2010 Trip -14th September

The day began with a tour of St Stephen's Basilica..... WOW!!!!! Incredible, magnificent, awe-inspiring, these words do not even begin to describe in interior of the Basilica. There was even a tenor singing with organ music while we wandered around. We had our final meal with Greg and his family before we headed for our ship. It was great to share time with them in Hungary.
The first day on board was fairly low key, with a short briefing and dinner. The food is fabulous and tons of it - 5 courses every night! (not to mention - breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and of course late night supper)

St Stephen's Basilica

2010 Trip -13th September

Well today was so great.  We visited with Greg, Rita, Michaela, Luke and Effie (Rita's mum) travelling by metro underground train and trams to Hero's Square, Papa & Aunty Margarets home in Budapest (where they left hungary from) and their school, took a boat ride on the Danube, saw many beautiful buildings and heard a little bit of history, shopping and dinner at a restaurant where they had traditional gypsy hungarian music played live.  We were all so tired by the end of the day and slept well.

2010 Trip -12th September

After a late breakfast, we checked out of the Ramada Plaza and headed to Margaret Island. It's our first sunny day in Hungary. We hired a motorised "golf car" and drove around the island to get the "lay of the land" before we walked to look more closely at each section. It is beautiful oasis amongst an otherwise congested city. Linda could not resist the green apple fairy floss. Late in the afternoon we met up with Linda's cousin, Greg, from Melbourne, and his family.

2010 Trip -11th September

Today we set out for Jarlsbereny where papa (Linda's dad) was born and to visit family.  Again another rainy day.  We arrivedin the town hoping to find information office to get an interpreter but didn't.  How were we going to communicate with family.  Oh well.  Arrived at the home of Joseph & Kathy Szabo (cousin to my aunt) and they were very happy to see us.  They were expecting us in the last two days but we didn't know that's what Aunty Margaret had organised for us.  Anyway.  Many hours were spent trying to understand each other - unsuccessfully.  A phone call from Australia saved a little bit of confusion.  Thanks for saving us Aunty Margaret.  Joseph took us to the street where my grandmother and great grandmother lived.  My father and his sisters were born here.  Strange feeling to actually be here.  Challenging communication verbally didn't take away from the communication of love of family.  Hard and rewarding day.

A few photos of our new grand daughter - Charlotte Grace Corner

2010 Trip -10th September

Today we decided to go to Lake Balaton (a very large lake in Hungary about 77km long and 14km at it's widest) and we went to the south end of it to a Festetics Palace at Keszthely.  It was so beautiful.  I took a couple of photos (oops wasn"t allowed) inside.  We had to wear some funny things on our feet to protect the floor.  It was a miserable day - raining everywhere - so guessing we didn't see the lake at it's most beautiful.  Many other beautiful buildings on the way.  Rob faired a little better today with the driving having driven about 400km's.

2010 Trip - 9th September

After much waiting in airports and travelling yesterday we finally arrived in Budapest.  It was a little emotional for Linda as we flew in.  The reality of it hit home.  Has been waiting for this for ages.  After trying to find a supermarket (unsuccessfully) and Rob struggling with driving on the wrong side of the road in a manual car (try to imagine that - gears in the wrong hand, mirrors in the wrong positions, cars coming at you, you have to think all the time, agggggghhhhhhhhh).  Rob says more stressful than driving in Kenya (where the traffic is crazy).  We were so tired and went to bed really early.

2010 Trip - 8th September

Today we travelled (all day - not feeling the best).  But our beautiful grandaughter was born today - Charlotte Grace 7lb 14oz.

2010 Trip - 7th September

We spent all day in our room as Rob was still ill and was worse over night. The day of rest has seen him improve. Hopefully by tomorrow he'll be 100% again as we continue on our journey, flying back to Nairobi to catch our flight to Zurich and then onto Budapest.
We had a short phone cal from our son, Brendan at 3:15pm local time (10:15pm Sydney/Melbourne) to tell us that Kim was in labour. We are expectantly waiting news of the birth of our grand-daughter.

2010 Trip - 6th September

We began the day by visiting a Crocodile Park - the largest in Africa with over 10,000 crocs. One of the staff even arrange a private viewing of feeding some, even though it normally only happens a 5pm. The park also contains botanical gardens and a spider and snake collection. As we were leavng the croc park Rob began feel ill but we continued on with the day plan.
We enjoyed a cool drink in a little cafe by the ocean at Bamburi Beach which is on the "north shore" of Mombasa. Linda enjoyed a walk along the beach getting her feet wet in the warm water.
We spent the rest of the day in our room so Rob could rest.
Internet here is slow and we have to sit out on the verandah to get any signal.

2010 Trip - 5th September

After a late breakfast, we began our 1st full day in Mombasa with a drive around town, a guided visit to Fort Jesus (next door to our accommodation) and a walk around the old town area.  We also visited the Mombasa Sports Club.
It appears that after our sometimes hectic schedule in Nairobi, our time in Mombasa will be far more relaxed. Today was quite warm and tonight is very pleasant. Although the locals seem to think it is cold. At 9pm it is still probably about 20C. The people are so friendly and welcoming but we have been warned not to walk around town after dark.
I'm really enjoying sharing this trip with my gorgeous wife.

Here's the view from our room at the Mombasa Club.

