Incredible, Strong People

Today in our worship service (which we call "sacrament meeting"), a young man in his late twenties spoke.  He told us the story of his hard life.  When he was 12 years old, his mother took him for a walk one day and told him that she needed to leave for a year.  (Here in Kenya, families are often separated because of the need to go elsewhere for work).  His father was already gone to another country for work.  His mother told him that she needed him to be strong and to take care of his three younger siblings and that she would be back in a year.  Can you imagine?!  Remember . . . he was only 12 years old!  She asked him to stay strong, stay active in the gospel and do what was right.

It was at that time that he knew he needed to get a testimony for himself.  He needed to know that it was right to obey the Word of Wisdom (no alcohol, no tobacco, no drugs, no coffee) and that it was right to stay morally clean.  He needed to know that it was right to read the scriptures and to go to church each week.  He needed to know because he would be the man of the house.  He plead with the Lord and got his answer.  He knew the gospel was true!

He was able to care for his brothers and sister.  He went on a mission.  He got an education.  And now he is serving in the branch presidency and at the same time he is Stake Young Men president.  What incredible, strong people there are here in Kenya.  So glad we got to know Joseph Poche!  We really love him and his wife, Sharon, who is serving as the ward Primary president.

Just monkeying around . . .

When we got to the church this morning, as we were pulling through the security gate, we saw monkeys!

Barbed wire doesn't stop these monkeys!

Walls don't stop them either!

The security guard told us that the monkeys come in from the forest preserves to eat the lush green foliage here in the city.

A sister at church told us that if you leave a window even partly open, and if you leave a banana on the table, the monkey will come in, take the banana and then go out.  Fun!  And probably annoying too.

Hard to get this picture of a monkey mom and her babe as I was facing into the sun.  It's hard to see, but the baby is clinging tightly to its mother.

People . . . People who need people . . . are the luckiest people in the world!

People.  That's what I want to talk about tonight.  Kenyan people are like people were in Alberta 50 years ago.  And that's NOT a bad thing!  As time goes on, I feel more and more like I'm back in my young teenage years 50 years ago.  Back then people were so friendly.  You'd walk down the streets of Taber and everyone you met said hello even if you didn't know them.  Strangers would stop on the highway to help you when you had a flat tire.  Children could play at anyone's house and they were safe.

That's the way it is here in Kenya.  Five neighbor children come over every day after school.  At first I wondered how their parents felt about that.  So I made a point to go and meet them and they were absolutely fine with wherever their children went.  One mother said, "They visit everyone in every flat and we think it's great!"  How nice for the children to be children and not have to worry so much.  LeRon has taught one of the children to play "Chopsticks" on the piano.  We bought a few little cars and trucks for the kids to play with too.  It's like having grandchildren here.  So fun.  And when I can't take the noise any longer, I tell them to go home and they do.  They are also polite.  Please.  Thank you.  May I?  So impressive.

People . . . Hardly anyone smokes here.  We've counted 13 people thus far and we've been here for over a month.  Amazing.  Smoking is expensive so not many people do it.  So nice for those of us who have a hard time with smoke.  And so nice, health-wise, for the Kenyans.  But on the other hand . . . people burn things every day -- garbage, dead wood and who knows what else.  There's always the smell of smoke in the air.  That's like it was 50 years ago in Alberta.

I mentioned in another post about how Kenyan people, particularly men, walk.  They stride along, arms swinging vigorously, head up and back a bit, with a little bounce in their stride.  They are not out for a stroll.  Definitely walking with purpose.  Women walk everywhere also.  They don't bounce quite as much as the men do.  Most women wear skirts or dresses.  I've yet to see an immodestly dressed Kenyan woman.  (Only white tourists wear skimpy little outfits).  The women are dressed in all colors, including black and white.  Black Africans look especially nice in white.

The school children all wear uniforms.  On field trips, the kindergarten children don't have to walk two-by-two, holding hands, as kindergarten children do at home.  They feel safe as they run along the sidewalk, ahead of their teacher, enjoying each other's company and the green foliage and the sunny weather.  But . . . each school is in a compound that is walled, gated, and guarded.

People are polite in traffic.  "I'll let you in and then you can let someone else in," is the philosophy.  The only honking we've heard is a polite little honk to alert you that they're there and they don't think you saw them.  Drivers or passengers stick out their arms to let you know they want in -- and you let them in.  It's the craziest, most polite traffic I've ever been in.  People wave a "thank you" or give you a smile.  No shaking the fist or pointing the finger.

Now as far as it being like Alberta was 50 years ago . . . Alberta has become very prosperous in the past 50 years.  That prosperity hasn't helped people to be more sociable and kind and friendly.  Prosperity seems to have made people more selfish, unsociable, and unfriendly.  Sad . . .

In our Church, we call it "the pride cycle."  People are humble and so God blesses them and they prosper.  The more they prosper, the more prideful they become.  As they become prideful, God allows things to happen to humble them.  They are humble and God blesses them.  They prosper and become prideful . . . So sad.  President Hicken, our mission president, has spoken lots to the African missionaries about how they can help Kenya to avoid the pride cycle that has definitely affected western countries to their detriment.  I hope Kenya can avoid becoming what the West has become as far as human relations go.

