Of birds and visits

On Thursday President Taylor—the Mission President came to visit. He interviewed the missionaries and brought packages of goodies! We got Rebecca’s book about our family which both the President and his wife read. Such cute pictures! We invited them to dinner and had Carbinara—thank you Rebecca for your recipe. It was so nice to spend time with them; they are such great people.

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Friday Tom decreed we would get up early and take pictures of all the birds around. We live in a house with 28 windows and most of them are open all the time, so what one hears outside is what one hears inside. The video clip is to let you hear what we hear each morning.

We discovered the birds are noisy, but they don’t show themselves very much. And that a zoom camera, not held totally still gives blurry pictures.

Then we had this grand idea to move the living room to the office and vice versa. The reason is, the door we use comes into the office. And the office is also the hottest room in the afternoons. So now we spend most of our time in the office which is now a few degrees cooler. We moved all the furniture out the (unused) front door, and into the office door. Why don’t we use the front door, you ask? Because it has a locked grill across it that is a pain to open.

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In the early afternoon we visited Bro. Mogere. He is a doctor and so is his wife. We visited their home and the clinic. They do much good. People come even when they can’t pay and they treat them. The compound also has baby goats, chickens and chicks, geese, turkey and chicks and a host of wild birds. This is his clinic.

On our way to Manyatta to visit Jackie, we had to stop and wait for the cows to pass. Note the hood of the truck at the bottom of the photo. Can you see they are rushing to pass? not.

At Jackie’s, we had a good lesson. She had several neighbors there. One had such a cute baby, I had to hold it. In the photo, Jackie is far left, then Joyce.

Saturday morning we had a baptism of Bro. Lueboh. He was stricken with polio at an early age and walks with crutches. We have arranged a 3-wheeled bike for him. They call them wheel chairs, but they have the pedals on the handlebars. He can bike miles with this kind of thing. We went to the resort pool to baptize him so he didn’t have to climb the ladder. Nice baptism.

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In the afternoon we went to visit a young couple who lives past the airport. We wandered down some dusty roads before finding their home. The truck turned from blue to rust colored with all the dust! Again, they had several neighbors come and learn about another testament of Jesus Christ—the Book of Mormon. How descendents from Joseph of Israel were commanded by God to travel to a new land and how prophets of these people testified that Christ would come, and after his coming in Jerusalem, testified that he was our savior.

Saturday there was one baptism. We had no water from the city for a few days, so we went to the resort and he was baptized in their pool. Fortunately there were not rowdy swimmers at that time. Sunday I spoke in Sacrament meeting.

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Monday is normally preparation day, but we decided to go to Busia instead. Tom met with the Branch President, clerk, and later a counselor. He helped them with the branch list and getting the records up to date. I worked with the relief society president discussing visiting teaching and how to get the sisters to do it. They all want the President to come and visit them. I think the tradition in Africa is the the Chief does it all. So it is a learning curve to learn that everyone helps out. And many think they can't teach if they are not a trained teacher, so again, the process is to teach that everyone is a teacher. "How did you learn to make ugali?" "From my mother." "See you are a teacher. You are teaching your children many things." It was a new concept.

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I drove most of the way home from Busia. I thought I did okay, but it was a bit stressful for Tom. I'd forgotten what it was like to be in the left seat for the first time. He'd say, "You are really close to the left side." I'd check my mirror and see a foot or two of asphalt and think, no, I'm okay. But from his side, you can't see the pavement. It seems like you are nearly off the edge and really close to the bicyclists. And there were probably times where we were really close to the cyclists. But we survived-- and I drove all the way through town, too.

Tuesday we went to see Brother John's school. I interviewed him for a story about his work. He started this preschool under an awning in a back yard. Gradually it's improved to its own lot and metal building made of scrap materials. They have benches, dirt floor, and posters made from recycled potato bags. But they are well designed and the children are happy.

The children in this school are from ages 3-6. They are trying to expand the school into two rooms. They also want a "loo" or latrine (currently they need to borrow a neighbors or use the woods) and they want a fence around the school to keep the kids in and the tuktuks (3 wheel cars) out. Money is always a problem. These children are the poorest of the poor-- orphans, abandoned, single parent. But they are learning and are graduating to go to regular school.

