Cottage Meeting:
Wednesday afternoon we had a cottage meeting at Michael's and Josephine's house. Again we had about 10 people, a few investigators, and many good members. We talked about the importance of families. Michael and Josephine are on the far left.
The Birthday Party:
The Birthday Party: Erica had invited us up to her place to celebrate the 70th birthday of her friend Beatrice. Actually, Beatrice invited us herself. She is a delightful, outgoing (sapphire personality) widow--
and I think half the town of Sabatia was there to celebrate. While we made some new friends, it's always interesting to be sitting there with conversation swirling about in a foreign language. It gives time for contemplation, for debates on ways to start a conversation, and for considering the myriad of ways to tie a head scarf. The tradition to show love is to drape the person with flowers. Erica is the one hugging her. (Note the three varieties of head scarfs.)
Here is Beatrice and her two daughters.
While presents weren't expected, we picked up a few small boxes of biscuits (cookies) and candies. While at the store we also bought dates and a spatula. Why a spatula you ask? We'd taken our frying pan and spatula to Eldoret so we could make French Toast for the missionaries for breakfast. The pan came home, but, alas, the spatula did not. Did you know you could use a rubber scraping spatula to flip an egg? So, we bought a lovely spatula to replace the misplaced one. When we arrived at the gathering, Tom asked, "Did you take things out of the bag?" Yes, I made sure I'd removed the dates. That night, Tom asked about the spatula. Ah... er... you mean, THAT spatula? The one that was now a gift to Beatrice? We laughed!! I don't think they use spatulas. We imagined her turning it over and over wondering what on earth it was, and why we decided that would be a good present for her. Maybe she'll use it for transplanting seedlings. In the mean time, it's back to a rubber scraper for egg turning.
The Baptism:
and I think half the town of Sabatia was there to celebrate. While we made some new friends, it's always interesting to be sitting there with conversation swirling about in a foreign language. It gives time for contemplation, for debates on ways to start a conversation, and for considering the myriad of ways to tie a head scarf. The tradition to show love is to drape the person with flowers. Erica is the one hugging her. (Note the three varieties of head scarfs.)Here is Beatrice and her two daughters.While presents weren't expected, we picked up a few small boxes of biscuits (cookies) and candies. While at the store we also bought dates and a spatula. Why a spatula you ask? We'd taken our frying pan and spatula to Eldoret so we could make French Toast for the missionaries for breakfast. The pan came home, but, alas, the spatula did not. Did you know you could use a rubber scraping spatula to flip an egg? So, we bought a lovely spatula to replace the misplaced one. When we arrived at the gathering, Tom asked, "Did you take things out of the bag?" Yes, I made sure I'd removed the dates. That night, Tom asked about the spatula. Ah... er... you mean, THAT spatula? The one that was now a gift to Beatrice? We laughed!! I don't think they use spatulas. We imagined her turning it over and over wondering what on earth it was, and why we decided that would be a good present for her. Maybe she'll use it for transplanting seedlings. In the mean time, it's back to a rubber scraper for egg turning.The Baptism:
Saturday morning began with a baptism. Caroline and Margaret are fantastic people. We'd met Caroline at the East Africa Courier Service when we were collecting a package months ago. She asked about the church and later invited us to her home. She is a dynamic woman who is pretty much single handedly supporting her whole family... and some friends. We were so pleased when she found peace through the gospel. She shared it with her sister Margaret, and a cousin by the same name. We had to walk to the Milimani resort. Caroline is on the right, Margaret on the left, and then Elizabeth and baby, and Gloria, an investigator.
The water looks lovely, but they claim it was cold. Margaret was afraid of the water and had a hard time relaxing and going all the way under. Must have taken over 5 tries. But she had courage and persisted. I was impressed with her.
The ones in back are the missionaries and the dad who baptized his son. Those being baptized are in front. It was so fun to see their delight in being baptized!
The water looks lovely, but they claim it was cold. Margaret was afraid of the water and had a hard time relaxing and going all the way under. Must have taken over 5 tries. But she had courage and persisted. I was impressed with her.
The ones in back are the missionaries and the dad who baptized his son. Those being baptized are in front. It was so fun to see their delight in being baptized!Girls Camp:
Saturday was also Kisumu's first Girls Camp. It was a fun day for the girls. The goals were to have a spiritual experience, teach a craft, learn a skill, and serve others. That's a lot to pack into one day, but they managed. The girls learned some cooking skills. It began with chickens... live ones.
