Bwana asifiwe--Praise the Lord!

After 15 hours and very little sleep, we have arrived in Nairobi! Lou Ann and I were met at the Nairobi Airport by Brittany and four wonderful ladies from Amani Ya Ju. After five minutes of warm greetings we moved on to our vehicle and "enjoyed" a speedy trip to the guesthouse. Upon waking up Sunday morning we saw Nairobi in the light of day. It is lush with tropical flowers and plants. There is not a better thing to do than to worship with brothers an sisters in Christ and to do it in Africa was a privilege and joy. The day was off to a great start!

Brittany is a supurb guide and took charge of us, since, due to jet lag, we could barely put to coherent thoughts together. She took us to a shopping center where we had a wonderful lunch and then browsed and shopped in the Masai market outside. We were able to spend the rest of the day resting and settling into our "home" for the next two weeks.

At dinner Sunday night we ate with the sisters who run the guesthouse. Germany is there home of origin. It was a joy to get to know them. Each has served the Lord for 30 plus years here in Africa and India. They are delightful ladies. Time to just sit and talk with these ladies and Brittany, Lou Ann and Laura (Brittany's traveling companion while she has been in East Africa) is truly a blessing. It is a time to wind down and think about life issues that I find are hard to focus on in the whirlwind of life in Northern Virginia.

As we wait for the rest of our team to arrive (they are in the air, winging their way here as I write) we are catching up on emails (yes, even in Africa!) and will go over to the Amani Center to get our first glimpse of the center, taking lunch there. Please pray for us, that Rachel, Jessie, Miriam and Betty arrive safely tonight and that our time with the ladies at Amani will be encouraging and productive in the Lord, bringing Him glory!

Peace and Blessings,

Debbie

(P.S. by Lou Ann - don't forget that I am also posting to a blog at this link. Enjoy!)

Four Day and Counting!

It is Monday night and I have just had dinner with a prayer warrior friend of mine making sure she left here armed with prayer requests. Am I anxious? No but I do feel the urging to gird our team with prayer support as we ready our selves for this trip. For almost a year now the Lord has prepared me for my journey to visit His children in another part of the world and it is almost here. Yes! I am excited and ready to meet the ladies of Amani. I want to serve them by just being with them, loving them and encourageing them in their journey with the Lord. I am also excited to share with them my love of quilting. Two of my quilting budies and I have made 14 quilted runners to take to the ladies as gifts. It will be fun to share with them what American quilt fabrics look like. You see these runners have fabric in them from eleven different quilter's staches!

I look forward to spending lots of time with the ladies watching them create the these beautiful pieces of art and just maybe I will be able to help. And as we stitch I look forward to all we will learn about each other.

In June we saw one child off to Africa as Brittany preceded all of us to Rwanda to visit her sister church. Last Friday, Brittany was at the airport in Kigali, Rwanda to meet our son, Jared, as he arrived with the IBC Team Rwanda. So on Friday Jon will see me off to Kenya. This is definitly the summer that the Lord has deamed the Noetzels are to travel to Africa. Not sure what that means but we all go with open hearts and hands to serve and glorify Him!

Bwana asifiwe! (Praise the Lord!)
Debbie