Friday, June 24, 2011
A New Week
Notes for this week-June 24, 2011
Neal went with branch president to visit less-active family, who lives in the middle of a slum. We’ve visited this family a few times before, trying to get dad to come to Church. They walk a long way. Mom usually comes dragging 4 kids behind her, but he doesn’t come much. He has a sewing machine he operates out on the street, but they live very hard lives. He told Neal he is 4 months in arrears on the rent, and he can’t come to Church because if he does, when he padlocks his door to leave, the landlord will come and put a bigger padlock over his, and they will either have to pay or move (probably without their “stuff”). They are very hungry he says.
We went to see Jane up in the hills—one of our most “distant” members. We’ve sent information about her going to the temple earlier. (See new pictures on the blog). She is so ANIMATED…almost possessed in a funny way. We went to see her and her married daughter, who just had the first grandchild, a baby boy. The daughter is 20, married to a 35 year old man. The daughter came to mom’s house to have the baby.
The branch president accompanied us. He and the women explained that the girl would not have any say in naming her child. Her husband or his parents determine all three names the child will have. She is experiencing a lot of pain (2 weeks after birth). We asked if she had told her husband she is unwell. She shook her head as if that wasn’t something to be discussed. We felt badly for her and urged her to go to the doctor.
Jane was explaining how excited she was that 2 weeks ago, their area was made into a branch. She was jumping up and down and waving her hands. She said, “I have been so sick…high fever…with Malaria. I feeling so much pain, but I pray, ‘Don’t make me to die. We have branch coming, and I’ve waited sooo long and walked so many, many kilometers to get to Church. I must live to be able to go to the new branch’.” She makes me cry!
We visited another family. Leah (the mom) has investigated 4 years while living in Eldoret. The family moved to this area, up in the hills. She walks a long way to Church, and was baptized 2 months ago. She brings her entire family: 5 kids and husband. They are really an impressive family. Dad had Malaria about a month ago and was in a coma. The missionaries came and gave him a blessing. He was almost immediately healed, so they have great faith in blessings, although only mom is a member. Their 17 daughter died of Malaria some time ago.
When we went to visit them, their 16 year old son was sitting in a plastic chair outside the doorstep. He had sores all over his head, and his nose looked very painful with white crusting under it. (see picture on blog)
Apparently, last week after Church, he (the boy) took a motorcycle (picky picky) home. It was raining hard and very muddy. The motor was going very fast, and they now suspect the driver was drunk. They hit a patch of thick sand. It is like silt in places. The motorcycle stopped, and they went over the top, with this boy landing on his head. The driver had a helmet on. The driver immediately ran, leaving the boy unconscious on the road.
Bystanders thought he was dead. When he regained consciousness, he somehow made it to where he was to pick up his bicycle. He finally made it home to be met by the horrified reaction of his parents, who seem to be very loving and concerned about him. They took him to a doctor, but he still doesn’t seem to be doing very well.
They asked for a blessing. We had just taught our prospective missionary class how to give blessings and baptize. This boy’s cousin is in the class and was in a nearby field. We called him in and had him anoint the boy while Neal pronounced the blessing. I don’t think the branch president has ever given a blessing, and perhaps has never seen one given because no matter how much urging Neal did to get him to give it, he would not.
It was a very spiritual experience and so nice for our prospective elder. We love him anyway. He is an orphan, who was been disinherited from his rightful land by his father’s brothers. By rights, he is supposed to inherit his father’s portion of the extended family’s property, but they have taken it. We hope so that he will be able to serve a mission. He is so faithful and has gone out with the elders to proselyte faithfully for so long.
On the way home, we were driving along the highway, and a man dressed only in a Masai blanket thrown over one arm was walking in the direction we were proceeding. We had seen him earlier in the day, but not noticed at that time his state of undress. We were a bit shocked because this was NOT a remote area. No one else seemed to notice or react! Oh well! There is a saying here, “TIA” it means “This is Africa” It refers to all things…good and bad, that are different than our culture.
