Update

Well we have been here for a whole month. We are pretty much settled into our flat. 

Here are photos of our view from the top of our flat building.

    This is Mt. Meru

We finally got a washer and dryer installed. We purchased a counter top oven as we could not fit even a small stove into our kitchen. We also purchased an electric fry pan. Those are really hard to find here.

We go shopping pretty much every day. We have been trying to find things that we are used to eating. And things that are a little like back in the USA. But we have about given up on that. Things here are as they are in Africa and we will just have to get used to it.

We had a Young Adult activity on June 18th and they wanted Sister Rydalch to teach keyboarding. That was quite the activity. What with her not able to speak Swahili and the attendees not having worked with a keyboard before. It actually turned out quite well. We had a second lesson on Friday the 24th and we hope to be able to get them to a point that they can play the hymns with at least one finger.

We have been working with the Branch Presidency trying to get ready for their Branch Conference on the 16th and 17th of July. The Branch does not have a computer so all the records have to be sent to Nairobi. Then they send the lists back here. The names are really different here. For example, they call the First Counselor “Bro. Spear”. But his name is really (we think) Spear Harmon Mwakila. So it has been an interesting trial and error to fill out the “Sustaining for Branch Conference” form. We are still trying to put faces with hames and we’re not sure we will ever get them all correct.

Sunday the 19th after church we went to visit an investigator’s family. His name is Moses and he lives with his aunt and uncle. We met his grandmother, brothers, sister and aunt and uncle and other relatives. We were treated so kindly by them. His grandmother has all kinds of trees in here front yard. She gave us bananas and an avocado which was delicious.

This is Moses with his aunt and uncle on right. His aunt’s sister and husband by Rich.

On Wed. 22nd we had our first (and hopefully our only) auto accident. The roads here are almost wide enough in most places for 2 lanes of traffic. And there are always cars parked on both sides and people walking in and out of the cars. Then there are these motorcycles that transport people where they need to go. And they go like crazy in and out of traffic. Half the time on the wrong side of the street.
Here are some photos we took of a load on a little 2 wheel cart they use to move a lot of stuff here.

 Here we are passing the cart on the right and the dala dala is passing on the left.

Well, we were moving along as best we could and a guy parked on the side opened his door as we passed. It caught our rear fender, bent the whole thing in and pretty much ripped his door off. We weren’t sure what to do and he didn’t speak a word of english. In about 30 seconds we had 20-30 people around the accident wanting to help translate. We said, “We need to call the police”. They said, “No, No, the police don’t have cars and they can't come”. They said just follow the car that hit us with his door and he will take you to the police. They said, “it’s not far”. We followed him for what seemed about 3 miles. Back through dirt roads that shouldn’t even be driven on. We came to a gate, they opened it and we realized we were at an auto repair place for wrecked cars. They said, “We can fix it for 200,000 Tsh (about $130.00 dollars) and it will only take a few hours”. We said, “No it will take much more than that”. We then got pictures of all the damage, got names and phone numbers and left for the police station. We called the Elders to go with us and interpret. At the police station they called the man who hit us and told him he needed to come there. Once he came we found out it was not his car, he did not have a driver's license and the owner had no insurance. The police said if we press charges he would have to go to jail, they would have to go to the scene of the accident, fill out a report and we would have to go to court sometime in the future. We didn’t know what to do then. We told the police the man had agreed to pay the 200,000 Tsh for the repair and they said if you make an agreement with him we would not need the police to be involved. We couldn’t believe that they would do nothing where he was driving someone else’s car with no driver’s license. We called the mission home and they said just get the money from him and the church insurance would take care of the repairs. So we said, “okay pay us the 200,000 Tsh and we will be done with it.” He then said he only had 100,000 Tsh and we said, “will you pay the rest later?” The police then interrupted and said, “You will not get the rest, he will not pay”. So we accepted the 100,000 Tsh and left. The police system here is so different. It was like they were mad at us for involving them. So Elder Ngapasare gave the man a flyer about our church and we left.

