I woke up early this morning at openhand Children’s home. I actually slept well, although I did not sleep the whole night through. At the beginning of the night there was such intense rain for about 30 minutes. The rain was so intense that Kamar texted the group, “feels like the roof is gonna collapse.” I recorded some of the rain on my audio recorder. Dad also videoed the rains and wondered if the rains were more intense than during Tyler’s sermon in Maasai land.

Upon getting up early, I decided it was time to catch up on my blog (so much for that goal. We have been back from Kenya for 2 weeks, and I am still trying to catch up on my blog…lol). Upon failing my blog catch-up goal, I resolved to move on to a more realistic goal. I prepared for a devotion on Romans 12 that I was to give that morning.

After devotions and another wonderful breakfast, our group chilled for a time. After the last 2 days of ministry, we were looking forward to having a laid back day. We spent the rest of the morning in a town called Athi River. This is a busy town just south of Nairobi. Traffic was crazy. But, it was worth risking the traffic. For we had an appointment to pick up our tailored clothes (and also order some more).

Upon leaving the seamstress, we drove through the city center of Nairobi to drop Jacque and Alice at the Girl’s state school. Jacque had arranged to meet with her friend, Judy, who is a chaplain there. It is beautiful how God works. Jacque met Judy some time ago in America while on a flight. They connected and talked the whole flight. They shared each others contact info, even though Jacque had no clue, at that point, she would ever travel to Kenya and meet Judy. There meetup was wonderful, and Alice was also glad to have a new connection and friend in Judy.

While the girls were doing their thing, us guys decided to try KFC Kenya. Would it meet our expectations? Would it be as good as KFC in America. Well, we all loved it! Kamar went so far as to say it was better in Kenya. In fact, since being back in the U.S. Kamar refuses to have KFC, knowing it will only disappoint him.

Despite having KFC, we did save some room in our tummies for our planned dinner at the Masunga’s house. Joseph and Salome’s hospitality was fantastic (as always). Joseph began the evening by establishing the one rule of his house…wait…for…it…

“Be yourself!”

Joseph then showed us his library. We noticed the shelves were leaning and probably needed to be reinforced.

Salome, deciding we needed a break from Ugali, rice, and chaptis, made a wonderful dinner of pasta and beef and other things that my ephemeral memory has denied me access to recall. However, my ephemeral hippocampus does recall having some wonderful fresh juice (although I can’t recall from which fruit…lol. maybe mango. Man, do I miss fresh mango).

At dinner Salome explained to me where Joseph’s “be yourself” rule originated. Joseph and Salome once had a guest who was so polite he wiped his plate clean. Salome then asked him if he would take more food. Being polite, the guest said “yes.” The guest forced all the food down again. Salome then asked if he would take more food. The guest again said “yes.” The night ended with the guest throwing up. Hence, Joseph and Salome’s rule is really about wanting their guests to quit throwing up in their house.

Actually, it’s about wanting their guests to be honest.

After dinner, where we squeezed around a table that was meant for between 4-6 people (not 10 people), we proceeded to the living room. The married couples then proceeded to tell stories of how they met each other. Ray and Jacque met online. Jacque was instantly drawn to Ray’s profile after reading that Ray had been to Africa on missions. Jacque had always wanted to go to Africa (her dream has now come true).

Bruce met his wife Kathy while working with YWAM (youth with a mission) in Thailand. 18 days after asking her out Bruce knew he wanted to marry her. Bruce had a bike race coming up. So, he told God if he wins he will ask Kathy to marry him. Bruce didn’t win. However, Bruce soon realized he had won his age group (close enough, right). After the race Bruce was a little quiet. Kathy asked him what he was thinking (Bruce had always told Kathy that she could always ask what he was thinking). Bruce said, “I am thinking, will you marry me.” She said yes.

Next, Joseph told the story of how he met and proposed to Salome. They were both teachers and met each other at some teacher function. But, unfortunately, they taught in schools that were in different areas of the country. So, Joseph asked a friend if they could get Salome transferred near him. The transfer happened. They started going to the same church, Trinity Baptist Donholm. Joseph made excuses to go to her house everyday. He drove a car with a distinctive sound that he would drive around her place so that she knew he was coming over. She would always invite him to stay for dinner. After about a year of this he asked her to marry him (during Joseph’s telling of this story he was being long winded, and taking some time to get to the “good parts.” So, Alice said, “will you finish the story.” We all laughed).