We tried to brainstorm with one of the branch presidencies about FUN things they could do with their branch because so often when they think of activities, they can only think of serious meetings. They came up with cleaning the Church, cleaning the area around the Church, planting slips of flowers, etc. We tried to think of a game day, a dance, a movie, fun songs, etc….it just doesn’t compute, but we are working on it.
One of the branch presidents was explaining why one of our members had been given 100 acres of land by the government. I don’t understand completely, but this is what he said. After the Mau Mau rebellion, when many whites were forcibly removed from their land, Mr. Kenyatta, the new president had Thurgood Marshall (U.S. Judge) draw up a Constitution for this country.
It provided that land belonging to Europeans would be redistributed to Africans, who were being relocated from other areas of the country. The Europeans were to be compensated for their land. Africans could purchase the land for 140 KSH (about $1.50-$1.60) for 10 acres, and 1,000 KSH (about $13)…this is today’s exchange, and this happened some time ago. Anyway, 1,000 ksh for 100 acres.
Places that went for 1,000 ksh often had nice homes on them. The Settlement Office determined who got what land. Europeans who were owners of large businesses like the Delmeres (remember “Out of Africa”)—cattle owners…were allowed to stay, and some of those remain here today. Others were sent back to Europe or wherever they chose to go. It is interesting. Many of the large estates were broken up into small plots. He said these have been hard to be profitable—to grow enough maize to sustain and also be able to sell. We are learning bits and pieces about the history.
The member who has 100 acres is so generous. He has allowed the members to worship in his business building without rent for some time. He also has given land to Jane and some others to build on when they had no place to go. So, he has blessed many people with his good fortune.
We met this morning for several hours with the District President, who travelled 2 hours to get to Kitale by matatu (crowded rickety van). He came to pay some bills because the District (2 weeks old) still doesn’t have an account. He is a WONDERFUL man—so wise and so kind. He puts us to shame with his non-judgmental, kind perspective on people. We talked with him about the new changes in the CES program and how it will affect the district. We always feel uplifted after being with him.
As you can see by the pictures (if the Internet and power ever come on again) that the rainy season is back again. Wish us luck!
Neal went with branch president to visit less-active family, who lives in the middle of a slum. We’ve visited this family a few times before, trying to get dad to come to Church. They walk a long way. Mom usually comes dragging 4 kids behind her, but he doesn’t come much. He has a sewing machine he operates out on the street, but they live very hard lives. He told Neal he is 4 months in arrears on the rent, and he can’t come to Church because if he does, when he padlocks his door to leave, the landlord will come and put a bigger padlock over his, and they will either have to pay or move (probably without their “stuff”). They are very hungry he says.
We went to see Jane up in the hills—one of our most “distant” members. We’ve sent information about her going to the temple earlier. (See new pictures on the blog). She is so ANIMATED…almost possessed in a funny way. We went to see her and her married daughter, who just had the first grandchild, a baby boy. The daughter is 20, married to a 35 year old man. The daughter came to mom’s house to have the baby.
The branch president accompanied us. He and the women explained that the girl would not have any say in naming her child. Her husband or his parents determine all three names the child will have. She is experiencing a lot of pain (2 weeks after birth). We asked if she had told her husband she is unwell. She shook her head as if that wasn’t something to be discussed. We felt badly for her and urged her to go to the doctor.
Jane was explaining how excited she was that 2 weeks ago, their area was made into a branch. She was jumping up and down and waving her hands. She said, “I have been so sick…high fever…with Malaria. I feeling so much pain, but I pray, ‘Don’t make me to die. We have branch coming, and I’ve waited sooo long and walked so many, many kilometers to get to Church. I must live to be able to go to the new branch’.” She makes me cry!
We visited another family. Leah (the mom) has investigated 4 years while living in Eldoret. The family moved to this area, up in the hills. She walks a long way to Church, and was baptized 2 months ago. She brings her entire family: 5 kids and husband. They are really an impressive family. Dad had Malaria about a month ago and was in a coma. The missionaries came and gave him a blessing. He was almost immediately healed, so they have great faith in blessings, although only mom is a member. Their 17 daughter died of Malaria some time ago.