The truck continues to fascinate. Most places don't have mirrors and so the reflection of themselves is fascinating! Whenever we get back into the truck, Tom has to adjust the mirrors. The one little girl is cleaning the dust off the window.

After visiting John's school we went to see Evelyn, an investigator. I shared my conversion story. I told her I was raised Presbyterian and really wasn't looking for a new religion. But when the missionaries came, they talked about the prophets God sent in the Old Testament to teach, warn, and share God's word with His children. Do we still need the Lord's guidance? Yes. Does he love us less than he loved his children in the Old Testament? No. Then doesn't it make sense he would send prophets again to teach, warn and guide? Yes it did. But it was new and strange doctrine.

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But when I was younger, I'd told myself if I had lived in Jesus time, I would have listened. I wouldn't have been like the Pharisees and Sadducee's who were so concerned with tradition and what they thought a Messiah would be like that they missed the spirit whispering the truth. So I couldn't just dismiss this strange idea out of hand. The missionaries had a way for me to find out for myself if this was true. The Book of Mormon, they said, was translated by Joseph Smith. If I read it, and prayed about it, and the Lord said it was God's word-- then Joseph Smith must be a prophet of God, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must be Christ's church restored, once again, back on the earth. So I took their challenge-- read, and prayed-- and the Holy Spirit confirmed it was true. I've followed that truth and it has been a tremendous blessing in my life. I am a much better person for the teachings I've learned. I know it is true.

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Evelyn is a neat lady. She's spiritual. And she needs to find out for herself, too. It was fun visiting her. We came home and prepared to teach Institute that night. We have about 12 students and they are eager to learn.

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Wednesday we had district meeting. Tom spent much of the afternoon updating records. I worked on getting Seminary enrollment going. We celebrated the evening by watching a DVD movie and eating popcorn.

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Thursday Tom worked on an audit for the branch. My cleaning lady was supposed to come on Wednesday, but she was sick and so I AAKKK had to clean the house myself. I might have waited, but the winds blow the dust in... and President Taylor and his wife (Mission President) were coming to visit. He did interviews, and she and I had a great visit. We fed them Carbinara-- Thank you Rebecca for a great recipe-- and had wonderful conversation. Now it's late. So I will go to bed.

Why I enjoy driving to Nairobi

On Monday morning we received a phone call informing us that 'our' blue truck was out of the shop and was ready for us to pick up. Good news since the loaner we were using was past due for an oil change. We left Kisumu about 7am with one of the missionaries joining us; he was being transferred to Nairobi and a trip with me driving is still a lot better than a ride in the local bus!

Let me share with you some of the reasons I enjoy, or perhaps don't enjoy, the drive to and from Nairobi. Here is one of the reasons I enjoy the trip: the beautiful scenery. We climb low mountain ranges that provide vistas of awe as we look out over the lush green vegetation and then dip down into fertile valleys.

This view is one of my favorites; last month there wasn't any water to reflect the mountains on the horizon. Another favorable reason: the wildlife. We spotted this bird 5o feet from the roadside and stopped to get his picture. A good zoom lens really helps. We actually saw two of these guys, which we have concluded is a Southern Ground Hornbill (for you avowed bird watchers, please feel free to verify our findings).

Then there are the Flat-top Acacia trees that dot the countryside here. You would think that someone had sculpted them this way, but that's how they grow.

Then there is the early morning Nairobi traffic. At 730am we had the pleasure of waiting 10 minutes to get through one of the traffic circles. You will notice that most of the cars are going into town and not the way I am heading!

Look closely, those are actually ruts in the road! There is a climb here and the trucks (22 wheelers), which are really loaded heavily, dig into the pavement and push, or squish, the asphalt to the sides, thus creating these monster ruts. Something to avoid if you are a mere 4 wheeler.These are the scenes that make a six hour road trip worth the drive, especially when they are within 20 feet of the edge of the road, as these zebras were. Didn't even have to zoom the camera for these shots!

I just love the strips!

