It is such a beautiful drive! 
It is a feast for the soul! Mackdonald was working (a good thing) but he had 10 of his friends and 12 of their children there to greet us and to listen to a lesson. Then they fed us tasty food. This is the view from Macdonald's front door.
When we left, we turned south to travel to Kendu Bay… and maybe toward Homa Bay, to see what the roads were like for the LDS Charities couple who might be traveling that way. The road was lovely… as far as Kendu Bay. Then it went to hard-packed dirt…Marrum, I think they call it. I interpreted it as macadam for a while and got confused between that and “tarmac”—their term for an asphalt road. So we learned about the roads and had a fun drive. We came across a bird in a tree-- a heron, I think.
Saturday we had a first Anniversary Activity for the branch. They are so excited to be a year old. And when you see the progress made in that year, it truly is amazing. From 34 to 130 members. From few organizations running to all of them up and mostly running. From a handful of priesthood holders to 30 or more. Timeliness still needs to be worked on. It was scheduled to begin at 10am. It actually got off the ground at 12:30, although we showed General Conference to fill in the gap. We heard how the branch got started and heard from a few of the early converts, as well as testimonies from a leader from all the auxiliaries. One was a new convert of just a month or so, and she did splendidly. We finished about 3 pm…. But lunch was not quite ready. The sisters had all pitched in in the morning to peal, chop, and cook. We had plain rice, rice pilaf, potatoes in sauce with some meat, and cooked cabbage. Then everyone pitched in and cleaned the building.Today we went to Busia.
The roads are ever-changing with repairs in some spots and new holes in others. The cumulative effect is a faster trip for us. I love the spirit of the Busia saints. They are such good people, even as they struggle with common problems. Typically as we wrap up our temple preparation class or training session, we see storm clouds tumbling in and hear the rumble of thunder. In the time of long rains, it will always bring rain. These are clouds over the Busia chapel wall.
Now, sometimes it rains and sometimes it doesn’t. As we drove home we danced with rain showers and were treated to a spectacular skyscape. I love how the stratus spreads ribbons of color across the billowing cumulus clouds. We see streaks of rain showers back lit by the orange glow of sunset. On one side the gray sheet of storms blankets the sky. On the other side brilliant clouds rise and spill over the blue sky.
It's a great place to be! We love it here. More gratituous pictures-- Walking to a Shamba.
Lake Victoria.
I can see why you love Kenya. It's beautiful. We have the same white flowers in our yard during the rainy season. What a wonderful land with trees and water and then the great people of the church. So, the meetings start two hours late. Right! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMany of these pictures look familiar because you shared them with us for our project. However, I had not seen the one on Lake Victoria-I really like that one! The narrative is so good that I am a bit embarrassed to have people read ours. These images allow those of us who have never been to Kisumu to share in the sites that you are experiencing. At the same time the narrative s=allows us to see into your hearts a bit. We are enjoying both!
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