Weekly Update 2-22-09

It's Sunday evening but we leave for another trip to the Johannesburg Temple in the AM so a quick update is in order. Logged a lot of hours and miles this week. Had some good experiences along the way. The Kilili trip on Tuesday was the usual. Got to the embassy for a bunch of valentine treats via the APO on Wednesday plus finished up a few missing items on the last two missionary applications. Still have one hanging fire waiting on a school leaving certificate. Thursday's and Friday's trips up-country were a little protracted as the Randalls (the new employment missionaries) did a workshop in Kyambeke and traveled with us both days. Our events list was a little abbreviated so that many could attend the workshop. I took the assistants with me Saturday to do baptismal interviews and we didn't get back until 7:30 and they were working all the time. We got 22 converts cleared for the baptism we will be holding next Saturday. The branch is also having seven 8 year old children of record so hope we can come up with enough whites and towels to support the event. The young people from the Saturday group I have been working with did great and it was very moving to see their excitement. There are also 15 adults from age 55 on down included in the group and they were just as excited as the teenagers just a little less animated. Unfortunately there were several that need to be a little more diligent in their preparation. There were a couple of the ladies from our English classes that showed up so we need to shift the focus of those English Lessons to some gospel centered topics now. There are 4 of those dear ladies that have been working very hard on the English and I hope we can get them through the interview before the next 4 months are up. We have 2 more weeks of temple prep after our return from Johannesburg so it is pretty much up to the aspirants now to complete their travel documents and we have told them first come first served as far as slots for the 18 May trip. Had another young man from Ilima approach us about assisting him with his mission application so that makes three from that branch we hope to complete before our departure. Stellamaris has her birth certificate so we have Dr./DDS. appointments scheduled for 2 March and will complete her Passport application before taking her back up-country. Working with the young people so closely as of late has sure stirred the desire to spend some time with our own grandchildren. We spend a few minutes each day checking the blogs and e-mail hoping to see a new update. The weather has been warm and dry but all are hoping for a good rainy season to begin here shortly. The country once we leave Nairobi is very brown but there are a lot of wildlife making the most of it. It has increased the number of zebra and wildebeest sightings as we travel but our favorite continues to be those big graceful giraffes. We saw 8 of them and 15 monkeys as we traveled to Kilili for church this morning. Well must throw a few more items in the suitcase and then toss myself in bed. Safe journey. (That is a Kenyan departure wish we get whenever we leave from up-country)

Elder & Sister Bishop

Weekly Update 2-16-09

Just a lot of traveling again this week. Felt like we did accomplish a little with each visit we had with our branches. Got another Young man in Kilili started on his mission papers but will probably not be able to have them submitted before our departure in June. Just another one of those seeds that the next people assigned there will have to nourish. Had some more folks show to begin discussions at Kyambeke on Sunday. It is a bit of a challenge to have more than 10 folks in a discussion and they are all at different stages. The young men who are waiting for their mission calls are a great help there and we hope to get several of our potential candidates interviewed for baptism this Saturday. The folks going to the Temple on next Monday are getting very excited as they speculate what it is like to fly and all the other new experiences they will have. With the extra trip we make up-country on Saturdays now we sure seem to have very little extra time to work the tasks that can only be done here in Nairobi which just seems to make the week fly by. We are hoping with the upcoming interviews and baptisms that we can start spending our Saturdays in the recovery mode although I will have to do a Saturday visit to Kilili as the teachers have settled their strike which means President Makiti is back in school when we visit there on Tuesdays and I haven't completed that branch's audit yet. They are suppose to be accomplished in February but events have overcome me and it will have to be early March instead. Well I know this is a little short and disjointed but that is just kind of how the whole week has been with our arrivals back here at the flat being a little later each day. The trip to Johannesburg is going to be a much appreciated respite for a few days. Hope all are doing well and that Valentines Day was enjoyed by all. My treat to Sister Bishop was getting a branch missionary to accompany me Saturday so she could catch up on some things here at the apartment (read that as not having to endure my driving the bumpy route).

Elder & Sister Bishop

Weekly Update 2-10-09

It is 4:30 Tuesday morning. The internet devoured my update when I tried to send it last evening and it wont allow me to access it this morning so I am typing this into the Word Program with the hope that I can send it upon our return home this evening. There were no big new and startling events this week just a lot of the same work we have been involved in all along. If I can figure out how to do it I hope to send a copy of the February calendar before the week is out to document what our time was like while here. In case the readers of these weekly updates haven’t stumbled to my methods here I am for the first time in my life trying to keep a journal as we are so often counseled to do. This procrastinator is hoping that the “Big Guy” will allow me to check the block for that assignment with these efforts.

I continue to make the additional Saturday trip to work with the kids tied up in school on the weekdays. Sister Bishop gave up the joys of laundry and house cleaning to accompany me this week but has determined that she will stay and enjoy the drudgery of house hold chores rather than the rigors of the trip for the balance of the month. One of the Branch Missionaries will accompany me this Saturday and the Assistants will go for baptismal interviews the following week. We keep having more people show up for the missionary lessons each week so hope to be able to have a baptismal service on the 28^th upon our return from Johannesburg and the Temple that week.