I don't have a picture for the next favorable reason, but I am sure you can appreciate having hot water come out of the left water tap; the missionary apartments have those conveniences though, and they even have good water pressure! (no, I am not whining, just expressing appeciation for some of the finer things in life). I love the chance to visit with the other senior missionary couples. They have rich experiences, are doing powerful work, and are just fun to be around.

On our way to Nairobi about four weeks ago, the road only had two very short 'diversions', what we would call 'detours'. We were looking forward to good roads all the way; our hopes met with a rather dusty reality. There was about 20 plus kilometers of diversions, all on dirt roads. It appears that when they work on the roads, they bulldoze a space along side (or close to) the main road and direct all traffic there while they work on the road. The next picture shows just how dusty the road was.

The video clip below affords a better example of the condition of the diversion road. Sandy is holding the camera as still as possible; any bouncing is not because she has the hicups, rather it is due to the road surface. If you are prone to car sickness, grap a plastic bag before watching. By the way, this is a two lane road, with traffic going both directions.

To end on a more positive note, here are a couple of shots of a tree lined mountain top with the beautiful sky as a back drop.

It is a beautiful drive; the six hours it take to drive the 350 kilometers are rewarding to us in many ways. God's creations are so very evident to us here. And, we have learned to live with the road conditions; they are just speed bumps in the road of life. And the trip always makes Sandy grateful for flush toilets...with seats!

What we are doing

Sundays are busy days for us. We have a ward council meeting at 9am. Church starts at 10 am (from 10-1) and I usually play at the piano for sacrament meeting—the first of the three meetings. Elder Fox spoke this Sunday. Sunday school (the second hour) was well taught with good discussion. (I think Tom was training someone at that time.) During Relief Society time (third hour), I took a few minutes to talk to the mothers about having their children go to the bathroom before Sacrament, and before going to Primary so they could sit quietly at those times, and also teaching them to respect the building by not throwing trash around or putting dirty fingerprints on the walls.

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We spoke to two people who know people who need wheelchairs. These typically are three wheeled bikes with the pedals on the handlebars. One man has 16 friends who need them. Another has several friends in need of such wheelchairs. LDS Charities provides wheelchairs, and so if they will go through the proper evaluations, they can get a wheelchair provided at no cost. We are assisting that process.

Then I went to Young Women’s class to talk about the seminary program. This home-school program helps youth learn more about the gospel and the teachings of Jesus Christ. Its goal is to deepen their faith and help them to stay strong in an increasingly immoral world. This is a totally new program for them. So we explained how it worked, encouraged them to enroll, and answered questions. So we will see how it goes.

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After church, I met with the primary presidency and we talked about the organization of primary, the new sharing time program, the primary sacrament program. How to divide the 30 children who are attending so they are not all in the same class for 90 minutes, how to use their small budget wisely, how to teach those who don’t know English as they teach about the gospel, and so on. They are good women. Two of them have been part of the church for less than a year. They’ve never seen the primary program, but then they were called to be in charge of it. And they are doing amazingly well. They are learning the songs along with the children.

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Olga is one of these sisters. Tom took the computer to the group afterwards, and showed the videos from Olga’s school. I told her she had international recognition. I had a friend in Israel and some in the USA comment on the blog, so that’s international recognition!

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Tom had a meeting that took him until nearly 6 pm. So it was a long day.

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I begin to think we have the Garden of Eden here. Mangos grow on 4-5 trees, and the primary children have so enjoyed knocking them down and eating them. The older children will pick for the younger ones. They have been eating them green. Then they ripened, and at last they were done. Now, another tree has young guavas on it! And another two trees are pomegranate trees. And we just learned the big tree by the carport is an avocado tree. All this freely given from a loving Heavenly Father. We may not get many of them, but they delight the children! We got a trash can for them to throw the pits into. Now we see a drawback. You put fruit, water, heat together and WOW! Does it smell fermented! Hmmm. Not the ideal smell for a church grounds.