When we went to visit them, their 16 year old son was sitting in a plastic chair outside the doorstep. He had sores all over his head, and his nose looked very painful with white crusting under it. (see picture on blog)
Apparently, last week after Church, he (the boy) took a motorcycle (picky picky) home. It was raining hard and very muddy. The motor was going very fast, and they now suspect the driver was drunk. They hit a patch of thick sand. It is like silt in places. The motorcycle stopped, and they went over the top, with this boy landing on his head. The driver had a helmet on. The driver immediately ran, leaving the boy unconscious on the road.
Bystanders thought he was dead. When he regained consciousness, he somehow made it to where he was to pick up his bicycle. He finally made it home to be met by the horrified reaction of his parents, who seem to be very loving and concerned about him. They took him to a doctor, but he still doesn’t seem to be doing very well.
They asked for a blessing. We had just taught our prospective missionary class how to give blessings and baptize. This boy’s cousin is in the class and was in a nearby field. We called him in and had him anoint the boy while Neal pronounced the blessing. I don’t think the branch president has ever given a blessing, and perhaps has never seen one given because no matter how much urging Neal did to get him to give it, he would not.
It was a very spiritual experience and so nice for our prospective elder. We love him anyway. He is an orphan, who was been disinherited from his rightful land by his father’s brothers. By rights, he is supposed to inherit his father’s portion of the extended family’s property, but they have taken it. We hope so that he will be able to serve a mission. He is so faithful and has gone out with the elders to proselyte faithfully for so long.
On the way home, we were driving along the highway, and a man dressed only in a Masai blanket thrown over one arm was walking in the direction we were proceeding. We had seen him earlier in the day, but not noticed at that time his state of undress. We were a bit shocked because this was NOT a remote area. No one else seemed to notice or react! Oh well! There is a saying here, “TIA” it means “This is Africa” It refers to all things…good and bad, that are different than our culture.
We tried to brainstorm with one of the branch presidencies about FUN things they could do with their branch because so often when they think of activities, they can only think of serious meetings. They came up with cleaning the Church, cleaning the area around the Church, planting slips of flowers, etc. We tried to think of a game day, a dance, a movie, fun songs, etc….it just doesn’t compute, but we are working on it.
One of the branch presidents was explaining why one of our members had been given 100 acres of land by the government. I don’t understand completely, but this is what he said. After the Mau Mau rebellion, when many whites were forcibly removed from their land, Mr. Kenyatta, the new president had Thurgood Marshall (U.S. Judge) draw up a Constitution for this country.
It provided that land belonging to Europeans would be redistributed to Africans, who were being relocated from other areas of the country. The Europeans were to be compensated for their land. Africans could purchase the land for 140 KSH (about $1.50-$1.60) for 10 acres, and 1,000 KSH (about $13)…this is today’s exchange, and this happened some time ago. Anyway, 1,000 ksh for 100 acres.
Places that went for 1,000 ksh often had nice homes on them. The Settlement Office determined who got what land. Europeans who were owners of large businesses like the Delmeres (remember “Out of Africa”)—cattle owners…were allowed to stay, and some of those remain here today. Others were sent back to Europe or wherever they chose to go. It is interesting. Many of the large estates were broken up into small plots. He said these have been hard to be profitable—to grow enough maize to sustain and also be able to sell. We are learning bits and pieces about the history.
The member who has 100 acres is so generous. He has allowed the members to worship in his business building without rent for some time. He also has given land to Jane and some others to build on when they had no place to go. So, he has blessed many people with his good fortune.
We met this morning for several hours with the District President, who travelled 2 hours to get to Kitale by matatu (crowded rickety van). He came to pay some bills because the District (2 weeks old) still doesn’t have an account. He is a WONDERFUL man—so wise and so kind. He puts us to shame with his non-judgmental, kind perspective on people. We talked with him about the new changes in the CES program and how it will affect the district. We always feel uplifted after being with him.
As you can see by the pictures (if the Internet and power ever come on again) that the rainy season is back again. Wish us luck!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
FULL WEEK
June 20, 2011 Update
Patriarchal Blessings
One of the highlights of our mission is definitely being able to meet with the members and the prospective missionaries, who come for their patriarchal blessings. The ones we have met have been absolutely the cream of the crop. What spiritual giants they are. They have been so humble and so ready for their blessings. We have shed many a tear in those sessions. Neal gave a blessing to a young man Saturday, who is the only member in his family. He is a twin in a family of six children. He said his family and his friends do not understand why he wants to go on a mission, and how hard it has been for him to put in his papers.
