Elephants and Lions and Cheetahs, Oh My!

Monday we drove to Nairobi. We swung by the mission office, then had a Sr. Couples meeting that night. Tuesday we left for the Mara. Tuesday night we were able to get on line and welcome Camden to the family, via his Mom and Dad. We are so happy for them.Elder Fox says it will take 10 blogs to tell you about the Mara... and that will just be a sampling. We had a great time. It wasn't relaxing physically, but it was great to take a break. It was SO fun to visit with the other couples and learn from their experiences. What a wonderful group of people!

We saw an amazing variety of animals. We also spent hours contemplating grassy plains. I think they must look like the plains in America did when the pioneers were crossing... sans the lions, giraffes and elephants.
you'd think animals this tall would be hard to hide, but when they are in the trees eating, they blend in very well.
Hippos are HUGE! We saw lots of hippos in groups in the water. Often it was just eyes, ears, and an occasional nose, but these were lounging in shallow water.
We were able to drive right up to lions. You can see how concerned they are about the attention. This one was more alert. Most were flat out on the ground asleep.
These cheetahs are part of the "Three Brothers" group. We were lucky to see them. We were not able to find any leopards to view. But we saw birds and bat eared foxes and mongooses, and lots of antelope of all kinds.

We left Thursday afternoon and got home happy and with a pile of laundry. Friday we did some shopping, did some things for LDS Charities, went to the office for materials and to visit with the Mission President. Tomorrow we return home to all the exciting adventures there.

You won't want to miss the next exciting adventures of our blog as we take you on an African Safari!

The complexities of Life

Some days, by the end of the day, my head hurts. I was trying to figure out why today. We started the morning with a ton of laundry to do. We brought back sheets and towels (ours plus theirs) from the Eldoret house to clean and return (theirs). We needed to do our laundry and pack for the Mara trip. We set up the video for the Conference broadcast and watched two sessions. 28 attended the sessions plus 6 missionaries.

Also, we had an infant die this week in the branch. The husband had not paid the bride price, so according to traditions, he could not see the wife’s father (both wife and father are members) until it was paid. So finding out their wishes became a bit more complex. Add to that our failure to do a good job of visiting or home teaching—no one knew where they lived or had a contact. Some wonderful branch members went the extra mile, found her, comforted her, and learned of her wishes. She would like an LDS funeral for the baby. Meanwhile, the husband went “up country” to his homeland to build a house. He didn’t have a house at the family land and the baby cannot go to anyone else’s house. Today several of our compassionate branch members informed me that the tradition is that the church doing the funeral sends members with the wife when the casket goes home to sing, read scriptures, and cheer up the bereaved. That will be Sunday with burial on Monday. They felt like about 14-20 people should go to show support, but transportation that distance is a problem… meaning many can’t afford it. What to do?

Then a sweet lady comes from Kendu Bay. She also has a house here in town. She wanted to hear prophets and apostles speak and get counsel. She’s successfully raised a number of children on her own. Many are at the university level and have been doing well. But recently she’s had a string of bad luck. The university students are ill, or can’t think, or are acting crazy. Money is not there. And rumor has it someone in the area is jealous and has said she and all her children will die. They fear the evil this woman is sending to the point that the son won’t answer a strange phone number for fear evil spirits will be sent him through the phone. Traditions of the fathers are strong even among good Christian people. And I do believe the devil is real and delights in the misery of people in any way he can get them to be miserable. We talked about the power of the Priesthood being the authority that Jesus gave to his apostles. That God’s power is always stronger than Satan’s if we strive to be faithful. She was given a blessing and felt peace. She wants us to come to Kendu Bay and bless her home and her other children. That is not possible right now. There is no food in either home, so I gave her all my potatoes, tomatoes, some onions and some beans. I hope her faith in the Lord and his power to protect will be stronger than her fear of the evil.

It is wearing to see needs beyond what I can do. I have to pause, step back and remember that this is the Lord’s church. He knows and loves these people. Trials can humble and refine and be for our good. Life is a test. The sweet, peaceful times are often the exception in a series of difficulties. And as we are faithful, we can feel peace, hope and happiness even in the midst of trials and in the life beyond.

The End of the Week

The week began with a trip to Busia. We love going there. There are great people. We had been taking Crispin back down the road about 20 km when we left church because we'd been asked by the branch president, but then others started asking for rides. It was the old "camel in the tent routine" and we really needed to be obedient, so we told them we loved them but could no longer transport them. But people are inventive and creative. There are over a dozen people in... er.. on this truck. We had several people ill and in the hospital this week so we were nurturing and visiting them. I think all the rain lowers the immune systems here. For them, this is cold. For us, the weather is very comfortable.

