Weekly Update 9/23/07

We traveled 5 days this week and used Mon. & Wed. as prep days to maintain the pad, lay in a few supplies, and prepare the variety of different training and lessons for the week. Tue. we were at Kilili and while Sis. Bishop was working with the YW and RS I was teaching some new member discussions with 3 recent converts and then reviewing the building that the church rents there to see what could be done to keep the birds out of the meeting/classrooms and Presidents Office. Thur. in Kyambeke Sis. B started with some English students while I studied in the BOM with an investigator and member. These people want to participate so badly in the church meetings but the language barrier is tough to overcome. Especially for the adults who are not involved in the school system. I appreciate their frustration as we are trying to become sufficiently familiar with their Kkumba (local language that is really not Swahili) to assist in the English course work. I thought we could just write their words next to ours but illiteracy is also a factor so that they can't read their own language. Friday we were at Ilima and I spent time in Mission Prep with Joshua then worked with the Elder's Quorum Pres. Sis B met with the RS and Primary. Before we left Pres. Simon took us to see a crippled girl who is retarded enough that she can't talk. Her parents have died and she is living with her aged grandpa who is currently at hospital in Nairobi. The RS goes in to help her each day but they just leave her on the floor through the day so she wont soil her bed. Quite an effort as many of these ladies live some kms away and have to walk wherever they go. There are none of the people in the area that have anything more than a bike and most just walk. Some live more than 10 kms from the chapel and are walking on winding hill (almost mountainous) roads. Saturday we were back to Kilili as that is the only day that we can spend much time with Pres. Makiti as he is a school teacher. I finally completed their financial audit and then spent time reviewing their special needs and how we could help. Sis B was helping the Primary Pres with some final preparations for their Sacrament Program. We got back to Nairobi a little earlier as all the couples were having dinner with the John Bestor Family over by the US Embassy. He is the brother to Curt Bestor (pianist/composer) and is with the FBI assigned to the Embassy. They had A&W Rootbeer to go with the barbecue which was a real treat. Sunday was back to Kyambeke for services. Pres. Mbondo had invited a non-member couple and they were there. Because of his respect for the pres. he wanted to be baptized right then but I convinced him there were a few things we needed to talk about first. We will be teaching them this Thurs. Sis B will be starting keyboarding classes at all the branches as early as this week and I will be working with another English class so our plate is really filling up. We could certainly be more effective if we didn't have to spend 6+ hours traveling each day but because of several concerns, not the least of which is security, that just can't happen right now. We try to get away by 0645 before the traffic snarls up and return by 1800 as that is when it is starting to get dark here.