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Today a young man wandered in and we taught him a lesson. A sister came to visit and talk about microloans. We went to Manyatta Slums to teach at Brother D’s house. We visited with his wife and his neighbor Moses. We taught about the purpose of life- Why are we here on earth? What does God expect of us? Fred was also there and insisted we come back to his house for a meal of indigenous food: beans, maize, potatoes in a tasty sauce. I think Tom had 3 helpings! He has also developed soya powder that we used in place of cocoa in the hot milk. Then we took pictures of him and his goats for our goat friend. Speaking of hot, yesterday was 103 in the shade. Today is not so warm, but still, as we sit and visit with people, I can feel the sweat trickle down. So far, the deodorant’s still working!

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When we returned to the Church, Tom started the audit for the branch, I prepped for the Institute class, and then we taught Institute from 5-6:30. Our lesson was on the vision of the tree of Life. Came back had frijitas for dinner, and now are preparing to depart at 7am for Nairobi. I made flour tortillas yesterday. I tried making corn tortillas as well. Corn meal won’t work. Corn flour with soy doesn’t work well. I may have to have someone bring Masa Harina when they come. The poor flat pathetic rounds of corn stuff I created may or may not work for Mexican Chicken Casserole, but they definitely won’t work for real eating. Oh wait. We no one sells canned creamed soups. I wonder how a Knoxx dried soup would taste.

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Someone asked for the tortilla recipe. Here it is:

3 cups flour

6 tbsp butter

1cup warm water

1tsp baking pdr.

1 ½ tsp salt

Mix the dry ingredients. Melt the butter in the water. Pour liquids into the dry ingredients and stir. It should not be sticky (too much water) or crumbly (too little water), Separate into 12-16 balls depending on the size you want the tortillas. Let them rest for 10 minutes. Flatten and roll them out. I used a plaid dish towel to roll them out on. When I could see the plaid through them, they were thin enough. Cook in medium skillet, not oiled, just dry. The recipe says 15-25 seconds. I say, no way. It took several minutes on each side. You want to see it bubble and to get some browned spots on it. When you squeeze it with a grabber to flip it, you don’t want that spot to look doughy. Mine might be too thin or over cooked. But they were mighty tasty!

Friday we drove to Sabatia to visit Erica. We toured the eye hospital, a very modern private hospital and the regional clinic, a struggling public facility. The people are wonderful and helpful, but they lack drugs and medical equipment to help people. Erica assists with several support groups from this clinic.

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Today the HIV and AIDS support group met at the Salvation Army compound down the street. A charitable organization had donated two heifers to the group. The goal is the group will assist the person raising the heifer. The milk sold will be income for the group and gradually, as offspring are produced, each one in the group will have their own cow.

They had skits, singing, group participation, and talks from dignitaries-- about half in English, half in Luhya. They were very pleased we were there. And probably more was in English than otherwise, as some of the women only speak Luhya. I got the feeling our attendance added to the importance to the ceremony. It was really fun to be there! The skit was in Luyha, but entertaining none-the-less as Erica translated some of it—a drunken husband, wives letting other men move in, husbands taking other women—all ways to spread AIDS and all resoundly condemned. Some of the speakers touched on the difficulty of widows finding school fees for their children and the need to combine outside support.

Occasionally there would be a kind of line dancing where the group members would get up, dance down the aisles, and gather in the front. One of the songs Erica translated as: Be sure to take your AIDs drugs every day. The goal is to teach people AIDs is not a death sentence. The theme is to “Live Positively” taking the stigma of testing positively, and turning it to mean living with joy and confidence. Attitude makes a big difference. Proper nutrition, reducing stress, drugs, all these can help a person live in good health for years.

For some reason a rooster was given to the dignitary… a thank you for coming? A thank you for the cows? I don’t know. But it was interesting having the occasional “cluck” during the ceremonies. Afterwards, they went out to receive the cows. The cows got quite excited about it as this group of 30-50 mostly women converged toward them singing, playing drums, and holding out a wreath and scarf to decorate the new gifts. Note the decorated cow's backside in the photo.

After, we gave Erica some church books for her to use when she can’t afford to travel to Kisumu. We took a different road home and didn’t get lost! This “short cut” was a pretty good road, but connected us back to the main road about the time the pot-holes began.