Thursday we went to Eldoret for zone conference. We swung out and picked up a round of Gouda-- about 6 kg of cheese. I had wanted to see this cotton Mill in Eldoret as some of the sisters were interested in quilting. I had asked around and none of the missionaries in Eldoret knew of it, but one suggested I call Pres. K. In a tender mercy of the Lord he said, "Yes, I know it. I used to work there for 10 years." So he took us there. It had downsized and now wove acrylic or monofiliment, but they had some used clothing-- skirts and sheets, that were cotton and flannel and would work fine for our purposes. So we felt that was a success.

This was a view of the sky as we took Pres. K home.
The zone conference was fantastic. A real spiritual feast. We have some fine, strong missionaries and the spirit of the Lord is blessing them and us. I wish I could bottle some of this spirit and send it home, or just carry it with me all the time. We came home on Friday night so we could set up the TV and DVD player for General Conference. We listened to two sessions today and will listen again tomorrow. Again, it was a spiritual feast. My commitments are to be fearless in the service of the Lord and to recognize the power of the priesthood more.

Before we left, Elder Fox just had to indulge in some cookies. Here is the spread on our "cooling rack."

Rainy evening in Kenya

March to May is the season of the long rains. It is not uncommon for it to rain every day, usually in the late afternoon or evening. But then there may be a couple of rain free days too. This rain is significant as the farmers cultivate and plant crops on their small shambas (farms) during February and March in anticipation of the rain. Families will plant those foods they eat: maize, beans, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins. About the time the rains stop, the plants are ready to harvest. Then the process starts over again; they are able to harvest twice a year.

Last week we had a spectacular thunderstorm blow through Kisumu. We dashed upstairs and took the above video; the noise you hear is that of the rain pelting the metal roof. This was a more vigorous storm than most and was reminiscent of Okinawan storms.

Henrietta and other events

We had a wonderful time on Thursday! The visits, the wheel chair event were very moving. As we brought the chicken home, however, we were faced with a dilemma. The branch president volunteered to show us how to prepare it for food. And I actually thought we would do that. But then, we got to thinking. Others had much more needs than we did. And then Tom went and named her.We can't keep pets according to mission rules. But here she is tied up in our patio. I'm feeding her oatmeal, rice, corn meal and vegetable scraps-- probably not a healthy diet. So something needs to be done. We need to give her away. But who needed her most?

-Today we had a baptism of Jerusa. She has such a sweet family. I love the love you can see between husband and wife and children. It seems to be unusual to see love displayed. I think this is the first time I've seen a man put his arm around his wife. Life is difficult for them, and so I asked Jerusa if she thought they could use a chicken. She assured me they could. So whether Henrietta will grow up to be a layer or become dinner, I don't know. But I feel she went to a good home.Friday we went to our friend Geoffrey's house here in town. He assured me he had a lovely shamba not far from Sabatia. In proof he had his grandchildren give me these lovely avocados. We always feel blessed when we visit him and his lovely wife and great family.You might think this is a wrap but it's actually an apron. Or it could be a skirt, or a shawl. This was my wonderful African fabric I bought a few weeks ago and it does a great job of covering all of me when I'm cooking.My African sisters are all excited about quilting. Their eyes light up and they say, "You have taught me a new thing!" So we will see. I'm looking forward to seeing their first creations. In the mean time, this is my sampler from the scraps of fabric from the dress Busia sisters are making for me. I think I will be able to pick up a treadle sewing machine when we next go to Nairobi. Then the branch sisters can use it.

Sabatia Wheel Chair ceremony

We left early Thursday to go to the ceremony. We stopped on the way to visit our Branch President's grandmother. She is just one year younger than my mother. She was warm and welcoming.Then we went on to visit Sister E. and her family. Again, they were so kind to us.
We learned how to eat sugar cane there, and she sent us on our way with bananas, sugar cane, and some delicious eggs.
When we got to Sabatia, they were still in the midst of assessing some of the recipients of the wheel chairs and tricycles. The turn-over ceremony was delayed for about 2 hours as people waited to be assessed. The group crowding around the assessment table held people of all ages-- children in the arms of their mothers, and grizzled gray haired men, bent with age.
Men came with limbs shriveled or deformed, and one man, unable to bend at all who was carried in by several friends like a plank of wood. I watched a man help his wife. She moved one foot, then he bend down and slid the other one forward. Then she moved the first foot again, and the process continued. I wondered how long he’d been doing that—how many kilometers just today? People hobbled in on sticks and crutches. Some walked on hands and feet. Some crawled.
Soon the central area filled with people practicing. Three wheeled tricycles threaded their way around. Some crashed. They giggled, pulled apart, and started over again. Family members straightened wheels and helped them move forward. Eager older brothers pushed delighted children in wheel chairs. Soon, the children graduated to propelling themselves and the drivers of the tricycles navigated their ways with ease.