We hear all the time that if someone joins the Church, it is a sure thing that the members will eat their children. It takes a brave investigator to come through the door and realize that we are Christians and love the Lord. We’re often told as well that people don’t understand our American English. They only understand British English. We think that is so funny.
BITES:
As you know, I’ve had recurrent problems with multiple bites. They come in large groups every 3-4 weeks. I get them in patches all over my body. They swell up like hives and itch like crazy. I never see any bugs, and even though we often have guests, they never get bites here even when they are visiting at the same time I break out. Neal gets bites only occasionally, and they don’t look anything like mine. WE’ve checked the bed and bedding and can’t see anything that looks like mosquitoes or bed bugs…We sleep under a mosquito net every night and spray like crazy all the time with permetherine. Nothing has worked!
Tuesday, June 6 we had a wonderful couple stay with us. I broke out with a vengeance with over 40 bites, and by the next Tuesday I really had a bad bout with a new set that really was pretty awful. So we called the mission and talked with the doctor who oversees all of Eastern Africa. He conferred with his dermatologist friend in USA and showed him the pictures. They gave their ideas and recommended I go to Nairobi to see the doctor the mission uses here. We’ve been impressed with him in the past. He is Indian-wears a turban-very well-spoken and seems very knowledgeable. He thinks it is worms, fleas, or the Doxycyline we take to prevent Malaria. So we trying to make some adjustments and will see. Anything would be a blessing. The medicine he prescribed as a cream is heavenly. The itching starts, and voila! The medicine takes the itch away. I’m lovin’ it.
Training with Elder & Sister Usi (70)
We made that fast trip to Nairobi-down one day, back the next, and stayed in Eldoret about 2 hours away for a training on Saturday with Elder Usi, an African Member of the Seventy. He and his wife did a special training to all Primary workers and members of the Br Presidencies in the 9 branches in our district and 2 branches in Kisumu and Busia. It was a wonderful meeting. They told us that the First Pres and members of the Twelve have a goal to visit every country of the world where the Church is organized within 4 years. Two of the Twelve and the Primary Pres will be in Kenya on Oct 29. This meeting was in preparation for that time.
New CES direction
While in Nairobi, we met with Brother Omondi, who is our CES supervisor. He gave us some new insights and goals for our work here. We were very grateful to have his comments and to get more direction on what we should be doing. He would like to see the branches have Seminary and Institute Activities…Seminary on a monthly basis, and Institute on a quarterly basis.
No one in our areas have had any activities. Even R.S. homemaking type activities are very rare…I’ve only been to one (which Sis McBride and I did). They do sometimes get together to eat, but the idea of learning skills or doing crafts is pretty foreign. Everything must be done during daylight and getting to a meeting outside of Sunday is difficult for many of them because it requires such long walking and they can’t afford the fare to take transport.
And Oh, the people!
People are very hungry now. Harvest will not come until the end of Sept or October. Our employment people have been talking to them about storing or drying food to encourage them to capitalize on the harvest and hold back produce for when times are hard like now.
We met a delightful woman who is 102 years old. She just cracked us up. She was as feisty as you can imagine. I loved looking at her hands and feet. She has worked so hard. She was chopping kindling for her meal with her rusty old panga. She laughed with us. We were there to visit with her grandson, who is probably in his 50s. He is a former branch president, but doesn’t attend Church at all. His wife has left him, and he wants us to get her and his children back. We encouraged her grandson (the man we were visiting) to interview her and get her life story.
PROSPECTIVE MISSIONARIES:
One of our very favorite experiences is to teach the prospective missionary class every single Monday. We love it. Those boys are just so eager to learn and sacrifice so much to come. We know they come hungry, and yet they are anxious to be there. We pay their fare, but they must be there before the opening prayer to get it. Class starts at 11:00AM. We get to the building at 10:30 and there are 6 of them waiting for us each time. The rest come before time to start. EVERYONE was on time today (8 of them) and that has happened almost every time.
African time keeping is horrendous…If they arrive 2 hours after the class is supposed to start, that is par for the course, so this is nothing short of miraculous. They help us upstairs (very steep) with all our junk, and immediately start sweeping out all the mud, branches, and debris scattered about the floor. They are truly Sons of Helaman!
They are working hard to try to get all they need to prepare. It isn’t like at home, oh my goodness. It costs 150 KSH …about $1.60 to $1.70 to get a birth certificate. It is next to impossible for them to come up with that kind of money. So, they are working it off…then they must get a Kenya ID. Right now, there is a problem the government is working on to get Kenya IDs issued. The boys cannot apply for passports without a Kenya ID. They are hopeful that things will work out for the IDs to be processed again. I think they stopped processing them a year ago May.
Once they have IDs, they need passports, which are like 4,000 KSH (about $50), then they need a police report that costs 1,500 KSH, and a medical. They must serve as branch missionaries for 3 months before applying and be ordained as Elders (of course).
So, there are HUGE obstacles to overcome. If they want to be considered for serving in South Africa or other countries which require driver’s licenses for elders, they must acquire one, which costs 10,000 KSH and two months of class work.
So, our job is to encourage them and push them and psych them up to go because we know what a blessing it will be for the people they teach and for them, and especially for their branches when they return. Unfortunately, Satan also knows what a blessing it would be for them to go, and he works sooooo hard on them to discourage them.
Branch Training
Another thing we’ve been very involved in lately is meeting with each of our five new branch presidencies to learn the Handbooks together. Some of these men are brand new in the Church. It is quite an overwhelming prospect to be called as a Branch president or counselor, when you are very, very young in the Church. They teach us as much as we teach them. We are learning together.
We rotate so that we visit each branch at least once (during the week) every two weeks. During that time, we tell the Br Pres we will come and he can use us any way he wants. If he wants us to drive him to some members far away, we will do so. If he wants us to take a counselor or other leader to do visiting with less-actives, we will do so. If he wants us to sit down with his presidency and just train out of the handbook, we will do that. The latter is what we’ve been doing.
It has been a growing experience for us all. They are so humble and teachable. They want so much to do a good job. And their jobs are SOO hard. They have huge problems to contend with, but they are very reliant upon the spirit. As I said, we learn much from them.
They have absolutely no supplies for their branch presidencies: no notebooks, no pencils, no paper, no paper clips, no calendars, no blanks to fill in callings on, no agendas….Imagine what it would be like to start with that. They get luba (budget) from the Church, but they don’t really know how to use it. In several branches there is no copy machine anywhere in the vicinity (even at the store in the village) to make copies. Just imagine that…what that is like. So, we are trying to give them the barest essentials so that they can at least have a notebook and paper to write down assignments. Neal is really encouraging them to have branch meetings and trying to teach them what you do in those meetings. They just soak it up, and it is just a joy to see them try to implement some of the ideas! Again, one of their biggest challenges is distance. There is no way they can have a branch presidency meeting at 7:00AM. Some of them would have to get up at 4:00AM to get there. But, they are trying. We just take our hats off to them for trying.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Picture reminds me of poem, John Anderson my jo, John
This is one of my favorite poems---"John Anderson, my jo, John
(see picture under the right column listing posts for 2011)
JOHN ANDERSON my jo, John, (jo-darling)
When we were first acquent, (acquainted)
Your locks were like the raven,
Your bonie brow was brent; (smooth)
But now your brow is beld, John (& I must say, Neal is pretty bald)
your locks are like the snow, (mine are the white ones)
but blessings on your frosty pow, (pow-crown of head)
John Anderson, my jo!
John Anderson my jo, John,
We clamb the hill thegither, (clamb-climbed, thegither-together)
And mony a canty day, John (mony-many, canty-happy)
We've had wi' ane anither;
Now we maun TOTTER down, John, (maun-must)
But hand in hand we'll go,
And sleep thegither at the foot,
John Anderson, my jo!
