Nairobi Zone Conference

Back L-R: Elder Petersen, Elder Wafula, Elder Torrie, Elder Odundo, Elder Ford, Elder Rasmussen, Elder Lyman, Elder Otika, Elder Ang'ila, Elder Mugele, President Msane, Elder Manu, Elder Boaz, Elder Pavik, Elder Vidonyi, Elder Hales, Elder Emmanuel, Elder _____, Elder Limu, Elder Mwanziu, Elder Arudo, Elder Soita, Elder Agesa.  

Middle L-R: Sister Petersen, Sister Torrie, Sister Ford, Sister Lyman, Sister Mayoli, Sister Msane, Sister Shanya, Sister Alinyo, Sister Were, Sister Ndong'a, Sister Kiio, Sister Njoroge.  

Front L-R: Elder Musonda, Elder Mwashi, Elder Kiio, Elder Mlambo, Elder Mwaja, Elder Chenani, Elder Lotulelei, Elder Muthiani, Elder Ngabonziza.

Our first Zone Conference!  It was great.  A zone is an area covering several "districts" and "districts" have several companionships of missionaries.  There are 16 companionships in the Nairobi Zone (so 32 but actually 33 missionaries since one companionship has three missionaries).  Then when you count the 4 senior missionary couples (including us), that's 41 missionaries plus the President and his wife.

At a Zone Conference, which is held once a quarter, we receive instruction from the Mission President and his wife and from the Assistants to the President.  The theme of our conference was "Obedience is a Choice."  Elder L. Tom Perry, of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles said that obedience "is a choice between our own limited knowledge and power and God's unlimited wisdom and omnipotence."

Elder Boyd K. Packer, another of our Apostles (who recently passed away), said, "Obedience is powerful, spiritual medicine.  It comes close to being a cure-all."  I like that.  So important to obey.  With obedience comes safety and a multitude of blessings.

Another thing from Zone Conference:  "We teach people, not lessons."  And another:  When we are asked to do something by the brethren (who speak for the Lord), we should ACT and not just ask WHY.  Then, as we act, the answers to the "why" will come from the Lord to us individually or from the brethren who speak for the Lord.  It's actually quite simple.

Elder Pavik is quite a bit taller than Elder Torrie and me, wouldn't you say?!  Here's a picture of us after the Zone Conference.  We were helping Sister Msane to clean up.  We served Kentucky Fried Chicken with chips and Sis Msane's homemade pasta and cabbage salads.  The missionaries gobbled it up!  (By the way and this is for Elder Pavik's mother:  He looked great!  He's a good missionary.  We enjoyed getting to know him.)

Fun to help Sis Msane feed all those hungry missionaries!

No one wanted to leave after the conference.  Fun to be together.  Here they're helping carry things from the kitchen to the vehicles.  Back L-R: Elder Lotulelei, Elder Hales, Elder Pavik, Elder Rasmussen, Elder Arudo, Elder ______.  Front L-R: Elder Mwashi, Elder ______, Elder Emmanuel.

Fun missionaries -- black and white.  And by the way, it's politically correct to say Black Africans and White Africans and then of course there are the Mzungus (the white foreigners).  Back L-R: Elder Hales with Elder Mwashi in front, Elder Musonda, Elder _____, Elder Emmanuel, Elder ________.  Front: Elder Odundo.

Everyone likes to get in on the fun.  Back L-R: Elder Hales, Elder Pavik, Elder Rasmussen.  Front L-R: Elder Mwaja, Elder Mwashi, Elder Musonda, Elder Arudo, Elder Emmanuel.

Four of the five American missionaries in the Nairobi Zone:  Elder Lotulelei, Elder Hales, Elder Rasmussen, Elder Pavik.  Just missing Elder Manu (who is also very tall).  He must have already left.

