Update

We had the opportunity to go to a place called "Bomas"  which is a combination of villages built to show people the different life style of the most common tribes here in Kenya.

 

If you go at the right time 3:00-5:00 they have people in each village to tell you about their culture and food.  We went at 11:00 so we missed out but  plan to go back and have dinner and see some native dancing.

Two fun Masai Mara tribes men.  You can't take their picture without paying.

President Obama's father was from the  Luo Tribe  our people are from the Komba Tribe

Huts were made from mud, dung, and sticks with grass weavings for a roof.  Some tribes would decorate them.

Just had to show you the huge avocados here.  The only trouble is. . .they ripen all at the same time.

Just a few prices we are paying here in Nairobi

Diesel is $5.25 a gallon

American Cereal $10-12 Dollars a box when we can find it.

Tuna $2.75 a can

Mayonnaise  $6.50 a bottle

Butter $5.00 lb

Peanut butter $10.00 a bottle when you can find it. 

Elder and Sister Olsen heading  for the mission office. 
They put in many long hours.

May 16, 2012

Just a mid-week entry to share some pictures from Nivasha.  

It took about one and a half hours to drive to the area.  Holmes (wonderful missionary couple from Ogden) showed us around and took us to the lake where there were thousands of beautiful flamingos. The beach had a pink haze as the flamingos walked about. It was such a beautiful sight.

Sylvester a young husband and father, is a return missionary, educated and recently employed in Nivasha.  He and his wife contacted President Broadbent and told him there were many who were interested in the church.  In November a group was formed and last Sunday there were 90 investigators, one set of Elders and Holmes in attendance.  Priesthood classes are being taught and with this progress they will soon make a request for a branch.  

This was a fun day we share with Elder and Sister Olsen; we loved it, and they drove!

Brother and Sister Sylvester pioneers of the church in Nivasha

 Flamingo's at Lake Nivasha

May 7-12, 2012

Casey's birthday was Monday Sure love ya son. 

We were happy to see Francis and Sarah’s new baby boy this Wednesday.   It seems like it took forever for this little one to get here.  I love baby visits.  Just holding them and looking at their faces, they have beautiful babies.  Bruce was surprised that Francis wanted him to choose a name for his son.  So after a few days he came up with Thomas after our prophet.  I took out some little boy clothes but I don’t think they will last long.  He was so big and healthy.

Francis now has three sons and five daughters.  Although he had a wife previous to Sarah, he and Sarah have been sealed in the temple and this is the first child to be born in the covenant in the Mitini Branch.

 We transported two missionaries into Nairobi and two new missionaries out to Kilunga Hills. They are courageous and we have a lot of respect for them. 

Elder Pocock with Elder Sarlo.  Elder Sarlo is from Farr West so I'm putting this on for his Momma.  I hear she is checking the blog!  Brother and Sister Sarlo he is a real keeper 

We now have two Idaho Spuds as Assistance at the KNM Mission office. Elder Raymond and Elder Pocock. Great Elders

With transfers came smiles and tears. 

April 29 - May 6, 2012

It’s Sunday evening and we have to admit we are relieved that this week has come to an end.  The traffic has been especially bad and we have spent many hours (2-3 hours, three nights in a row) stuck on the roads once we get into Nairobi. The increase in rain for some reason ignites the traffic into a “hot mess”.  Bruce is not allowed to roll down the window even when he is justified in being angry.  It takes so much patience to stay in control when people start passing you up on the curb and sidewalk to get ahead. I’ll just change the subject because it’s  hard to comprehend.

We had great visits with our branches, good attendance despite the rain.  The ground is so water-soaked that there are slides of dirt and trees coming down into the dirt roads.  We made it though and we love it when we get there.  On Saturday . . . yup you guessed it . . . another baptism.  This week it was the Ilima branch that had 13 youth and 2 adults baptized.  Great testimonies were shared by many of the new converts.  Oh and on Sunday we were able to give Claire her Keyboard.  She is a returned missionary and plays often at the Kyambeke branch.

I must say that my favorite part of this week was teaching the young women and their leaders a new song, “Guardians of Virtue” They just love it, of course they just love to sing. There has been such a great spirit and they all want to take home a copy of the words.  Now the young men want to sing it too.  We plan to sing it at our Youth Conference this August with all four branches. Sweet!  

Claire received her Keyboard she is a return missionary and plays for the branch often.

Baptism at Ilima with our wonderful missionaries.  So sad Elder Patten is leaving for Tanzania

This young man wanted a better view of the baptism and climbed a tree.

The feet up in the Hills would have to be so hard.  They walk up and down not only rocky roads but hills, old and young alike.

