Kenya from the air!

A couple of weeks ago, I got to embark on one of the coolest days of my time in Kenya.  Early in the morning, I drove in to the tiny Wilson airport south of Nairobi and hopped in a 6-seater Cessna 206 with a sweet Mission Aviation pilot named Reini.  This plane was smaller than my car, and I got to ride in the "copilot" seat up front while we flew over Nairobi, past Mt. Kenya, and up to the Samburu area to meet the Thompsons.  SO AWESOME! 

We picked up Donald and Brenda and flew out over the Rift Valley to Kisumu, where we got a fantastic fish/ugali lunch by the lake and hung out with the center workers and clients at Nanga Baptist Church.  It was so fun to introduce the Thompsons to Kisumu, and it was a huge encouragement for the CFA workers to have visitors all the way from America.  Most guests don't get out that far from Nairobi, so the visit was a rare treat for them! 

From there, we flew back across the Central Highlands to Nairobi.  The weather took a turn for the worse on this leg, though, and soon we found ourselves dodging (literally!) giant black clouds and rainstorms.  Listening to Donald and Reini make seat-of-their pants decisions on where to fly the plane and then holding on while we banked around towering clouds was surreal - a completely opposite experience from flying on a giant airliner!  It was incredibly exciting, though, and we ended up making a safe landing at Wilson airport. 

What an awesome day!  I've never had a huge desire to be a pilot, but this just might have flipped a switch haha...