Weekly Update 10-15-07

Well this has certainly been another week. Sometimes we get the feeling that we appear like a big meal ticket to the Africans, both members and non-members alike. We have to be so careful as the goal is to develop self-reliance not dependency. We are working with the branch in the low-lands to procure a little food until harvest time as they had a rather dry season last year. Their requested regimen is 10 kg of maize, 5 kg beans, and 100 grams of fat per month per member until the next harvest in January. Seems like pretty meager rations but is it a solution that fosters reliance or dependency? Maybe when the harvest comes in this year if we can figure a way to preserve the stuff we can get them to put those kinds of quantities away for next year. Wish there was a dry pack canner and supply of cans nearby. We are unsure as to whether there is a Bishop's Storehouse anywhere on this Continent. Another branch wants us to help them procure seeds and fertilizer for the impending rainy season, which seems like a better solution but since both us and the mission president are in our first season we have to wonder why there seems such a dearth of seeds in an area that has been devoted to subsistence farming for so many years. I tell myself that hopefully we are equipping them with a heartier variety of plant that will benefit them but then wonder if a portion of what we provide wont just end up for sale on the local market. You might accuse me of becoming jaded but until you live in the conditions here that accusation would be unfair. Even in relief efforts one must be so careful to use trusted African Agents as the price can escalate rapidly if the system detects that there are Wazungus (plural for white people) involved. After church services yesterday we were immediately challenged with a couple of situations of need. One was the 1st Councilor's wife that felt she needed to get to the clinic in Kikoko and wanted us to transport her. We have grown quite fond of this sister but our mission rules strictly forbid the use of the vehicle for non-missionary transport and we would have to have passed some of the members on the road who are aware of the rules we have to abide by. It is really tough to drive by faithful sisters with their children knowing that some walk up to 10kms one way whenever they come to church. The other situation was a sister who is a great support in our English Classes who needed to get to the doctor for some medication. She is HIV positive, thanks to her husband who died several years ago, and last year lost one of her 14 year old twin daughters to birth related HIV. The other twin is fortunately negative.
On the upside the Primary Program presented in the branch we attended went off pretty well thanks to the efforts of Sister Bishop who was called on to extemporaneously provide the closing remarks as the councilor was home with his sick wife. We had another potential investigator show up on his own and requested a Book of Mormon. He is a minister for another church but seemed very sincere in his desire to learn more about us. LDS charities has done some work in the area with some boreholes (wells) and are investigating a support need for a local school so hopefully our supposed kinship with the devil is being questioned somewhat. Francis and Sarah were at church again and we will make a decision on Thursday as to whether they are ready for baptism in the next few weeks. Francis thinks our message is important enough that he is of the opinion we need to go door to door to tell people about it (the lesson on missionary work is part of the new member discussions).
They have had a few light showers in the Kalunga Hills so they are expecting their rainy season to start any time now. Depending on the amount of moisture that could impact our access to that area thanks to the roads we have to use but only time will tell. Their weather patterns are different from what we experience here in Nairobi due to the difference in altitude. We continue to have several brief storms a week so the rainy season is going to be interesting to us when it arrives. As we were coming home on the Mombasa Highway last Thursday there had been a storm through that left one of the deviations we negotiate impassable to the heavy truck traffic as the hills were too slick for them to go up or down. We dodged around them and when we traveled the same road Friday morning it had already become a dust bowl again.
We rode out to the Kitengela Glass Factory here in Nairobi with another couple on our P-Day Saturday. Typical of us we forgot and left our camera home but if you what to see some weird whimsical stuff you might google that name on the internet. They even have some animals penned up around the grounds (they quit raising goats because the Leopords would come and eat them at night and they wouldn't make enough noise to alert the herdsman to scare them away). Elder Bishop was feeding some leaves to one of the ostriches when the big bird decided he wanted to see what the Elder's pointy finger tasted like. They have a really big beak!
Well that is it for another week. If any of you should get the urge to send us a quick e-mail please yield to the prompting. Your short thoughts are much appreciated. It is 6:30am Monday morning here and time to go to work (that makes it 9:30pm Sunday evening back in the Mountain Time Zone of Meridian). God bless you all.