As one Kenyan told us, "Kenya is the promised land!  There is plenty of opportunity for everyone."  LeRon and I are very happy here.  We're happy to be serving the Lord and we're happy to be associating with good people -- in our mission, in our branch, and in our neighborhood.

Elder Torrie is teaching these beautiful neighbor girls, Faye and Joy, how to play Chopsticks.

Beautiful girl with a beautiful smile.

Neighbor children playing at our house.

Joy is cute as a button!

Of all the toys, the John Deere tractor we brought from home is Prince's favorite.

Still not sure how to import pictures.  This should have come in at the bottom.  Just a picture to show how Christian this country is.  Signs everywhere about Jesus Christ.

Above the picture of the matatu:  Now we're on our long drive to the mission office.  These carpets change frequently as they dry and then new ones are up drying in the sun and rain.  Wonderful carpet cleaning business.

I will miss the foliage around our mission office as the new mission office is a walled yard with only gravel to make it interesting.  This lovely hibiscus grows near the door to our office.  I didn't notice all the ants on it till I looked at the picture.

Another pretty flower.  I know this kind grows in Hawaii too but I can't remember the name off-hand.  I bought a bird book but not a flower book.  In the bottom picture I'm trying to show the cut and uncut grass.  All the grass on the left was cut by hand with a metal scythe-type thing.  The grass on the right is yet to be cut.  What a lot of physical labor these people are happy to do just to put a bit of food on the table for their families.

Road scenes: sugar cane treats, cool brooms, and more . . .

Another interesting week in the Kenya Nairobi Mission.  More work with permits at the office.  More long drives to the office.  But . . . good news . . . the mission office is moving this coming week.  In some ways, we'll miss the drive.  It's so interesting to see how life goes on here.  LeRon has certainly learned how to drive like a Kenyan.  Sometimes we get frustrated when the car ahead doesn't move into the intersection as quickly as we think it should.  Ha ha.  If we were home, we would be hesitating too.  But here we've learned to get the nose of our truck in and get moving!  I'll post some pictures of things we see on the way to the office as soon that will change and we'll see different things.

These are the coolest brooms!  Sometime I'll open my window and see how much they cost!

To clean your carpets, just drop them off here!

And then they dry here.  I'm not sure how long they take to dry.  Seems there are always new and interesting carpets hanging here.

Can you imagine pulling this load up the hill?  Yet that is what they do on a regular basis.  These handcarts share the road with cars, trucks, buses, and matatus.  You just have to be alert and go around them.

I'm absolutely astounded at the amount of physical labor these people do.  The grass along the highway and between lanes is always cut by hand.  I tried to get a picture of the force people have to use when they swing these grass cutters but it never shows.  They swing and swing and swing and then take a short break and then swing and swing and swing.  Wow!

I'm ever the bird watcher.  These are Sacred Ibises.  There was a whole flock of them in this tree.  They are huge birds, though not as large as storks.  They have down-turned, quite thick, bills that are very interesting.

A close-up of a sacred ibis.  These birds were sacred to the Egyptians.

Here's another view.  LeRon and I had gone for a walk and when we saw the birds, we turned around and went back for the camera.

Isn't this beautiful?  Flowers on a palm tree in the compound where we live.

There are many, many nurseries all along Ngong Road (pronounced Gong) and Karen Road.  They go on for miles.  They are just at the side of the road.  Every pot is hand-watered.

You'll have to click on this picture to enlarge it.  I took it out the truck window.  This young man is selling sugar cane.  They cut the bark down till it shows all white and then they sell it for a sweet treat.

Another interesting street scene.  Lovely colored bottles!

LeRon thought this display of tires was really interesting.  Again, this is on one of the main drags.

One Hour to go 6 Kilometers!

Traffic is getting increasingly worse.  Not sure why.  Two days last week it took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to the mission office, which is about 10 kilometers from where we live.  It took 1 hour to go 6 kilometers on Friday!!  Good thing we have a CD player in the car.  We've been listening to General Conference and to good music.  Sometimes I fall asleep!

A cute little "Thrift Shop" we always pass on our way to the mission office.

Lots of hat sellers along the route!  So far all I've bought (besides bananas) is a "mosquito racket."  It looked like a kid's badminton racket and that's what I thought it was for a long time.  But it's got a symbol of electricity on it, and sure enough, it's an electric mosquito swatter!  I bought one but haven't needed to use it yet.

Workers, both male and female, cut the grass between the two lanes of traffic with metal sticks.  These people were "mowing" all this huge area of grass by hand!  We see that a lot.

Here's a closer view of the mowing crew.  We took it out our window so didn't want to zoom in too much.

Here's the traffic backed up for 6 kilometers!!!  The buses are painted in bright colors.  The matatu on the right, besides carrying passengers, carries barrels for water.  Notice the passenger with his arm out.  Passengers (or drivers) often put their arms out to signal their intent to change lanes.  People will then let them in.  Very courteous drivers.  And the bus is wanting to change lanes too.