Muzungus at Olga's School

I am still trying to understand and deal with this Muzungu thing-- being white. Many organizations come to Africa and give items: schools, funds, etc. So in Africa believe white people are rich and either want to give them money or should give them money, or it's okay to charge more because they have money. This is a bit difficult as some believe the Church is a Muzungu Church and therefore full of money to give away.
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This is not true. The Gospel of Jesus Christ teaches Faith and Repentance or turning from wrong doing. It teaches integrity, work ethic, honesty, obedience to the commandments, living with joy, loving others, service, provident living-- living within your means, budgeting, being resourceful. If these principles are followed, a better quality of life will ensue. But handing out money leads to sloth, laziness, and an entitlement attitude which are wrong. So we have to be careful of people who want to join the church in the belief that they will get stuff.
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Muzungus are also treated with a great deal of respect, even deference. Doors are opened, things carried, there is just a feeling that these are special people. Of course we are not special people and I sometimes ask myself, am I humble enough? Am I letting other people's attitudes toward me determine who I am? At times I feel like I am very much like all the people around me. Our hearts are the same. But clearly we are not similar looking.
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This respect for Muzungus also carries responsibility. When we go someplace, it adds value to that place. When we visit someone at work, it gives them credibility and added respect. And sometimes when we go to visit someone, I wonder if we are not paraded around like a prize cow. We were not thinking of that when we decided to visit Olga's school. She just started it and we'd been hearing how it was going. The landlord promised to plaster the walls, cement the floor, put in doors and windows... but at this point, school was starting in what they had.
So we went to see her and the children. They are so cute! And Olga is such a good teacher. She loves the children. These are children from the slums. They will get school uniforms, but the parents must manage to buy them. below is a video of Olga and the children doing "Rain, rain go away." And I think "Twinkle Twinkle little star." The children did not know English when they started school a week and a half ago.

I love how Sister Olga rewards the children with this rhyme about what a good child they are. Notice the dancing of the little girl as they are telling her what a good job she did writing her "c"s on the blackboard. "Thank you. Thank you. A very good girl..." Notice how all the children join in to thank her. Also. The last things she says is "Sound" and the sound of the letter C.

I did the song "Head Shoulders, Knees and Toes" with the children. The man at the booth next to the school came to watch me. He said, "Many more children will come to the school tomorrow!" because a muzungu was there.

Cookies, Missionary Style

Today was the day I resolved to make cookies; not just any mind you. Eleanor's Cookies; I am not sure she would have approved of some of the techniques I used, but when it comes to chocolate chip cookie withdrawal, you do what ever it takes. You will note that the dishpan did double duty as the mixing bowl. And no bosch or kitchen aide mixer for us, we stir by hand. I made the ultimate sacrifice in making these cookies; of the seven bags of chips we brought, I gave one away as a Christmas gift and used one for today's feature. We only have one wire rack in the oven, which is too small to accommodate a real size cookie sheet; so we only have a little cookie sheet to put on that one rack. We do, however, have a slide in solid tray, seen below that was used to cook the cookies on as well. Take careful notice of the bright colored 'cooling racks' (bath towel). Every kitchen needs one of these!

Let there be no doubt, the cookies turned out great! Even the missionaries said so! And, yes, Rebecca, the dough tasted heavenly too.

[Sandy Speaking] I had been craving Mexican food and so last night I made flour tortillas. This time they turned out excellent. I used a plaid dish towel to roll them out on. When I could see the plaid through the dough, they were thin enough. And we had burritos and they were tasty. And today I made salsa and tonight tacos. Mmmm. I feel like home with tacos and chocolate chip cookies!

Tender Mercies of the Lord

“I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen…” (1 Nephi 1:20)

I have found some amazing blessings as I’ve served this mission. Tiny miracles. Tender Mercies of the Lord. These tender mercies don’t make a life of ease, but they ease the life I have.

Elder David A. Bednar and apostle of the Lord says, “The Lord’s tender mercies are the very personal and individualized blessings, strength, protection, assurances, guidance, loving-kindness, consolation, support and spiritual gifts which we receive from and because of and through the Lord Jesus Christ…. …they are real. They do not occur randomly or merely by coincidence.”

I was thinking this morning of three ways I have been blessed. They are simple and may seem small, but they have immeasurably helped me serve more cheerfully here in Africa.