This was a night filled with many, many laughs. (In fact, Dad and Tyler had a really long belly laugh together over…well, you will have to ask them).

This night was a sneak peak of Heaven. Surely, if the other members wrote their own blogs of this day they could add so many more stories and laughs. I hope the ones I have written will be sufficient for all of us to relive this night again and again. A wonderful night, a moveable feast.

Interesting fact…they have door dash in Kenya. They don’t call it door dash, though. But, it is the equivalent of door dash.

This morning we woke up at Alice Mukui’s farmhouse located in Maasai country. We spent the night here because it was closer to Lawrence’s church (where we will have one more day of preaching and fellowship).

A lot happened on this day. While I originally wished to journal this day in the same prose style of my previous posts, instead (to save time) I will journal in a bullet style.

…woke up early and finished my sermon on Ephesians 4:1-6 (which I will preach today)

…brewed coffee and walked around outside to listen to the birds sing in the early morning hours (listen to audio clip below). I was able to hear and record the sounds of some unique and pretty birds. These included the white-browed sparrow-weaver, bluebird superb Starling, and the white-bellied-go-away-bird. As I was drinking my coffee and taking in the bird sounds, Ray joined me outside. He brought out his drone and took some beautiful aerial footage of the property and the nearby mountains.

…we had a wonderful breakfast of pancakes (pmore like crepes), fruit, sausage, and hard boiled eggs. Jacque asked us if there was salt. We all said, “yes” and proceeded to eat our meal without actually passing her the salt. Alice brought to us some Tanazanian peanut butter. It was still sealed. It took the effort of the whole team and about 10 minutes for us to successfully open the Tanzanian peanut butter. I wish I had recorded this comedic moment.

…after breakfast we packed our bags (since after todays conference we were going to drive straight back to openhand) and drove to the border of Tanzania to cross the border (just to say we did it). Upon approaching the border we thought we spotted Mt. Kilimanjaro (which apparently can be seen on a clear day). However, the mountain we saw was actually Mt. Meru (still impressive). Our team began talking about hiking Mt. Kilimanjaro on our next trip to Kenya.

…we then drove to pastor Lawrence’s church for our final meeting which would consist of 4 sermons (2 by Tyler, 1 by me, and 1 by my dad), lunch in between, singing, 2 shorter illustrative sermons by Ray and Jacque, and gift exchanges.

…before the service began, both dad and Tyler broke the chairs they were sitting in (chubby muzungas). Just kidding. These were somewhat flimsy, plastic chairs. One had to almost go out of there way NOT to break them while sitting in them.

…Tyler led off with 2 sermons and then we had lunch. During lunch I spotted a big rig driving in front of the church. I ran out to greet it. I really wanted to video up close a big rig in Kenya to see how it differed from big rigs in America. This truck was a Isuzu cab over (all the trucks here seem to be cab overs. That means the engine is under the cab instead of in front of the cab. Kenyan trailers are also shorter than many American trailers (although Kenyan trailers have more tires. This makes sense because there are less paved roads in Kenya and thus more chances of getting stuck). I half-jokingly asked the driver, William, if I could drive his truck. He said “yes.” It was a lot of fun to drive. Everything is opposite from the U.S. I wasn’t sure I could shift with my left hand. Thankfully, it was mind over matter and I handled the rig quite well. William, wanted to stay in touch (he hopes I can find a way for him to drive in U.S.). William was hauling sand and he himself had been stuck in the sand and mud and water for the last 3 days (there was a lot rain and thus some flash floods in this part of Kenya). He showed me a video. So, when he passed by our church he was grateful to be given lunch by the Maasai congregation. When dad and Tyler saw me speaking with the driver, Tyler said, “there is no way he is going to actually to drive that?!” Dad responded, “I know Frank. Yes he will.”

