Hip Hip Hippos and Church at Naivasha

Back to our trip to Naivasha. . . Sunday morning we walked back down to the lake to see it in daylight.  Beautiful!  By the way, I forgot to mention that Lake Naivasha is known for its hippos.  The hippos stay in the lake during the day and then they come up on land to forage for food at night.  So at the Country Club, no one is allowed to wander the grounds between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless they have a guard with them.  One guard asked if we wanted to be woken up about 4 a.m. to see the hippos but we declined.  Another time.  Hippos are the most dangerous animals in Kenya.  More dangerous than lions.  They kill more people than lions do.

We went to church in the Naivasha Branch.  So nice to meet the lovely members and also some who were studying about the church.  I got to sit in on a lesson being taught by Elder Noel, one of our newer missionaries, and I really enjoyed it.  He taught with such simplicity and testimony that I forgot he was a new missionary.  I got to bear my testimony to the sweet young girl that I know the Church is true and that Heavenly Father and Jesus love us more than we can comprehend.

Then it was back to Nairobi.  Was so nice to get out of the city even though we like where we live.

This Vervet Monkey looks so cool sitting in this tree with its tail hanging down.  But they look even cuter as they swing from branch to branch.  So cool how they use their tails and their hands and feet.

I wonder what this monkey is thinking . . . if anything.

In the daylight I can see that these trees are covered with cormorants and there are pelicans there too.

This small yellow-billed egret kept turning its head away just as I snapped the picture.  I almost caught it looking at me.  Very lovely and white.

Great Cormorants basking in the sunshine.

This monkey climbed right up to the restaurant window and tried to get in.  Then it spied a piece of watermelon and went for it. 

We picked up the missionaries, Elder Noel and Elder Emmanuel, so they didn't have to take the matatu to church.  Here we are at the door to the Naivasha church.  It was about a 15-minute drive from their flat to the church.

Here we are inside the chapel of the Naivasha church, which is a rented building.  LeRon is checking out the keyboard.

Everyone is helping to get ready for sacrament meeting.

We're waiting for Sunday School to start now.  I was the only mzungu there so all the girls wanted a picture with me.  They were happy, lovely ladies.

Matthew was our Sunday School teacher.  He and his wife have 8 children!  They don't look old enough to have that many but they are.  It's so hard to tell ages here.  People's skin doesn't wrinkle like ours do.

The little kids run all over this roof that is just outside the church and is accessible by steep cement stairs.  It scared me to death.  They could easily have fallen into that hole which is over a courtyard.

And here we're looking down into the courtyard from that roof.  Many families live here.  There is a cute little girl standing in the doorway.  She smiled and smiled at me.

After Church, this young man got out a mop and mopped the hallway and bathroom floors.  I asked him if he was the branch president's son but he said, "No, I'm a deacon."  He was fulfilling his responsibility to help care for the church and to do what the branch president has asked him to do.  I was very impressed.

Young Single Adults enjoying each other after the meetings. 

Church is over and LeRon has finished auditing the branch books.  We're ready to start the drive back to Nairobi.  It's been a good day.