Last Part of October

And an update - a video in First Part of October - Cranes in Mwanza.

Wow! What a jam packed month we have had. On Oct. 17th we left early for Dar Es Salaam and Zone Conference. We took the Elders with us as there were only 3 because the 4th was serving in Dar and would join us in Arusha after the conference. The trip down to Dar was quite different than our first trip. The road for about a third of the way was really broken up. Not sure if they have had a lot of rain or just too thin of paving.

Saw some interesting plants on the way:

Stopped for a break:

We arrived there in pretty good time. That evening we went out to eat with the Nolls, the Worthens (the new couple there) and Pres. & Sister B. It was really great to visit with them.

Next day was the zone conference. What a great experience. This was our second and it was every bit as good as the first. Our very own Elder Nagapasare conducted and he did a great job. The Elders that gave the training were really good. It just amazes us how these young men can teach the gospel.

And they have a little fun too:

The next day we went shopping with the Worthens. Went to a shop where a member makes all kinds of wood carvings.

Then we attended the music workshop with the Worthens. It was really interesting to see how they teach. They had a lot more students than we ever get at our classes.

Then next day we headed back to Arusha. Elder & Sister Noll followed us back as they had planned to visit us for the weekend. We saw a lot of interesting things on the way back.

This is the sisal. The product of the plant we saw on they way over to Dar the first time:

Here's the plant:

Then they load it onto trucks like this:

Here are some of the workers that process and gather it:

These are oranges:

These are live chickens on the back of a piki piki (motorcycle):

This is not an upside down tree. They really do grow like this:

And we were stopped several times for vehicle checks. And one stop they said they had us on radar going over the speed limit. At least I think that’s what they said. They charged us 30,000 Tsh - no paper work. We didn’t argue, we just paid the fine and said “asante sana” and were on our way.

That evening after we arrived home we went to the Maasai Cafe with the Nolls:

The next day we spent checking out the Elder’s flats. Elder Noll is a counselor in the Mission Presidency so he had a lot of things he needed to get done. Our Elders Quorum Pres. had moved out of town to go to school so we needed to replace him. So we went up to Pres. Spear’s home to talk with him about whom he would recommend.

He really has a wonderful family:

What a great weekend. We had a really good class with the Young Single Adults and a great activity which the Nolls just fit right into. 

Then on Sunday we had all kinds of things going on. A great Sunday School lesson taught by one of the new members. It is amazing how they just jump right in and do what they are asked even though they are so new in the church. We sometimes wonder if they really understand what they are teaching. A very spiritual Sacrament Meeting. Elder Coles one of the new Elders bore his testimony. He speaks really good Swahili. Then the first counselor, Bro. Elia spoke with great enthusiasm. We have no idea what he said but it seemed to really stir up the members.

Then we held our Temple Preparation Class and had a really good discussion about the dedication of the Kirtland Temple and the blessings promised there.

Then on Monday we sent the Nolls back to Dar. Hated to see them go but we all have a lot to do here in Africa so were just happy they could spend a few days with us.

Then back to our regular routine. We have made a habit of having the Elders over each Monday evening for a meal and FHE. We really enjoy them and the spirit they bring into our home.

Then our usual Swahili lessons, DDM with the missionaries, training our new Elders Quorum President and lots of running here and there.

Then on Sunday we had the Primary Program. It was very interesting. The kids have been taught the songs in english and they really sing their hearts out.

This was their practice:

Wow, it makes us tired just putting this all together. 

But we are loving the work and getting better at speaking Swahili every day. Maybe by the time we go home we will be able to talk to the people. The members here are really strong. It is not easy to be a member of the church here. All of them ride dola dolas on the main roads and then walk up to the church. Some don’t have dola dolas in their area so they walk all the way. Some for several miles. But they come every week. It makes us feel guilty with all the luxuries we have.

First Part of October

We are getting the YSA program going pretty good here in Arusha. Also the temple class. We are really getting some good discussions going. It’s kind of hard with the language barrier but our great interpreter Bro. K. helps a lot. The things we discuss are quite new to most of the members and sometimes Bro. K. gets so involved in what we are teaching he forgets to translate. It takes a lot of review to make sure they really understand what we are teaching.

