Nice late morning and great sermon on heaven, living with the end in mind. Barren and beautiful hike thru Mordor. Sweet slow pace. Lesson from John Simon on walking on our skeletons. Burritos w hot sauce for lunch! Arrived Barafu (means snow) at 1:30. Great scary pic on ridge. Saw chipmunks and heard a rooster(?). All here all in great shape at 15,000+ ft. Thanks for prayers: we start up at 1145 tonight. Thank you Lord for this opportunity.

Nice late morning and great sermon on heaven, living with the end in mind. Barren and beautiful hike thru Mordor. Sweet slow pace. Lesson from John Simon on walking on our skeletons. Burritos w hot sauce for lunch! Arrived Barafu (means snow) at 1:30. Great scary pic on ridge. Saw chipmunks and heard a rooster(?). All here all in great shape at 15,000+ ft. Thanks for prayers: we start up at 1145 tonight. Thank you Lord for this opportunity.

Nice late start up Barranco Wall. Devo on Psalm 121. Pole pole to top ~1,000 ft above camp. Great photo ops, yoga poses, airborne shots. Visited by Malachite Sun bird. Guides Jeromè, Alfonse, & John Simon are amazing. Lunch: French fries! & chicken (? Mtn Raven:-) Last stop for water! Early to bed. All tired all well, thx for prayers.

-Rick

Crisp morning with view of Meru and Kibo to start day. Devo on magnificence of God. Slow steady climbing above most vegetation to gorgeous rocky terrain. Lunch at Lava Tower then up to 15,200 ft, higher than any point in continental US. Hiking conversations include age of the earth, favorite movies, Justin Bieber!, Shrek, Aladdin sing alongs, geology topics and plants. 3 people thot summit day was Sat . Minor miseries but all ok. Thank you God.

The porters awakened us in our tents with “would you like tea or coffee or hot chocolate?” and we were soon dressed and eating breakfast. We hiked into the next climate zone (feels like a cool Arizona desert) and are now settling into a camp from which we can see the top of the mountain when the clouds move aside. In the next few days we’ll be hiking through those clouds, sturdied by those who cook, clean, fix camp and guide our progress up the mountain. Much respect and appreciation for these dark-skinned, bright-smiled lifesavers.

- Rick

Perfect start on Kili. Left Machame gate at noon, lunch for royalty served in rain forest. Tarzan must have been here. Colobus monkeys entertained us. Camp at 10,000 ft. in heather above cloud. Pictures soon I hope.
Thank you God. And thank you for your prayers.

- Rick

Great day. We removed a concrete floor in Sorenyi School and put in a new one; some Africans helped . Chris Ayo & Alexis led club; Fun and Excellent. Gear check with Guides at night; we are in route to Kili early Day #3 Thx for your prayers.

- Rick Rogers

We are in Arusha! At least all except for the Heatons, who arrive soon.

LONG travel day with normal hassles some highlights.  Hurray for Lydia at Tan Travel for getting the Dulles Hotel paid for by Ethiopia Air due to their ticket changes.  HUGE complements to Ethiopian Airline: professional, efficient, clean, great service.

Craig and I were asked to see a man on the plane who we think had DVT (one leg was swollen and tender all the way from his toes to his thigh + diabetes), and the plane made an unscheduled stop in Rome to get him to a hospital.  It was several hours and tens of thousands of dollars spent by the airline; they did the right thing.

Due to that delay, we were late to Addis, and Ethiopian held our connecting flight almost an hour for us to get on.  One bag delayed out of 17 in the fast transfer and we will pick it up tomorrow a.m.

We were met by a big group of Young Life leaders who took us for a typical (YL) African pizza lunch  and to our hotel.  Thanks for your prayers for rest, unity, the love of Christ shining in us, and a great intro for the group to YLA at a school tomorrow.

~ Rick