Members, Missionaries, and Memories -- and Nairobi West Stake Conference

As our time is slowly drawing to a close here in Kenya, we realize how much we will miss these wonderful people.  We no longer see black and white; we simply see good people who are trying to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We truly feel that we are brothers and sisters, and really, we ARE brothers and sisters.  We are all children of the same God.

Elder Torrie has found out to entertain children -- make paper airplanes after Primary!  An easy way to become popular!!  L-R: Precious, Barak, Ezra, Jimo, Daisy, and of course Elder Torrie doing what he does best.

Barak, Solomon, Ezra, Jimo and Precious learning the fine art of stapling the wings of the plane so it stays together.  As you can see from Elder Torrie's face, he loves helping the kids.  We will miss these sweet children!  Thank goodness we still have a couple of months left.  The time has FLOWN by . . . Ha ha.  Pun intended.

Daisy having great fun with her paper airplane.  Yes, many of the girls have their hair shaved almost right off.  Must be easier to care for it.  Daisy is a very fine young lady and I love her a lot.  She knows her scriptures, loves to sing, has a great memory.  She'll go far, or rather, she'll fly far!!

Precious and Daisy with their paper airplanes.

Elder Torrie helping Ezra and Jimo.  Jimo speaks very little English and even though he doesn't understand much of what goes on in Primary, he comes every week and stays the whole time.

Barak enjoying his airplane.

Solomon has a beautiful smile.

Solo and Barak

Jimo with the top of Elcan's head in the picture.  He lost his airplane somewhere.  Hopefully he will find it.

Ah . . . the lost is found.  Doesn't Elcan look cute in his suit?  He and his family are from Ghana.  They have also lived in other places, such as the US.  His dad is our branch president.

Now we're off to Rongai so LeRon can give piano lessons in the Rongai Ward.  This is the building they meet in.  They have the whole 4th floor which, in the West, would be the 5th floor.  Lots of steps to climb to get there.  I count them every time but I can't remember right now how many there are.  They are the most uneven stairs we've encountered thus far.  And we've encountered a LOT of uneven stairs!

I'm standing on the 4th floor of the Rongai Ward.  Love the curves and the interesting designs.

Sister Masibo, one of our missionaries, is leading the Rongai choir.  She's a great choir director.  And the choir sang at the recent Stake Conference and they sounded like angels.  They sing a capella and they are great at singing in harmony.

Here's two more of our missionaries.  Sister Matata is on the left in the front row and Sister Bamutesiza is on the right.  These two, along with Sister Masibo are a missionary threesome.

Elder Ang'ila is another of our returned Kenya Nairobi missionaries.  He's now in the Rongai Ward, enjoying singing with the choir.  Kenyans love to sing!

More Rongai Ward singers.

Sister Bamutesiza, front and center, waiting for the song to start.  She is a lovely girl from Uganda.

Love that smile, Sister Matata (on left).  She is from Kenya.

Sister Masibo; Peter's wife, Pauline; Sister Evelyn; Sister Matata.  

Now we're at Nairobi West Stake Conference.  Elder Lotulelei, Elder Ellis, Elder Kiio, Elder Kyomya, smiling Elder Jameson.  Does he ever not smile?

Elder Torrie is here with two of our favorite people -- Andrew Kiserema from our Langata Branch, and Scriven, our adopted Albertan.  Scriven spent 7 years in Edmonton, Alberta, studying at the university there.  He has the Albertan lingo down pat and if you weren't looking at him, you'd never think he was Kenyan.  Andrew too spent time in Canada when his father worked at the Kenyan embassy in Ottawa.  Andrew lived there about 5 years but doesn't have the Canadian accent.  We love both these young men.

Sister Maina (pronounced My-ee-nah) is a returned missionary from our Kenya Nairobi Mission.  She gave a great talk about the temple at the Saturday session of stake conference.  Elder Torrie and I also spoke at stake conference but in the Sunday morning session.  Because there were so many speakers, we didn't really have a chance to give our talks but were able to bear testimony of the importance of the temple in our lives.  I quoted Elder Bednar who promised young people (and also adults) protection in their youth and throughout their lives if they would participate in family history work.

The missionaries love to get together whenever they can.  Elder Ellis, Elder Carlson, Elder Jameson.

Elder Mbaya is from the DR Congo and is doing well learning English.  French is his main language after his tribal language.  Africans are proficient in many languages -- often one or two tribal languages as well as their national language.

Elder McGrath (with a suit that is now way too big for him!), Elder Jameson, and Elder Somniso with a Kenyan member.

Elder Breidenbaugh

Elder Manu-Tuinei and Elder Breidenbaugh are companions.

Elder Jameson, Elder Lotulelei, Elder McGrath

Elder Mwashi on left and Elder Kyomya (pronounced chome-ya)

Elder McGrath and Elder Ellis

Sister Bamutesiza in middle and Elder Kyomya

Elder Mwashi and Elder Ellis are Assistants to the President.  We are not supposed to call them "AP's".  They are called "Assistants."

Sister Dhaima and Sister Auma are companions

Ha ha.  Sisters are always so particular about their pictures!  Sister Auma insisted on a closer pictures.  These are lovely sisters.

And here I am with Sister Masibo.  Nice to be in a picture once in a while!

Elder Vidonyi is a returned missionary from our Kenya Nairobi Mission.  He is planning on wedding bells in the near future.

I tried gathering some of our Langata Branch members.  So nice to see them at stake conference.

Because I work in the Primary at church, I don't know all the names of other people in the branch but I certainly know their faces and I love them dearly.  Back row L-R: I know this sister but not her name; Precious and Patricia's mother; Emma Baddoo (wow -- she's really grown since we've been here), Sister Young Women president; Sister Baddoo (the RS president); this young man I know by sight; tall young returned missionary who really understands the gospel.  Front L-R:  Precious, Jimo, Whitney, Patricia.  Aren't they a handsome and beautiful bunch?