It is Monday evening here now and I have let the day slip by without an update so will repent before retiring for the evening. For FHE tonight it was our first opportunity for all 7 couples to be together in June so we spent the evening telling stories of our relationships with our fathers. The other couples are impressed that my Dad and Mom are coming to spend a week and Barb and I are really looking forward with great anticipation to their arrival in 48 hours. Since we didn't take a break with the other couples during the conference in early May we have a few diversions planned for the week they will be here but we are also planning on getting them up country with us a few times. Hope the weather cooperates as it has been rather unpredictable as of late. The long rainy season is suppose to be over now but it did rain fairly good early this morning. Not sure if they got any moisture up country but they sure need it to salvage any beans or maize out of this growing season. I will admit by local standards it is turning a little chilly but then that just means lower 50s and we can see our breath on our early morning walks once we have worked up our body temperatures. I remind myself and my companion that despite what the locals say that since there is no snow its not really cold. The Kulunga Hills are quite often shrouded in a pretty heavy fog when we arrive in the mornings lately but it is pretty well burnt off when we leave each afternoon. The moisture present in those fog banks is insufficient to do the crops much good but it does keep the road dust down some what.
Not much changed in our programs up country with the exception of starting a "Teacher Development Course" with 5 members in the Kyambeke Branch and another young man approached us seeking help to submit paperwork for a mission application. That will make 6 missionaries in the field from our 3 little branches when we leave here in 12 months. That will be a big boost in branch leadership potential 2 years down the road once these 6 all return home. We are still trying to prepare the paperwork for a new branch in the Matini area but have had a hard time locating maps to support the application request. Thought we had solved that when I sent a letter to the Ministry of Lands but it turns out that the minister himself has to approve my request before any one can sell us the map sections we need. Not sure if the feet dragging is a way of seeking a bribe but have decided that if we don't have positive results by the time the folks leave on 3 July that I am just going to trot out my cartography skills and draw a sketch map of my own design. How do you think the brethren in Salt Lake will respond if I identify slow and no go areas with likely avenues of approach covered with overlapping fields of fire?
They have opened a couple of new sections of road lately which would seem to ease the strain of our road trips each day but not so as they have just created some longer deviations in other areas of our travels. I have pretty well convinced myself that most of the roadwork going on in the areas we traverse will not be completed during our stay in Africa. Well I need to sign off so I will be alert for tomorrows travels. Not sure when I will get a report off next week as we will be at the Kilaguni Lodge in Tsavo (the T is silent) next Monday. If any of you have seen the movie of the 2 killer lions that devoured a goodly number of people while they were constructing the railroad from Mombasa to Uganda well that really happened and it was in Tsavo. If I remember the story right those two stuffed beasts are on display now either in the Smithsonian or a museum in Chicago so we should be relatively safe and it will give the folks a chance to see more elephants and lions than are in the game park here in Nairobi.
Elder & Sister Bishop
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment