Weekly Update 7-7-08

Well We have had connection problems with the internet every time I have tried since Saturday but it finally let me connect tonight (Monday) so I will try to get something off. It was sure great to have my folks here for a week. We got out and did a few things that we have been meaning to check out since our arrival. They arrived late Wednesday the 25th and we dropped them at the airport Thursday the 3rd as we came back from Kyambeke. A week is not very long to see all the sights here especially when you are trying to adjust to a radically different time zone but they were great sports about it all. We visited the elephant orphanage, Bomas of Kenya Africa Dancers and acrobats (a dude actually limboed under a flaming spear propped on 2 coke bottles), the Giraffe Park to pet and kiss the animals, Kazuri Beads where they provide employment for some 300 single mothers to manufacture beads which are shipped world wide, did a little bartering at the Masai Market and then drove through the Nairobi game park. Sunday we went to church in Kilili where the folks both spoke and then were invited to one of the members to see the avocados and citrus trees in his shamba. We then drove up to the Tzavo Game Park and stayed at the Kilaguni Lodge for two nights and did a couple of game drives but actually saw more animals from the dining hall that overlooks a watering hole there. Thursday the folks went up country with us and we stopped so Grandma could give a quilt she had made to Barb's namesake before we went to do our classes at Kyambeke. I guess we will call those 7 days of diversion from our normal duties our hump day celebration. It is just a little early as it is not until the 15th of July that we hit the half way mark and start down hill. Already I am seeing that we will be hard pressed to finish all our goals but we are progressing it is just that time goes by so fast when we stay so busy. We were thinking that today would give us a chance to organize a few things for training opportunities this week but then got a call early this morning that one of the guys we had baptized was picking up his wife from the Kenyatta Hospital and wanted us to come and help him. We meant him at 1:00 and didn't get back here until 6:00 which was just enough time to warm up some left overs and then go to FHE at the Pococks. During the process we had the privilege of driving through the Kibera Slums which at over 1,000,000 people is the largest on the continent. We had just about got clear through it when we found a bridge was out so had to turn around and retrace our route. The road we were on was never big enough for two vehicles and would just barely accommodate one in many places and there were pedestrians everywhere and many seemed unwilling to share the road with us. Several hundred of the young people wanted to share their English with us which generally consisted of them yelling how are you as we drove by. Not sure why were lucky enough to be born where we were but I am definitely convinced that much is truly expected of us who were so privileged.

Fortunately the members here were very understanding of our desire to spend a week with our folks and we are picking right back up where we were a week ago. Another young man in Kyambeke showed up last Thursday wanting to start on his missionary application (that will make 7 from our 3 branches). Taught another 1st discussion to a young man in Ilima Sunday and there is a young married woman who we hope to begin teaching in Kilili as early as tomorrow. We brought 2 of the pre-missionaries back with us Sunday and they are working with the Dr., the DDS, and then finishing up their document prep before we take them back up country later this week.

Saw some interesting road kill on the Mombasa Highway yesterday. It had been run over enough that I couldn't get a positive ID but the way it was spotted it was either leopard or cheetah. It reminded me of a short article I had seen in the paper the previous week that warned motorists in one of the northern areas that elephants were grazing along side the road after dark each evening so to be extra alert. Can you imagine what it would be like to hit one of those animals with the small cars that are driven here? I think even the big things we drive in the states would not fair too well in such an encounter.

I have still not gotten used to seeing the locals wrapped up in their coats, scarfs, and wool hats to combat the 50+ degree weather we are having here but then they don't have quite as much personal insulation as I. I did print off pictures of the grandkids playing in the snow in Idaho and Utah this winter to show them when they bemoan just how cold it is here. One did point out to me today that I also have considerable more hair covering my body also which is true as these folks have no hair on their arms and even their scalps are generaly trimmed very close. I still find it rather uncomfortable to wear a suit jacket so only do so on Sundays.

I think I will call it quits for this update and try to get a few pictures off yet tonight. Barb and I want to thank all who sent remembrances of some kind during June. Your considerations made our transitions to the 60s a little easier.

Elder & Sister Bishop