Robert Burns
Neal is my jo, and what a blessing he is to me after all these years. This mission has been such
a blessing for us to be together...tottering though we may be down the hill!
(see picture under the right column listing posts for 2011)
JOHN ANDERSON my jo, John, (jo-darling)
When we were first acquent, (acquainted)
Your locks were like the raven,
Your bonie brow was brent; (smooth)
But now your brow is beld, John (& I must say, Neal is pretty bald)
your locks are like the snow, (mine are the white ones)
but blessings on your frosty pow, (pow-crown of head)
John Anderson, my jo!
John Anderson my jo, John,
We clamb the hill thegither, (clamb-climbed, thegither-together)
And mony a canty day, John (mony-many, canty-happy)
We've had wi' ane anither;
Now we maun TOTTER down, John, (maun-must)
But hand in hand we'll go,
And sleep thegither at the foot,
John Anderson, my jo!
Robert Burns
Neal is my jo, and what a blessing he is to me after all these years. This mission has been such
a blessing for us to be together...tottering though we may be down the hill!
Random thoughts June 10, 2011
VERBAL ABUSE:
Paul M. said, “we must have no roaring in the forest” meaning, we must be kind to our wives and not yell at them. When asked how many mosquito bites he endured each night, he rolled his eyes, laughed, and said, “Oh to many—too numerous to tell”
HUNGER:
Three people approached me at Inservice asking for plastic bags (like you would bring groceries or clothing home from the store in). They are so desperate for anything right now…people are so hungry and harvest won’t come until October.
MAIZE: We look at corn growing everywhere now, and it looks like it is so tall and in tassle. They eat field corn, and if they eat it now (when we would) it won’t keep. It will need to be consumed immediately. It must stand on the stalks until harvest in October when it is then dry and hard. It can them be harvested and stored to be broken up into flour.
The Church constructed a very popular spring right next to a busy farm road. We see people there constantly, in fact, although we pass there almost every day, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it without lots of people. We’ve seen big white tents there (we thought it was a wedding or big party—found out the people who rent these big tents bring them to this spring to wash them. ) We laughed and laughed the other day to see a great big water truck parked there with a man perched on top. His partner on the ground was filling buckets and passing them up where the top guy was pouring their contents into the truck. On the side of the truck, the owners were advertising “CLEAN WATER”.
SHOCKING STEP: We were doing some training with a branch president in one of our most distant branches—very rural. The branch president asked us to take his counselor to the home of a widow whose 29 year old son had died earlier that morning. Our goal was to assess the situation and see how the Church could help.
The widow, Lorna, lives on government land right in the middle of the village, and has been served notice that she must move within just a couple of months and find another home. This is a desperate situation for her, because she has been ‘squatting” on this place for many years clear back to the time her husband was alive. He was from Uganda, and so they had no legal rights to live here in Kenya. She lives in a mud house with intricate designs painted all around the outside walls. I think I mentioned in an earlier entry, that she is not allowed to paint or decorate the house in any way now that he is dead because it would be an affront to his family and show that she was happy now that he was gone.
We entered the very dark house (no windows) with the only light coming from behind us in the half obscured doorway. I could barely make her out. She was squatting on a small rough stool and rose when I approached her. I put my arms around her to comfort her as she was crying. As we pulled apart, and my eyes adjusted to the dark, I looked down to see that I was nearly standing on the dead man’s face. He was stretched out on the mud floor with rags under his head, turned on his side facing her with his hands kind of clasped up by his face as if he were sleeping on his side.
I involuntarily lurched back, shocked that he was right there among us so intimately, and that I might have stepped on him. Two other women, Neal and the branch counselor were sitting in the darkness (the R.S. Pres and a neighbor). We all sat in silence as the mother silently wept. After some time, they all spoke in Swahili and later explained the great dilemma.
There has been no food in this house for sometime. Lorna went to a neighboring hut awhile ago to get her son, who has been ill for about one year with “neglected Malaria”. This means he has been sick and perhaps received some medicine, but the medicine was either not effective, or it was sham medicine. Consequently, he never got over his bout with Malaria, and just continued to be ill. For the recent time, his legs have swollen up to 3 times normal size, and he has been unable to walk.
