Nairobi National Park: My Favorite Birds . . . and Others Not So Favorite!

The Crested Crane is the national bird of Uganda.  When our little Faye saw this picture, she said, "A Ugandan Crane!"  Faye's mother is Ugandan and her father is British.

I'm not sure what the birds are with the Crested Cranes.  Some kind of water bird, obviously.  Does anyone know?

This is my favorite picture of the cranes with their lovely crests and the reflection in the water.

A Crowned Plover

An ostrich family walking toward us on the road.  Three babies and a mom and a dad.  This was definitely our day for families.  Later we will see a jackal family and rhino babies.

Here's a close-up of the ostrich babies.  How in the world do these tiny things grow up to be such BIG birds?

LeRon calls this a "father and sons outing."  The mother went the other way for some reason.  Check out the videos below.

I was so excited to see a secretary bird.  The quills on its head look like the pens that a secretary uses.  We first saw several of these birds in the Ngorongoro Crater.  (I have yet to post those amazing pictures.  Also a video of the secretary bird walking through the tall grass.)

Close-up of the secretary bird.

Now a vulture party.  These vultures had been feasting on a large dead animal.

I took some video of the vultures flying away but I was too zoomed in so it was blurry.  Their wing spans are LONG!  And the flapping sound is interesting.  Maybe I'll put a video on just so you can hear the flapping.

Today was a Good Day

Today, as I went through some of my photos, I got excited about the pictures we took at the Nairobi National Park when we went there with Elder Johnson, the senior missionary who is the doctor for the Africa South East Area.  Sister Msane asked us to take him there and we jumped at the chance.  Elder Johnson loves the wildlife as much as we do.  The pictures will be coming up in a later post. . . .  crested cranes, baby ostriches, baby rhino and mom, a secretary bird, baby jackals.  Every time we go, we see different things.  This time we saw hundreds of zebras, wildebeests, hartebeests, and buffalo drinking from a big watering hole.  We sat and watched them for a long time as they came and went.

But first, I want to tell you about our visit today to Tamambo's, the gorgeous outdoor restaurant in the Karen Blixen Estate.  We haven't been there for quite a long while.  The waiters all recognized us with our mission attire and our name tags.  One said that he still has the gospel pamphlet we gave him a long time ago.  He keeps it with his Bible and reads it during his daily Bible study.  How cool is that?  So I gave him a brochure about our church teachings on The Family.  He was thrilled to receive it and soon another waiter came and asked if he could have one too.  There's not too many restaurants in the West where waiters ask you for church publications!  So cool to be on a mission here in Africa.  Personally, I think the West's time is over and now it is Africa's time for the gospel to spread.  The people are so willing and yearning to talk about Jesus Christ.  I always tell them that it's always good to learn more good things and they agree.  So refreshing!

This is the first Pday Saturday in a long time that we could just relax . . . and do the laundry and clean the house and go through my pictures and go out to eat at Tamambo's and visit with our neighbors.  It was a good day!

Had to look at Eric Mathenge's paintings again.  Couldn't resist a few more.  After all, we won't be back for a few years!  He's going to paint a leopard for us.

A little fishy swimming in the lily pond at Tamambo's.

Pretty Lily pond

Doesn't Pooja look cute in her Indian attire?  She's my Indian daughter.  I love her a lot.

More wonderful Kenyan neighbors.  Rachel with Joseph and Benjamin.  Nice Bible names!  These people, like so many in our compound, are very educated, friendly, and just plain good people.

Elder Torrie (who is definitely looking older, don't you think?  In fact, without my glasses on, he looks a lot like Anatole from Ukraine!!)  Here's Elder Torrie and Elder Johnson after our 4 hours in the Nairobi Park.  It was a great 4 hours!  You'll see some very cool pictures in another post.

Now we're back at the mission home after our morning in the park.  We got back right at 10:30 which is when Sister Msane said we had to be back.  Here we are with Elizabeth, the mission home caretaker.  

The Three Muskateers had a great morning at the park (6:30 to 10:30 a.m.) -- Elder Johnson, Sister Torrie, Elder Torrie

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!!

Three Sweet Experiences and a Fun One

This mission has been loaded with special experiences.  I honestly can't imagine being on a mission anywhere else.  Now for you missionary moms and dads:  At the end of this post is a picture of the missionaries at October 2017 MLC that I forgot to put in the post about October MLC.  Don't miss seeing your son or daughter in a lovely group photo!  Then I'll put some pictures of some good friends and other things.

Experience #1
LeRon and I were picking up food (or rather, "picking food" as they say here) for the Nairobi Zone Conference and we had to order some chicken from a well-known franchise.  We were astounded to catch the workers at the beginning of their day having a group prayer.  They said they started each day with prayer and were surprised when we told them that would never happen in the West.  Kenya is definitely a Christian country, although there are many Muslims and also Hindus who live very peacefully here.  Some are our neighbors -- and great friends.  But it was still a sweet experience to see heads bowed in prayer.

It reminded me of my elementary school years when each day was started with a recitation of The Lord's Prayer and then the singing of O Canada and/or God Save the Queen.  There were many Japanese Canadians in our school and even though they were Buddhists, they recited the prayer along with all of us and nobody thought it was a problem.  But I won't get into that thorny issue right now;  I know how important it is to be inclusive but sometimes inclusion actually turns into exclusion.  So important to live the way we know we should.

