Weekly Update 3-29-09

It's 3am on a Monday in Kenya. The rain and thunder woke me and since I went to bed at 9 last evening it is a little tough going back to sleep. We are hoping the rainy season and its' life sustaining moisture is here for a while. There have been indications through this last week that it is coming. The hills had a little storm Friday evening and I drove home through some storms on Saturday and we were pelted with a few drops again yesterday. Unless this storm is hitting Kilili they have still not had rain in the low lands yet. Things are very dry and dusty in our travels but it has amazed us in the past at how fast things go back to being green when the rains do come. It has seemed a little hot here as of late which means upper 80s. Acclimating back to our seasonal weather in Idaho is going to take a while when you get so used to constant temperatures so that the upper 80s seems hot and one gets cold even though it never even gets close to freezing.

Our little missionary force in the hills is certainly staying busy. The branch missionaries awaiting their departure dates for the MTC in Johannesburg are teaching up a storm and we are just trying to keep up with them. In Kyambeke we have 8 sisters that we are trying to prepare for what I call Pres. Taylor's amnesty program. These sweet sisters have been attending for years but are probably not going to ever get sufficient english this side of the veil. President has consented to consider them for baptism as long as a Kamba interpreter can confirm that they understand the intent of the baptismal questions. The danger here is that the branches will revert to their tribal language for services and that would certainly be a step backward President is requiring the branches to commit to providing interpreters for each member that struggles with english that is authorized for baptism under the relaxed standards. We should also have some potential candidates in the other 2 branches but we don't have them started yet as it takes good support from branch missionaries to get them taught. Because those 2 branches have their young people on missions already it is just taking a little longer to get suitable teachers working with us. It is more than just a little evident that this old man will never have enough grasp of the native language to be of any help to them which I am sure seems very unfair that they have to learn our tongue but we don't have to learn theirs. The reality is though that just to go that direction in Kenya alone would require some 10 or so different languages which would really slow things down in providing support material. When you look at the 80 million+ people on the whole continent and factor in the number of different dialects scattered throughout the many tribes it is readily apparent that the best course is being pursued despite how unfair it seems when considered on an individual basis. In addition to those being taught in the amnesty program we are working with 20 others that are at various stages but all solid candidates for conversion. Just up to them and the Holy Ghost. President Mbondo did give us the names of 8 more young people in his branch that are 9 and 10 year olds that they didn't get around to baptizing at age 8. We will try and support them consistent with their personal desires during the upcoming school holidays in April. I keep hoping that we have got everyone over 8 covered but they just keep showing up and I think that has something to do with the fact that they don't feel comfortable telling one something they don't want to hear so just don't bather to mention it if they think it might upset someone. This has certainly been a lot different experience than what I was anticipating when we submitted our mission papers some 2 years ago. I had always envisioned working more in reactivation and strengthening the branch leadership and not so focused on conversion discussions.

I did make a solo trip to Kilili on Saturday as we had to conduct a disciplinary council there. There wouldn't have been much my companion could do so she opted to stay in Nairobi and bring our abode back to her cleaning standards. This was one of those good councils where we were considering the restoration of baptism to an excommunicated member. She and her husband were baptized towards the end of the last century and it wasn't until about 3 years after that it was determined that he had 2 other wives. That required their excommunication as he was not willing to abandon any of his families. He died a year ago which means she was no longer living in a polygamous relationship so eligible to be considered for readmission. She is closer to our age so was married in different circumstances than the majority of today's members. Her father decided who her husband would be and even though she didn't want to be a 3rd wife she could not go against his decision. We didn't have the opportunity of knowing her deceased husband very well as he died shortly after our arrival but he did pay his tithing right up to his demise despite being excommunicated.

It is looking like we will only be able to get 2 more families to the temple before our mission ends and even that is going to take some aggressive effort as Bonface is just now finally getting the final 2 birth certificates for his children to the authorities for their passport applications. Because he and his wife had already applied for theirs we are hoping to be able to accelerate their missing children's applications. Their is one of the families in Kilili that has finally secured all their birth certificates but at this date I don't see them getting travel approval before June.

Well the weather outside has calmed considerably and this old man should probably try to catch a little more sleep before the day begins. We have several errands demanding attention around town today and driving here always requires that one be more than just a little alert. The screams and panicked directions of ones co-driver can be very unsettling to a drowsy driver.

Our love and best wishes to all,
Elder & Sister Bishop