He became very gravely ill the day before his death, so Lorna borrowed money from someone and bought medicine, but he was so hungry, he was not able to digest or take the medicine, and so, died this morning. The problem is compounded by the fact that in Kenya, people who die are buried at home in the yard. Lorna has no land of her own, and so she has nowhere to bury her son.
In their culture, the elders in a family make all big decisions, so Lorna’s brothers were called to come to make the decisions about the burial, the funeral, and the future. They, too, are hungry and live far away in Eldoret and other distant villages. They don’t have the money to come to help her. They will borrow the money and arrive in a few days. In the meantime, she will continue to sit over her son, waving a rag over his head to keep the flies away. It is Lorna’s brothers who will make the decisions. She has no say. Her husband’s family will not be involved because this son is not his son. This boy had a different father.
It was very sad as you may well imagine. So, we drove back to the Church to get some help from the branch president for food for a few days for her.
Banana Tithing
I visited YW in a branch on Sunday. Although this YW President (no active counselors) has held the position for about 4 years, I think this is probably one of the few times she has ever had an actual YW Sunday class. She was very nervous. She is a little older than I am. She immediately asked me to teach the class. I urged her to do it, and she did a good job. She read to the girls the first introductory pages of the PP book as the lesson. We turned to one of the goals, which mentioned tithing.
I had asked the teacher earlier during the class to share with the girls some of her experiences with faith in raising her large family. She is the wife of a polygamist. He is dead now.
I said, “You have raised a big family. I’m sure you’ve had some hard times during those years. What can you tell the girls about leaning on the Lord when times are hard.” She said, “Oh that is easy. I can tell them about right now. There is no food. We are all hungry. I pray that we won’t die. The Lord blesses us.” I bore testimony to Pres. Hinckley’s promise that if we will “pay our tithes and offerings, though they be meager, we will have rice in our bowls, a roof over our heads, and clothing on our backs.”
The teacher AND the kids got wide eyes, “You really mean it. The Lord will really bless us that way if we do that?” They were really dumbfounded…the teacher (who has been a member for a long time and had 2 boys serve missions in the past and one now preparing), said, “Do you really mean that. Will the Lord really do that?” I assured her He would and told her some of our personal experiences with tithing and how strongly I feel about it. The room got really quiet. Then I drew 10 ears of Maize on the board and then 10 apples, and taught what tithing was. The teacher really struggled mentally with that. You could see it in her eyes.
She said, “You mean I raise my bananas, and then I take one to the market or to the Church?” I explained she sells the 10 bananas and then takes 1/10 of the money to the branch pres. It was just like something clicked. You know we have such a language barrier. We teach and teach as missionaries, but often, most often, they understand only some of what we teach, and we understand only a little of what they say. It was profound for me to watch that transformation. Many people here are so faithful, so humble, and have such hard lives.
Home Teaching
One of the branch president’s counselors was talking about the importance of Home Teaching. He said, you know many of the pastors here visit their members every day because they live so near. We need to be visiting much better than we are doing.
Speaking of visiting. Remember the woman we visited in the school (tilapia farm project) where she is a prominent teacher that I mentioned in our last blog. She came to Church after 5 years the next week after our visit. Her husband came the next week. He spoke in testimony meeting (last Sunday) and said, “Even though I haven’t come to Church in 5 years, I kept my white Sunday clothes and I’ve never attended another Church in all that time because I know this Church is true.” They live so far away. It is nearly impossible for them to come.
Toothaches and banged knees
One of the young men we teach in the Missionary Prep class really wants to go on a mission. He is without parents or guardians and is 24 yrs old. He walked 2 ½ hours one time to come to class, and then 2 ½ hours back. We help him with the cost of the transport. We have a rule for this class. We will pay transport if they arrive BEFORE the opening prayer. They’ve been really good. He came this week and was a little early. He kept holding his face and moving gingerly. We asked about it. He said he had come on a picky picky (motor cycle you pay to take you somewhere). It was very rainy, and we are into mud again—particularly where he comes from. The picky picky driver went too fast and hit some slippery mud, and both of them went down. He was hurt and showed it. After class, he told us he had broken his tooth, and it was really hurting him.
