The Past Week and a Half

Aug. 4, 2011

Elder & Sister Tuttle came to Arusha to check out some places that manufacture wheelchairs for the disabled. We met with them the next day and took them around to see our city, then we went to the Maasai Cafe for Calzone.

Aug. 6, 2011

We had a baptism at the church today. Elder R. was asked to do the baptizing. He was pretty nervous about that. But it went okay. It was the baptism of the lady we went to help teach a couple of times. She will be a great member of the church here. She is the one Sister R. thought was a member because of all the comments she made in Relief Society. 

Then we had the Elders over for cake and CoolAid (yes, CoolAid, sent from Idaho by our daughter) for Sister R.’s birthday.

Sunday, Aug. 7, 2011

We had some members from Utah come about half way through Sunday School. They stayed to the end of Sacrament Meeting. That was rather fun. It was Fast & Testimony Meeting and we had several investigators bear testimony. Sister Jackline bore her testimony about how she just did not feel like going to church that day. But she came anyway and felt so good it just made her happy. She is such a bubbly person anyway. The spirit was so strong you could have cut it with a knife.

Then after church we ordained 3 brethren to the Melchizedek Priesthood and set apart a new branch clerk. Elder R. did some training with the new clerk then we helped teach an investigator. Then we took Bro. Elias and Pres. Spear to Spear’s house to give blessings to his 2 daughters that have some kind of infection on their face and head. Bro. Elias had never been to Spear’s home.

Aug. 8, 2011

Today Pres. Spear came to our flat for some training. Then he and Elder R. went to the church to fill out the quarterly report and do some training. Then we went to pick up the 2nd set of shelves from his brother-in-law. We ran into terrible traffic on the way there. Today is Nane Nane, a holiday for farmers. They all bring their produce (along with all kinds of craftsmen) to a place out by the Cinama. Pres. Spear said we needed to take a back road to get to his brother-in-law’s house so we did. Wow, what a ride. The dalla dallas had also found the back road and they were in a real hurry to get back to town to bring more people out to the Nane Nane grounds. Then to get back we decided to take another back road which lead us up over a hill with a beautiful view of that part of the city but the road was so full of holes we could hardly get out of first gear. 

After about what seemed like an hour we got back to our building and carried the shelves up the 5 stories to our flat. Then we took Pres. Spear home and Elder R. had a great time playing frisbee with his little girls. Who by the way looked 100% better than the day before. Then we had the Elders over for Family Home Evening as usual.

Aug. 9, 2011

We attended our regular swahili lesson today and afterwards helped the Elders teach Moses a lesson about how he needs to read the B. of M.  Moses is the investigator we went with to see his aunt and uncle. He is progressing very well and is scheduled for baptism on the 27th. We have had several young men join the church in the past few weeks. Two of them gave lessons in Priesthood meeting this month. That really amazed us that they were strong enough to do that within the first few weeks of baptism.

Aug. 11, 2011

Today after swahili lesson we did some training on the church leadership with Bro. Kibanda the new 2nd Counselor in the Branch Pres. Then we went to Bro. Kibanda’s home with Elders Ngapasare & Harper. We met Bro. K.’s wife and saw his chicken coup and property. They served us peanuts (ground nuts as they call them), chipatas & soda. When Sister K. (I guess we can call her sister. She is not a member) brought out the traditional water & pan to wash our hands in, the water was warm. That was nice considering they do not have power to the their home yet. We talked about a number of things including the center of the conference edition of the Liahona with the pictures of the church leadership. Then Elder Ngapa asked Sister K. if they could come teach her about the church. She said yes. We were a bit surprised but very happy. It would be wonderful if she would join and prepare with Bro. K. to attend the temple. She is a strong Catholic so we will see what happens.

Aug. 13, 2011

We went to get some screws to try to fix our kitchen drawer set. We had gone to a little duka before to get screws so that’s where we went. We asked the lady there if she knew where we could get some holes drilled. She said her husband was a cabinet builder and could do it. She called him and he was close by. He came to her shop and we took him up to his work shop to drill the holes. It was way up the hill towards Mt. Meru. We met some of their children (they have 4) and saw their home. The older daughter that was there is in her 4th year of medical school and spoke very good english. She looked like she was about 17 or 18 years old. They are a very nice family and we hope they will let us come teach them in the near future.

Then we decided we needed a break so we went to see if we could find the Snake Museum we have heard about. We knew it was out the road where we turn off to go to 

Sister Oboya’s home but didn’t know how far. We had been told it was not too far. But we have learned by sad experience that “not too far” can mean a long way. We drove for what seemed like hours. Finally we stopped and asked someone. They said its just on up the road about 3 km. On the way back we clocked it and it is 20 km from the Nairobi road. We found it and spent a couple of hours going through it. We saw all kinds of snakes, 

birds,

crocodiles,

lizards, 

turtles 

and had a great tour of the Maasai Museum. 

And Sister R. decided she wanted to ride the camel they had there.

Aug. 14, 2011

Meetings all day today. We just wish we could understand more of what is discussed in classes. They got pretty wound up today about whether you should beat your child or not.  Elder R. ordained another Melch. Priesthood candidate. Then we helped teach an investigator (the one with all the questions) with Elder Rapiya and George Nicanor, a Priest in the branch here. He asked who Cain married if you are not supposed to marry your sister. He really comes up with some wild questions. One of the hardest things to control here is what questions are asked in Priesthood and S.S. class.

Aug. 15, 2011

On Sunday an investigator asked the Elders if they wanted to go up the mountain to see a waterfall. It is called Themi Falls. They invited us along and after the drive up we realized why. Wow, what a climb. Just the climb in the truck would have been a great experience. But then we had to walk about 3 miles back into the forest. 

Then down a very steep canyon to the river bed and up the river to the falls. 

Sister R. spent a lot of time on her back side.

What a beautiful falls. It is in a lava tube and the water drops 197 feet. Even the photos do not do it justice. 

Sister R. almost didn’t make it back up out of the canyon. 

This investigator is a guide here (as are many of the men in Arusha). 

He said he has guided many groups to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He said he even took a 72 year old man up. He wanted to know if we would like to go up sometime. We told him we would love to if he could provide the helicopter for us. 

Then we did some shopping, picked up a package at FedEx, came home and threw something together for the Elders to eat (with no power) and had a short FHE and crashed. A great day but we were both really beat by the end of the day.