Days are Getting Warmer

We haven't used our little heaters in about a week now.  The days are getting warmer though it still cools down at night, thankfully.  We don't have air conditioning but our flat stays really cool with all its cement and tile.  Plus we're on the ground level where the trees shade us.  So as it gets warmer and warmer, which we are assured it will do, I think our flat will stay nicely cool.  I still wear a sweater every day in the office but outside the sunshine is very intense.

I've been fighting a bad cold; they call it the "flu" here but I think it's really just a bad cold.  Now I've been very kind and I gave it to LeRon.  So now I am taking care of him like he took care of me for the past couple of weeks.  It's a nasty bug, whatever it is.  Everyone is coughing and they say it's just because it's so cold.

We've still gone into the mission office most days.  We've been getting ready for seven new missionaries to come -- one from Zambia and the others from the US.  Lots to do.  There's a lot to keeping track of all the missionaries to be sure they are safe and accounted for.  I had no idea till we came here.  Every night (did I say this before?) each companionship phones in to their district leaders who then report to their zone leaders who then report to the AP's (Assistants to the President) who then report to the President.  That way we know each missionary is safe.  Sister missionaries have to be in their flats by 6 p.m.  Elders (the young men missionaries) have to be in by 7 p.m. in Nairobi and by 8 p.m. in the rest of the mission.  Good to have rules!

Now for a few pictures . . .

The Karen Hospital is a very modern, up-to-date private hospital a 5-minute drive from where we live.  Many people who live in our compound work here.  If we ever have to go to the hospital, this is the place to go!  Many of the doctors are from India.  Highly intelligent and very well trained.

I look really stupid in this picture.  I'll tell you what it's about . . . Our former mission president, President Hicken and our immigration employee, (2nd from left) always did a "Masai jump" when work permits for missionaries came through.  Now that Pres Hicken has gone home, I told Dickens (our immigration employee) that I would do the Masai jump with him.  So then others got into the act, with Victor (2nd from right) one of our drivers, and Elder Arudo joining in.  You have to stand straight with your arms at your side.  Then you jump up as high as you can and down, take a break and do it again.  You should see the video of it.  It's hilarious.  I might try putting it on.  Elder Arudo says you also have to stick your chin out and make this grunting noise.  It was so funny.

Lots of hay for sale along the road side.  Lots of horses in this area.  They don't even shy for vehicles.

Notice the reddish dust on this plant.  These plants grow along the roadside and are constantly covered with the red dust that kicks up from pedestrians, bikers and even cars.

The yellow vehicle ahead is one of those cute 3-wheeled conveyances that act as very cheap taxis.  I bet they're awfully hot in the summer.  Click on the picture for a closer look. 

We work with Bishop Peter.  He is our employee who helps LeRon with housing for all the missionaries.  He's a great worker and we couldn't get along without him.  We had him and his family over for an evening of fun.  We taught them the "Chicken Dance," the "Bunny Hop," and the "Butterfly".  It was so fun.  Next to LeRon is Bishop Peter (who is really the Bishop of his Ward) holding his daughter on his shoulders, and his wife next to him holding their youngest daughter.  Next to them are Samuel and Hellen, their nephew and niece who also live with them.  Cute smiles, eh?

Here's Bishop Peter and his wife Pauline. 

And our neighbors, our little African grandchildren, came over and joined in the fun too.

Here's our neighbor Sammy with his two children, Joy and Prince.  They all had great fun dancing with us.

School children in Kenya have long days.  Often from 8 a.m. till 4:30 or 5 p.m.  They walk to and from school.  All wear school uniforms.  I wish it were safe for school children in America to walk to and from school but not anymore . . . Sad.  This is another way that I see Kenya as we were 50 or 60 years ago.

LeRon's Missionary Experience

You hear all the time from me (Colleen).  And I've done several posts just today.  Now here is an experience that LeRon had this week at the Chemist's (the drugstore).

