A BUSY TWO WEEKS

May 19, 2011

Two spiritual experiences from our Kisumu trip (see details at end of this entry)

#1 Sister Jorgensen and I met with the R.S. Pres (Caroline) before Church Sunday, May 15. She explained that she had just returned from going on her (once in a lifetime) trip to the temple with her three children and her husband. She explained that her husband has been sick for 2 years with Tuberculosis. He has not been able to work during that time, and they have really struggled. She sells a little produce, but it has been very difficult. They thought they were not going to be able to go. However, at the last minute, they got on the bus and were on their way to Nairobi to catch the plane.

Caroline said that her 12 year old son was sick on the way. He’d been sick before they left, but the doctors just told her it was Malaria and had treated him for that. Malaria is so common here. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t had it several times. She and her husband got to the temple and completed the Endowment Session and were ready to bring the children in for the sealing. They got word that one of the temple workers had noticed that the boy was ill and became alarmed. They rushed him to the hospital where it was discovered that he had TB in the brain and spinal meningitis. He was placed in isolation and in intensive care. He just recently was released (about 3 weeks later), and must stay in Johannesburg for a month to be rechecked. If he had been in Kisumu, they felt he would most certainly have died because there are only 3 neurologists in Kenya. They could not have afforded to travel to Nairobi for care.

It was such a blessing that he was in South Africa and that someone noticed how ill he was. The problem, of course, is that mom is now back in Kenya with some of the children, and dad is in So Africa (a continent away) with the boy. They have not been sealed. So the branch president is working on that problem. The Lord is aware of us. He knows what we are facing. He blesses us when we are trying to do what is right. I’m convinced of that.

#2 I went to SS and YW Sunday and heard a young 16 year old girl tell the following story. She goes to boarding school. It is very, very expensive for them to go to boarding school. It is difficult to get in and difficult to get good grades. This girl and her female cousin attended the same school. The cousin was not a member of the Church. The girl (I’ll call her Sally) had completed her YW Personal Progress Program and was wearing her YW necklace. It has an image on it of a young girl with several lines behind her head. The cousin liked it and asked Sally for it. Sally explained that she couldn’t give it up because she had worked hard to earn it. The cousin became angry and told many others at the school that the necklace was a sign of a devil worshipper because of the image on it. Sally was devastated at this betrayal of her friendship with her cousin and because so many friends had now turned on her. The cousin took it to the headmaster, and Sally was threatened with dismissal on the grounds of devil worshipping. Sally’s mother went to see the headmaster, taking the missionary couple with her to help to explain the image on the necklace—which was just a beautiful symbol of the girls’ spirituality.

A week and a half ago, Sally was explaining the doctrine of baptism for the dead (I Cor 15:29) to some of the girls at school. Again, the cousin reported this as devil worship to the principal of the school. This time, Sally was expelled even though she tried to explain to all involved that it was not as they believed. It is exam time, and so much is hinging on her passing and taking those exams. In YW she asked what she could do. The teacher talked with her and I talked with her for a long time. She seems like such a good girl, who is trying so hard to do what is right.

Impressions: One of the adult members spoke about his conversion. He said his friends told him about the Church, but he had heard so many bad rumors about it, he was afraid to go with them to visit. When they finally got him to at least come to the church, he carefully watched to see if anyone entered the Church walking backwards, because then he would know the members were devil worshippers for sure. He was surprised that not a single person entered backwards.

Church up in the hills on May 8:

We went to Church upcountry in an area near Nairobi. The Church is a rented facility. The cinderblock structure forms a tight U with a big free-standing font (looks like an open rectangular metal refrigerator box) in the center of the small courtyard and there is also a large tank supported by a metal platform sharing the space. Descending from the large tank was a tube. The kids could turn the spigot on the bottom of the tube and get free-flowing rainwater from the tank to drink. Some used just the tube from which to drink, but most drank from a single plastic cup used for everyone. We were shocked, but no one else seemed concerned.