They learned to kill it, de-feather it, clean out the innards, cut it up, and cook it. They also chopped vegetables for a stew, learned to make the dough, then roll out, oil, and cook chapates, and they made ugali. They asked me to make salad. The girls had cut up cabbage, onions, and tomatoes and shredded cabbage, so my part was easy. I called Marcelus to check with him about dressings on typical African salads. I had assumed correctly: oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar. So we had one salad of carrots, onions, and cabbage and one of tomatoes and onions. I was surprised when I asked the girls what they liked best about the day, some mentioned the salad!
While the lunch was cooking, the girls made necklaces of gold beads to hang their Young Women pendant on. They turned out very lovely! It began as an economic thing-- the gold chains were quite expensive. But the beads turned out much prettier and more distinctive than the chains. Here are some of the Young Women and their leaders modeling their necklaces.
When lunch was ready they served those who cleaned the church, the small children and anyone else who was hanging around. One of the girls said that was the most fun part of the day. Serving others.
They played a little volleyball and football (soccer) and then they listened to the most recent Young Women's Broadcast. They left for home about 6 pm. By then, I was pretty bushed myself.
The Agony:
I think that some stresses are like stones. You can ignore one or two, but gradually the weight becomes stressful.
1. Our water pressure has been so low it took most of the week to fill our tank. We had to have the baptism at the Milimani Resort as we didn't have enough water to fill the font. Still, we do have water.
2. And we do have electricity--- varying, off and on-- but usually enough to power the lights. The fluctuating voltage keeps kicking off the surge protectors for the refrigerator and for the computer/Internet/printer. They will cycle on and off maybe 20 times in an hour... maybe only 4. Sometimes the florescent lights flicker and won't come on... or blink off. The fan changes speeds all night long as the power increases or decreases. Right now the microwave isn't working. I hope once the power stabilizes it will work.
3. The fluctuating power means that when you go to print something out, the printer might turn off. Or you go to check something online, and you have no on-line. It connects and you say, YES! Then a minute... or 30 seconds later... ah, no. It does make it nice having a treadle sewing machine. It doesn't matter if the electricity is on or off. So, one sorts of grins and bears these things.
4. The things that raise my stress level are the spiritual things or the lack there of. I know this mission is to help me bridle my passions. In Alma 38:12 it says "Bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love." I know if I can overcome frustration, I will be able to love better. Two examples:
Last Leadership, Tom was going to really reward people for getting there on time. He baked banana bread and was going to hand it out to those who came on time. We even moved the time back to 10:30 to give people extra time to get here. There was a baptism and the missionaries scheduled it for 9am. 9am came and went. 9:30 and some of the baptismal candidates were still "just coming." One if the people was the daughter of two parents in leadership positions. 10am came and went. I think the baptism started about 10:30. On the plus side, there was better attendance at the baptism since those coming to the leadership meeting joined the baptism. On the minus side, leadership actually started about 11:30.
Yesterday, the Girls Camp was to begin at 9am. At 9am, not a single person was here. By 9:30 some of the baptismal candidates had arrived and the missionaries. Still, no girls. No Young Women leaders. One of the candidates was late and it was after 10am before the baptism began. About this time, the young women and leaders began trickling in.
Now, you see, everything really did turn out fine in both cases. The problem is, I start to think, AKK! People aren't here on time. The program won't run smoothly. Things will be left out. It won't be the spiritual, wonderful experience it would be if it went as scheduled. And I start getting mad that people aren't doing what they SHOULD do. And then I need to sing a song, read scriptures, or pray that I can be gentle, de-stress myself, and remember this is the Lord's church. He is in charge. It will all, eventually, work out. And, surprisingly enough, it seems to do so.
Maybe I'm learning. Today at the end of Sacrament, Tom handed me a note that said: "No primary president here today. No primary counselors. No primary teachers. No secretary." But we DID have primary children. And Tom and I were scheduled to teach the combined RS and Priesthood session. So I talked with the Branch Presidency and gathered a sister to help. Then, Joy! A primary teacher arrived! Double joy! A counselor arrived. And they did an excellent job of covering primary.