Looks like we are into the “short rain” as the locals call it. The first Sunday of Oct. was a rather wet one. We almost got stuck going up to the East Elder’s flat and ripped the right rear mud flap off. We wondered if anyone would show up to church. But there was a good turn out. We had a sister call and wanted a ride to the church from the stoplight corner. She is from (France-Singapore-BYU-Utah) and is working in Moshi with some juvenile delinquents in jail. So Pres. Spear and Elder R. went to pick her up. Then the Elders called and wanted us to pick up some investigators so we also did that. We should say Elder R. did. Sister R. stayed at the church and attended lessons. Great testimony meeting. Elder Rapiya’s last Sunday so he bore his testimony and it was great. He has really been a good missionary here. Then we taught the 2nd lesson of the temple prep class. Good discussion on the requirements to get a temple recommend. Then helped the Elders teach.

Oct. 4, 2011

We learned that Pres. Spear’s baby had pneumonia. So we went to pick him up at ShopRite and then to his house to see the baby. She seems to be doing pretty good. Then home to get ready to take Elder Rapiya to the airport. Didn’t get away on time and the traffic was terrible, thus he missed his flight. He was able to get on the next flight at 7:30 PM. We are sad to see him go but happy for him to be able to go home and see his family.

Oct. 7, 2011

We took our truck in to get the repairs done. Then we took the shuttle to the airport and flew to Mwanza for our support visit there. Checked into the Hotel La Kairo and crashed for the rest of the day.

Ate a lot while we were there.

Elder R. even had a “whole” tilapia. Sister R. couldn’t look at it because of the eyes.

The next day we went to the church to meet with the branch presidency. They had a baptism that day so that was really nice for us. 

Then we had a YSA activity. We had a really good time with them. Registered 13 people for Institute.

Oct. 9, 2011

Attended church with the branch. Did some more training with the branch presidency. Bro. Mwabaleke was called as teacher for the Seminary-Institute class. So we hope that program will be off and running there in Mwanza.

Then on Monday we held a music training class at the church. We went clear through the leading manual and started on keyboarding. Had only 3 in attendance. 

But they were really eager and moved very quickly.

Later that day we took a walk around the hotel grounds

and the block (actually several) by the hotel and found these cranes in a garbage dump and all over the field next to it.

Then on Tuesday we headed for the airport, picked up 3 nice pineapples (they seem to be better there in Mwanza - and less expensive) and flew back to Arusha. Our truck was not ready so we had to spend a couple of days using a taxi. We are still not brave enough to try a dola dola.

Each Saturday we have YSA and Seminary & Institute class. The members seem to really have fun. We hope it will help them to learn to mix and strengthen their testimonies at the same time. And the lessons (we hope) are teaching the members here a better knowledge of the Gospel and helping them to remain strong. They seem to really enjoy the lessons.

Then Sunday we had a special meeting to show General Conference. They get them here on DVD, a little late but in their language. It was great.

The End of September

We took the Elders to the Snake Park. They got to ride the camels. 

I think they had a really good P-Day.

Sept. 20, 2011

What a packed day!! The keys to the church got lost somehow. So we spent a lot of time running around getting new locks and keys. 

Then we had an appointment with Elder & Sister Dow (Marcia and John) for lunch. They are special missionaries for the wheelchair project sponsored by the church. We went to lunch at the Maasai Cafe. 

Then we went to Moshi (about 2 hours a way) with Moses (the one Elder R. baptized a few weeks ago) 

to see is father and family there in Moshi.

(That's over by Mt. Kilimanjaro) 

They were very nice. Served us some bean soup which we drank from the bowl. Then we had a tour of their farm. They grow all kinds of things. Then down to the river. 

Then we had to run for home. Which ended up being in the dark. Not a fun experience.

Spent most every day doing our normal stuff. Swahili lessons, teaching with the missionaries, grocery shopping and running the branch pres. around.

On Saturday we had the first lesson with the YSA in the branch. We had members of about a year, members of a month or so, investigators of a month or so, an investigator that was to be baptized today and his family. The lesson was the introduction of the D&C. I think most of them had no idea what we were talking about. Our Swahili is still not very good. Then we had the baptism. 

Then we went with Pres. S. to meet a member from Belgium. He was born in the D. R. Congo and has family there. We brought him back to the church and he had a good talk with Brother K. because Bro. K. speaks French. 

Sept. 25, 2011

Today we had our first temple prep class. We taught about the “Plan of Salvation”. I think the members (and some investigators) learned a lot. We used a clear figure cut from plastic and white one cut from paper on a long string to show the progression through the plan. I think they liked that. Bro. Kibanda translated for us. Then we went to the Nicanor family with Elder Rapiya & Kalyango to talk and answer a lot of questions that the new investigator Johney had.