…my sermon went pretty good. I felt much better preaching this year with a translator then last year. Eric was my translator. Afterward, Alice told me the sermon was “conk and simple.” I think that was a compliment. “Conk” means strong. During the sermon I found myself interrupted by a stray dog that had ran into the church building. Some people were trying to drive it out. I am told someone kicked the dog. The dog hit the tin siding of the building, which made a loud sound. The dog then ran out of the church. The dog was okay. But, the sound of the dog hitting the side of building sounded like a gun and caused me to loudly say, “whoo, whoo” during the middle of my sermon.

…Ray gave a “conk and simple” illustrative sermonette about the need to loose ourselves of the backpack that weighs us down. The backpack is our sins that we carry with us. Ray actually took Jacque’s backpack and threw it outside to illustrate his point…like I said, it was conk.

…Jacque gave a memorable and “conk” illustration on sin and deliverance by using a screw, bolt, and washer. She developed this illustration on her own. She has been been encouraged to make it into a book. I hope she does.

…dad gave the final sermon. He spoke from Ephesians 6 about children obeying their parents, etc. he had a different translator then I did. At times this translator seemed to be speaking his own sermon, which was interesting. For example, the, length, passion, and tone of the translation didn’t often match dad’s. So, whatever sermon the Maasai actually heard, I hope it was a good one.

…when all the sermons were complete Lawrence gave us Maasai names. Since Tyler and I already had Maasai names, they passed over us and named the rest of our teammates. Kamar was named “Meguni” (warrior). They named Bruce what sound like “Lucky.” I can’t remember the other names. Perhaps I will retrieve them and re edit this post later.

…the Maasai of the church then gave us each Maasai garb and walking sticks (for the men only). Jacque asked for a walking stick and pastor Lawrence said it’s only for men. Jacque responded with showing him why she would need a stick. She jokingly showed herself taking a stick and using it to hit her husband. Everyone laughed (she still did not get a stick). So instead of a walking stick Jacque was given jewelry. The gifts were given while beautiful singing and head bobbing was done. The song was “conk but repetitive.” Translated, it said “Lord is our deliverer, Lord is our refuge.”

…a few other people we met at the church were sister charity (she owns the nice house overlooking the church and is an activist. She is not a “member” of the church, but just came to visit). we will also remember Wilfred Ntetia, pastor Eric, Harrison (Lawrence and Grace’s son), Godfrey (Mason working on Lawrence’s house), John Lete, Elizabeth (73, one of founding members), Lucy and Abraham, the 3 elders names Joseph, Joseph, and Yeshua. I almost forgot Tycious Lenini (pastor Lawrence’s brother).

…we then planted trees outside and bought some gifts made by the Maasai women. We left Lawrence’s church at sunset. We had a long drive ahead of us to the orphanage. Most of the driving would be done at night. We were not stopped on the way home. Sometimes the police set up roadblocks to stop vehicles and check them out. Charles, our driver, said it was illegal for a tour vehicle to transport tourists at night.

Click on download button to hear 20 seconds of Kenya birds sounds

This morning began with another excellent breakfast. Kamar gave a raw and real devotional to start our day.

We knew we had a long day of driving ahead of us. So, We took 2 vehicles. 6 of our group (including Pastor Joseph Masunga) went with Charles in the 4 wheel drive Land Cruiser. Alice took Jacque and Pastor Joseph Masunga’s wife, Salome, with her in her 2 wheel drive car.

We were headed to the interior of Maasai country off the main roads. The roads are rough and sometimes impassable. However, despite a few obstacles, we arrived in Emurua Dikirr in the afternoon of that Tuesday. Our mission was to hold a Bible conference with the local fellowship of Maasai at Bethesda Baptist Church. This church building, located in the “bush,” has been in existence for only a few years. The Maasai there began as simply a few people studying the Bible under tree. With the financial assistance of Pastor Leroy Cole of Goodrich, Michigan and the providence of God a church building, a well, and permanent fellowship has been established.

This was to be the first day of a 2 day conference with at least 6 sermons (from the book of Ephesians), meals, fellowship, sharing, and gift giving.

We were welcomed beautifully and warmly by the Maasai fellowship with the greeting of “Supa.”

Joseph Masunga began the conference with a powerful message. Then Pastor Tyler concluded the day with 2 messages. He delayed one of his messages until tomorrow due to the heavy rains and his not feeling so well. In fact, I have dubbed Tyler’s one sermon the rain sermon and the other the dry sermon. Even though the rain sermon was very difficult to hear (the rain was loud and quite torrential), the Maasai congregants took it as a sign of God’s blessing. They said, “Pastor Tyler, you have brought the rain.”

The other activities of the day were:

(1) us entering a Maasai manyatta. This is a typical Maasai house made of mud, cow dung, and sticks. It’s very dark inside (obviously no electricity). The women are the one who build the houses. This is a very patriarchal tribe.

(2) watching the progress of Pastor Lawrence’s new house being built.

(3) hearing testimonies by some of the Maasai, such as Abraham.

We ended the day driving back to Alice Mukui’s farmhouse. On turning out of Bethesda Baptist Church we almost immediately came upon a roadblock. A local Maasai elder put some tree branches on the road and said we could not pass that way without paying him a fee. He argued we were driving through his property and thus would have to pay a toll to go this particular way. We refused to pay and had to go a longer route to arrive at Alice’s farmhouse (TIA…this is Africa).

Well enough blogging for today…sorry no jokes, humor, or Teammate profile today.

Enjoy the pics and videos.

This morning began with a proper cup of coffee and a heartfelt and vulnerable devotional. The devotion was on the subject of humility and was presented by Jacque.

Our driver, Charles, then drove our team to Machakos county to a town called Kyangala (pronounced Chan-ga-la). This is the location of Pastor Levi’s church and Bible training school.

Tyler, Karen, and I visited this spot in November of 2023. We each planted trees that day. It was nice to see how our trees have grown (Tyler was more than estatic that his tree has grown the largest thus far).

We had sermons by Pastor Joseph Masunga and Tyler. Their sermons worked well together (not by plan as there was no collusion). Joseph spoke on the united theme of the Bible divided into scenes, like a movie. Tyler asked what is the central theme of the Bible…

GOD WITH US

It was good to have lunch and minister with these wonderful people, some of which we knew, others we met for the first time. We will remember, Levi’s wife Abigail, his daughter, Irene, pastor Silas, Dennis, as well as many more.

Ray was able to get some beautiful photos and videos of Kyangala with his drone. However, that footage is still being processed. So, you will have to settle for the photos and videos I have embedded in this post. I wish you could have been there and seen the place yourself. So much beauty, and yet so much struggle.

One of the videos has my dad speaking on the circumstances which first brought my grandpa to Kenya and the good fruit that came out of a tragedy (my grandma’s death).

JOKE OF THE DAY:

This morning I was excited to greet our driver. With a big smile on my face I said confidently, “James!!! It is so good to see you.”

He responded, “it is Charles. but I am happy to have a new name.”

I never got his name wrong the rest of the trip. He is a great driver. Nairobi has some of the craziest and unsafe driving I have ever seen. Charles handled it out without any issues.

TEAMMATE PROFILE OF THE DAY:

Kamar

He is in his 20s. He was born in Iraq to a catholic family. His family left Iraq when he was 5. He has been in America since he was 10. He has been going to our church, Phos church, for about a year or a little more. It has been a real privilege to get to know him more on this trip. He is a real and genuine person, not afraid to get vulnerable. He is always looking for opportunities to serve and help and would give anyone the shirt off his back. Indeed, one of the things he loved giving out on this trip were bracelets with the gospel written on it. He must have given out over a hundred.

Upon arriving back to Openhand Kamar and dad engaged in a deep conversation about sin. The conversation began with Kamar stating, “do you think you could ever stop sinning? I am just so sick of it!” My dad related his experience with certain struggles and sins that have indeed been overcome by the grace of God. The conclusion was that we do have hope in Christ to overcome our particular, specific sins. However, the struggle with our sinful nature, in general, will always be there.

We finally arrived back to the U.S. on Monday, February 3 around 2pm Detroit time. Our hearts and body clock are still in Kenya.

Upon waking up this morning (February 4), Tyler texted the team and informed us that a delta plane heading from Paris to Detroit on Sunday had a close call with another plane.