Cute bus!  The lion is king!

I was waiting for Elder Torrie to do some business at this mall.  When people see our name tags, they often stop to visit.  Our name tags have our names as well as the name of our church, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."  They often will talk to us about how they love Jesus Christ and we affirm that we do too.  So this young man stopped to talk to me and he showed me the thing (for lack of a better word) around his neck which said "Come Unto Christ."  So I asked him which church he belonged to and he said, "I belong to YOUR church!"  Sure enough, he was a member of about three years and had just received his mission call to serve in Ghana.  Behind us is his family's shop.  He's the only member in his family and he helps to run this shop so he can earn money for his mission.  We bought something from his shop and he was so pleased and said, "Oh good.  Now I can buy a shirt for my mission."  He told us that he "wants to be self-reliant so he can pay for his mission."  Very impressive young man.  His nickname is Happy and he indeed is a happy young man.

Grocery Shopping

Thursday, June 2, 2016

We shop at a mall that is very close to where we live.  Though we are not "shoppers" we have found it very interesting.

1. As you drive into the parking lot, security looks inside your vehicle, checks your glove box, and opens the back.  One security guard, who has seen us often, asked, as he looked in our vehicle, "Are you safe?" and then he laughed and waved us on.
2. As you walk into the mall, you are scanned with a hand-held scanner -- men on the left with a male security guard; women on the right with a female security guard who also looks inside your purse.  Even little girls are scanned.  They hold out their arms just like in airports.
3. The shopping carts have the coolest wheels.  You can push them forward and backward and sideways too!  Makes for very easy maneuverability.  LeRon says that the way it works is that they have four casters instead of just two.  Who knew?
4. When I see mzungus (foreign white people), I think they must be sick because they are so pale and I'm used to seeing lovely dark skin.
5. Everyone looks at our name tags and often asks questions.  So fun!
6. I'm still trying to find Miracle Whip-type salad dressing and sticky rice.
7. The fresh vegetables are very good.  Potatoes and carrots especially.  Green beans and onions are good too.  The hard part is the bleach-washing that I have to do when I get them home.  Today I bleach-washed oranges, potatoes, carrots, green peppers and eggs and it took about 1 1/2 hours.
8. People pay for their groceries with M-pesa.  "Pesa" means money.  They put money on their phones and then pay for their groceries with their phones.  LeRon does a lot of mission business by paying with M-pesa on his phone.  (You'll be surprised that he's technologically advanced enough to do that, eh?)  Women often don't carry purses with them, just their phones. I think we're behind in Canada.  Or do some people pay with their phones there?  Not many people here use credit cards.  Just mzungus like us.  Usually it's cash or M-pesa.

As we drove to the mall, we passed goats in the street just outside our gate and then on the way home, there were two cows grazing on the tall green grass by the road side.  Further into the city, the grass beside the roads and between lanes of traffic is hand cut by workers using a grass whip made of flat-iron.  So interesting!!

Thoughts by LeRon

You may be interested in some of LeRon's thoughts.  So far, you've only gotten mine (Colleen).  Here goes:

Each day as we drive to our office, which is right in the main downtown area, and the traffic is so wild, we have an adventure. Luckily, nobody is going really fast so it's almost like a comedy. There are traffic lights and signs and lines, but nobody pays any attention to them, now including us.  The traffic circles, of which there are many, are an absolute circus.  At first, I was scared to death but now, I am almost as aggressive as most.  However, most vehicles have a dent or two so I am hoping I can avoid that fate.

The people here are very warm and friendly, both in and out of the Church.  When we got here, we were told that we would soon not even notice "color" and though I doubted it at first, it is becoming true.  They are really a beautiful people.  We were also told, and we are really noticing it, that the general population is far more Christian than at home.  Jesus slogans are everywhere -- signs, billboards, and splashed across the buses, which are very brightly and uniquely painted.  (We need to get some pictures for our blog).

We were kind of "snowed under" initially by the complexity of our office duties and responsibilities but we are starting to get the hang of it now and I can even see a few things I think I can improve upon.  Our mission President is a great man and we are truly loving him and his wife.  His replacement comes on July 1 and is a black South African so that will be another wonderful experience.  He will be the first Black mission president here in Kenya.   And yes, that is politically correct to say.  White African and Black African are OK to say.  I joked with our black African Branch president that I scared some Black Africans so bad with my driving that they almost turned into White Africans!  He had a good laugh at that.

Well, we can see that we are needed here.  An unofficial duty is to be grandparents to the young missionaries and we can do that.  They are great, but very young.  The trend has been to have mostly Black African Elders called here in Africa, both from Kenya and other African countries, but the Area President told us that we are going to see a gradual switch to about 50/50 Black/White so that more of the leadership and "growing up in the church" experience of most of the White Elders can be shared with the Blacks.  There are no white young Sister Missionaries serving in this mission, just Black Sisters, although I do not know about any other African missions in that regard.

Those are some of my thoughts.