Getting Ready to Go

The last month of our mission was bittersweet.  We had served with all our hearts and we found it very hard to say goodbye.

I loved our amazing cleaning girl, Cecilia.  She worked extra hard to make our office clean--inside and outside.  She made these two bags for me.  One out of plastic and one out of fiber.  She went upcountry to her mother's place so her mother could teach her how to do it.  Amazing.  Here she's demonstrating how I could carry the second bag on my head if my hair weren't so slippery!

Anna, my hairdresser from Out of Town Hair Salon became a good friend.  She's British, born and raised in Kenya.

Doing bulletin boards is not my thing but I did my best to keep it updated.  There were three boards and this is the first one.

Probably too many things on this board but the pictures are fun to look at.

I changed many of the pictures once every transfer.

I especially like this picture of the Savior with black children by Liz Lemon Swindle.  Click on the picture to read the scripture.

And in the bottom picture are the 7 Canadians serving in the KNM as of October 2017.  I love all missionaries but the Canadians have a special place in my heart.

We loved our branch president, President Baddoo of the Langata Branch.  He's just a bit older than our oldest son!  We rarely see him without a suit on.

The two youngest Baddoo children -- Elcan and Ezra. 

Sister Baddoo, Sister Torrie, Emma.  I love these lovely ladies.  (How is that for alliteration).

Singing together . . . President Baddoo, Elcan, Ezra, Edwin.

Whoops.  Should have used the flash.  Here we are with the Baddoo family.  We will miss you!!!

Evelyn was a missionary in the Kenya Nairobi Mission before I was a missionary.  Another lovely lady.

We will miss the Assistants, Elder Ellis and Elder Mwashi, who are Assistants to the President.  It has been great to work closely with them.  They are in the office one day most weeks and sometimes other days as needed.  We have now worked with several Assistants:  Elder Arudo, Elder Wafula, Elder Hales, Elder Ellis, and Elder Mwashi.

Sister Msane is hard at work!  She's a great asset to the mission.

I will miss working closely with Sister Msane.  We have become great friends.

Dan and his mother popped over to tell me they are moving.  So many changes.

Dan and Faye were the first to come and welcome us to the compound when we moved in a year and a half ago.  They are like our own grandchildren.

Joseph Onyango was our branch president before President Baddoo.  He's a very good man.  His wife Lilyan, sewed this African dress for me as a surprise.  She did a good job at guessing my size.

The dress Lilyan made fit my waist really well.  It's a little wide in the top but I can take it in a bit so it will fit.  It's extremely well made and the fabric is great.  Why don't we have good fabric in the West snymotr?

Eric Mathenge is an amazing artist.  See his work at junglewaysoriginals.com.  He painted this picture from a photo that we liked.  I took pictures of the paintings we had purchased so I would have a visual record.

This is another of Eric Mathenge's paintings.  Elephants at Tsavo National Park.

Love these bird pictures.  Center is of a red-headed weaver bird and at right are lilac-breasted rollers that are absolutely gorgeous in flight.

Eric's black and white paintings are gorgeous too.  We bought too many paintings.  Eric will take the pictures off the frames and roll them for us to carry home.

I love the colorful pottery out for sale along Ngong Road.  Wouldn't the Old Woman in the Shoe love those orange and white shoes???

And out my back window was a Hadada ibis scratching in the grass.

I saw a leopard once in Hell's Gate Park and one in Masai Mara.  They are beautiful animals and Eric Mathenge has well-captured the look of this wild, yet very tame-looking leopard.  Eric painted this smaller version for us.

Narnia fans will see this lion immediately as Aslan, the Christ-figure in the Chronicles of Narnia.  I love that tender look!

Ah . . . my lovely zebras.  Another of Eric Mathenge's paintings, this time acrylic on canvas.

Love those stripes!!

Here's LeRon on our last day at Langata Branch.

Good friends, or rather, good children -- Andrew and Stella.

We love Andrew like a son.  He gave us this lovely picture of Jesus with an African child by Liz Lemon Swindle.  We will treasure it just as we treasure our friendship with Andrew.

And just as we treasure our friendship with Stella.  Thank you, Stella, for all you've done for us and best wishes with that PhD work.