Nairobi/Chyulu Zone Conference October 2017

Trying to get caught up on posting all my pictures.  In the previous post, I talked about some sweet experiences we had in the recent Nairobi/Chyulu Zone Conference and in this post I'll post (ha ha) the pictures from the zone conference.  It was a bittersweet time for Elder Torrie and me since it was our last zone conference.  In our church, we are called and released so the time for release comes to everyone.  Most accept their releases gracefully but some go out kicking and screaming!  We will be happy to be back in our own home and with our children and grandchildren but we will certainly miss this beautiful country and people -- and especially all of our 134 grandchildren (the missionaries we have served with here!  I've counted it and it's more than I thought.)

But first some pictures of our neighbors, whom we love so much.  We have such great neighbors and we're so blessed to live in this secure, lovely compound.

I'm still behind in posting pictures.  Still haven't done the Nairobi Park with Elder Johnson (the area doctor) nor the Ngorongoro Crater with Elder and Sister Munson, nor the Kazuri Bead factory with Sister Msane and my neighbor Chitra.  I'll get that done one of these days.

My Ugandan daughter Enid (on left) and her daughter (my granddaughter!) on right.  Love to visit them!  Faye (along with Joy and Prince, who have sadly moved away) were the very first ones to welcome us to the neighborhood a year and a half ago.  Faye is a really bright spirit.

One day the power was off in our compound and Faye's mom wasn't home so she dropped over for a visit.  We have worked it out with Faye's mom that if she needs a place to be, she can be with us.  Elder Torrie wasn't home so Faye and I played a game of Scrabble.  We brought this Scrabble game with us from Canada, not knowing that Scrabble games are very easily purchased here.  Who knew?

I quite enjoy Scrabble and LeRon and I thought we would have empty hours in the evenings since we aren't supposed to be out after dark.  But by the time we get home, go for our walk, visit the neighbors, make supper, clean up, write a few emails, work on photos, we're exhausted and it's bed time anyway.  No time for all the games we thought we would play!  We hardly watch any movies either although last night, for our Friday night date, we watched an episode of The Waltons.  Such a great, clean, old-time TV series about a large family back in the day.  Very enjoyable.  Bootlegging old ladies with their "recipe!"  So fun.  If you've watched The Waltons, you know what I'm talking about!

Was great fun to play Scrabble with Faye!  We didn't keep count of points because it's more fun just to make words and help each other out.  We often traded letters.  And there were about 8 blanks so we had fun using them.  My mother must have added blanks to the game.  In fact, I think she put two games' worth of tiles into one game.  This was her game (and the game I grew up with).

We thought this was an interesting thing to see in a general store -- a bulk milk cooler.  That's what it was called.  It was huge and very heavy.

Now to the Nairobi and Chyulu Zone Conference. . . .  The Jacaranda trees are in blossom again.  So beautiful and their smell is divine!

Hibiscus trees are also blooming again.

Love this yellow hibiscus!

I zoomed in on a political demonstration taking place a few blocks away from the Upper Hill chapel where we were meeting.  By the time the zone conference was over, the rain had started and the crowds had dispersed.  Thank goodness for the rain, not only to bless the land, which is very, very dry, but to disperse the protestors!  This is the first rain we've had in months.

Missionaries are always hungry!  Here are some of our sweet sisters -- Sister Mbatha, new Sister Sehlako, and Sister Gondwe.

To Elder Cox and Elder Manu's mothers:  Yes, I know you didn't hear from them this week.  The missionaries were in their flats on Monday and on Tuesday they were traveling to zone conference from Chyulu.  Now that there's a train from Mombasa to Nairobi (and which goes through Chyulu), it's an easy train ride for them to come into Nairobi.  Much nicer than that long, dirty, noisy bus ride.  So here they are -- Elder Cox and Elder Manu-tuinei in fine shape and smiling for their mothers!!!  Sorry that the picture is a bit blurry for some reason.  

Elder Manu says "Mom, I'm doing great!!"

Elder Fuller and Elder McIntyre -- two Texans.

I think this has some meaning to Texans, but not sure what!

Was very hard to get a group picture with this large of a crowd.  These are all the missionaries from Nairobi and Chyulu, minus Elder Musonda and President Msane, who must have been in a huddle somewhere.