Elder Mwaja (from Tanzania) and Elder Musonda (from Zambia) with Elder Torrie

Elder Chenani with Elder Torrie and me.  It's fun to meet the missionaries after weeks of getting their documents ready prior to their arrival in the mission.  I always get to see their photos and then it's interesting to actually see them in person.  Elder Chenani was one of 14 new missionaries who arrived in June.  He's doing great!

Elder Agesa, Elder Emmanuel

Elder Ang'ila, Elder Kiio

Elder Manu-Tuinei, Elder Vidonyi

Elder Mlambo, Elder Ngabonziza

Elder Mugele, Elder Limu

Elder Musonda, Elder Lotulelei

Elder Muthiani, Elder Pavik, Elder Chenani, Elder Rasmussen

Elder Mwaja, Elder Hales, Elder Musonda

Elder Mwanziu, Elder Soita

Elder Mwashi, Elder Boaz

Elder Odundo, Elder Otika

Sister Alinyo, Sister Ndong'a

Sister Mayoli, Sister Kiio, Sister Njoroge

Sister Shanya, Sister Were

Fun Pictures

It's been a busy week.  Actually, they're all busy weeks.  Can't say we are bored!  Here are some pictures:

We invited our new mission president, President Msane and his wife to our place for FHE (Family Home Evening).  Aren't they cute?  They are lovely people.  They are from South Africa and they are both of the Zulu tribe.  Before we had our FHE lesson, we had supper together.  I cooked taco soup and served it with my first attempt at homemade bread here in Kenya.  It was a success!  (Not quite as good as my homemade bread at home because ingredients are different and the oven is different.  Here we don't have our good Alberta-grown wheat to make into flour).

The young missionaries, Assistants to the President, Elder Wafula and Elder Arudo, also came to our place for supper and FHE.  They were in charge of the lesson. We played a communication game and then had a lesson about communicating clearly about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Don't President and Sister Msane look good in white?

Don't LeRon and I look sick?  We are too white!!  Whenever I see mzungus (foreign white people) I think they look sick.  Now looking at this picture, I think we look sick too!  Maybe I need to start sunbathing.  But it's too cold to do that now.  And I hate being out in the hot, hot sun.  Hi Elder Arudo!

We often share the road with cattle.  Our drive to the mission office isn't quite as scenic now that we don't go downtown every day.

These cattle don't even startle when we go zooming past them.  We have passed sheep, goats, and cattle on the road, and none of them act like we are even there!  One goat would hardly get out of our way.  We almost bumped it to make it move.

We often drive past this school.  Look at the words in the red oval:  "I Dream of Becoming a President."  How cool is that?

Now it's Sunday evening and our little "grandchildren" have come over for a visit.  Aren't they the cutest girls?  Here Faye is drawing a picture of Jesus and Joy is drawing something too.

And Yaro is coloring a "CTR" shield.  Today at church, I taught a Primary class about "Choosing the Right."  CTR means "Choose the Right."  That's a good motto for anyone, regardless of their religion.  All the little neighbor children are Christians.  They had fun coloring and cutting and pasting.

Now Prince is coloring his CTR Shield.  Kenyan children know what a shield is.  It protects you.  A shield is on the Kenyan flag (along with two spears).  I at first thought it was a ladybug.  Don't tell.

Joy is showing her CTR shield.  She made a hand-hold so she could hold it on her hand.

Joy and Faye with their hand-held CTR shields.

My Mom always said that "beauty pinches."  Here's a close-up of Faye's hair.  She said it really does hurt when they braid her hair.  I can only imagine.  I don't think I'm going to try it.

Faye and Joy had fun with my camera.  Here's one of the many selfies they took.

Neighbor kids having fun.

We see this funny sign whenever we drive to the President's home.  "This land is NOT for Sale.  For more Enquery (Inquiry), call . . ."  Not sure what a person would phone to inquire about!  I think we see more "Not for Sale" signs than "For Sale" signs!

What Do I Do All Day?

