Last Part of August

Nothing terribly exciting during the first week of the last half of August. We had a really good lesson and activity with the YSA group on Sat. But that’s pretty normal now that we have been teaching them for several months. We have been working on helping them memorize the 10 Commandments and the books of the Book of Mormon. We got an idea from the Beechers that served up in Kitale, Kenya about how to remember the 10 Commandments. They actually got it from Elder & Sister Byrd. That’s one of the neat things about serving a mission as a couple, we get chances to share ideas. It’s pretty good but some of the members here have a hard time with the wording because it is in English.

#1  One God.

#2  Zoo---Sign over the zoo with graven images of animals on it.
              No graven images

#3  Tree has leaves with veins in them --
              Take the Name of the Lord In Vain.  

#4  Door of the Church--Sabbath Day -
               Keep it Holy.

#5  Hive -- you have a queen bee and a drone in a hive --
               Honor thy Father and Mother.  

#6  Sticks -- you kill snakes with sticks...
               Thou shalt not kill.

#7  Heaven, you can't get into heaven if you commit adultery.

#8  Steel gate.  Thou shalt not steal.

#9  Sign -- You should not put a sign in your yard lying about your neighbor
              -- bear false witness against your neighbor.

#10 Tent…a tent covers you... Thou shalt not covet.

Then we have them see who can draw out the Plan of Salvation the quickest. We really have a good time with them.

The highlight of this half month was our opportunity to teach dance at a Youth Conference in the Kilungu Hills area. Our reputation for teaching dance is going all over the mission. Elder & Sister Hall called and asked if we could work it out to come to the Youth Conference planned in the area they serve in. We checked our calendar and it looked like it would work for us. We traveled to Nairobi on the 22nd and did a bunch of stuff at the Mission Center that we needed to get done. That evening we ate together with some of the other couples and visited about our various assignments. We always get so many good ideas from the other couples.

The next day we traveled with Elder & Sister Hall to the area they serve in. That area is about 2.5 to 3 hours away from Nairobi. They travel that distance every day to help the 4 Branches in that area. We thought the conference would be at one of the churches there. But we found that the conference was being held at a resort in the area. When Elder Hall pulled off the road and started up through the city we thought, “Wow, this is a very poor area, wonder what kind of facility the youth would meet in”. 

Then we pulled up in front of this building and when we went in we could hardly believe that such a nice place would be situated in such a poor area.

We entered the meeting hall where all the youth were meeting and we were very surprised to see over 200 youth gathered there.

As we found out later, this area was the first to have a Branch of the church in Kenya. And there are many very strong members of the church there.

After some games, a talk by Prince Omondi and other activities they all started moving out and over to a school near by. That is where they were staying. The conference was a 3 day, 2 night event and all the youth were staying at the school. They had lunch in a fairly large room and we were told that would be where we would teach dance. They divided the group into 4 smaller groups and were planning to rotate through 4 different activities.

We really had a good time with the youth teaching dance. We worried about whether they would participate. But they really got into it.

In fact, they had such a good time that many of them kept sneaking back into the next session. Even the cooks were dancing. The students from the school would come over and look through the windows to see what we were doing. When we have taught dance at other venues the adults usually don’t get into it. But at this conference they really did. We all had a great time.

They then had a contest to see which Branch could make the highest most sturdy tower out of the same materials provided for each group.

They had a lot of fun with that.

It was a great youth conference. The local leaders had really done a good job of organizing it.

We were having such a good time and hated to leave. But the drive back to Nairobi is not much fun at night. As it turned out we didn’t leave until about 6:00, so it was dark for most of the drive back. Elder Hall is a good driver but we still had a few times we were not sure if we would make it. The trucks on that road are crazy. It’s the main road from Nairobi to Mombasa and the trucks are always in a hurry and take a lot of chances when passing. So if you don’t give the right of way to them they will run right over you. But we made it back and were able to settle in for the night.

The next day we did some shopping. We had made arrangements to teach dance to the YSA of the Nairobi area again. So we met with them at 3:00 and taught some couple dances for about 2 hours.

That evening we ate with the Halls and Pugmires.

Next day we headed back to Arusha so we could teach our Missionary and Institute classes.

The next highlight was a visit from the Mission President and his wife. They were holding a Zone Leader’s Conference here in Arusha. So the Zone Leaders from Dar came and they were to have meetings with the Zone Leaders here and A.P.s.