It was so neat to go to Church in that beautiful mountainous valley way up away from civilization. We drove for about 3 hours—much of it on dirt roads—to get up there. As always happens when we drive in the country, little kids watch us with wonder. They tentatively wave, and then when we respond, they jump up and down and yell, “Muzungu, muzungu”

The people are humble, the circumstances very poor, but the spirit was wonderful at Church. They had a choir—no piano of course. They sang with their own distinctive harmony. It was beautiful. We asked if we could video them singing after the baptism. They were thrilled, but wanted to be videoed as part of the baptism service. We tried to make ourselves understood that it had to be after the service, but the Br Pres’ wife (choir director) got up and announced that prayer would be after they were taped. We had to change that so we didn’t disrupt the baptism service. It was just a really neat experience to be among the good people there who sacrifice so much for the Church.

I always try to go to Primary because I think that is really the battlefront. The kids did not speak English, but were singing the Primary songs in English. The leaders also did not speak much English, but they were using the Sacrament Meeting Program and teaching the kids by rote to memorize the objectives given each week. They were really trying to follow the program.

We had about 9 girls in YW. They gave the theme and then the teacher read the lesson. For the last 15 minutes or so I spoke to the girls about the Plan of Salvation. They were at first shy, but by the end, they began to open up and talk, which is so fun.

South Africa Conference

Monday we flew to Johannesburg with E/S Omondi, our supervisor and his wife. They are a delightful couple. Our trip was strictly business because it was so fast, but even at that, we were able to see the beautiful, modern city on the way to the hotel (which was about an hour out of the city). Johannesburg is just like being at home with skyscrapers, bathtubs, hot drinkable water straight from the tap. Our hotel could rival any hotel at home. The parts we could see from the bus were beautiful. We arrived after dark, had meetings the next day from 8-6PM, ate late at the hotel, and then early meetings the next day and to the temple and home and then we flew out the next day. So, it was a fast trip, but such a blessing to be involved with all of those strong African workers to see what wonderful things they are doing in their various assignments.

There were probably 6 or 8 Western missionary couples there as well and maybe 40 African couples (employees). Neal and I took the record for having traveled the greatest distance and for living in the most primitive place. We had a couple of requests from missionary couples if we would allow them to come and see us in the “real Africa”. IT was a challenge for the presenters because some of the people spoke only Portuguese,(Mozambique) some only French (from the Congo) some from Madagascar who speak their language.

We learned so many practical and spiritual things as well. We are asked now to have all students read in the scriptures and report their reading daily. We are also asked to reemphasize Scripture Mastery. We haven’t done that at all. We didn’t think it was still part of the program. So, we learned many new little things like that. We learned the agenda for a Seminary Class. You would think we would know that, but we hadn’t been trained on that. I guess it was assumed we would know. So, it was very beneficial to us. The other folks were wonderful to help us. We learned so much just talking to other CES workers—particularly the South Africans who have been doing this so many years and are veterans.

NEW INSIGHT!

Our trainer from Salt Lake City was Kelly Haws, an Assistant Administrator of CES. He said when he arrived in So Africa (this being his first trip), he was greeted with the statements, “Welcome to the Motherland—to Zion beautiful South Africa” He asked everyone in the room to tell where they or their ancestors were from. Many of the Africans spoke of African heritage, and many of the couples had European background. Then he had us read Genesis 41:45. He then said, “WE ARE ALL OF AFRICAN HERITAGE. All of us had family ancestors who came from Africa.” Africa is our heritage.

One of the wives of an employee took the record for speaking the most languages: 10. Many in the room spoke many languages. Just us old Westerners spoke few.

We were taught that “if all things are done in order, the Lord will take care of us.” Mosiah 4:27. Once you’ve gone to the temple, and made your covenants, it is easy after that because it provides the answer to any dilemma.

Fatherhood & Motherhood

Kelly talked about visiting Brother Khumliani’s home, and how the kids came running out to meet their dad and threw their arms around his neck and leg and wouldn’t let go. (Bro Khumliani is the Area Supervisor of CES in So East Africa…our boss’ boss). Then Kelly quoted a talk I have to get.

Basically, it says that a real measure of a man (or woman) is not in his public persona—how he looks or what he says in public, but what he is like at home with his wife and kids. This comes from a neat talk by H. Burke Peterson, “Prepare the Heart of Your Son” Ensign, Nov 1982 P. 42

They talked about women being 2^nd class citizens without rights and not being treated equally and how we need to be equal in a marriage. He counseled us to be meek with one another in our marriages…get rid of impatience, be tender with one another’s feelings. It doesn’t really matter who is right. We were encouraged to read again the blessings to our families of serving a mission listed in D&C 31.

In the temple if you focus on yourself, you see only yourself. If you focus on your spouse, you can see forward and back forever.

On our mission we should be managers not caretakers. Caretakers just let things run by themselves, managers are proactive.

Johannesburg impressions:

McDonalds, KFC, lots of traffic, big freeways, big skyscrapers, modern architecture, beautiful finish work in our hotel, hot water out of the tap, water you can drink, toilets with toilet paper, flushing, stop lights, Fish and chip places.

Zimbabwe: we talked to a couple who serve there. 90 per cent unemployment, little infrastructure in place…..like police, hospitals, food, business, education is stable, but hard to find work.

Hair care:

I talked with LO about how African women can keep their beautiful wigs in place so well. She said they either have combs up inside or they create a cornrow or weave and attach it to their weave. She said they also can “bond” their fake hair onto their natural hair, but it is risky because you can damage your hair. She said human hair is much better than artificial hair because you can do so much with it. She said you can “tong” it, which you can’t do with artificial hair. She said most real hair used is Asian hair because it is so beautiful. Wigs can be washed and women oil them to keep them pliable. I worried about putting oil on a wig. She said cornrows can stay in 4 weeks.

Helping new couple move in

The day after we returned from South Africa, we had a doctor appointment and then met a new couple, newly arrived from Idaho, who will be serving in Kisumu. We led them from Nairobi to their new area (which is about 3.5 hours from our house). It took us 6 hours to make the trip to their place. He is 68 and she is 73. He was absolutely traumatized by the traffic in Nairobi. That is understandable. It is scary. He really was upset about it. It was better when we got out of town. We spent 3 days with them. We hope they are going to be okay there. We call them each day to check on them. We took them to Church for the first time. We had 96 people there. It was a good day with a really good spirit in the meeting.

The missionary couple lives under the Church. It is a 3 story building. The top floor is a roof platform with open air all around. It has a tin roof over the top of the cement floor. The walls are open above a waist-high partition. The birds fly through during the meeting. I played the keyboard, sitting over to the side. Because they are not used to seeing someone play the keyboard, the children flocked around. They stood behind me as I played, and I could feel a furtive little hand reach out and tentatively touch my hair.

When I didn’t respond, soon, I had about 7-8 little kids trying to touch my hair. I’m sure they’ve never seen a white-haired person before, not a Muzungu anyway. They were really cute. This branch has 40 kids in boarding schools. That is a huge amount. The Church leaders are encouraging parents to keep their children at home and not sending them to boarding schools because they lose control of the kids and their children are being taught by other children with much different lifestyles than the parents would espouse. It is hard for parents who are trying to do their best and realize the best schools are boarding schools. I think now the Church is urging them to send them to day schools, we will see a slow change in that trend. That way parents can teach them at home, have scripture reading, and FHE. Now, kids come home 2 weeks every 3 months. They come in April, in June, and in December.

On the way home from Kisumu, we stayed in Eldoret overnight because Neal had a patriarchal blessing to give in Eldoret Tuesday morning. The blessing was for a young man who was to leave the next day for his mission to Capetown. He was really a nice young man—the only member of his family. He has been a member a little over a year, but very well versed in the scriptures. It is really a privilege to be able to give blessings to these young people. So, today we are trying to catch up, to type the blessing, and to get organized after two weeks away.

Today we were sitting here in our little office (windows on both walls) when we heard a big crash. The compound in which we live has many trees. Apparently, yesterday one of them toppled over (probably in a storm) and hit the roof of a neighbor across the hedge. So, our owner (who lives inside our compound) is having lots and lots of our trees toppled. We sat here and watched as they cut a big branch, and it fell right over the corner of our house between the 2 windows. That was a little unsettling. They are not done, but they’ve moved to a few other trees on the other side of the compound.