Out of the City Part VI: Cute Kids in Busia

On Saturday afternoon we drove the two hours to Busia where LeRon audited the books of the Busia Branch.  We arrived just as they were finishing celebrating their 7th year as a Branch.  The branch sisters had cooked huge pots of traditional Kenyan food.  After the party was over, we went with the missionaries to see their flat and it started absolutely pouring and even hailing.  People had never seen it hail before.  It poured buckets and buckets.  Water was running everywhere.  No pictures of that.

By the way, between Kisumu and Busia is a marker showing that we passed over the equator.  Because of construction, we had to go a different route and missed the marker.  Next time.  But for sure we crossed over the equator!

Elder Musasia and Elder Christensen serve as missionaries in Busia.  Here they are, using spoons to eat the traditional food, instead of fingers as is the traditional Kenyan way.

The Busia Relief Society sisters cooked up big pots of traditional Kenyan food, which included different kinds of rice, beans, chapates and other things.  The spices are hard for me to get used to.

Western children would be happy to join these Kenyan children and eat with their hands!

I remember once when my youngest two children, Eric and Michelle, were teenagers that they decided to annoy me at mealtime by eating the whole meal with their hands.  It was not a meal that was conducive to eating with the hands.  But I decided to stay cool and not make any comment.  I thought surely it won't last for the entire meal.  But they giggled their way through the whole meal and I seethed inside.  It's funny now.

Many less dishes to wash when you get to eat with your hands.

These children would be astonished to know that in our culture it's bad manners to eat most foods with your hands.  But here in Kenya, it works!

Cute little Kenyan boy.  Don't you love those eyes?

Elder Christensen had fun playing with the kids.  "Do it again!"  How many times have dads heard that phrase!

These boys loved having their photos taken.  I'll send all the photos I took to their branch president.

And here is their branch president, President Imende, seated at his desk in his office at the church.  Last time I saw him, he was in a suit and tie.  I hardly recognized him in casual clothes.  He is a fine man.

Shopping with Elder Musasia and Elder Christensen.  They discovered these huge wooden spoons which are used for stirring huge pots of food.