The official program began with the Sabatia Support Group singing. The young women in the front row joined in and “danced” with their upper bodies as the music continued. Officials from the community—the Former Chief, the Mayor and others spoke. We had musical interludes. People from the medical community and social services spoke—mostly in Swahili or Luyah. The deputy medical officer said, “Thank you for supporting our community. We are very grateful for those who have participated in this beautiful gesture. We are very grateful.”

Edward spoke on behalf of all the recipients. “We never imagined one day we’d be granted wheelchairs and tricycles. I’m happy you have solved some of our problems. Now we can move. When you grow up, you don’t know tomorrow. But we are alive. We are very happy.We can’t express it. When you go, don’t forget us.”

Our member, Ericah, introduced the LDS contingency. She, too expressed appreciation for the help LDS charities has given to the people of Sabatia. “My heart is full. When you email your leaders, tell them we are very grateful.”

Elder Fox spoke about how many people contributed from all over the world. They were following Christ’s command to help others. He explained that LDS Charities is an arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Bro. Hesbon translated for him. Then the Branch President talked some about the church and our beliefs. We had closing songs and prayers.

Elder Fox and I were thanked on behalf of LDS Charities and given some avocados and a live chicken.

As we left, we saw the wheel chairs traveling to distant places.
And to places perhaps not as far.

New uses of words

I am so impressed with the linguistic talents of Africans. Here most people speak three languages. If I were not convinced I'm a child of God and loved by Him... I might start to feel inferior. After all. It's taken us 4 months to learn Habari yako (How are you... and I probably haven't spelled it right.) Misuri (Fine) and Asanta (thank you.)

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But even English has words that are used in a different way. Some are so useful, I've actually found myself starting to use them:

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Mobilize-- to activate, gain consensus and move forward. As in: We need to mobilize the branch to clean the building each Saturday.

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Sensitize-- to make people aware, to inform or educate. As in: We must sensitize the members on the importance of Home Teaching.

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Infestation-- to have a large population of. As in: There is a large infestation of [a certain religion his mother belongs to] in this area. I hope one day there will be a large infestation of Latter-day Saints there, too.

Employment Workshop

The Employment couple came to teach the Career Self-Reliance Workshop. It was a fantastic workshop attended by 12 people for two days from 9-4 each day. It gave specific techiques for presenting your best self whether at an interview, or if you were self-employed for your customers. It taught how to network and even as students worked at this between classes they met with some good success.
One of my favorite stories is of Solomon who had been out of work for years since the petrol station he worked at had been taken over by another company. He had attended the workshop several times, but had not applied all the skills they recommended. Finally, Sister R. told him he was not being obedient to what he knew. So he decided to practice the "30 Second Me" where you craft a 30 second statement telling what was most important about you for a potential employer. He went to a park and practiced his 30 second me for about 2 hours. Then he went to a petrol station. As he stood outside the manager's office, he got scared and left. As he walked away, he said, no. I have to be obedient and try. He practiced saying it out loud for a while, then went back. He got scared again, stopped at the pumps and practiced a few minutes more. Then he went to the manager's office. The manager said, "Didn't I see you just outside my door a little while ago?" Solomon said, "Yes, but I wasn't prepared then. Now I am."

He gave his 30 second me. And the manager invited him into his office and asked him to sit and tell him more. He was so excited about his success, he went to 20 more petrol stations. 17 of the managers invited him to come in, sit down, and talk with them and he ended up with 3 job offers.

Here is our group of happy graduates.

In the evenings we played Skippo with Elder and Sister R. and chatted far into the night. It was so fun to have another couple here to visit with.

Saturday we got up early and left about 6:30 to go to Dunga Beach and look at the lake and the birds.The night fishermen unloaded their catch, then headed off to park their boats.The day fishermen were just preparing to launch for the day.And the birds hung around to see if any of the fish or offul were available for consumption. Then we had leadership training from 10-12. We had a baptismal service that was supposed to be at 1 but ended up at 1:30. The elders were teaching the 9 men from Sondu again this weekend and they wanted to be taught again. We had a cottage meeting scheduled at 3pm. but pushed it back to 4. So we went shopping for some food for the R's return trip on Sunday and showed them a little more of the town before going to Manyatta and George and Elizabeth's house. There we showed the restoration. We visited with Joyce first and so it was about 6:30 by the time we were finished with it all. We had several people interested in learning more about the Gospel there and it was fun to answer questions. We'd decided to go out to dinner and tried a restaurant mentioned in our Kenya guide book. The food was good, the service very leisurely. We would have had time to play several rounds of Skippo before the food came. We returned home about 9:30. A long day!

Today was a good day, too. Helped a secretary learn her job. Helped with the investigator's Sunday school class, taught temple prep class and visited with a bunch of people. It was especially nice since Sister R. played the piano! It sounded so nice.

Joseph's funeral

We have been so busy, it will take several blogs to catch up. Tuesday we went to the funeral of the Branch President's uncle. He'd died in Nairobi a month after he'd joined the church of high blood pressure. We left about 8:30am with a set of missionaries and got there about 9:30-10. Someone met us by the road and showed us the way. Good thing!

One of the uncles had a lovely home and we were served "tea" there-- hot cocoa, bread and butter, and "ground nuts" or peanuts that were freshly roasted and hot, but unsalted. Then about 11or so we wandered over to the deceased's shamba where pavilions had been set up-- one for the deceased and one for the choir and speakers. The deceased's relatives sat out in the sun under umbrellas.

The first part of the program invited all the fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, children, cousins, the village chief, friends and neighbors to comment. Here, anyone of the father's generation can be called father, any uncles of the grandfather's generation are also called Grandfather, and so on. So sometimes it's hard to know who is really related to whom.

Then all the people from other churches were invited to participate by singing and we had many groups that sang. They have such lovely voices. We were told that typically if one church performed the services, other churches were excluded, so including them made them very happy.

Then came the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint portion... er... African style. While the program looked simple, indeed many people spoke. Suddenly Elder Fox and I found out that we were the next speakers! Elder Fox did a masterful job on the plan of Salvation. Oh, did I mention that all the previous talks were either in Swahili or Luyah? So we had translators. Finally about 2:30 they gathered all the priesthood holders and had them move the casket to the burial site-- about 30 feet away.
The choir sang while they were moving the casket. Then we sang in kind of a processional over to the grave site. One of the elders said the casket weighed about 400 lbs. I guess he was a big man. Some got into the grave to help lower the casket in. (There was kind of a lip on the sides part way down.) They lowered, then covered the casket with branches, then corrugated tin, then the filled in the grave. The elders--especially Elder Hays-- lent major cool points to the white guys because he actually helped out and even shoveled dirt. The relatives were very impressed white person would do that.

The choirs sang during the entire shoveling in process. Part way through, the African choirs took over. I happened to be standing near them. The songs are simple and repetitious, with a leader saying the words and the choir repeating them. So I joined in. I think they liked that, too.

When it was finally over, we went to the widow's house to offer a prayer and blessing on her house. Oh, did I mention she'd just given birth to a baby less than a week ago, and had to sit in the sun for these many hours? Then we headed back to the living Uncle's house each carrying a chair. There we were served a lovely meal of rice, ugali, chicken stew, goat stew, and cooked cabbage.
We left about 4 pm. Due to the rough roads, by about 4:40, we knew we would not make it back in time for Institute at 5pm. I've learned a wonderful thing in Kenya. I've learned to send a text to multiple recipients. So we texted everyone that we had a number for that Institute would be canceled. We arrived home about 5:30 and found a few people waiting for Institute. But they were good natured about it's cancellation.

I had hoped to put the videos in where they made sense, but i can't seem to move pictures today. So below you'll find part of the road... er... path to the uncle's house. Then one of the women singing during the covering of the grave.

The curse of a new truck...

Other, more appropriate titles for this blog might read:

1. When a blessing becomes a curse.

2. The potential to be cursed with a new shiny truck when one is obsessed with the compulsive behavior of wanting to keep your vehicle clean and shiny, always.

3. Life in Africa.

Now for the explanation. Last Saturday we drove to Busia for training. During the long rainy season, which we are currently in, (that means it rains frequently from March to May), it is impossible to keep your vehicle clean for any amount of time. By the time we arrived in Busia it resembled the Peanut cartoon character, "Pig Pen", complete with its own dust cloud. During the course of presenting the temple prepartation class to 15 very eager members, I noticed two young men outside washing the truck. How nice of them to take the initiative to do so. After our meetings, I visited with one of them, praised him for their work and paid him for their efforts.

