Our Mission in Kenya

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Family Home Evening and Ugali

July 24, 2016 | LeRon and Colleen Torrie | 4 comments

I'm doing several short posts today to make it easier to read. So here goes this one:

We take turns having Family Home Evening with the Assistants to the President (young missionaries) and with the Msanes (our Mission President) and us. Last week we went to the Assistant's house and they cooked us some authentic Kenyan food.

Ugali (pronounced oo-gall-ee) is a staple around here. Everyone makes it and everyone eats it. LeRon and I were first introduced to it by our son-in-law Andy (married to our daughter Michelle) who learned it from a Kenyan friend.

Ugali is basically a cornmeal mush that is cooked till it's very solid. And you use white cornmeal, not yellow cornmeal. Africans only use yellow corn if they have no white corn. When there was a crop failure one time, western nations brought in yellow corn for them and nobody liked it!

Then you cook a meat dish with greens (sukuma wiki -- which is actually kale). You scoop up the meat dish with the ugali, using your hands. Enjoy the photos!

Elder Wafula is chopping kale with a very sharp knife and he's holding it in his hand! He said his mother taught him how to do it and he's never ever cut himself.

Nice smile, Elder Wafula!! After the kale was chopped, Elder Wafula cooked it in oil.

Now here's Elder Arudo getting ready to cook the hamburger. I can't remember what they call it but they don't call it hamburger. Minced beef I think.

The Assistants often host other missionaries who are transiting through Nairobi. Fun sign telling them to clean up after themselves!

Now Elder Wafula is starting the actual ugali. Just white maize meal and water or was it oil? No salt. I'm afraid I had to add salt to mine.

Elder Arudo cooking the meat with onions.

Now I'm eating the finished product with my hands! Kids would like that I bet. I wished I'd had a fork!

Two other missionaries joined us for the evening. Don't they have great smiles?

Pioneer Day

July 24, 2016 | LeRon and Colleen Torrie | 2 comments

Today, July 24, is celebrated in the Church as Pioneer Day. It's the day that commemorates the pioneers' entry into the Salt Lake Valley after a rigorous march beside wagons or pulling handcarts from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah. One of the Torrie ancestors, Hans Ulrich Bryner from Switzerland, walked all the way hanging on to the back of a wagon. He was blind. His posterity is still strong in the gospel.

Pioneer actually means "one who goes before." Today I led the Primary children (ages 3-11) in the Langata Branch in singing pioneer songs. "Pioneer Children sang as they walked and walked and walked and walked . . . " And "you don't have to push a handcart . . . or walk a thousand miles or more to be a pioneer. You do have to have great courage, faith to conquer fear, and work with might for a cause that's right to be a pioneer!" Church members here in Kenya are definitely pioneers. And they know what pushing and pulling handcarts is all about. Just google "Nairobi handcart images" for pictures of the handcarts we see regularly here.

Kenyans are pioneers in that the Church is very new here. The Langata Branch meetinghouse is only 22 years old. It was the first church building in East Africa and the first in Kenya. So the Church is very young here but many members are strong in living the gospel.

I took these pictures on the way to Rongai Ward to show how hard working Kenyans are. So many businesses. Everyone trying to make a buck to feed their families. So many happy people!

We wondered what "Bedsitters" are. Maybe babysitters? (Later: I found out that bedsitters are studio apartments. Just another name for a room with a bed, fridge, and cooking appliances).

These bunk beds are actually very well built. We've been told that if you want a quality product, you buy it on the street and not in one of the big box stores.

Nairobi is very Christian. Lots of Christian churches and signs everywhere. Many people go to church every Sunday.

Another picture to show how hard working and productive these people are. One Kenyan told us that "Kenya is the promised land where anyone can do well, especially if they get an education."

Baboons

July 24, 2016 | LeRon and Colleen Torrie | 4 comments

So fun to see animals in the wild. We were driving last Sunday from our Langata Branch to the Rongai Ward and there, right by the road, were several baboons. They are not as big as I thought they would be. I rolled down my window to take some better pictures, then wondered if the baboons would hustle over and grab my camera but they didn't.

Cute, eh?

Coming home today (July 24) from the Rongai Ward, we saw baboons running across the road. I wasn't fast enough to click a picture. These were on the side of the road, not crossing the road as we saw before.

Interesting how they hold their tails.

There were actually five baboons but only these pictures turned out.

Wild warthogs by the side of the road. They are really dangerous animals. Can turn and rend you. And there were people close by waiting for a matatu (a small bus). They didn't seem scared of the warthogs but I would have been. Glad I was in the car.

Fun to see a donkey pulling a handcart. Usually men pull the handcarts.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

Flowers and Things

July 16, 2016 | LeRon and Colleen Torrie | 2 comments

First . . . We are devastated by what has happened in France and Turkey recently. We have a very special sister who lives in France and our hearts ache for her fellow countrymen. We have a love for France and a love for Turkey; we've traveled several times in both countries. God bless and help you all. Pray for the peace of the world.

A few more pictures . . .

On our way home from Zone Conference we drove through an interesting street lined with clothing for sale. When we used to travel regularly to the old office, we always drove on this street but never saw so many things for sale as we did on this day. I can only think that there's more wares out since the rainy season is basically over.

The drive home from the Zone Conference (at Upperhill, where our office used to be) took us 2 hours. We're not supposed to drive at night but we had to in this case. I tried to snap a picture of all the traffic. Actually there were three buses trying to merge into one lane. It was funny. But I missed the funniest part because my camera is so slow. Oh well. I tried.

I love Bougainvillea. The lovely pink blossoms are really not blossoms at all but are actually a leaf.

This is the first time that I've noticed actual Bougainvillea blossoms. I used to try to grow these at home. They didn't do much and of course never survived the winter. They never blossomed like this. So interesting.

So many hedges and shrubs and many are sculptured so beautifully. All cut by hand with shears or long "whackers."

Another view of the sculptured hedges.

This is a gym being built in our compound. Interesting to see the building techniques. Everything is hard hand labor. But at least it gives people work.

There were two huge piles of these concrete blocks at the start of construction. Each block was hand-carried on a man's shoulder to the work site and hoisted up by hand to where it needed to go. They pile them up and put a little bit of mortar between them -- a very little bit. It's mostly just one brick on top of the other.

Nairobi Zone Conference

July 16, 2016 | LeRon and Colleen Torrie | 5 comments

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!