He has absolutely no money, doesn’t eat much I don’t think. He said he would have to go to Eldoret to find a dentist. That is about 1 ½ hours on a vehicle from his place. We felt so badly for him. We told him to contact the branch president (we are trying to be obedient and not giving people money as we have in the past, but having them go through priesthood line). Oh, I felt so badly for him. It is so hard not to just give them money, but we know the damage that does by undermining the priesthood line. We just love him.
Bites
Well, I had 29 bites until today. Now I have 31. They are like welts. I thought they were hives, but they are localized in specific spots. Another couple told us to use Diazonon, that that is the only thing that will kill the bugs. I really don’t think they are in our bed. We use nets, and I get the bites in the middle of the day. I never see bugs or mosquitoes, but boy do I itch! Anyone know anything about Diazonon? I’ve tried every cream the pharmacy can muster.
Blessings
We had three wonderful experiences with patriarchal blessings last week. That has become one of the spiritual highlights of our mission. We feel so fortunate and blessed to be able to participate with the wonderful people who come. They bring tremendous spiritual blessings to us in our meetings with them.
Luxuries
One of the branch presidents was talking with us about the importance of food storage and living providently. He said “Our people are so hungry now. This will continue until October. Then they will harvest their crops and live extravagantly, buying luxuries.” We asked, “What is a luxury. What are they buying?” He said, “Oh, things like fish and meat.”
African Homeland
At the training in So Africa, Brother Haws (from Utah) spoke about arriving in Africa for the first time and being greeted by Brother Khumliani with the words, “Welcome to the homeland.” Brother Haws went around the room in our meeting and asked each of the participants from where their ancestors came. The 40 or so African couples all said places in Africa. The 10 Western couples mostly said Europe. He then asked us how many were from the tribe of Ephraim. Almost everyone in the room raised his/her hand. He asked us to turn to Gen 41:45 and read it. Joseph and Asenath had their children in Africa. We are ALL from Africa!
NEWBORN
Pres Kadaji and his wife, Esther had a surprise last Sunday. She started into labor. They thought the baby would be due in July. They made their way to a doctor…quite a distance from their home. The doctor did not examine her, but Esther’s water had broken, so he said, “go home. You will have this baby today. Come again, when you are ready.” They went back home, and about 1:00 AM, she knew she was going to deliver. They live way, way out in the hills. It is about 1 mile from their house on the mountain, just down to the road. There are no streetlights, and it was raining and muddy. Remember, muddy here has a whole different connotation than it does at home.
So, Pres and Esther and her sister-in-law made their way down off the mountain. We asked if they had any light. He flicked on his phone to show us the light they used. They finally got down to the road to wait for a motorcycle they could hire. None came, so they finally called a taxi. I have no idea where they got a taxi out there. I’m sure it wasn’t like any taxi we’ve ever known.
They finally got to the clinic to find that the doctor was asleep. President waited outside and was sent back home. He called sometime later to find he had a baby boy. He went to Church to conduct his first meetings in his new calling, and then hired a motorcycle to go out to the clinic---a long, long way to get her. She brought her newborn son home on a motorcycle at that time. The baby’s name is “Goodluck”.
They live very, very humbly…almost no furniture..only wooden benches, dirt floor, no door, only a piece of fabric separating the parlor from where they all sleep. I don’t think there is food there. I’ve never seen any at least. We took a small gift. But, they are very excited to have this sweet little boy. His cord came off at 4 days, which she says is normal. She said they don’t have a cord protruding like our babies do and don’t tie it off like we do.
The baby was 3.5 kilo, which is normal. If a baby comes any earlier than 7 months, it usually dies. They have no incubators or modern equipment where she delivered.
I am just amazed at these people and the things they endure. Life is sooo very hard for them. There are three other little children in the home—darling little kids. Malcom, Trinity(1 ½) and Athaiya. The baby, Trinity, was terrified when Neal picked her brother, Malcom, up. She cried and cried. Those white Muzungu’s are scairy you know. Grandma was there. She is 72 and a very active Salvation Army member. She was delightful.
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