We are sharing with you the journal entries of Esther, the Director of Hearth to Hearth Ministries.  This journal consists of her thoughts about the trip she is on  to visit orphanages in Africa.

February 4

The flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi had many empty seats so after we reached altitude everyone began moving around to get more space. Since I had a window seat with two empty seats beside me, a woman asked if she might sit there. I guess God knew I really needed Vicki on this trip to keep me company because this woman reminded me a great deal of Vicki.
When she sat down in the aisle seat, she leaned over to introduce herself and to ask what I would be doing in Africa. What an opening!
She was very interested in our work and asked many questions. When the opportunity presented itself, I retrieved my laptop out of the overhead bin to show her Vicki's picture, since I had told her how much I thought she resembled Vicki and that Vicki was our Fund Raising Manager. She, too, thought there was a resemblance when she saw the photos of Vicki.
Then I went on to show her some of the photos of our children and the Gates Children. All in all, I had a very pleasant trip visiting with my new friend from Finland, and she ended up giving me a hundred Euros to help with our work. As she did, she told me to tell Vicki that she has another fund raiser. I promised her that Vicki would be happy to write to her.
I had checked nine bags: two fifty pound and seven seventy pound. The airline had waived the "excess baggage" costs, which means we only had to pay $150.00 per bag for the seven extra bags. I am grateful to the airlines for the concession. It could have cost us a great deal more.
All nine bags arrived, though one had a small slit in the side and another (bag #1) was badly broken open. I will not be able to determine if anything is missing from either bag until we are able to open them all at Glory Center on Friday. On first look, they seemed to be pretty intact, but since the one badly broken had been packed by Vicki, I will have to take everything out and check it against her list before I can be totally sure.
I was met at the airport by Slavomir from Poland who had arrived about an hour before me, and Elinet, our new Assistant Projects Manager in Kenya. It was good to be on the ground. The vehicle procured to transport us to the hotel was only large enough for most of our baggage, so we took another in which to transport the remaining few pieces and some of us. I was asked to ride in the vehicle with the baggage in case the driver was called upon to explain his large load.