Sept. 26, 2011

Normal busy P-Day. The Elders came at 5:30 today and we had barbecued beef sandwiches and macaroni salad. The Elders had a video of 2010 mission. We talked about some of their investigators and they left.

Sept. 27, 2011

Went to Swahili lesson. Then met with Bro. Kibanda & Bro. Elia for training and answers to our many questions. Pres. S. joined us for the last part. Then went with Elder Ngapa & Harper to teach mama Winnie, Rose & wife of Francis.

Sept. 29, 2011

Swahili class. Then out to Obuya’s to teach an investigator. Had a pretty good lesson on repentance. Had a good talk with Bro. Obuya about everything from the church to the problem of water in Africa.

Wow, time flies. We have been here in Arusha for a full 4 months now. We are getting used to the traffic, roads and the weather has warmed up a bit. We’ve had several rainy nights and a couple of rainy days. They call this the short rains. But it sure makes the roads a mess. And we found the rain comes right through our bedroom windows. The frames are built in a way that just scoops it right in. Not sure what we will do about that.

But we feel we are making a difference here. Bro. O. who works in Mwanza and is in the branch presidency there and comes here about every 3 weeks to be with his family says he can see a big difference in the branch since we came. We love the people here and hope the growth will continue. And as hard as the missionaries are working we are sure it will. They had 17 investigators at church one Sunday. We see the branch leadership getting stronger every week. The 2nd counselor (the one who has only been a member for about 10 months) is really strong now. He’s the one who teaches us Swahili and translates a lot of our classes for us. We hope the Lord will continue to bless the branch here with unity and growth. The work is great and our testimonies have grown. When we see the strong, humble members here come to church under such hard conditions and we feel blessed to be able to work with them.

Mid September

New chairs for the church.

The things we had hoped for that we spoke with Elder Usi about showed up on Sunday the 11th at about 3:00 PM. So we gathered some members and a couple of the Elders to help us unload. The roads are so narrow that the truck could not get to the branch building so we unloaded into our truck load by load and hauled everything to the church. We were very pleased because we received 100 nice chairs, which means we do not have to move chairs in and out of the classrooms for sacrament meeting and they are padded!! 25 small chairs for the Primary, now all the kids can sit down, 4 folding tables, again so we don’t have to keep moving tables around in order to have one for the things we do during the week and for activities outside. And we received 4 white boards, hooray no more chalk dust all over everything. And we will mount them on the wall so there is more room in the classrooms. We even received the generator we requested so we don’t get in the middle of some activity requiring electricity and have it go off (which happens every day here).

Sept. 12

Elder and Sister Byrd arrived about 4:30. They had scheduled a workshop on Career Development for the 13th and 14th. They really gave a good workshop. We had 13 or 14 people show up. Several non members.

Note the beautiful new chairs, the tables and white board:

While they were here we visited the Maasai Market.

Sept. 16

We went with Bro. Elias (the first counselor in the branch pres.) to see his home, and meet his family.  He lives about 200 km away.  We left at 6:30 a.m. and didn’t get home until 6:30 p.m.  He is a real maasai, with holes in his ears and dresses in the authentic dress, with a Bone Axe club and a big knife called a Boma.  

He comes to church on Sunday in a white shirt and black pants but during the week when he’s at work as a guide or a guard, he dresses the part.  He’s really a great guy and his family was so kind and gracious.  He was so excited to have us go to his home. His wife is named Agnes. He has 5 children. Pres. Spear (the Branch Pres.) also went with us.

We drove almost to the border of Kenya to a little village called Longido, stopped to buy some provisions for Elias’ family, 

then turned left off the road. We drove for about an hour, saw all kinds of animals

and there was a maasai lady on the side of the road who motioned for us to stop. She wanted to know if she could ride into the village to buy medicine. So we took her with us she sat in the back seat between the two brethren. 

We drove for a long time to a village and we thought that was where Elias lived but after the Maasai lady got out, we drove for another hour and a half (in low 4 wheel drive up the mountain).

Yes, that is the road. Note the beehive in the tree.

The higher we went the worse the road.

 As we were driving up the road, we met Elias’ brother 

modern masaai - checking his watch:

and sister in law. 

The sister in law gave Sister R. a blue beaded cross off her neck because she said Sister R. was a “church woman.”  