We had invited the President and his wife to dinner on Wed. evening. We spent an enjoyable evening with them and talked about all the changes that have come to the Arusha Branch over the past year.

On Thursday we had scheduled interviews for Temple Recommends for some members with the Mission Pres.

After that we went to the Maasai Cafe for dinner with all the missionaries and the Pres. and his wife.

And to close out a GREAT month, we received word that all but 2 of the passports are in for the members going to the Temple. That is an answer to prayer. The process of getting passports has been a very complicated process. We fill out all the paperwork here in Arusha, but the passports are only issued in Dar Es Salaam. Because we had so much trouble with the system here in Arusha we worried that if we let them handle the sending of the paperwork to Dar it might take several months. We sent the paperwork by FedEx to Dar because the member who helps missionaries and others get passports there has been able to get them processed in 5 days. Then he had to have an operation and was out of commission for 2 weeks. We were wondering if we would ever get the passports back from Dar. And to make things worse, we found out the immigration department is in the process of converting to computerized processing of the paperwork. So we had asked the members to have a special fast and prayers that things would work out. And they have. Now we can proceed with the plans and get the other paperwork into South Africa to finalize the plans for our trip.

First Part of August

We said we would give more information of the 2 new Elders coming to Arusha. Well, the first one to arrive was a new experience for us. He was coming from Dar Es Salaam and we were told he should arrive about 4:30 or 5:00 in the evening. The day was really full for us so we ended up heading for the bus station a little late. We asked when the bus would arrive and they told us about 4:45 or 5:00. The bus came about 5:45 but no Elder. So then we were getting very nervous. We call the Nolls in Dar and asked if they got him on the bus on time. They said yes, so we asked, “What bus?” The Elders usually come on the Dar Express and that was where we were. They said they couldn’t remember the name of the bus line so they would need to look it up. I think they might have been out running transferring Elders around as well. When they finally found the name, it was a bus line we had never heard of. Then we were in real panic. We didn’t have any idea where the station was. We remembered that down in the middle of town there is a whole square where buses come in but we had only been there once before when the Elder coming from Nairobi ended up having to hire a taxi from the border because his bus broke down. So we headed for that area hoping he would be at the end of the square waiting for us. We went past but no Elder. So we wondered if it was someplace else. Then as we were coming around toward the square again we spotted a young man from the Branch. We rolled down the window and asked if he knew where the Sai-Baba bus station was. He told us it was, “Hapa” (that is here in swahili) and pointed to the square where we were headed. You know, the Lord really watches out for these missionaries. What are the odds of running into a member of the Branch that late in the evening in a town of 2 million people and 85 members of the church. Well, we found a place to park and walked back to the square. We asked where the bus would come in and people directed us to the ticket office. We asked if they had more than one bus and they said they did not and the bus should be arriving soon. We have learned that the terms “I am coming” and “soon” don’t mean much here. By now it was about 7:15 and getting dark. We do not like to be out after dark and especially in a strange place with all kinds of scary looking people like there are at a bus station. After about 20 minutes and still no bus we walked back to the truck and moved closer to the station so we could sit in the truck and wait. Finally about 8:20 the bus went past us on it’s way around to the other side of the square. It had no tail lights and very dim head lights. We think the only reason it made it at all is because there was a Missionary on board. But the Elder was on it and seemed in good spirits. We loaded up his suitcases and headed up to the Elder’s flat. We hate that road even in the daylight. But we survived and were happy to have the Elder here safe and sound. He is from Uganda.

The next day the highlight was that the Sister Missionaries taught Sister R. how to make Ugali.

Ugali is a big thing here in Africa. When we get home we want to cook it up for everyone to taste. We won’t ruin the anticipation by telling you what it tastes like, we will wait and watch your expression when you sample it.

The second Elder came in 2 days later. He was coming by shuttle from Nairobi and we knew for sure where he was coming in at. We met him at the Impala Hotel and took him up to get settled in. He is from Canada.

We finished the last passport application early in the month and got them sent off to Dar. So now we are just waiting for the actual passports to process and get back here to Arusha. Now that we are not going to the immigration office every day we almost feel lost with nothing to do.

We had a Branch baptism this month. Two young girls in the branch turned 8 some time ago and we have been trying to get the branch to plan a baptism for several months. It finally came together on Aug. 4th.

