprise)

We will keep you updated as we find out more about our definite plans! Happy January to everyone! See you in a month and a half!

<3 Love always…. from Naivasha one last time,

Jill, Will, and Bethany