Christmas Update 12-25-07

It is 11:00 AM Christmas Day and I just finished washing the vehicle as David, who normally does it, is up country visiting his wife and kids for the holidays. Six of the Nairobi couples got together for FHE last night. We sang a few carols and read an open theater type version of all the people involved in that first Christmas. A bunch of us (last count I heard was 22) are getting together for dinner at 2:00 today. I stayed up and watched a dvd of Mr. Bean I borrowed from one of the couples last evening. Ma and I went for a walk this morning and admired those flowers and lush green flora that are not covered with campaign posters. Just not the same kind of Christmas I am used to. We are in the middle of getting a land line (phone) put in our flat and the tech at Telkom assured me it would be in by the 25th so we could call home but silly me forgot to ensure that he meant 2007 and not 2008. With Boxing Day and Elections, I don't think there is another work day here until Friday so our calls will have to wait as we have given up trying to communicate out of country on our cell phone.

Elections are very interesting to say the least and these next few days should be very enlightening. This is only their 9th election since gaining independence so they are still trying to figure out how to conduct them fairly and equitably. Balloting is Thursday and yesterday (Monday) was the last day they could legally campaign. There continues to be a few deaths by machete of opposing party members, car burnings, and several other forceful expressions of opinions. The whole area is literally covered in posters with them glued to trees, roads, rocks and anything else at hand. Not sure who is going to win but the majority seems to think that if the incumbent does it is because of rigging so I really wonder how peaceful things will be these next few days. We have stocked up enough provisions to just stay in our secure compound until we get an all clear.

No dramatic changes in our schedule this last week except we did run into some mud and traffic problems enroute to Ilima on Friday so turned around and came back. President Taylor had scheduled some training for the 3 Branch Presidents at the Kyambeke building on Saturday so I still got to make the usual 4 trips despite the aborted effort on Friday. I ran President Makiti back to Kilili afterwards and loaded up with 300+ Apple Mangos from his Shamba as everyone had said how I needed to bring them some when they ripened. Turns out the potential market had pretty much left for the holidays or it just wasn't convenient at this time. We donated a bunch to an orphanage and have been giving them as presents but still have quite a few left. They are just now getting ripe enough to eat. Next time I only take orders though.

We are still working with an active investigator pool of 22 but are hoping to be able to shift our emphasis to a Temple Preparation Program in the coming year. There are only 2 endowed members in the Kilunga Hills and they are returned missionaries who went through in South Africa while at the MTC there. Because of the high crime in South Africa all the Sister Missionaries there were transferred to other Missions this last week. Four of them ended up here in Kenya, Nairobi. One is a Sister Essma from Twin Falls. There was an earth tremor here Sunday afternoon. We didn't feel anything and I don't know if it was because we are in a daylight basement type flat or were still vibrating from our trip home on the bumpy roads but the others all felt it.Need to get cleaned up for the festivities so will close for now and try and send a few pictures later. Hope all are having a safe and happy holiday.

Weekly Update 12-18-07

Here it is Tuesday evening already and I am just getting around to the weekly update. Internet support has been terrible lately. Not sure why unless it is because all the kids are on break from school or just the Christmas crunch. The number of investigators in the Kyambeke group grew to 11 but as I was reading in the Book of Mormon with them it is evident that it could be a few months before we get them all comfortable with the English familiarity. The Ilima group has grown to 8 but there are two of them who will not be ready for a couple of months and I am struggling with whether to try and keep them as a group. I sure don't want those two older sisters to get discouraged and give up.

Sister Bishop's 10 additional keyboards arrived last week and I am not sure who was more excited, her or her students. She is getting them placed so those who desire to put forth the effort have the opportunity to practice which has not been possible too much with just 1 available in each location on a permanent basis. She is having a positive impact on the music quality in each branch but it does continue to surprise us from time to time to hear some versions of the hymns that they have developed on their own. We are trying to teach them that it is important for them to be able to go to any church unit in the world and feel comfortable singing with them. Yes I know for those who are familiar with the quality of my singing voice, or lack there of, it is inconceivable to think I could teach them anything and I don't even try. These people do have beautiful voices and are not bashful at singing but there grasp of tempo and timing has been self taught for the most part which makes for some very interesting music at times. One of my more interesting events is the several times the brethren have sang the last hymn in the LDS song book for a priesthood selection. Remember they have not been an English Colony for over 34 years now. When we were ferrying the prospective Missionaries last week we had some Christmas Carols playing in the vehicle and I don't think they recognized any of them.

We spent Saturday procuring enough crayons and plain paper notebooks for the 150 primary kids in the 3 branches to get at their respective Branch Parties but because of the elections on the 27th and President Taylor's desire for us to be inconspicuous we will not be there to party with any of them but maybe next year. We are delivering the gifts along with a little candy on our visits this week.All the missionary couples were invited for a pre-Christmas dinner courtesy of the Bestors and Gundersons at the Embassy Housing last Saturday and 8 of the couples were able to make it. It was pretty close to what we have at home and was sure appreciated. Both those families rotate to other assignments this next year and their willingness to bring a little bit of America to us displaced oldies will sure be missed.