I could never sleep when it was too light. I needed it to be dark or I needed a sleep mask. But here there are many security lights that keep things brighter. And a sleep mask makes for a sweaty face. I realized I can now sleep in the sort-of-dark. Even if I wake in the night and it’s not dark, I can go back to sleep. I am SO grateful for that good sleep.

I have a VERY sensitive nose. I can walk by minutes after someone lit a match and smell it. And bad smells bother me. Here in Africa people are amazingly clean considering the conditions they live in. Their clothing is well groomed, their person clean. However, it’s hot; people work hard. And they sweat. And when you get a lot of people in one place or in an enclosed place, it’s clear they are a hard working people. And sometimes at latrines and other places there are smells of urine or dung and with the animals, barnyard smells. But I find it does not bother me. I think, what hard working people. And sometimes, after a day being out and about, my deodorant has worn off. And I think, no problem, no one will notice one more smell.

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My feet have high arches, and I have had to wear shoes with supports for years. If I don’t, my feet ache. But here, I often wear sandals. And the ones I got just before I left on the mission were closed toe, as needed to comply with missionary standards, but they didn’t have arch support. Nevertheless, my feet have not bothered me at all.

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I know the Lord has blessed me with these and many other Tender Mercies. And I am so grateful. My challenge to you is for you to look for places in your life when the Lord has showed you His Tender Mercies. And be grateful.

Busia Trip

There are some days that are just amazing. We left Kusumu yesterday during heavy rains. We thought the trip to Busia would be difficult, but the rain trailed off and the roads were not bad. Tom met with the Branch President to help train him. He said, “The church has got to be true. Where else could you start a church with lay leadership hundreds of km away from the center of strength, without needed materials—and still, it flourishes?” This branch leadership is so humble and teachable.

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The primary president said, “I’ve never been in primary (for 3-11 year olds). I never taught in primary, and now I am in charge of it.” We talked about the sharing time program and how she can use it in Busia. Here the children don’t all know English, so part of her job is to help them learn it as they learn gospel principles. And they are all new in church, so Primary also gets to help them learn proper church behavior. And her one counselors has been a member 3 months. And you know what? They will do fine!

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While we waited for leadership meeting to start, the Relief Society president took me into Busia to do some shopping. We rode on the backs of bolabola's -- bicycles with a padded seat behind the bike seat-- into town. it was about 3 km, but seemed pretty long. I saw into Uganda. We shopped at an open air market. Then as it started raining, we walked a bit, and then took the bikes back to the church. It was 20 shillings each way or about 30 cents. These guys worked hard for their money—pedaling, avoiding the traffic, knowing when to use the road and when to use the shoulder and avoiding bumps and such. I straddled the back seat. Most women ride “side-saddle” as it’s too “manish” to ride astride. However, I was afraid I’d lose my balance side saddle and opted for less dignity, more safety. And after all, I’m a muzungu and they are weird anyway.

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After the afternoon training where we talked of temples, faithfulness, budgets and calendaring, we went to the Farmview Hotel for the night. It’s like a cross between the Ritz and Motel 6. We got wonderful personalized service from Mr. Salim. He greeted us, ushered us to our room, showed us around and personally served us dinner. He’d been trained in tourism in Nairobi and was very cordial and precise. Our dinner was leisurely and served in courses. It might have been a bit more leisurely because the power went off part way through. But we were outside in a private cabana and they quickly brought lanterns. So we watched the geckos hunt moths as we waited. The room is modest and the bath small, but all is clean. For one of the first times we watched TV and discovered that, like the United States, we really aren’t missing much. We had asked about these huge bumpy fruits hanging on a tree. Mr. Salim gave us one that would be "ripe in a few days." It weighs like 12 pounds! When I went to take the picture, the guard wanted to be in it.

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Tomorrow Tom will audit the branch records and we will go to church. I don’t know, we may be speaking. But we will head home tomorrow night. It is nice to be appreciated and the branch members here are so grateful for the information and support we give.