Sunday the 26th we went with Elder Raymond and Ngapasare to teach an investigator who came to church and participated in R.S. so much we thought she was a member. She had only had the first lesson and part of the second. She told us she had already had a witness of the truthfulness on Joseph Smith. The people here are so humble the spirit can really work with them.

We are preparing to go to Dar Es Salaam on Thurs. the 30th for a missionary zone conference. It is about a 10 hour drive over to the east coast. We are a little apprehensive about that but we are taking one set of Elders with us and one of them has served there so we should be alright. We are really looking forward to visiting with the couple there (who we met in Idaho Falls when they were visiting their daughter at BYU-I). Pres. and Sister Broadbent will be there and we are hoping to have some time to visit with them and ask a million questions. The Elders will come back here to Arusha on Sat. but we will stay over and come back on Mon.

Here are a few photos of the branch members at church.

One and a Half Weeks

Well here we are a week and a half into our stay here in Arusha. It seems like we have been running every minute and not accomplishing a thing. We are still not into our permanent flat. The manager told us a week ago we could move in on Thursday. Thursday came and went and no word. We caught him today and he said we could move in anytime. ‘Course there is no latch or lock on the door and the previous renter still has all her stuff in the kitchen but oh well TIA (This Is Africa).

We have spent much of our time getting things for our flat and still do not have all we need (or want). We go shopping everyday for groceries and a few more household things. We went to two different old markets during the past week. That was a real experience. If it weren’t for the guides that always pick us up to help us we would still be in there. What a confusing place.

We have spent several days visiting members that have not been coming out. We go with Bro. Spear, the 1st Counselor in the Branch Presidency. How he knows where these people live is just amazing. We wind around these narrow little roads and he just says, “left side or right side”, that means turn left or turn right. Then we arrive at a home and he says stop here. There is never a place to park so we end up blocking the road half the time. One day we walked to a couple of homes. We really got our exercise that day. Their homes are very small (like one was about 8’ x 8’ with grandma, 5 children and 2 grandchildren). They are just doing the best they can. We were invited to one member’s home and they served us dinner. Sister Rydalch was REALLY nervous about that but she ate some anyway.

We attend Swahili class each Tuesday and Thursday. Our teacher is a fairly new member of the church, Bro. Amos. Then after Swahili class we attend English class which is taught by the Elders.

This last week we had one Elder transfer out and a new one come in. We took the outgoing to the bus stop at 5:30 AM then were supposed to pick up the incoming at 5:00 PM. But his bus did not get in until about 7:00 PM. It was dark by then and we are not supposed to be out when it’s dark and both taking and picking up ended up in the dark. There are no street lights here and we do not see that well in the dark. We almost hit a pile of dirt in the middle of the road going to the Elder’s flat. They don’t have markers or anything to tell you when they have blocked off the road for repairs. And as before, the diversion off the road was just driving in the gutter.

Today, June 11th, we went to the church for a Relief Society Activity. The Sisters got together and cooked a meal. They did it outside in a garage at the back of the meeting house as there is no stove in the meeting house. We had planned to be there at the church so Sister Rydalch could attend. But she did not want eat with them as we are a little nervous about eating food fixed by the members. So we ducked out and went into the meeting house to start cleaning. But the 2nd Counselor in the Branch Presidency was there and he came and invited us to join with everyone to eat. So we felt we should. It was very good and we are praying that we will not get sick from it.

The 2nd Counselor in the Branch Presidency (Bro. Elia) is Maasai. He had come into town with his wife (who is not a member) and young baby.

He is a really strong member of the church but his wife could not be baptized because she does not speak english. Now that the national language is Swahili and the english requirement is no longer in force he wants his wife and children to be baptized. The only problem is that they live way out in the bush and will have a hard time coming to church each Sunday. We are quite surprised that Bro. Elia makes it. But as we said he is really strong and has a great testimony.