Hope this short report finds all well with our support group there. Remember to keep Christ in Christmas but do have a great holiday season. Elder & Sister Bishop

Pictures 12-16-07

This first picture is an example of the way the trucks we play tag with each day are loaded down. This load is not very heavy however as it is a load of mattresses. The majority of the ones they sale here are just these 3 & 6 inch thick foam pads covered with material.

These next 2 are of the flat now that we have finished fixing a few things. We first had the floor patched and refinished. Then since we had everything stacked in the other room we had the walls patched and added a little color. I assumed when they did the floor that they would do the hall in stages because they knew we were still living in the flat but imagin our chgrin and surprise when we came home to find the floor completely painted and still some 10 hours from drying. There are a few footprints in the hall now where they need to re-sand and varnish. Because we are on the ground floor in a rather high moisture area and I surmise there is no vapor barrier between our cement walls and the ground, there are several places above the baseboard where the cement blisters. I am not sure if these will diminish when the rainy season subsides. We do however feel a lot more comfortable in our little flat here now.

This picture shows our efforts at Christmas decorations this year. The few trees we have seen are fake although we did we see what appeared to be 2 fir shaped trees being offered by the street vendors that wander between the vehicles stopped in traffic jams. With the temperatures ranging between 80 to 58 each day it is tough to get the same thrill from the few decorations we see so we are relying heavily on pictures and memories this year.

We ran across one of Santa's Helpers in the local Nakumatt (Kenyan version of a Wal Mart) and he was pleased to pose with us.

Weekly Update 12-11-07

Our report is a little late this week because we have had 3 prospective missionaries with us since last Sunday and when we have had a few minutes for other things the internet server was down. We brought the elders home from our visit to the Kilili Branch on Sunday. They are great young men and it has been fun to assist them with their medical, dental and passport work. They thought it was great to have more than one item on the menu for a meal (we kind of take that for granted don't we). They weren't too sure about the ice cream after they found how cold it was (these guys don't have electricity in their village so a fridge is unheard of) but I think Grandpa Ice Cream has them liking it now. It was their first time ever to a dentist and they only had 7 cavities between the 3 of them but the dentist did give a strong lecture on brushing their teeth after she spent the time giving them their first cleaning ever. In Africa prospective missionaries have to have their passports before they can send their paperwork to Salt Lake as that turns into a considerable challenge sometimes. We are hoping to have all the preliminary stuff done by next Wednesday (one of them has to come back for 2 more cavities to be filled) and then are just waiting on the government to make a determination on travel authorizations. The branch has just over 200 members and these 3 will make 4 missionaries currently serving from their unit. There is a young woman currently serving at Temple Square from their village. Those of you who subscribe to the Church News and still have the October Conference edition will find a picture of Sister Faith Joseph with her companion from Brazil in that issue.The Super Activity for the young people from Ilima didn't come off all that well as their bus got stuck as they were leaving the hills and then traffic jams really slowed them down so they were unable to spend more than just a few hours here in Nairobi. They had already requested that we not worry about assisting them with their noon meal as even the name pizza had some of them concerned and they weren't sure they wanted to try it.We were able to teach the first discussion to 9 young people in Kyambeke last week and are expecting good results from that experience. I am in the process of getting a generator so that we can make use of some of the published media material in our work there. We have a TV and DVD player in our flat that we will haul with us and I located an old VCR player in the mission storage that appears to be functional as many of the available materials are somewhat dated. We do have a CD player in our truck that sees a lot of use during our 25 to 30 hours of travel each week. We are continuing our discussions with the 6 people in Ilima and have another 1st scheduled with a man in Kyambeke that is neighbor to a fellow that has just returned to activity.We finally got the new beds all set up for the dispensary in Kyambeke and are helping them reactivate their electrical support system and build up a lab of sorts. We spent a couple of hours at the Catholic hospital in Kikoko last week and identified quite a few items that we can hopefully get the LDS charities folk to assist with. That hospital provides support to some 80,000 plus people and it is amazing to see what little they have available to do it with. The mortality rate among both mothers and children is not very good.Well the sun is coming up and we have a bunch of items that need attention before nightfall so will sign off for now. Thanks for all the pictures we have received via the internet lately they are really appreciated

Pictures 12-4-07

The first picture is the washout that tried to eat our truck last Friday. The rain was pouring down most of the time we were working to jack it up and get rocks under the tires so we could back out. Once we got it out and the rain quit we were entertaining a bunch of the young children that lived near by while we were waiting for the members to bring Mwende down. We had some Dr. Seus books someone had sent over to help in the English classes and we gave them to the kids as we have found that some of the language used in his books is a little hard to explain to someone who is struggling to make sense of our strange language (what is this who that Horton hears and how come cats wear hats?). You can see the librarian near our truck with her newest patrons.