Experience #2
At the end of zone conference, Sister Msane, our mission president's wife, asked if we could house two missionaries for the night.  One was in a lot of pain from a particular illness.  As we headed out from the Zone Conference, the rain absolutely poured down and the traffic was backed up more than we had ever seen it. We knew that what should take us half an hour was probably going to take up to two hours.  I was worried for the Elder because I knew he just wanted to go to bed.

As we sat in the pouring rain LeRon talked about how we used to sing in the car as a family on our many long travels.  So he and I sang Just Let a Smile be Your Umbrella and they seemed to like that. -- especially since it was raining so hard.  Then we headed into Primary songs and Hymns.  We encouraged the Elders to sing along.  Elder Masamba said he would if he could sing in French.  So he would start a hymn and we would listen to the tune till we knew what it was and then we would sing in English while he sang in French.  Elder Masamba has a lovely tenor voice and Elder Shongwe has a beautiful deep bass voice.  So we sang all the way home -- for almost two hours!  It lifted our spirits and helped take the ill missionary's mind off his pain.  It was a sweet experience.

Experience #3
President Msane asked Elder Torrie and me to take 10 minutes at Zone Conference and talk about the blessings of serving a mission and what we had learned.  We knew it was our last Zone Conference so it was a bittersweet moment.  We went up to the stand together and he put his arm around me and we told the missionaries how great it is to serve a mission with your sweetheart.  We each talked of some things we had learned such as the importance of obedience and the importance of studying the scriptures each day.  Then we bore testimony that this truly is the work of God and that Jesus is the Christ and that the Gospel is true and that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live.  It was a sweet experience and I'm glad for the opportunity to speak to nearly 60 missionaries (out of 97) in the Kenya Nairobi Mission.  We love these young men and young women.

Experience #4
Just a fun thing.  I had to run back to our apartment to get something and there on the stairwell was a very large Sykes monkey.  He stared at me and I stared at him and then he ran off.  And there I was without a camera.  Darn!  We've never had monkeys in our compound before.  So fun to see a monkey up so close.  Sometimes at church, I look out the windows and see Vervet monkeys running through the barbed wire coils on the top of the walls surrounding the church.  But this monkey didn't look like a Vervet monkey.  I'm pretty sure it was a Sykes monkey.  Just love the wildlife here.

October 2017 MLC (Mission Leader Council)  Back row L-R: Elder McGrath, President and Sister Msane, Elder Ellis, Sister Ziqubu, Elder Wambua, Sister Ngwaru, Elder Rasmussen, Sister Shanya, Elder Estheimer with Sister Okila in front, Elder Cotts with Sister Acii in front, Elder Odhiambo, Elder Noel, Elder Ngele
Front row L-R: Elder Le Cheminant, Elder Agesa, Elder Mwashi, Elder Musonda, Elder Mahanzu, Elder Kiio, Elder Egbert, Elder Harrott, Elder Mwanziu

I know this picture is blurry but I wanted to show that Elder Torrie and I were there too!  

We were in the MTC with Elder and Sister Harline (center).  The Harlines serve in Ethiopia but here they are in Nairobi with some of their family right now and will do a safari to the Masai Mara.  So great to see them again.  Actually we didn't see Elder Harline because he was off exchanging Ethiopian money for Kenyan Shillings.  But it was great to see Sister Harline.  After the MTC at Provo, we, along with the Harlines, went to Johannesburg, South Africa for a few days of more training.  We were the first (and almost the last) senior couples to go to South Africa for training.  Sister Harline called us the GPS (Guinea Pig Seniors).  It was great to Sister Harline again, if only just for a few minutes.

This is my Indian daughter, Pooja, and my Indian grandson, Vivon.  I love them dearly.  We have been next-door neighbors for a year and a half and I will miss them when we go home.  Vivon (pronounced vee-vawn) was born the day before our 42nd wedding anniversary.

Shrikant is a doctor (actually a cardio-anesthesiologist) at the nearby Karen Hospital.  Hash is another of our Indian grandsons!  He comes regularly for candy!!

A termite mound is growing beside the road just down the street.  I took this picture with a flash when we went for our evening walk.

Now here's a daytime picture. 

And here I've zoomed in on the little critters.  Cool, eh?

Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella

(See Experience #2.  First, everyone sings verse one.  Then while one person sings verse one, another sings verse two.  It's fun!  Of course you need to know the tune.  Duh!  Our children grew up singing this song.  It was on a Shari Lewis cassette tape we had.  Shari Lewis was a ventriloquist and a kids show host.  Her puppets were Lamb Chop, Hush Puppy, Charlie Horse and Wing Ding.  We loved them even though we only saw them in our imaginations since it was a cassette tape that you only listened to.  Imagine that!)

Just let a smile be your umbrella on a rainy, rainy day,

And if your sweetie cries, just tell her that a smile will always pay,

Whenever skies are grey, don't worry or fret

A smile will bring the sunshine and you'll never get wet.

So let a smile be your umbrella on a rainy, rainy day

Just let a smile be yours and when it pours, you'll always find you'll never mind a kind of foggy, even soggy day,

And when your sweetie's blue, a smile or two will surely hide the darker side and wipe her tears and chase her fears away,

Whenever skies are grey, keep clouds away, don't worry or fret

A smile will bring the sunshine and you'll never get wet.

So let that smile appear from ear to ear and rain won't fall on you at all whenever there's a rainy, rainy day.

Just smile away a rainy day!