The odd:
They learned to kill it, de-feather it, clean out the innards, cut it up, and cook it. They also chopped vegetables for a stew, learned to make the dough, then roll out, oil, and cook chapates, and they made ugali. They asked me to make salad. The girls had cut up cabbage, onions, and tomatoes and shredded cabbage, so my part was easy. I called Marcelus to check with him about dressings on typical African salads. I had assumed correctly: oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, sugar. So we had one salad of carrots, onions, and cabbage and one of tomatoes and onions. I was surprised when I asked the girls what they liked best about the day, some mentioned the salad!
While the lunch was cooking, the girls made necklaces of gold beads to hang their Young Women pendant on. They turned out very lovely! It began as an economic thing-- the gold chains were quite expensive. But the beads turned out much prettier and more distinctive than the chains. Here are some of the Young Women and their leaders modeling their necklaces.
When lunch was ready they served those who cleaned the church, the small children and anyone else who was hanging around. One of the girls said that was the most fun part of the day. Serving others.They played a little volleyball and football (soccer) and then they listened to the most recent Young Women's Broadcast. They left for home about 6 pm. By then, I was pretty bushed myself.
The Agony:
I think that some stresses are like stones. You can ignore one or two, but gradually the weight becomes stressful.
1. Our water pressure has been so low it took most of the week to fill our tank. We had to have the baptism at the Milimani Resort as we didn't have enough water to fill the font. Still, we do have water.
2. And we do have electricity--- varying, off and on-- but usually enough to power the lights. The fluctuating voltage keeps kicking off the surge protectors for the refrigerator and for the computer/Internet/printer. They will cycle on and off maybe 20 times in an hour... maybe only 4. Sometimes the florescent lights flicker and won't come on... or blink off. The fan changes speeds all night long as the power increases or decreases. Right now the microwave isn't working. I hope once the power stabilizes it will work.
3. The fluctuating power means that when you go to print something out, the printer might turn off. Or you go to check something online, and you have no on-line. It connects and you say, YES! Then a minute... or 30 seconds later... ah, no. It does make it nice having a treadle sewing machine. It doesn't matter if the electricity is on or off. So, one sorts of grins and bears these things.
4. The things that raise my stress level are the spiritual things or the lack there of. I know this mission is to help me bridle my passions. In Alma 38:12 it says "Bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love." I know if I can overcome frustration, I will be able to love better. Two examples:
Last Leadership, Tom was going to really reward people for getting there on time. He baked banana bread and was going to hand it out to those who came on time. We even moved the time back to 10:30 to give people extra time to get here. There was a baptism and the missionaries scheduled it for 9am. 9am came and went. 9:30 and some of the baptismal candidates were still "just coming." One if the people was the daughter of two parents in leadership positions. 10am came and went. I think the baptism started about 10:30. On the plus side, there was better attendance at the baptism since those coming to the leadership meeting joined the baptism. On the minus side, leadership actually started about 11:30.
Yesterday, the Girls Camp was to begin at 9am. At 9am, not a single person was here. By 9:30 some of the baptismal candidates had arrived and the missionaries. Still, no girls. No Young Women leaders. One of the candidates was late and it was after 10am before the baptism began. About this time, the young women and leaders began trickling in.
Now, you see, everything really did turn out fine in both cases. The problem is, I start to think, AKK! People aren't here on time. The program won't run smoothly. Things will be left out. It won't be the spiritual, wonderful experience it would be if it went as scheduled. And I start getting mad that people aren't doing what they SHOULD do. And then I need to sing a song, read scriptures, or pray that I can be gentle, de-stress myself, and remember this is the Lord's church. He is in charge. It will all, eventually, work out. And, surprisingly enough, it seems to do so.
Maybe I'm learning. Today at the end of Sacrament, Tom handed me a note that said: "No primary president here today. No primary counselors. No primary teachers. No secretary." But we DID have primary children. And Tom and I were scheduled to teach the combined RS and Priesthood session. So I talked with the Branch Presidency and gathered a sister to help. Then, Joy! A primary teacher arrived! Double joy! A counselor arrived. And they did an excellent job of covering primary.
The odd:
Today during Sunday School class there was a bat flying around the room. I felt sorry for the poor thing being out in mid-day. It kept trying to perch on the corrigated tin roof, flying around, going out and then coming back in to the open sided room again. The teacher handled it well. Finally after maybe 5-10 minutes, it found a comfortable spot of the wooden supports and went to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment