Kabariyako (hello/how are you) from Kenya :)

Hi everyone! Travis, Mallory and I made it to Kenya safely. ( Travis and Mallory are friends from training who are also serving in Kenya). We flew from Harrisburg to Detroit to Amsterdam to Nairobi; and we had a delay on the Amsterdam > Nairobi flight, but arrived at EMM's Mennonite Guest House location here at 11:55 PM on Sunday night (3:55 PM Pennsylvania time). Someone must be praying for us because we had absolutely no jet-lag whatsoever. Connecting to the internet is a lot easier than predicted, and we're already learning a lot about language and culture specific to Nairobi and Litein (pronounced Li-tane). I have some other events to catch up on, but I'll skip straight to today: we cooked breakfast at 8:00 (midnight in PA) with things we bought in Westlands yesterday: bananas, oranges, eggs, and tea.  We had a session on Spiritual Disciplines after breakfast, teatime at 10:00, and at 2:00 (6 AM in PA) we went to a baseball field on the other side of Nairobi to meet the kids involved in the Sports Ministry connected to EMM. Almost everyone here speaks English, but it's good manners to attempt Swahili, so we've learned pretty quickly, but it's good that for the most part, everyone understands what we're saying. The version of English here is not exactly the same: there are British words for a lot of things, and definitely different accents. We speak what Kenyan people refer to as "high English", which is different. Kenyan culture is more formal in every way, and more relationship-centered than task-oriented. Well this is pretty short and sweet, but hopefully you get an idea what it's like and what I'm attempting to learn so far. the Guest House is the most beautiful place i have ever been. I have pictures, and hopefully I'll have time to upload them soon.

Thank you for reading about my little adventure, and for praying for me!

Love and prayers,

-Olivia

P.S. The Guest House functions as a home base of sorts; and it's a very restful place ideal for quiet times and a little more training/language studying. Courtney, Mallory and I are staying here until Thursday morning (Wednesday afternoon in PA) when we head to the orphanage for the official start to our assignments. Courtney is so kind and welcoming, and Mallory is an excellent friend and set-apart   

example: I truly could not ask for better teammates.