We are reminded we indeed live each day by faith and we should have a sense of gratitude for each moment God has given us. Gratitude was my word for this trip. I hope to continue this theme through the rest of my days, no matter what awaits me or how bad things may get. I may play the role of complaining Job one day (perhaps it is inevitable), but may gratitude and God’s grace always win in my life and in yours.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Ephesians 2:8-10

Although we are back in the U.S. (and thank you for your prayers), I am not done with this blog. I plan on filling out the rest of the days by the end of this week. So, please keep checking in to hear about our time in Maasai lane, my experience driving a semi truck in Africa, our time petting elephants, our experience in the slums, and our review of KFC (Kentucky fried chicken) in Kenya (there are actually a lot of KFCs in Kenya).

I was the first of our group to wake up this morning. So, I decided to make the coffee for Bruce, dad, Jacque, Kamar, and me (Ray and Tyler typically do not begin their mornings with coffee). My typical nights/mornings thus far have gone as follows:

(1) get 2-3 hours of sleep

(2) wake up to the buzzing of a mosquito. Then spend the next 20 minutes making tactical plans to assassinate this interloper.

(3) after failing in my assassination attempts, I switch tactics and resolve to leave the light on in my room the rest of the night/morning. I then spend the rest of my morning trying to prepare a sermon I am to give to the Maasai on day 8.

(4) I finally leave my room and wander the beautiful grounds of the hospitality house

(5) I then enter the kitchen of the hospitality house to make coffee (if I happen to be the first one up).

Unfortunately, for the rest of the team, I was the first one up and thus made the cofftea. That is what I am calling this awful brew concoction I made. I mistook the tea grounds for coffee grounds and…well dad, Bruce, and I drank drip brewed tea thinking it was coffee. Actually, dad was the first to question this brew and ask, “is this tea?”

Me: “oh my goodness, now that you bring it up, it did seem like the coffee tasted a little off this morning. I think I may have confused the tea for coffee.”

And to think I have been entrusted with running the coffee shop at Phos Church in Sterling Heights, Michigan on dodge park road (that’s my plug for our church). If you ever visit, I promise you won’t get a bad cofftea concoction.

Our morning devotional was led by Ray. It was on Acts 1:8.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.”

Most of the rest of the day was spent in Nairobi at Michael Otieno Maura’s Bethesda Baptist Church. Pastor Tyler preached the morning and evening service (evening service had some heavy, heavy rain). The rain was so hard it was difficult for Tyler to speak loud enough and still be heard.

That was certainly a new experience for Tyler. While Pastor Tyler may have issues, being loud enough to be heard has never been one of them (thankfully Tyler and I are good enough friends that I can publish this without fear of being excommunicated from the church…maybe).

During the morning sermon Bruce Paul gave his testimony. Please see embedded YouTube video to listen to his raw and poignant testimony.

After the service and lunch at Bethesda, we went to Trinity Baptist Church Donholm (still in Nairobi) and Alice Mukui’s house. It was special to visit this church. This was the church that Grandpa (Blake Lasslett), Matt, and I first worked with in our flagship trip to Kenya in 2003. It has changed much from then, but it is still flourishing and faithfully preaching the Word. My grandpa spoke in this church numerous times, and I asked if they could find some old tapes of his preaching from back then.

Our time at Alice Mukui’s house was special as we were able to visit with 2 of her daughters, Joy and Njambi. Thankfully, we will have more time to spend with them later this week. But our fatigue was such that we only spent around an hour at Alice’s house before heading back to Openhand.

I ended the night hopeful to get better sleep and to be a more skillful assassin.

JOKE OF THE DAY:

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TEAMMATE PROFILE OF THE DAY:

David Lasslett

This is my dad. At 65 he is the same age his dad (Blake Lasslett) was when he first went to Kenya (with Matt and me) in 2003.

I am so proud to be in Kenya with my dad. This has become one of the greatest events of my life. He is a man of humility who loves to serve in whatever way he can. He is a great example of what it means to be a father, husband, hard worker, and someone who is not just a listener of the Word but a doer of the Word. He is my hero. I aspire to be like him.

He is an elder at Phos Church, and also owns a hair salon (Premier Hair Studio in Lake Orion).

God willing I will return to Kenya with him next year. I love you dad!

We are all still alive and well! I figured some of you must have thought we were eaten by a simba or hippo, since it’s been so long since I last blogged.

Let me put all worries to rest!