From 2010 Trip

2010 Trip - 4th September

Today we spent much of the day a Jomo Kenyatta airport in Nairobi. We expected heavy traffic like we have seen for the last few days but we made the drive in record time. At least we were not late for our flight!
We travelled to Mombasa on the coast and were met at the airport by the brother of a lady the Linda works with at Youthworks. He has arranged our accommodation at the Mombasa Club and has also arranged a driver to show us around. Although the locals say that it is cold, it is about 28C. The Mombasa Club is a private "Members Only" club that was established in 1897 by the British. It really does look the part with high ceilings beautiful timber stairs and period furniture. It is just like I have seen in movies - "clubs" in India and Singapore.
We even have to "dress" for dinner.

2010 Trip - 3rd September

Today was our last full day in Nairobi and our last day with Pete and Keama. We spent most of the day doing last minute running around and enjoying one more banana milkshake (Java House simply has the best banana milkshakes we've ever tasted).
This afternoon we met with 2 of the young men that Kenya Help sponsors, mainly to catch up and inform them of the appointment of our 2 new Kenya Help reps here in Nairobi.
We then farewelled Pete and Keama as they headed to the airport for their long flight back to Australia. We'll miss them but we know that they have missed their girls even more and their girls have missed them. Thanks Pete for all your help.
We finished the day by sharing dinner and a marriage enrichment session with a small group of couples from Lifespring Chapel. It was a wonderful evening and we hope that they found it useful. We were made to feel very much at home and definitely part of their group. Asante sana! It was a great way to finish our time in Nairobi.

2010 Trip - 2nd September

We began the day by driving about 1½ hours to Pete's father's farm at a place called Murang'a.
It is a 5 acre farm ("shamba" in kiswahili) where he grows various crops such a maize, bananas, mangoes and others. This was Pete's father's first time to see Keama and it was wonderful to see the joy in his eyes as he saw his grandson for the first time.

We then returned to Nairobi to have lunch with some friends, Dave & Mary at the Amani Ya Juu garden cafe. Dave is the pastor of Parkside Community Chapel, a church plant of Lifespring Chapel.

In the evening we met with our friends, James and Susan, who hosted us last year when we visited Kenya on our mission awareness trip. The traffic on the way there was horrific! When we visited their home last Sunday, Susan busy being the perfect host for us and also James's nephew and his fiance. It was great have this evening to sit and chat over dinner with them. We are developing a special friendship with them that spans the vast distance between our homes.

2010 Trip - 1st September

Today was another "catchup" day. Linda has a chest infection and a day of rest has been needed. We met via Skype with our Kenya Help team back in Australia to discuss the appointment of a local co-ordinator here in Kenya. We have been interviewing people while we are in Kenya. We will announce the decision publicly after we have informed the applicants. We took the opportunity of the quieter day to review some other photos taken during the Marriage Enrichment seminar. They have now been uploaded and added to our "2010 Trip - Photos".

We finished the day with dinner at a local Japanese restuarant. It seems strange to be eating Japanese in Kenya. I was not sure how to thank the staff, "asante" or "arigato".

2010 Trip - 31st August

Today was a quiet day. We stayed around our accomodation "Kijiji" most of the day, ducking out for a lunchtime meeting for Kenya Help.  Tonight we had dinner at Pastor William's home. It was such a blessing to be so welcomed into their home at Dagoretti Corner.
If you are in the Nowra area of NSW, do not miss seeing Pastor William when he visits Bomaderry on 25th September 2010. For details see the Kenya Help web-site.

2010 Trip - 30th August

Today was a fairly layback and easy day. We began with a meeting with a person that is a potential local represenative for our organisation Kenya Help. We had lunch with one of Pete's old friends.
After lunch we visited the Kenya National Monument and then the Kenya National Park. It reminded us of our safari last year. We saw some zebras, buffalo, eland, gazelle, antelope, ostrich and giraffes. Rob and Pete have been sharing the driving since we arrived in Kenya. Rob loves the challenge of Nairobi traffic.

2010 Trip - 29th August

Today was a visit to LifeSpring Chapel and to see the playground that we built last year. It is looking well used!
Apparrently hundreds of children enjoy using it every week. We also saw lots of friends who were happy to to us again. We were then able to take Ben (sponsored by Kenya Help) to lunch where he had his very first pizza. He said the meat was too soft! Then the afternoon was spent with our host family from last year. It was so good to see them all.

2010 Trip - 28th August

Well, today was the last day of the seminar and because of the long "short" talks, a long session regarding marriage and the new Kenyan constitution, we didn't get to do what we had planned. Oh well.
We had a great "sex" talk by a Kenyan bishop that made us laugh so much. And we were worried about talking on marital intimacy. Ha!
We had an amazing afternoon. Together with 2 bishops, we married 5 couples and prayed over every other couple present, about 75 couples all up. It was a humbling and at the same time an exciting experience.
It has been wonderful to see changes in marriages and attitudes towards marriages. Even though we have been with them for only 3 days we have seen some dramatic changes. We have been so blessed by the people. We have felt like celebrities (see the banner photo from yesterday) and everyone constantly wants to shake our hands and have photos taken with us. We have learnt so much! It has been beyond our expectations.
It was announced at the closing of the seminar that this will be an annual event and we have been officially invited to return each year.

2010 Trip - 27th August

Well, what a blessing today was!
Each morning has started late with few people but by the end of the day the place is full and jumping. We weren't sure on day one if they were on the same page as us about wanting their marriages to be different. We were so encouraged during today when both men and women were sharing and encouraging each other to be different to their culture (in East Africa the man is the authoritative boss) and be more biblical in their love for their partners. They spoke about wanting to be different but also acknowledged that change will be difficult. Today we saw and heard many breakthroughs!
These are pastors and church leaders and many are planning to return to their churches and challenge the men and women in their congregations about their relationships. We give the honour and glory to God for how he has broken down barriers and is working in the lives of these couples.