Some have asked what I do all day.  This is a list of all the things I have to do (not all on one day thankfully):

1. Answer many emails each morning.
2. Send welcome letters and other documents to incoming new missionaries.
3. Make file folders for each new missionary with printouts of their information.  We receive information about new missionaries 2-6 months ahead of time.  There will be about 40 new missionaries in the next 6 months.
4. Make computer files for each new missionary and scan all their documents to keep in the computer files.
5. Make cards with pictures of incoming new missionaries to put on the President's transfer board.  The transfer board has all the missionaries and their assigned companions and places.  That way, as the President prays about who to put together as companions and which area to assign them to, he can see their pictures.  He is truly led by God to arrange things as they should be.  Transfers occur every 6 weeks.
6. Scan every page of each missionary's passport and send scans to Tanzania to get work permits for Tanzania.  Some countries' passports have 50 pages!  That takes about 10-15 minutes to scan each passport.  (Later:  we got a new, amazing scanner/printer that zip zips so quickly!  Yeah!)  We keep all the passports of those serving in Kenya and the missionaries carry copies of their passport picture page.  Missionaries serving in Tanzania take their passports with them so I have to scan all the pages of their passports before they leave for Tanzania.
7. Go through the application papers for every Kenyan applying to serve a mission somewhere in the world.  I check to be sure everything's been filled out and that the medical reports are all there.  When something is missing, I have to email the prospective missionary or else his branch president or his bishop to request the missing information.  If I have any questions, I email Dr. Jubber in Johannesburg, South Africa, for clarification.  (By the way, for you fellow Canucks, Dr. Jubber is from Lethbridge and is serving a mission with his wife as the Area doctor for all of South East Africa).
8. I prepare immigration documents for all incoming and infield foreign missionaries who still need Work Permits.  I apply online and then I prepare paper documents for each application.  Immigration has in the past few months gone to online but they still want paper documents too.  Immigration work takes a lot of my time.
9. I have to be sure that all missionaries have current Work Permits or Special Passes because we don't want any missionary to be working illegally.  (Even though they are not paid, they are still considered workers in Kenya and so need permits).  I keep track of it on paper and also on the church's Global Visa Manager which is online.  The GVM tracks missionaries all over the world to be sure they are in their countries legally.  I also put the information into a spreadsheet.
10. I keep track of all the changes in Bishoprics and Branch Presidencies and keep the list up-to-date for the Mission President.  Again, this is done on the computer.
11. When conferences are being held I send out information to the branch or district that is having the conference.  The Mission President is like a Stake President for the small branches that are not under the umbrella of a Stake or District.  There are 5 mission branches.  The Mission President is also over all the Districts that are not in a Stake.  There are 5 districts with 35 branches.  I know this is very confusing.  It's confusing to me too.  But there has to be order in the Church and lines of authority are very important.
12. When a missionary in our mission is finished his mission, I prepare a packet of information for him/her.  I include all the documents they brought with them (such as birth certificates, etc).  I send letters to parents, Bishops, Stake Presidents to alert them of the missionary's return.
13. I take the returning missionary's picture off the President's transfer board.
14. I send all the documents back to returning missionaries from other missions who are returning to Kenya.  I shred unimportant documents.
15. I input all the information from newly baptized members into the Church's online system.
16. I prepare "new member packets" for each newly baptized member which consist of a welcome letter, a church magazine and other church information. 

All of this makes me tired!!!  Maybe I shouldn't have listed it out quite like this!  I pray a lot and I feel that I get help from above a lot.  It's all important work that must be done.  If senior missionaries weren't here doing it, then young missionaries would have to do it.  And the young missionaries need to be out sharing the gospel.

So even though I'm not actively sharing the gospel, I'm facilitating the work.  I share the gospel with those I am in contact with in stores or other places.  Yesterday a woman came into the office to let us know there's a near-by hotel that we could use for conferences.  (We don't need that because we have chapels and the mission home).  She asked about our church.  I gave her an Articles of Faith card (which lists 13 basic beliefs) and I had written the young missionaries' phone number on it.  She actually phoned them an hour later and said she was interested.  Isn't that cool?