Another view.  Trying to get all the faces in.  I had turned over the camera to an "outsider" to take the picture.  If I would have taken it, you could have seen every face.  But honestly, it was hard to get them to sit for the 5 pictures we ended up taking.

Ah . . . here we are . . . the 7 Canadians!!  And who is that in the back disrupting our picture?

The KNM Canadians -- Elder Wilson (from Toronto), Elder Latta (from Calgary, Alberta), Sister & Elder Torrie (from Grassy Lake, Alberta), Elder Card (from Cardston, Alberta), Elder Coombs (from Edmonton, Alberta), Elder Le Cheminant (from Airdrie, Alberta).  We love all the missionaries but have a special affinity for "our own!"  Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!!

Here we are with our wonderful Elder Card!!!  We've had an unforgettable experience together, haven't we, Elder Card?  God bless you.

I would have liked to be in a picture with everyone but we did manage to grab a few to pull in the picture with us -- Elder Cotts, Elder Le Cheminant, Elder & Sister Torrie, Elder Manu, Elder Lotulelei, Elder Harrott.

Took this picture of us with Elder Montgomery to remind us that his grandparents (or rather, his grandfather, Rex Wood) went on an agricultural trip one time years ago with Elder Torrie.  His grandparents Wood live in Calgary.  So Elder Montgomery, who is brand-new in the mission, is close to being a Canadian.   Connections anyway.

And I always think of Elder Harrott as being almost Canadian since he is from England.  LeRon and I grew up with very strong ties to England as Canada was once part of the British Empire and is still a part of the Commonwealth of Nations.  England's queen is our queen even though most people never sing "God Save the Queen" anymore but LeRon and I did all the years of our growing up.  So there's definitely a connection and Elder Harrott is also "one of us."

But really, all the missionaries are "one of us."  We love them ALL.  This is Elder Chenani, who is Kenyan,  I remember communicating with him by email as he was preparing to come to the mission.

Looks like I'm giving a lecture to Elder Kiio and Elder Chenani and they are laughing at me!  (That's about the way it goes.  I lecture; people laugh.  No one takes me seriously!)

We have really enjoyed working with Elder Kiio, who is also a Kenyan.  I send him referrals when I get them by email because he and his companion are in charge of referrals.

We got to have Elder Masamba (from the DR Congo) and Elder Shongwe (from South Africa) stay with us for a night after zone conference.  Great to visit with them.  Elder Shongwe (on right) loved our African paintings.  He loved this one of a lion by Eric Muthenge (whom we have gotten to know here in Nairobi).  We call this painting our Narnian painting -- a painting of Aslan the lion.  Elder Shongwe had read the Chronicles of Narnia in his youth.   He hadn't realized there are so many Christian symbols in The Chronicles of Narnia.  Jesus Christ is "the lion of Judah" and just as Aslan did in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Jesus died and came alive again.  Many more symbols too.  I just read a very interesting article about C. S. Lewis and his Chronicles of Narnia.  It's found at http://www1.cbn.com/books/deeper-truth-behind-chronicles-narnia.  C.S. Lewis was an atheist who converted in his young adult years to Christianity and became a great apologist for Christianity.  An apologist is one who argues in defence of something controversial.  In a letter C. S. Lewis wrote in 1961, near the end of his life, he said, "The whole Narnian story is about Christ. That is to say, I asked myself ‘Supposing that there really was a world like Narnia and supposing it had (like our world) gone wrong and supposing Christ wanted to go into that world and save it (as He did ours), what might have happened?’ The stories are my answers. Since Narnia is a world of Talking Beasts, I thought He would become a Talking Beast there, as He became a man here. I pictured Him becoming a lion there because (a) the lion is supposed to be the king of beasts; (b) Christ is called ‘The Lion of Judah’ in the Bible; (c) I’d been having strange dreams about lions when I began writing the work. The whole series works out like this."  Go to the link I gave you for the complete article.  Very interesting.  And we love our painting of "Aslan!"

At 6:30 a.m., Elder Shongwa and Elder Masamba are ready to head back to Chyulu.  It's been fun hosting you!!