The next three are for those who have been worried about Mwende's new home. They took her right in and gave her a bath and put ointment on her feet then carried her around for everyone else to see their newest friend. They tucked her in bed with the pink blanket we had given her then covered her with another quilt and I swear she looked almost like she was smiling. There is a rose garden just outside the room that she sleeps in and we tried to show that in the last picture.

The next two pictures were at the funeral. You can see the 'goodtime Gospel Singers' in the first one. The second shows the modified vault before it was covered. Note how the flowers go in with the casket and not on top of the grave.

The last is at Joseph's baptism and yes all the rain in the hills has made their drinking water a little muddy but they did put some chlorine in it just in case there were any bugs that can live in water that muddy. I was wondering if I keep getting in water like that if it might be like coloring easter eggs and I could get as dark as these folks.

Weekly Update 12-3-07

Just a few quick notes this morning as we have a rather large list of things we need to get done here in Nairobi in the next two days before we go back on the road in support of the folks in Kilungu Hills.We are making progress with Julius' Mission Prep. as he spent Tue & Wed evenings in our spare bedroom. I don't think he ever really got in the bed but just rolled up in some quilts on top. It is quite a bit cooler here in Nairobi than in the hills. We got him to the doc & and dentist and have follow up appointments on the 11th. We have everything to submit for his passport which he needs to have before he can submit his paperwork to the church. They are somewhat restrictive on letting their folks even travel to other providences/countries here in Africa so the passport thing is a major hurdle.We were able to get Mwende to her new home on Friday which was no small task as it started raining fairly hard as we were making the final approach to Ilima and we ended up sliding into a washout. Some of the local folks helped us jack up the rig and get some rocks under the wheels so we could back out and a good share of this was done in a fairly healthy down pour. The members brought Mwende down to us and we headed back here to town. She traveled rather well in the back seat with Sister Bishop. She ate most of Sister Bishop's sandwich and entertained herself with a plastic wrapper from a breakfast bar and we even heard her humming along with some of the christmas carols that were playing on the cd. The sisters at Mother Theresa's home were very welcoming and had her bathed and tucked in bed before we left. Good chance she could blossom somewhat in that new environment where she could have interaction with others on a steady basis.We spent Saturday at a funeral for President Makiti's father. It was our first and very informative. Sister Bishop accompanied the local members for several hymns and I was called on to say a few words during the LDS portion of the service. Of the several 100 people there only approximately 30 were members. The deceased had been baptized but then was excommunicated when they found he had 3 wives (polygamy is rather common in some of the tribes here). Although most of his families were raised by the time of his conversion he chose not to abandon any of his wives so hence the church discipline. He continued to pay his tithing and asked his son how the branch was doing on a regular basis. Two of his 17 children are members at Kilili but most live in other areas. Not sure if any other are members. Most of eulogies were either in Swahili or Kumba and I am not good enough to tell the difference but a fair portion of the folks did understand English. The event began 11:00 and we left at 4:30 so it was an all day affair complete with food and tribal dancing. We had some goat stew and rice and I tried some of the fried intestines (tastes like liver and I would have enjoyed it with some ketchup). Sister Bishop just picked out a potato to have with her rice as the goat did look pretty tough. I think I want to have some of those dancers at my funeral as they lent a rather entertaining atmosphere. He was buried there on the family Shamba and the vault they had prepared was too small so some emergency expansion was being done on it by a local mason and was ready by the time the burial took place. I don't think they embalm them here so the casket has a plastic seal to allow the viewing but not let any smells out. It is critical that they have them buried within 9 days of death but I assume that there is a refrigeration process involved in the care of the corpse pending the funeral.Sunday we were back at Kyambeke for Joseph's baptism. Because of the recent heavy rains the water was very muddy but he is going to be a very devout member. With the schools being out for the month we are going to try and get a few of the young people taught and baptized that were not done as 8 year olds. There are 13 of them from 9 to 15 at Kyambeke and not sure how many others might show at the other branches.We did get our flat put back together with a few exceptions and it does look considerably better. We are hosting the weekly Home Evening tonight. The youth from Ilima are coming to Nairobi for a super activity tomorrow and we are not sure of the numbers or their agenda yet but are expecting to help them with their noon meal. There is a local place that offers two for one pizza on Tuesdays and it doesn't taste to bad so that will probably be the menu and it will be a first for most of the kids. Not sure on the adults.This months schedule is packed pretty full up to the 23rd but our calendar is blank for the balance of the month with the exception of a wedding on the 29th. President Simon and his wife are having the civil ceremony required by the church before they can go to the temple. We have been asked to help with the cake and it is proving to be another one of those learning experiences. President Taylor (the Mission President) has asked all the missionaries to lay low the last week of December untill it is determined what kind of fall out there is from the general election on the 27th. I will get a few pictures to Bethany for the blog site in the next few days. We love you all and wouldn't mind seeing some pictures of kids in snow as the weather here is just not very christmasy. Elder & Sister Bishop