Our Mini United Nations

The compound where we live is a like a mini-United Nations. There are people here from the UK, Sweden, South Africa, Slovenia, India, Uganda, Japan, Germany, Kenya and of course we're Canadians.  We had a community potluck a few weekends ago and got to officially meet each other.  It was the best!  We visited for four hours, munching on food from different countries and enjoying each other.  No alcohol.  No smoking.  So nice.  There was such a good feeling there as we sat around the swimming pool while some of the children swam.  We visited until after dark (7 p.m.)  Now we greet each other like old friends.  Tonight we helped our neighbor fix his door bell and he's invited us over for his wife's birthday.  So great to be friends with all these wonderful people.  

One of our neighbors was surprised that we've only been in Kenya for two months.  She said that we have acclimated very quickly to the culture compared to most people (including herself).  I told her that we have been to many countries and that has helped.  But the thing that's helped the most is that we have been called by God to be here.  And we really do feel that this is the right place for us to be.

We have become the grandparents in the compound.  Almost everyone is the age of our children.  The neighbor kids even call us Grandpa and Grandma.  So fun to have them pop in and out.  There's 7 of them now.  We started out with 3 but it has increased as more and more children find out about our candy cupboard.  They are so polite.  They say thank you and please and they put their wrappers in the "trash bin."

Cute little Joy was interested that I was mopping the kitchen floor.  She has a couple of live-in servants who do all of the work -- cooking, cleaning, laundry.  In fact most of the families have housekeepers or nannies.  So Joy asked if she could mop.  She was so excited!  She and the other children mopped our whole apartment.

Joy's brother, Prince was enthralled with the way the mop squeegeed.  Mopping the floor kept the kids entertained for a very long time.

Cute girls, Fay and Joy.  They even call us Grandma and Grandpa.

I bought a few kids' books and some toy cars for the kids to play with.  But the real hit is the keyboard.  They love to play tunes.

Joy's family are very Christian.  She liked looking at this picture of Jesus.  We are careful not to "proselyte" the children.  That wouldn't be fair to their parents.  We enjoy sharing our beliefs with the parents though.

The kids love to dance while LeRon plays.

Monkey Business

Monkeys in the wild are so cute!!  We're here at the Kazuri Bead Factory to see if they have my beads made yet and they don't.  Monkeys were playing on the ground and in the trees.

Our Weekend Entertainment

We shop every Saturday morning.  At home I'm used to having a lot of storage and three freezers so it's hard for me to have so little food storage.  But we're managing . . . Our weekend entertainment is . . . grocery shopping!  We've discovered a new mall with lots of stores and a clean, very large Walmart-type store (but higher class).  Security is the same as at other malls.  Check the vehicle, check your purse, check your bodies.  Some even take a mirror and scan under each vehicle.  We're getting used to it.

I took some pictures in the store and was chastised by a store employee.  Then he saw my name tag and said it was okay but don't do it again.  So I didn't get a picture of a sign that said "Priority for Pregnant Women" at the check-out.  Also "Priority for the Handicapped" but that's more common.  And I didn't get a picture of all the rubber boots for sale along with the high-heeled shoes.  Rubber boots are a necessity here if you do any walking.

 We always enjoy visiting with people in stores.  We've met the nicest people!  We definitely stick out like a sore thumb!  I always tell them who we are and why we're in Kenya.  They always listen (they don't roll their eyes like people do in the West) and they say they'll phone the missionaries and some actually do.  I asked one store worker if he'd ever heard of our church before. Turns out he is a less-active member who wants to start attending again but didn't know where to go.  He was surprised to learn that there are now 15 congregations in Nairobi, including two stakes.

If you enlarge this picture, you'll see it's a huge display of wigs and hair pieces.  African hair is very wiry and so they braid fake hair into their real hair.  Anytime you see smooth hair, you know it's a wig.  I'm amazed at the many different ways there are to braid hair.  Also they add color to their hair by braiding colored fibers into it.  So interesting.

