Weekly Update 5-4-09

Busy week and it didn't slow down any today. Just got back from FHE at the Elam's. It was a game night with Mormon Pictionary and I was reminded again of what a terrible artist I am.

Tuesday of this week we worked baptismal interviews while at Kilili. President Makiti and I spent 5 hours doing 13 candidates. This was the Kamba speaking group and so I understood very little of the responses that the Pres. was getting. Filling out the record was another challenge as the older Mamas have no idea on the majority of the dates in their lives so we did a lot of estimating. The long hours their put us back to Nairobi a little late with us missing most of the training session for senior couples at Pres. and Sis. Taylor's. We did clean out a few of the dishes left from the pot-luck supper that was held in conjunction with the training.

The rest of the couples left for a Safari in the Mara the next morning and we dropped of one couple and a bunch of luggage at the Wilson Airport on our way to the weekly service at St. Mary's. We left there a little early as I developed a terrible pain in my chest, started sweating and shaking a lot more than normal, and had a BP of 200 over 100. We have been encouraged to use the Agha Kahn Hospital should the need arise and since all the other couples were gone we decided to get across town while I still felt like driving. We spent a big chunk of the rest of the day there doing EKG, ECG, blood test and treadmill but the pain suddenly left and they assured me that whatever it was it was not heart related. My companion muttered something about substantiating my being heartless and we left.

Thursday was spent with preparing baptismal records along with our usual stuff while at Kyambeke. Then the Assistants went with us Friday and conducted interviews at Kyambeke and Ilima. We returned to Kyambeke for the baptisms on Saturday with the final count being 8 from Mitini, 7 from Kyambeke, and 11 from Ilima. Sunday was church at Kilili and then we held the baptism after in place of Priesthood and Relief Society. We had 12 convert baptisms there and one readmission baptism. Got to see some very excited happy people over those two days as many of these new members had figured they would just need to wait for the next life for this event to happen. We still have 5 good people we are working with but they all understand English pretty well. We hope to get the amnesty program for children of record initiated in all branches with culminating baptisms scheduled for the first 2 Saturdays in June.

We drove back to Kyambeke from Ilima using the river bottom route as we needed to get 4 young men from there into Nairobi to work on documents for Visas and a passport. We had several good rain showers through the week so the river bottom route was a real treat as I didn't see tire tracks that would indicate anyone else had been as foolhardy as us. A couple of the mud holes were of sufficient size to probably be hiding a vehicle or two. My companion did not enjoy the "mud bogging" nearly as much as I. Despite the lateness of the season there have been some real good rains this week so the hope is starting to rise of at least a reasonable harvest this season.

Due to the number of baptisms and our limited supply of clothes and towels my companion spent some time Saturday afternoon and evening laundering clothes to get us through the Sunday event. Then she stayed involved in the same activity all day today while I did business at the service center, paid bills at the hospital, and then assisted Stella in completing her mission paper submission. She is staying with us this evening and we will drop her at the Matatu Stand in Salama on our way to Kilili tomorrow.

Our trips up-country will not last as long this week but I will probably being doing the extra Saturday trip for the balance of the month to support the children of record who are in school once again during our weekday visits. Hope to get them up to speed so they can pass their interviews in their mother tongue before the June baptisms.

We had to cancel our 18 May Temple Trip but were able to stand up a 1 June one in its' place so are still hoping to get these two great families to Johannesburg before they send us packing. We still have 3 outstanding passports but the Area folks have agreed to consider our request for patron support with out the passport numbers but will not procure tickets without them which gives us a few weeks breathing room. Sure hard to believe that just 7 weeks from this very moment we will be winging our way to London on the first leg of our return to Idaho.

On that note I had best close for another week as I think Stella is wanting her bedroom back and I hear my bed calling me.

May the Good Lord bless and keep you. Elder & Sister Bishop