trip to Sondu and Kisii

Tuesday we began a new adventure. Pres Taylor had several people along the way to Kisii-- about a 2 hour drive, that he wanted us to visit. One was a new member who lived far from church. Another was a returned missionary who had spent the last 10 years in a remote place. And lastly, a man had come to Nairobi saying he had a church of 50 people and they would like to be baptized into the Church. We were sent to see how they all were doing and to encourage them as seemed best. We drove past some lovely scenery on good roads to Sondu where we met Kenneth. He lived "not far" from Sondu. About 20 minutes later, we arrived at his shamba-- a prosperous looking place. Then he took us to find his father who was making bricks at another plot of land. Upon returning to the shamba he showed us the church they had built. Kenneth had gone to Nairobi, attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. loved their teachings, and came home and convinced these 50 people to follow those teachings.

The church was clean and neat. Made of mud and plastered with mud it was quite attractive.

Kenneth and his father showed us around. Then we sat in the father's office and taught about the restoration and gave them Book of Mormons. We also gave the conference issue of the Ensign and encouraged them to read a lesson and teach it on Sunday. We will come back and teach them more, but the church will not come to Sondu for a while. They will have to learn and wait patiently.
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We had told the new member he lived too far away for us to go to his home. Then we discovered Kenneth lived 8 km down the same road. So the new member met us at Kenneth's house. He is another 20km down the same dirt road. We will go back early enough to go to his house next time. We drove on to Kisii-- another hour -- after we got back to the main road-- to visit the returned missionary.

We met him at the Post office... where's the post office?? Are we there yet?? Hello? We've passed this landmark and that. "Just keep coming." And what does he look like? The one waving wildly in front of the post office. He was so happy to see us. They all were. Not that we are that great. Just that we represent that the Church cares about them and they are not forgotten.

Kisii is a busy town that has that "under construction" feeling to it. The whole day was a race. We left at 8:30, not knowing how long the drive would be. We raced from Kenneth to Kisii. Then after a brief visit and spiritual thought, we raced home to be there in time for our Institute class. Phew! We did it! It was a great day! This was a fun street scene on the way home.