I have found it difficult to make time to journal. This is because the trip has been full and busy. There is much to say a blog can do not justice. As I write this, I am heading to church, and it is the last day of our full and blessed trip (February 2nd). I will try to bring some of this beautiful warm weather home with me.

We are driving to a church in the Kawangware slums called Injili Baptist church (pastored by Joseph Masunga). Injili means gospel in Swahili. We have an Arabic man in our group, Kamar, who said in Arabic that word means “Baptist.” So we are going to the Baptist Baptist church.

Please look the church up online at injilibible.org

I promise to finish my blog in the coming days. So do not grow weary of my erstwhileness.

I’ll be back!

We woke up this morning to be greeted by another wonderful warm day. Ray brought out his DJI mini 3 drone to get an aerial view of the property.

Dad gave the devotional and spoke from Micah 6:8. “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

The main thrust of dad’s devotion was:

what God asks of us is pretty simple. It’s us who make it so complicated.

The discussion which was elicited from dad’s devotion was rich. We are truly enjoying our morning devotions. The team is bonding beautifully.

Later that morning we walked to the nearby Uzima Springs Academy. This is a primary school where the orphans at Openhand Children’s home receive their education. This school is run by Alice Mukui.

Since today was Saturday, there were no scheduled classes. Instead, Alice scheduled the school’s staff to be there to fellowship with us. So, we spent around 4-5 hours with them. There was preaching by Joseph Masunga and Tyler Whitcomb. We also gave gifts to the staff and the few children who were at the school. We then had lunch.

During lunch we got to know some of the teachers. We will remember Risper, Emma, Tabitha, Irene, and Oprah, amongst others.

Dad tried to marry me off to one of the women. I love you, dad.

MEMORABLE MEAL:

While all the meals have been memorable, the breakfasts have especially stood out. Kamar remarked that he doesn’t eat breakfast in the U.S. but is loving breakfast here, especially the eggs. We are also all enjoying the sausage, which is made of beef not pork.

FUNNY STORY OF THE DAY:

This story actually took place on day 3. On that particular day, in the morning, Jacque went out to the chicken coop (which is located on the property of the orphanage). Jacque LOVES animals. This morning she identified a particular chicken in the coop that caught her affection. She told him, “you are strong, you are smart, you are brave, you are handsome.”

Later that day she returned to the coop to reconnect with her handsome friend. Lo and behold, he was gone. Only a few feathers remained of him. I suppose he lives on in the bellies of each of us. Minus Jacque’s belly, for she has vowed to not eat any chicken the rest of the trip.

We began today with a morning team devotional. In fact, every morning we plan to have a devotional, rotating amongst our different team members.

Pastor Tyler delivered this morning’s devotional.

His devotion was on the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Tyler began by mentioning that each of us on this mission trip came for different reasons. Further, each of us may not know what he/she may contribute to this trip. We may even have doubts about being here. He then connected those feelings with the 12 apostles when Jesus gave them the Great Commission.

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

Just a few verses before this “great commission,” it says “some of them doubted.”

God can and does work with our doubts, and we certainly don’t have to have everything figured out.

Our confidence is not in ourselves, but in the promise “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Today we stayed at the orphanage. Various people came to meet us for fellowship here. These included Pastor Joseph Masunga, his wife Salome, as well as Evans, Victor, Waswa, and Anthony.

Later in the afternoon we wandered around outside the property meeting random people and having fun, while trying not to get run over (see pics).

In the evening we ventured out to a mall. We then came home and simply relaxed.

JOKE OF THE DAY

Dad (who is giving the morning devotion tomorrow) said to the group, “I am a little concerned about giving a devotional tomorrow because Tyler set the bar so high.” Without missing a beat Jacque responded, “that was high?”

TEAMMATE PROFILE OF THE DAY

Jacque

Jacque has been referred by many as the flower of our team. She is the only woman on our team of 7. She is married to Ray (who is also on our team). They are a sweet couple. She is an expert gardener. She also knits and teaches other women to knit. While this is her first mission trip to Kenya, she has been to Uganda before. She has a love for Africa.