We had encouraged the fathers to do the baptizing but one father was out of town so the father of the older girl did both. They day of the baptism we arrived at the church early to check out all the details. When we checked the baptismal font (which is a big rubber water tank with the top cut off) we realized they had filled it all the way up. It would have been over the head of the younger girl.

This is Jeannine the younger of the 2 with her little sister.

This is Jenipha the older of the 2.

We think this might have been the first time this father had done a baptism. He had a hard time with the wording. Elder R. was asked to be one of the witnesses and he was no help to tell if the wording was correct. So poor Jeannine got dunked before the mistake was caught. By the time the father got it correct she was shivering like crazy. But she was a good sport and we know she felt the spirit of the baptism because the next day at Fast & Testimony meeting her father bore testimony and read something she had written about the event.

The next day during Fast & Testimony meeting Moses showed up.

He is the one we were involved with a lot in teaching. He works in Moshi (a town about an hour away) and has not been able to come to church since early January. We have really worried about him. Being a member only since late Aug. last year, we thought maybe he would loose his testimony with no contact with the church for that long. But he bore his testimony and later in the day he stopped by our apt. with a friend to visit. He is still strong in the Gospel and we are sure he will remain that way. It is so good to see what the Gospel can do for these people. And the Missionaries will be teaching his friend soon.

On Monday we celebrated Sister R’s birthday. 

The Missionaries had gone to the Snake Park that day, and had invited us to go, but we decided we had too much to do so we didn’t go with them. They came that evening and we had a great party.

The next highlight of the month was a visit from Elder & Sister Babcock. 

They serve up in Eldoret, North of Nairobi. One of their daughters came to Tanzania to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and they wanted to come here to pick her up and tour a few game parks. We took them to see the Snake Park and Maasai Museum. 

After we came out of the Maasai Museum Elder R. struck up a conversation with some tour guide school students about the Gospel. He and Elder Babcock spent about an hour talking to them.

On they way back to town we stopped at the Cultural Center and had lunch.

Babcocks stayed several days and picked up their daughter on Sunday. She also stayed with us on Sunday night. We had a great time visiting with them.

On Saturday we had planned a Pioneer Day Celebration with the Branch. Babcocks were a great help with that. We really had a good activity. Sister R. volunteered to chair the event and had planned all kinds of games, activities and food centered around the Pioneers.

We had games and singing for the Primary Children.

Sister R. taught the Young Women how to sew.

The men did the stick pull.

We did some dancing.

Ate some Pioneer food (African style).

Then we showed the video of “The Legacy”.
It turnout to be a really great day!

After that we went out to eat with Elder & Sister Babcock.

Closed out this half month sending one of our fine Elders home to the US. 

Elder Herr has been here only a month and a half but he has really learned the language well and has a great testimony. He is from Arizona and plans to attend BYU this fall. We will miss him but wish him the best.

Last Part of July

Seems like lately we live at the immigration office. This process of getting a group ready to attend the Temple has turned out to be a real challenge. But with the Lord’s help and pushing the people at the immigration office we think we will make it. As of the 2nd of August we have all the applications turned in and we are just waiting for the passports to come back.

Our precious Sister preparing for a mission 

has had so many obstacles placed in her way that we have worried that she might give up on the process. The story could make a very interesting novel if we just had time to write it all down. She came to us right after her birthday (which made her old enough to serve) and was ready to go. That was in February. We finally got all her paperwork sent off to the Mission President on July 16. They have found that a lot of the Sisters that are called from Africa have had problems with hemoglobin count being too low. We had received notice of this and were advised to have any Sisters preparing to serve a mission start taking iron pills. But we asked her and she said her doctor had okayed her. We got notice back that the hemoglobin count was missing on the missionary recommendation. We had overlooked that box. So we asked Tausi and she said she didn’t think it was that important. (Again the language/comprehension thing). So we took her into a clinic and had her tested. And sure enough, the count was low. Another hurdle to get over. We went straight to the pharmacy and got her some iron pills. And Sister R. told her to eat lots of vegetables. She said she doesn’t like vegetables. She said her mother gets after her for not eating enough vegetables. Another lesson on the value of a good mother. But now the iron pills are making her sick. So we are hoping she can get over this hurdle and on toward her mission. She is such a sweet girl, she will make a great missionary.