April 23rd- April 28th

We were able to experience the Masai Mara Safari with three other couples this week.   We left Tuesday and returned on Thursday evening.  I loved the company.  A mission is a place you can instantly have friends.  We flew in a small aircraft but it was quite smooth. The accommodations were very nice and you literally stayed in a tent but you can see from the picture it was amazing and very nice.  (I loved having a wake-up call with hot cocoa).  The river water was high and it rained a lot but that kept the bugs and flies down.  We had the same driver for all drives out.  They were very well informed and entertaining. The food was very good, served very fancy, and there was sooo much of it.  We had a nice time and came home with many wonderful memories.  We are thankful for the opportunity.

By Saturday we were back on the road again to Kilunga Hills where we had 13 baptisms from Mitini and Kyambeke Branches.  Next week Ilima will have another large group to be baptized three adults and many children.    We love our mission and the good people.  We feel very blessed.

We saw so many but these are some we haven't seen before...

A lion waiting patiently for his lunch

The rain caused the flash flooding in the river.  Our guide told us the driver would be sacked (fired) and it would be many days before the truck could be retrieved.

Our flight home

April 16-22, 2012

It rained very hard for 6 hours yesterday evening.  The long rains have definitely started.  I’ve found the rain here to be quite opposite of Hawaii where the rain was soft with wispy drops.  Here in Nairobi it is a down pour and the drops are splashes.   The thunder and lightning made quite a fuss but it was almost magical.  I enjoyed watching it.

Our week was busy and safe.  Tuesday and Wednesday we held our usual classes.  Thursday was especially fun as we met with the seminary and institute members from three of our four branches (Kilili could not come in to Kyambeke because of lack of funds for transport, darn).  Once we got started we had a gospel message, competitive session of foot-ball/soccer, youth conf. planning, testimony meeting and then lunch.   It was a great experience.  Bruce was the goalie for the football/soccer game but I couldn’t get a good picture.  He was funny. Then on Friday we had a strong family class at Ilima.  Many came and they enjoyed the game we played.  We try to make everything we do very simple for them to do at home.  We try to emphasise having fun with your family.
Sunday when we went to Kilili we took family pictures for the Branch Book.  We have more all the time writing their personal histories.  That is the only way they get their family picture.  Works Great!   We also had New Beginnings after church.  There was close to 20 girls as those in boarding school were home for a break.

Mitini priesthood member digging way down for soil samples.  They are hoping for approval on a new church building. Bruce tried to trick me and told me they were digging new toilets wholes.  

Family Class game at Ilima. They love games

They wanted Bruce to be the goalie

Soccer is called football here and it's big

We were surprised how intense the game got.

After dividing up into 4 groups they shared ideas for Youth Conference

Sometimes these girls are very shy and sometimes they are hilarious.  They like to tease Elder Hall 

The best part of YW New Beginnings Chapattis, Soda, and some Banana Cake.

Ester and Samuel have 16 children and they are preparing to go to the temple

April 8-15, 2012

It’s the end of another week and as I sit and review the week I would have to say listening to conference was one of the high-lights for me. I just asked Bruce what he thought the highlight of the week was and he said “We made it home safely everyday” so that is pretty much a true statement and actually a high-light that we hope continues.

On the 11^th of April we were half-way through our mission. I wanted to celebrate and do something but bowling or a movie was out and we weren’t really hungry! Darn! So we just did a regular evening but it was fun to finally get to this day.

We had Friday off and I was busy working on personal histories and Bruce was working on member temple arrangements, when we got a special assignment to go pick up two sick elders and bring them in to the Dr. We left at 11:00 in the morning and did not return until 6:30. At one point we had to bow our heads and have a word of prayer in the truck because we were stuck in terrible traffic and the Doctors office was going to close. Almost immediately the traffic started to shuffle a bit and began to slowly move forward. We made it and the Dr. gave the OK on the Elders. Wild day but it turned out well.

Sunday we went to Ilima and because of the heavy rains the roads were thick with mud. The hillsides had sloughed off into the road and made it impassable. So we parked the truck and walked up to the chapel. This time I did not fall down in the mud Hurray. By the time we started down to the truck it was a little dryer and we had many children to escort us. They are so loving.

Skyline of Nairobi. A totally different view than what we see out to Kilungu Hills

After church, Branch President Simon and a young adult were challenged to see who could do the most push ups. He won easily, both were surprised.

The Ilima chapel got a new coat of paint and they added on at the back. It looks so nice.

Walking down to the truck with my sweet escorts. We sang primary songs as we went.

Two friends at church, both married and both members. The one with the white top fellowshipped who was baptised in November.