We finished up all the paperwork for Visas which is the last hurdle for the Temple trip. Now we just spend time trying to calm nerves and fears. When the biggest event in your life to date is a matatu ride to Nairobi, an international flight to a foreign country can be somewhat intimidating. It is more than just a little humbling to see these folks react to the housing and in-door kitchen with amenities such as a microwave that is provided at the patron housing in Johannesburg. It keeps reminding me that where much is given much is expected. I hope our efforts here somewhat balance the scale for all the blessings I have received in my life.

Our FHE this week was a viewing of “A Giant Among Men” the Gordon B Hinckley movie that one of the couples had received for Christmas. For treats we had root beer floats which can only be made with extract from home laced with club soda. Just 4 ½ months and we can go back to drinking the real stuff again. Root Beer is only available in the commissary at the embassy here and that is only available to embassy employees and their families which just makes it another one of those American Amenities that we do with out for a short while. I wonder if it is available on the other side of the vail?

We had a little rain again this week which besides making for a very dirty vehicle gives hope of a good rainy season which is the best solution to the drought and famine that is somewhat prevalent at present. A few more bodies were found in the clean up process of the Naukamatt fire here in Nairobi and several more of the injured from the tanker fire up-country passed so that the fatality count has now surpassed 150. Several countries are sending in plastic surgeons to assist in the care of the living fire casualties.

Well that is pretty much a recap of life here this past week so I will close once again and finish my preparations for another day on this side of the world. Hope all is well there and that everyone has an enjoyable Valentine’s Day. Just know that I love “My Special Valentine” and appreciate being here with her now. I love her for putting up with me and the rest of this mob we call a family and know that none of us would be much without her.

Have a great week!

Weekly Update 2-1-09

It's Monday afternoon and time to crank out another update. We got out and about a little earlier than our average Monday as we were hoping to find a good resolution to our vehicle dilemma. We are still getting around in the 2 wheel drive long bed as they worked on ours at General Motors all week and finally released it Saturday evening except it was still doing the same thing so I just left it at the Mission Office so the fleet manager could deal with it this morning. He called General Motors and said he was fixing to replace several of the fleet's vehicles but if they didn't come up with a loaner while they figured out what is troubling our vehicle that he would not be ordering them from GM. Not sure if that will generate a resolution for us. As we haven't had any rain since Monday of last week we were able to make it to all our destinations with the 2 wheel drive last week but the uncovered bed requires we haul everything in the cab with us. Rather crowded in the single cab and we are only able to drag a small portion of our usual load with us at that. Sister B's keyboard stayed home all last week and I had to put off transporting the video equipment until my Saturday solo journey to Kyambeke. Also to make some of the grades we pull I have to keep the RPMs up which makes for an even rougher ride than usual.

Had 2 new investigators show up at Ilima Friday so we are staying pretty busy as we visit each of our branches. We are not working with any investigators at Kilili but have enough at the other two so that we struggle to meet everyone's needs. The time spent with the school students on Saturday is both rewarding and frustrating. They all read pretty well but only a few have the understanding part down very well so not sure how many of them will pass their interview and I hate to see them have a disappointing experience. We have scheduled the Assistants with us on the 21st to give them all an opportunity to meet their goal but not sure what the end results will be. Right now there are 9 young folks and 13 adults in our teaching pool and a couple of others that are still working on some Word of Wisdom issues.

I bumped the Temple for a May/June date for our current batch of Temple Prep aspirants and they have indicated the potential number of children identified can not be accommodated in one group. I guess we will just see which ones demonstrate their desire by the effort they put into obtaining their documents. Maybe that will reduce the anticipated group size but if not we will just find another solution. I certainly do not want to discourage any of them but their desire does need to be manifest in some reasonable effort on their part.

I would assume the two fire tragedies experienced here in Kenya last week made the international news. We certainly heard a lot on the BBC Africa channel that we frequently monitor on our road trips. The store that burned is less than a mile from our flat and we got stuck in a traffic jam for close to 2 hours as we were returning from the embassy at the time of the fire. Currently they have found 27 bodies but the number of potential victims is 52. There are still 25 folks that are unaccounted for. The overturned fuel tanker up north is at 101 deaths with another 127 burn victims. You might wonder how so many got involved but we have witnessed 2 over turned tankers ourselves and the people just pour out of the hills dragging anything that might hold liquid. They swarm over the hapless vehicle and often are down on their hands and knees scooping the stuff into the containers. It would really be quite pointless if not life threatening to try and deter them in their quest. We saw a semi full of cooking fat overturned on one trip and there were a few policemen trying to protect the contents but they were severely outnumbered and I think their club swinging arms just got so tired that they retired to the other side of the road and watched the mob action. It kind of reverts to the same premise as my road carnage ramblings of several weeks ago. Life is pretty cheap here and the challenges of sustaining it often cause people to do things that we back home would think rather pointless or senseless. They did settle the teachers strike so that schools resumed today after 2 weeks of demonstrations and wrangling.

Well that is this week's slice from Kenya. I did mention to my companion as we traveled home from church services at Kilili yesterday that we have only 4 more Fast Sundays before we will be attending the Ten Mile Ward again. So I guess I had better get busy if we hope to meet our goals before they send us home.

May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You All,
Elder & Sister Bishop