Further up the road, we met Elias’ herd of cows. We counted about 25 but they all looked very young, like only a year old maybe.
Finally parked, met some of his family,

then he showed us where he lived.  It was down the side of a mountain into a canyon and up another mountain (Kitumbaine). No road, we had to walk.

He sent word for the family to come down and help carry food up.  When they came, we all carried bags of food and water up to his home.  It was a long and hard hike!

We met his grandmother, and several other family members, his mother,

his sister in law, an elder brother (different mom), a sister (widow  2 yrs) and his father.  

His mother had made 2 beaded bracelets for Sister R. (called umpendeza) Her bones are so big, it did not slide over her hand but she was determined.  She and 2 other ladies worked until they got it on, (nearly broke her hand).

While we were there, we sat in Elias’ home which was a round house made of sticks with mud and cow dung mixed together and spread over the sticks.  The walls were thick about 6” or so and it had a thatched roof. It was very dark and cool (on a hot day, probably warm on a cool day).

We sat on little 3 legged stools made of wood and only about 6 “ off the floor.  The only things we could see in the house was a place where fire had been, a cup hanging on the wall, and he showed us a gourd that had been cleaned out and fixed for the baby to suck on. 

Here you can see the 3 legged stool.

All the family lives in little houses that are similar, placed in a circle surrounded by a wooden fence of sticks. Inside the circle of houses is another circle of sticks where they keep the cattle at night to protect them from wild animals.
This is Elias in the animal pen with 2 of his children.

This is Elias, his wife and their baby.

Their custom is that the children come to their father with their head bowed and he pats them on the head, then they raise their head to him.

We sat and talked about the gospel and Bro. Elias’ concerns for his family and the challenges he faces in life. We told him, that things sometimes seem impossible but with God all things are possible and that He knows Elias and what a good man he is and He will bless him and cause miracles to happen in his life.

Also while we were there, he insisted that we try some of their native food.  So we did.  Maize and beans (cooked together and called Makende).  His wife brought us a big bowl and 2 spoons (we ate out of the same bowl). Sister R. told Elias she wasn’t sure we could eat that much and so he should get a bowl and we would share with him, which he did. The food tasted ok, just like corn and beans.  We did have a cup of orange soda that he had bought and carried up to the house.

When we finished, we sat outside for a while.  We couldn’t visit much (language). They all speak their native tongue and Swahili. But they were so kind and we hugged a lot and said asante sana a lot. Elias went to visit for a few minutes with his father and then we started home because we were afraid it would be dark before we got back.  

Before we left, they chased chickens around the inside pen where the animals are kept and caught a beautiful rooster which Sister R. was afraid they would give to us (and she is so scared of chickens!)  

But we found out that it was for the branch president.  We worried how it was going to get home. We assumed they would chop its head off. (We were wrong!)  We thought it should just be put in the truck bed under the cover. (wrong again!) They did however put it in a plastic bag with it’s head sticking out and it rode in the back seat, squawking all the way home!  It made Sister R. very nervous. But she survived.  We asked the branch pres. if he was going to chop off the head.  He said no, he didn’t know how.  We asked him who would kill it.  He told us his wife knew how and would do it.  (We haven’t checked to see how the chicken dinner was)

A sister in law needed a ride to Arusha to visit her mother.  So we brought her back with us.

Anyhow, It seemed like we would never get back to the main highway.  We kept thinking it was just not far but it took hours and the road was very rough and mountainous.  When we came back a ways, we took pictures of the mountain where Elias lives, 

it was a couple mountain ranges over from the main road.  By the time we got back to the main road, we couldn’t even see the mountain range where he lives.  It was a most exciting day and very exhausting.  But what wonderful people he has in his family, so kind and gracious.  (His father was a polygamist, with 7 wives but 5 of them have died, there are only 2 left.)

Saturday Sept 17th we started the YSA program. We had a really good activity. They were really skeptical of what we were going to do but before long they began laughing and everyone had a good time. We played Savez-tu Passer, the magic game with 9 books, taught them the double clap polka, and did a relay race carrying a boiled egg in a spoon held in your teeth. We had refreshment of chocolate cake and strawberry punch. Then we all helped clean the chapel.

Sept. 18, Sunday

Today we gave the talks in Sac. meeting. Pretty scary but I think the spirit was good. We spoke on “Love Thy Neighbor” along with home and visiting teaching. The second counselor in the branch presidency translated for us. We are still not up to speed with the language. We may never get there. We are getting pretty good with the greetings (they have dozens) and with counting but that’s about it.