It wasn't until today I realized just what I had paid for. They had used a mop and a bucket of water to wash the truck. The same mop they clean the dirty floors with. The effect was the same as using steel wool on the car surface! And it was such a uniform pattern over most of the surface; they really did a good job washing the truck. I didn't discover this until after I washed the truck Monday morning. So I spent a couple of hours working on removing the slightly scoured look from the truck. The picture is misleading; the truck looks shiny, but there are still minor scratches on the surfaces that will take additional waxing to completely remove.

Moral of this picture is: beauty is only skin deep. If you look close enough, you will detect the flaws.

So, was this a blessing or a curse? To us, this truck is a blessing. We could not perform the service we do without a reliable four wheel drive vehicle. We have gone places not even Captain Kirk has gone to. This is just another example of one of tender mercies of the Lord that help us to bless the lives of others. And it gave me an opportunity to work off my Monday morning frustration.

Busia Revisited

Saturday we went to Busia again. I tried to get the gorgeous scenery, but the camera can't capture what the eye sees. . We stopped to visit our R.S. president at her little shop and bought eggs and paraffin (kerosene) for our lantern.

We went up a new way that we had been told would be a better road. And it think it probably was. We still had diversions or deviations...

And we passed some interesting things. (Catherine, note this is a handcart.)

In Busia we had training and taught a temple preparation class. So many are eager to prepare to go to the Temple. It will be such a rewarding experience for them and there is so much to learn for them to qualify for the temple spiritually and to do physically-- marriage certificates, passports, shots, letters of recommendation, etc. But they are eager and willing.

We got home before dark this time and were rewarded with a magnificent sunset.

Blankets and quilting

I know that no amount of money can move Africa out of poverty. Elder Holland said the solution for poverty in Africa is paying your tithing and living the gospel. And I can clearly see that when people live honest, hardworking lives with a goal of self-sufficiency, and when they are kind and loving towards those around them and interact with others in a good moral way, blessings will come. So I am trying hard to focus on gospel living and teaching and maybe throw in a few good ideas. At least they seem like good ideas to me. This is actually Sis. Anderson's good idea. She taught the people in Chulu to make quilts. So I am offering that idea here. These are the scraps from the dress Busia Relief Society is making for me. I chose some very simple quilt patters-- pinwheel, bow-tie, 4 square-- and cut them out from the scraps. They weren't all sized the same because the scraps were different sized. But it worked out.

This was done with a ruler, kitchen scissors, iron, needle and thread... and a sore finger. (I do LOVE thimbles.)

The sisters are excited about it. They say, "I can do that." and "Yes, it can sell." We talked of making purses, carry bags, blankets and vests. Any other suggestions? I don't know if we will find batting here. I asked two people to find me thread. One came back with white thread, the other with thin yarn. That will be fine for tying the quilts.

The Udalls brought a double blessing. Someone had made some quilts and wanted them to be donated. They are small, infant quilts. But they were GREAT examples of how simple quilting can be beautiful and effective. They were strip quilts and patch quilts with a few blocks thrown in and were the wonderful symbols of love that quilts can be.

This young mama had her baby in a tuktuk on the way to the hospital. She took a chill. The baby is fine and 4 days old. Geoffrey and Christimina are presenting her with one of the blankets.

Christimina had other sick moms and children at Geoffrey's medical clinic that she handed out blankets to.

And we took a picture of them and the waiting line of patients. They had looked pretty sickly until Tom told them to smile for the photo. There were more waiting inside. Still they took time to visit with Elder and Sister Udall. He is a physician and immediately they went into their own language as they discussed diseases and treatments-- TB, cancer, typhoid, and the medications used to help. There is so much sickness here, but the people of Africa are very strong.

We so enjoyed our visit with the Udalls. It's fun to have another missionary couple to talk to. The Udalls went back to Nairobi and we spent the afternoon at Cottage meetings. At George and Elizabeth's house we had nearly a dozen. It began raining so we had to crowd into their little house. Tom and elder Lipengah stood in the door so only their back halves got soaked in the rain. It was a great meeting as we talked about service and showed "The Restoration" video on our laptop. Alas, by the time we got to the next house, our battery died and we could not show it again.

The missionaries assured us we could drive most of the way to the second Elizabeth's in Nyalenda. Well, they were mostly right. This was the better part of the road.

Elizabeth has a great family. Her husband came home as we were leaving. A good man. She had another new convert and a neighbor there to listen. I love it when we teach. The spirit is so strong. Rebecca had asked about how they tie the babies on their back. Her daughter is 13 months old and Elizabeth said they put them on their backs at about 6 months. Her daughter holds tightly to the mom as she just wraps the cloth over one of her shoulders, across the baby's back and under the baby's bottom and then around her side. The baby just snuggled right in and rested her head against the mom's back.