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Sunday eve: We didn't get asked to speak, but I mentally prepared a lesson anyway. Good service. I interviewed Robai before church and Barbara from Uganda after church to learn their conversion stories. Just amazing. Opposition, falsehoods about the church-- but the spirit said, "learn more" and they did. Barbara had been out of work for 3 years, and was terrified of getting up in front of people. After she started listening to the missionaries and got a blessing, she got a job. After she joined the church she was called to be a teacher and through prayer, overcame her fear of being in front of people to the extent she went back to the university, got a teaching degree, and immediately got a job teaching (a rarity here.) It's always powerful to hear how people's lives change for the better when they come unto Christ and live His commandments.

Cottage Meetings and Power

Elder Fox loves to take pictures of the animal crossings in the road. This was on the road from El Doret.

Also, while the roads are improving here, you can see why we are grateful to have a truck.Wednesday we went to Nyalenda to have a Cottage meeting. We had about 12 people there with 5or so investigators. The people are so nice; it’s always a joy to be with them. We spoke on obedience and tithing. The missionaries gave a lesson to some of the women afterwards.

When we got home Wednesday night, we had no power. It had actually gone off in the afternoon. We checked to see if the neighbors had power. They did… and the guards said someone had turned off our power. So Elder Clark called. Indeed, they had turned it off for non-payment of the bill. The Nairobi office is supposed to pay the bill. However the guard next door had given our guard a bill a few days ago. But due to the different way of writing the dates: 07/12/09—we thought it was an old bill from July. Especially since it had the landlord’s name on it. Alas, it was a Dec. 7^th bill. And it was now 6pm. Too late to do anything about it. So we had a candle light dinner of grill cheese sandwiches and carrot salad and played 5 Crowns till bedtime.

First thing, we needed to go to the power company, but first thing, Tom needed to talk to someone else… and get some receipts from someone else… and be back at the church to meet with the Branch President and someone else…. So at 10:30, when the missionaries were going out to do service, I asked if they could serve me and go and pay this bill. They did, plus the reconnect fee. They called about 11:30. In addition to the reconnect fee, we needed to pay another 4750 shillings (over $50) for deposit before they’d turn it back on. We checked with Nairobi. Could they pay it? Yes, but it would take a few days before Kisumu knew it was paid. So we went to the power company (learned where it was first.) and stood in line and paid the bill, then sat in line to have it reconnected. They promised it would be connected before the end of the day.

That afternoon we went to Manyatta to have a cottage meeting. This was the first time we’d been to Joyce’s house. She’s a widow who supports her family making charcoal balls out of charcoal dust and clay. She sells a basket full for 50 shillings. That will last a person about 3 days of fuel. There we had over 15 people, again, some not yet members. Some of the neighbors don’t speak much English, so it’s hard to know what they understood. We spoke on following the prophets and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Afterwards, Fred wanted to show us his house, so we walked a little bit to his house. We saw his goats which he wants to raise for milk. The problem is he needs a better grade of goat; the local ones hardly produce more than the kid will drink.

This is Fred and his daughter, friends and grandchildren.

Here is Elder Fox visiting with members with the goats in the background.

We took some pictures. When Elder Bywater showed the pictures to the little children, they all crowded around to see. Good thing the camera was on a string. Each wanted to grab it and look. Finally, this little 3 year old, pushed the other kids away and handed the camera back to Elder Bywater. It was so cute to see!

Elder Bywater is the only blond head in the group. These are two new converts-- teenagers. Don't they have great smiles?

***

We got home after 6pm. Still no power. We’d missed a call from the connect man. We called him back. Where do you live? I’ll come soon. I’m cooking hamburger stroganoff with the now-thawed hamburger meat by candlelight. I decide the sour cream has gone bad… and I’m having a really hard time counting my blessings and feeling happy about all this. Finally, after dark, after dinner is cooked and ready to eat, after about 6 phone calls about where we are located and Elder Fox standing out waiting for them-- they arrive, find the meter, and turn the power back on.

We find a flurry of emails similar (but not as bad) as the voice mails we got back in 1998 when we returned from the Temple: “Trailer #8 is on fire!” “Come quick! Your trailer’s on fire!!” “Hurry, we think it may start another trailer on fire!” “The fire department is here. It’s bad!” “They’re getting it under control.” “Well, come out when you can. The fire’s out.” Maybe it was a good thing we were out of contact. By the time we were back in contact, the 6-10 emails had gone from “AKK, tenant problem!” to “Okay, it’s pretty much resolved.”