I had a wonderful missionary experience yesterday in a drugstore that I want to record.  We have heard and found it to be true that almost all Kenyans are very polite and will listen to a short missionary message without rolling their eyes or cutting you off.  We have found this not only to be true, but that some Kenyans are quite interested.  This happened to me yesterday.  I was in a pharmacy buying some more of the Singulaire antihistamine pills.  As the druggist finished telling me about the pills, I pulled out an Articles of Faith card, which I always carry, and proceeded to explain a bit about the church and what we believe and handed him the card. 

The store was empty of customers.  There was another druggist standing next to him.  He had been a few steps away but reached out for the card and asked if he could have one too.  I had 4 in my pocket total and 5 or 6 would have been better but they said they would share.  I turned to my left and there was another girl who worked there listening.  She took one and the cashier girl walked over and all 4 took the cards and began to read.  One of the girls read my name tag and asked what “Latter Day Saint” meant.  So I explained about the restoration and latter-day versus former-day.  I mentioned a few things that had been restored like Priesthood and Temples and the Book of Mormon.  It turned out that the first druggist had just been recently married and so I asked him if he loved his wife.  Of course he said yes and then I said that Colleen and I had been married 41 years and I talked about the world’s view of marriage “till death do you part” versus “families can be together forever”.  The other druggist then asked if that really meant what I said it meant and I said yes.

I felt I had taken quite a bit of time so I just invited them all to call the missionaries whose phone number I had written on the cards and to look online at mormon.org for more information.  One of the girls lives close to one of our chapels so she was familiar with the Church, at least where it was.  Anyway, it was a very choice experience to have the opportunity to tell people about our Church and its beliefs and have them all listen so attentively.  I need to work on my presentation some more.  I am not sure if I testified enough, in retrospect.  Anyway, it left me on a spiritual high that lasted throughout the day.  A mission is quite an adventure.

It's a Small World After All!

Last Sunday at Church, we met a young American -- Tim Olsen -- who was in Kenya for a conference.  Turns out he's related to Reva (Woodruff) Lybbert.  Reva grew up a mile away from us and we practically helped to raise her!!  She even babysat our kids.

You never know who you're going to meet.  I remember running into one of our son Craig's good friends from high school -- Aaron Van Kasteren -- in the jungle in Peru!!  (We were glad we were behaving ourselves -- which of course we always do!)

We invited Tim to hang out with us as we went to the Rongai Ward and then home to make some supper.  Then later in the week, we took him to the Kazuri Bead factory and then out for supper at the Karen Blixen estate.

Here we are with Reva & Justin Lybbert's cousin, Tim Olsen.

Our little "grandchildren," Joy and Prince, came over to see "the tall man" who was visiting us.

This picture should have been first.  Oh well.  I finally got a picture of this sign in Carrefour, a large Fench department store in "The Hub", one of the new malls.

And here's a "polite notice" sign.  You see these signs all over the place.  Kenyans are very polite people.  Click on the picture to see it close up.  This is in the Kazuri Bead factory.  I've told about Kazuri Beads in another post.  The factory started 40 years ago to give single mothers an income.  Now they make not only beads, but also pottery.  The clay comes from Mt. Kenya.

These look good enough to eat!  Yummy chocolate!  (Well, it looks like chocolate anyway).

We were lucky to be here near closing time.  The girls were loading the kilns so the beads could be fired overnight.

So interesting how they stack the beads inside the kilns.

The girls really enjoy working here.  They move around to different jobs so they don't get tired of doing the same thing over and over again.  And they love to get their picture taken.

Putting the beads together.

They make other kinds of pottery too.

On the left is before firing and on the right is after firing.  All the pottery is made to be food-safe and dishwasher safe.  I've never seen any dishwashers here in Kenya but maybe some of the wealthy people have them.

Tim Olsen tried a "Kenyan" dish at the Karen Blixen restaurant (Tamambo's).  I think the meat was a little tough.

Here's LeRon's food.  Some kind of fish.

This was my meal.  The salmon is always very tasty and the food well-presented.

Family Home Evening and Ugali

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

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

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.

Flowers and Things

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.