She is warm and sensitive. Her sensitivity is such that after “roasting” Tyler (see joke of the day), she immediately felt bad for the roast. Partly, because she didn’t intend it as a roast. She authenticly wanted to know why my dad felt Tyler’s devotion had set the bar high. She could sense my dad being concerned his devo would not be “good enough” and she wanted to ease his concern.

Dad, you are going to do great!

Warning: Some of the events of this day may cause vexation and/or disbelief. Read at your own risk.

With that preamble out of the way, let me just say, “what a day!” It began with our team arriving in Paris around 8 am local time. We had a 3 hour layover in the Paris airport. I would like to briefly note a few things I found interesting while at the airport.

(1) Some of the urinals in the men’s bathroom seemed to be made for 7 foot 8 inch French men, not a 5 foot 8 inch Frank man. I literally had to stand on my tippy toes.

(2) I found the French people I met quite friendly, especially the women. One of them, Lois Perrot, was heading to Kenya by herself to bike around the country. The best to Lois.

(3) Bruce and I met and talked with some Chabad-Lubavitch Parisian Jews who were heading to New York. These are Ultra-Orthodox Jews who wear a small box on their head to show their devotion to God (the box is actually a tefillin that contains Torah verses).

(4) The croissants are indeed very tasty

(5) The Parisian coffee is good. However, be careful how you order it or you may receive something like I received. I told the French Barista I wanted 2 coffees and 1 espresso. One of the coffees was to be black and the other with milk (see picture of the receipt for how he rang up the order).

Around 11 a.m. we loaded the plane for our connecting flight to Nairobi. My dad (David Lasslett) sat next to a Christian man named Patrick. This muscular man was American and was in the special forces. He was traveling to Kenya to help train the Kenyan military. Dad had a very long conversation with him. It sounded interesting, but I couldn’t hear much from where I was sitting.

After this long flight, where everyone but Jacque caught a few hours of sleep, we finally arrived at the Jomo Kenyatta airport. We were initially greeted warmly (pun intended) as the night air romanced us with its 60 + degree temperature. However, any warm greetings ceased after experiencing Kenya’s clumsy and corrupt customs’ agents.

After putting our bags on the custom’s conveyor belt multiple times (due to the bags getting stuck and needing to be pulled back out), a custom’s agent marked a few of our checked bags with Xs. She then demanded to open and search them.

What king of heinous contraband were we hauling?

Coloring books, Charles Spurgeon Commemorative coins, some mugs, uninflated soccer balls, theological books, Bibles, books, books, and more books (admittedly we had hundreds of pounds of books divided amongst our many check in bags).

The custom lady said, “if you are bringing these into the country you must pay a tax.”

“How much is the tax?” My dad and I asked.

“Not much,” she replied.

When she finally told us how much “not much” was we could have died. I am actually too embarrassed to mention the number here. Let’s just say her “not much” was 4 times more than what we expected “not much” to mean. (The kenyan dictionary meaning of “not much” apparently does not match the Oxford English Dictionary meaning).

My dad and I finally negotiated her “not much” down a little. However, I am confident that is what she expected us to do. So, she began with a terribly excessive number and ended up agreeing to a simply excessive number.

Never in all my times of flying with Grandpa, or even flying in 2023 to Kenya with Tyler and Karen (where we always had many books), were we ever charged a “tax.”

With the perspective of hindsight, perhaps I should have filmed the incident on my phone. Maybe this would have helped us, as perhaps the customs agents would have not wanted to be filmed asking for such a “tax/bribe.”

Anyway, what do you think, readers? Is my vexing over this custom “tax” fruitless or wrong? What would you have done? Have you experienced any such thing in your travels?

For now I would like to write about better things.

Now…the better things:

(1) I am sitting in Kenya in 80 degree weather and am feeling grateful to God (as is the rest of the team).

(2) We are all healthy, safe, and ready to do some good works in the name of Jesus (thank you for your prayers)

(3) We arrived to nice beds and great food in the Openhand Children’s home hospitality house (fresh cabbage, rice, fresh potato stew, fresh mangos [picked off a tree just outside of our rooms], and fresh pineapple.

Thank you Alice Mukui (openhand children’s home director), Jennifer, the 2 Esther’s, James (our driver), and Benson for your wonderful hospitality. You made us feel welcome. Asante sana.