Sort of routine

I cannot figure out why I can't make paragrahs. If anyone can clue me in, I'd appreciate it.

***

I think things have settled into a little bit of a routine. There is not much exciting that’s fit to print. Many people go “up country” for the “festival season” so there have been fewer people at church. There have been festivities here. We know because we hear the music all night long. But now the children are back in school, and life is getting more routine. We are trying to set up a schedule—days we travel to Busia, days we do cottage meetings, district meetings, days to teach skills to the Relief Society, young women and primary presidencies. Many things need to be done on Sunday when we are all gathered. I was able to meet at least briefly with all of them.

***

One of our members is in the process of starting a pre-school. Our friend Morrice has been helping her and we have been active cheerleaders. What a project. Getting a building, getting it fixed up, getting chairs, tables, blackboards, advertising, deciding on school uniforms. There are no pre-schools in this area and people have asked for one. Now to see if the parents want it enough to pay the monthly tuition. I hope she succeeds! I hope she budgets carefully enough to make it successful not only for her but for others she might employ.

***

Tuesday we began our first Institute Class. It is on the Book of Mormon. I was impressed again with the power and importance of the book. It was the foundation of the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It testifies the Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world. There is such an awesome promise in the Book of Mormon. It says that if you will read it and then pray about it with real intent and with the promise that you will act on the answer you get, that God will tell you the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.

***

And when you come to know the Book of Mormon is the inspired word of God, then you also know that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith is was called by Jesus to be a Prophet in these last days, and that the Church of Jesus Christ is once again restored to the earth. This is the same Church Jesus established when he was on the earth—but since now is the “Latter-days” or the days shortly before the second coming, it’s called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It’s so cool that there is hard evidence of these truths. You don’t have to take anyone’s word for it. You can read, and pray and learn for yourself.

Rain

We have had a tremendous amount of rain the past few days. It hides the potholes and you aren't sure how deep they are. It also keeps car-washers employed. We went to El Doret and the sister missionaries there gave me these lovely flowers to bring home. I LOVE them! On our way to El Doret we visited Sister E. She lives quite far out on the land that belongs to her and her husband's family. She's surrounded by sister and brother-in-laws. She met us at the Eye Hospital in Sopatia then we followed her the 2+ km to her shamba. She hired a motorcycle to take her home as mission rules prohibit us from giving people rides. She's the blue blouse just beyond the tea pickers. I was a little concerned the track might narrow too much, but we made it.

Sister E. showed us her projects--100' hand-dug well, talipia pond, chicken shed, zero grazing milk cows, bee hives. you can barely see the fish pond behind the father-in-law. The "grandees" or grandchildren are in front along with some orphans. She has an orphans group she cares for. When you take a picture, everyone wants in. I am next to sister E.

Elder Fox and Elder Lipingah are with sister E. and a great aunt (I think). She doesn't know how old she is and is blind and can't walk. Sister E. usually brings her food at night. She was happy to shake the hand of a muzingo.

We went to zone conference in El Doret. It's always a great spiritual experience. I was thinking about the atonement of Jesus Christ. In Alma 7:11-12 it tells how he took not only our sins, but also our pains and afflictions and temptations, so that he would know best how to help us through this life. Imagine him taking, one-by-one, all that suffering. And there is so much suffering here in Africa. He is God. He could prevent much of it-- kill a tyrant here, mitigate an earthquake there. It would have alleviated His suffering, too. But he did not. Therefore, we can be absolutely sure that as it stated in Doctrine and Covenants 122:7 "...all these things shall give thee experience and shall be for thy good." Perhaps our questions shouldn't be "why me?" but "How can this experience bring me closer to the Lord?"

It rained most of the time we were in El Doret... and we left our umbrella in Kisumu. On the way back from El Doret we saw two of these amazing Gray Crowned Crane.

We came back from El Doret for a baptism, but it was pouring rain and the font is outside, so it was postponed.