We had another wedding this month. 

Again just to satisfy the legal things for the passport application. The father of the family lives and works in Dar Es Salaam and his family lives here in Arusha. He tries to get home at least once a month but it’s very hard for him to plan ahead because of the company he works for. We got notice on Sat. morning that he was here so we had to squeeze the wedding in on Sunday. And as it turned out it was a very busy Sunday. When we arrived at the church we noticed the baptism font was being filled. We had not heard anything about a baptism so we wondered what was up. We have 2 children in the Branch that are 8 years old and not baptized yet. So we have been talking to the Branch Presidency about the need to have children baptized soon after they turn 8. As it turned out the father of one of the children had decided this was they day. So he had come to the church early to fill the font. It takes about 5 hours to fill the font due to the low water pressure here. The problem was that he didn’t tell anyone else about the baptism. So we had to explain to him that there was another child that needed to be baptized and we needed to set a date for both and plan a program. 

The highlight for us this half month was our trip to Mwanza. We look forward to our visits there with great anticipation. The Branch President and his family are very strong in the Gospel. We really enjoy our visits there. Elder Rydalch has been asked to do the financial audits for Arusha and Mwanza so we needed to get that done before the end of August and this was the only time we could squeeze a trip in. The Branch there now has a computer with the MLS System on it but the power was off the day the Brother from Nairobi was there to train. So Elder Rydalch volunteered to do that while we were there. We usually stay there for 3 days but with all the things we needed to get done we decided to go a day early. We fly there which Sister R. really enjoys. And the weather there is much warmer than in Arusha. So she also enjoys that.

The view from our hotel room is always interesting.

We have watched a new addition to the hotel being built for the past year as we have visited.

The first day there Sister R. spent time making visual aids for the Primary while Elder R. did the audit.

Then that evening we walked down along the bay to another hotel to have dinner.

Then on Sat. after the training on the MLS System we were invited to the Branch President’s home. He has spent several years building it so that he has no debt on it.

He has a large garden all around the home. He told us that since he started growing a garden most of the neighbors had also started growing gardens.

We learned something we didn’t know before. Banana trees only bear fruit once and then they die. Before they die they start a new tree from the roots along side the old tree.

While we were there in Mwanza Sister R. wanted to take photos of a boat being built to use in the Primary movie we are making. We had Abel, our taxi driver take us to see if we could find one. We did find one 

and along with it an interesting tour of the family’s fishing business.

They put lanterns out on the water on these buoys at night and that attracts the fish. 

That's Abel our taxi driver on the right.

Then they drag a net around the fish and pull them into their boats.

We also learned that they grind up the fish bones after the fish have been filleted and use it for chicken feed.

Here is the fountain at one of the roundabouts.

As we were driving around, Abel said. "The people here in Mwanza are lock people". We could not figure out what he meant until it dawned on us that he could not say the letter "r". So he was saying they are rock people. That's because the hills around Mwanza are covered with rocks and the people build their houses right in among the rocks.

On Sunday we attended their meetings. The instructors were well prepared. We just wished we could understand more of what they teach. But the spirit in all their meetings was great. After the meeting we reviewed the missionary recommendations of the 2 missionaries preparing to serve missions. The Branch President has 4 children and 3 of them will be serving at the same time. This is the family that has been raised without any church there in Mwanza for their whole life. They will all be great missionaries. They are very well prepared.

Monday we flew back to Arusha.

We received word while we were in Mwanza that 2 of our Elders would be transferring out. 

We hate to see them go but realize their talents are needed somewhere else in the Mission. They are both going to Dar Es Salaam so they will be able to continue to use the swahili they have learned. We are looking forward to getting to know the 2 new Elders that will be transferring in. More on them next month.

As we draw closer to the end of our mission we are really getting panicky. We have so many things we want to get done before we leave and we seem to be getting less done in a day than we used to. It is so hard to plan our days. We seem to get interrupted with unplanned things every day. Helping the group to get ready to go to the Temple has been one of our goals and that is taking much more time and effort than we ever dreamed it would. The bureaucracy here in Tanzania, especially here in Arusha, is something we have never before experienced. The stories we are recording in our journals will be something that most people will never believe. But with the help of the Lord and the hard work of these members we will overcome. Every day we see how Satan is trying to stop the Gospel here in Arusha. But the members are strong and they will win in the end.