Out with the Old . . . In with the New

We lost our dear Elder Arudo this past week as he was released after two years of faithful service.  He worked 90 miles per hour right until the very last.  He will be missed -- especially by Elder Torrie and me who worked so closely with him in the mission office.  One good thing is that he doesn't live far away, just in another part of Nairobi so we'll hopefully get to see him from time to time.  You get really attached to the missionaries.

Then we welcomed four new American missionaries.  So fun to see their excitement and enthusiasm.  They will be great missionaries!

There's Elder Arudo in the back.  Click on the picture to see those eyes!  Elder Wafula and Elder Hales are now Assistants to the President.

Three great missionaries -- Elder Wafula, Elder Arudo, and Elder Hales.

Elder Torrie and I will really miss you, Elder Arudo!!

We had a farewell dinner for Elder Arudo and we were joined by the Assistants and two missionaries who are being transferred -- Elder Christensen (who is transferring to Tanzania) and Elder Rasmussen who is transferring to a different place in Kenya.

Elder Torrie is giving Elder Arudo some last minute piano pointers, with President Msane looking on.

I love all of "my" missionaries -- Elder Christensen, Elder Rasmussen, and Elder Wafula.  I am lucky to get to see the missionaries so often.  Elder Christensen stayed at our flat on his first night in Kenya.

Elder Arudo, President Msane, Elder Rasmussen, and Elder Christensen watch as Elder Torrie gives more piano instruction.

Elder Rasmussen is playing a lovely piece that he composed himself.  So nice to hear him play.

Elder Arudo had said that all he wanted for dinner was Malva Pudding so that's what he got!  Well, that was just a little joke.  He actually got a nice dinner PLUS the Malva Pudding.

We have a lot of fun with the missionaries.  Elder Wafula managed to get into all the pictures.  He went from person to person.  He's got a cute sense of humor.  You have to be awake to catch on though.

Sister Msane is collapsing after cooking for all the missionaries.  She's a great cook who doesn't like to get her picture taken!

Here's Elder Arudo receiving his missionary plaque and T-shirt.  Good-bye.  You will be missed.

Elder Wafula and his new companion, Elder Hales, are getting a Family Home Evening lesson ready for all of us.

Now here's the four new American missionaries -- Elder Harrison, Elder Carter, Elder Thomas, and Elder Merritt.  They're excited to start teaching the gospel.

And they have fun too!  What's going on?  Here's Elder Thomas, Elder Torrie, and Elder Apuoyo.

Elder Wambua and Elder Thomas will be companions in Tanzania.

Elder Carter and Elder Boaz will be companions in Kenya.

Elder Harrison and Elder Apuoyo will be companions in Kenya.

Elder Musasia and Elder Merritt will be companions in Kenya.

Sister Msane and Elisabeth are preparing food for all the hungry missionaries.

And here are the hungry missionaries!

Gobbling down Sister Msane's delicious food.

President and Sister Msane with the Assistants and the four new missionaries and their companions.

President and Sister Msane with their four new "children!"  Hard to send them out into the world!  But we will take good care of them!

Rural Scenes

I found out where all the old people are.  (The ones our age!)  Apparently they stay in the rural areas.  It's the young people who move to the city.  So there are more elderly people than I thought even though the median age is 18. In Nairobi, LeRon and I feel very OLD.  Here are some rural pictures.  I took all these pictures out the car window as we drove by.

Would you like to stay in the Hollywood Hotel?  All these shops and "hotels" are so colorful.

We often share the road with livestock as well as with pedestrians, motorbikes, bicycles, donkeys pulling carts, and men pulling carts.

At home, cattle would be very upset by vehicles near them.  But these cattle don't even shy at vehicles.  They just mosey across the road at their leisure.

There's a baby under that blanket!

Still trying to get that photo that says "Africa" to me.  Love those clouds and those flat acacia trees.

Photos don't do it justice.  I was trying to show all the flat acacia trees that my eye could see going on and on.

Colorful vegetable stands guarded by their vendors who are enjoying each others' company as they sit on the ground and discuss the days events.

I love the way they display their produce for sale.

Of course we enjoy all the farmland.

More farmland and small rural dwellings.

Hip Hip Hippos and Church at Naivasha

Back to our trip to Naivasha. . . Sunday morning we walked back down to the lake to see it in daylight.  Beautiful!  By the way, I forgot to mention that Lake Naivasha is known for its hippos.  The hippos stay in the lake during the day and then they come up on land to forage for food at night.  So at the Country Club, no one is allowed to wander the grounds between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless they have a guard with them.  One guard asked if we wanted to be woken up about 4 a.m. to see the hippos but we declined.  Another time.  Hippos are the most dangerous animals in Kenya.  More dangerous than lions.  They kill more people than lions do.

We went to church in the Naivasha Branch.  So nice to meet the lovely members and also some who were studying about the church.  I got to sit in on a lesson being taught by Elder Noel, one of our newer missionaries, and I really enjoyed it.  He taught with such simplicity and testimony that I forgot he was a new missionary.  I got to bear my testimony to the sweet young girl that I know the Church is true and that Heavenly Father and Jesus love us more than we can comprehend.

Then it was back to Nairobi.  Was so nice to get out of the city even though we like where we live.

This Vervet Monkey looks so cool sitting in this tree with its tail hanging down.  But they look even cuter as they swing from branch to branch.  So cool how they use their tails and their hands and feet.

I wonder what this monkey is thinking . . . if anything.

In the daylight I can see that these trees are covered with cormorants and there are pelicans there too.

This small yellow-billed egret kept turning its head away just as I snapped the picture.  I almost caught it looking at me.  Very lovely and white.

Great Cormorants basking in the sunshine.

This monkey climbed right up to the restaurant window and tried to get in.  Then it spied a piece of watermelon and went for it. 

We picked up the missionaries, Elder Noel and Elder Emmanuel, so they didn't have to take the matatu to church.  Here we are at the door to the Naivasha church.  It was about a 15-minute drive from their flat to the church.

Here we are inside the chapel of the Naivasha church, which is a rented building.  LeRon is checking out the keyboard.

Everyone is helping to get ready for sacrament meeting.

We're waiting for Sunday School to start now.  I was the only mzungu there so all the girls wanted a picture with me.  They were happy, lovely ladies.

Matthew was our Sunday School teacher.  He and his wife have 8 children!  They don't look old enough to have that many but they are.  It's so hard to tell ages here.  People's skin doesn't wrinkle like ours do.

The little kids run all over this roof that is just outside the church and is accessible by steep cement stairs.  It scared me to death.  They could easily have fallen into that hole which is over a courtyard.

And here we're looking down into the courtyard from that roof.  Many families live here.  There is a cute little girl standing in the doorway.  She smiled and smiled at me.

After Church, this young man got out a mop and mopped the hallway and bathroom floors.  I asked him if he was the branch president's son but he said, "No, I'm a deacon."  He was fulfilling his responsibility to help care for the church and to do what the branch president has asked him to do.  I was very impressed.

Young Single Adults enjoying each other after the meetings. 

Church is over and LeRon has finished auditing the branch books.  We're ready to start the drive back to Nairobi.  It's been a good day.