These are our neighbor children.  Faye had just gotten her hair done.  So cute!

Cool display of Prosciutto ham.  Thought our son Craig would enjoy seeing this picture!  This is the picture I was reprimanded for taking.

Now that we don't do the hour drive into downtown Nairobi, our drive isn't as interesting.  But this is a cool scene on the way to the mall.

Everything is for sale on the streets.

Winter coats for sale.  I'm tempted to buy one!  I left all my winter coats home, not knowing it was going to be so cold here on the equator.  We finally did buy us two little heaters, one for our bedroom and one for the living room.  They warm things up somewhat.  We turn them off when we go to bed because I like my head cold when I sleep.  And to save electricity of course.  We have to put money on a card for electricity every couple of weeks.  Then we have to key in the number just outside our door or the power goes off!  And talking about buying clothes . . . I stopped into a Woolworth's store and all of the sizes were just huge.  Not sure why.  Kenyans are not big people.  But maybe they're catering to Westerners.

You'll have to click on this sign I made for our office to see the lower line:  "Polite Notice."  You see these signs everywhere, especially in stores but I didn't want to get in trouble again for taking a picture in a store.   So here's the sign I made for our office.  In stores you'll see:  Polite Notice: Returns within 7 days.  Polite Notice: Return only to store of purchase.  Polite Notice: Pay your parking before leaving.  So cute. So nice to be polite.

Lots of hot water bottles for sale!  Reminds me of my childhood in the days before electric heating pads.  I even bought a hot water bottle today since I'm having trouble with my sciatic again and I've been wishing for a heating pad.  Or a tub to have a hot soak in.

Changes . . . in the World . . . in our Mission

First . . . so sad about the Istanbul Airport and all the people who were hurt so terribly.  We've been there several times and it's a lovely airport.  The Turkish people are generally very friendly and Turkey has been one of our favorite countries to visit.  So sad . . .  We've also been in the Brussels airport a few times.  So sad.  Senseless.  We pray not only for "the peace of Jerusalem" but for the peace of the world.

Changes in our mission . . . President & Sister Hicken finished their 3-years of leading our mission and returned home on Wednesday night.  We will miss them.  It was fun to work with them.  They were great missionaries as well as good friends.  (Some have asked if they're related to the Hickens from Raymond.  Pres Hicken says he is related to all Hickens, just not necessarily closely related).

President & Sister Msane (pronounced mmm-saw-nay, only you say the "mmm" part really fast) are the new president and wife.  President Msane is the first African president in this mission.  The rest have been Americans.  He is from South Africa and is of the Zulu tribe and he looks like a Zulu warrior.  Sister Msane is a lovely person too.

 President Hicken and Dickens (pronounced Dee-kens) are sharing a laugh.  Dickens is the employee who helps me with Immigration.  It's been a long hard haul to get the Work Permits for the missionaries from Immigration.  Dickens is holding folders that I have prepared to hopefully get permits.  Government bureaucracy!

Dickens and President Hicken are getting ready to do the "Masai Jump."  They do it whenever we get a Work Permit that was very hard to get.  We took a video of it but can't put it on here until we get better internet.  Watching them do the Masai Jump was so funny.  They stand side-by-side, with their arms at their sides.  Then they jump up and down as fast as they can.  You should have seen President Hicken (who is older) jump.  He jumped faster and higher than Dickens.  So funny.

The stack of books is actually the Braille version of the Book of Mormon.  All those books are just one copy!  We all laughed when they brought the books into the office.  Who knew it would take that many books?  Elder Arudo thought it was great.  We hope it will get used.

Dickens and Pres & Sister Hicken have had a long working relationship.

Elder Wafula loves teddy bears.  He's not ashamed to admit he has one on his bed.  He even showed it to us.  But this huge teddy bear he bought on the street.  Oh my!

Outgoing President & Sister Hicken and incoming Sister & President Msane.