President & Sister Broadbent

This is our first day in Kenya with our Mission President and his wife. Steven & Julie Broadbent. We had met them before we went and just love them. They are wonderful to serve with.

Some of our photos

We wanted to get some of our pictures on the blog. We have tried uploading them but our internet service has not been able to get them up yet. We will continue to try and see what we can do when it may be less busy. We are busy in our area trying to learn what it is we are to be doing here. There is a lot to learn and we are slowly begining to get acquainted with the area and the people. They are wonderful and very welcoming.

We have arrived!!

It has happened. We have arrived in Kenya. We did well on the flight stopping in Chicago, London, and then Nairobi. Each airport required security clearance again. We hoped we might be required to do our strip-down dance only once, but alas, that was just not the case! We arrived here a little after 9:00 PM and got processed through customs. Then we went to claim our luggage. Only one of four our bags arrived in Nairobe with us. We are hoping to get the rest in the next day or so. Having to sign for our missing bags took alot of time so we were the last passengers to straggle out of airport. Our patient, long-enduring mission president and his wife still waited for us. It was great to hug them and finally get on the last leg to their beautiful, stately mission home.

I don't know what I expected, but it was far more lavish than my imaginings. The apartment is in a large gated park that looks very much like a jungle itself with a lake, river, palm trees and jungle growth throughout. The home itself reminds me of a Bostonian Brownstone crossed with something out of Baton Rouge. It is in a long line of other walk-up apartments with brick-a-brac on the outside of stone or brick-faced buildings--hanging baskets and lamp-lit streets.

The Broadbents (Pres & wife) graciously served us soup and bread (just perfect end to a long day). Their home has five bedrooms, parquet highly shined floors, two bathrooms, dark beauitful wood throughout. We slept heavily and intermittently! We awoke to the most exotic bird calls....it truly felt like the jungle although we right in the middle of a huge congested city.

I forgot to mention the crazy, aggressive driving. We survived barely a couple of face-on challenges to get home and then back to the office this morning. We are still groggy, and it is 5:46 PM. We spent the morning meeting with the office secretary & his wife about finances, and attending a District Training. We didn't feel nearly so badly about our lack of sleep when we realized all the folks who attended the meeting came from hills of North Kenya having arisen at 3:00 AM and arriving by foot and bus an hour early for their meeting. So, the meeting was moved up and went beautifully. President Broadbent is an orthodontist and kindly irrigated and inspected all my recent painful dental work. I was grateful for that blessing.

Many of the women wore weaves in their hair, and a couple of them wore traditional brightlly-colored dresses. When in Western dress, almost all of the women wore red suits. I don't know if that was planned, but they looked beautiful in those bright colors. The men, most with closely shaven heads, generally attended the meeting wearing suit coats or jackets and white shirts. I was really surprised at the maturity in the gospel evidenced from their responses and the grasp of English they had. I didn't expect that from reports we had had earlier.

All of the African people we have met thus far have been gracious, smiling, soft-spoken, and quite retiring. I realize those are pretty broad generalizations, but have been pretty true across the board. The branch presidents are a shade more out-going, but not much.

We befriended Mother Mary, a Dominican nun, about our age, during customs check-in. She runs the Catholic Cancer Home in Kisumu, and this was her 7th trip to Kenya from her home-base in New York. She was delightful and explained that generally, Kenyans are much more laid back than we Americans, much kinder, taking time to see things through than wanting everything in a hurry like we insist and often demand. We took that interchange as a sign.

COMPARING FIRST IMPRESSIONS of this mission with the Philippines: Kenya is so much cooler---it is great. We've only seen two big ants....great...it is much more modern here (of course, we are in Nairobe and I'm comparing that with Tacloban). The people seem much more reticent (generally). Well, someone is at the door....must close. Neal & Jackie

The Happy New Parents and Grandparents

We are so excited for Shalisa and Mike, who will be welcoming a new baby girl ANY TIME now! What a blessing for all of us. We hope to spend time with all three of them before we get on that plane. Alas, we'll miss being around for Shawn and Angela's baby girl and Kevin and Janna's baby boy, both of whom will be born in November! We've already seen SUCH BLESSINGS come from this new mission. We just can't believe how the Lord blesses us. So many good things have happened recently. We are constantly amazed--even though we KNOW that is what happens when we go on a mission---it still amazes us!

We will be leaving August 9 to begin the "BIG ADVENTURE". We are so excited! The bishop asked us to speak at the Suncrest 10th Ward on August 8 at 9:00 AM. I haven't enough brain power to think what to put in a suitcase far less to figure out what would be meaningful to anyone else.

Our assignment in Kitale will be to help establish and support seminaries and institutes that are already existing in Kitale and several other towns. We will also work with the Perpetual Education Fund there. The couple we're replacing, Elder and Sister Watt from Blackfoot, have a high reputation and are really well thought of. We are so grateful we will be able to have some time to learn from them.

We are striving valiantly....I think that would be the correct descriptor....to get EVERYTHING done! Yeah right! I think we forgot what a challenge that is....it is a fun time though, and we're enjoying each other trying to keep track of everything!

In Alaska with the Miners prior to Kenya departure

We are "enjoying" the cooler weather and wildlife in Alaska. We've seen a bear in the backyard, moose, marmots, eagles, and two grandsons. Neal has been enjoying reverting to childhood and playing with LEGO bricks non-stop for the last 3 days. Jackie has been teaching the grand kids strategies for Clue.

Apartment Pictures

The Watts are finishing their mission in Kitale and sent us these photos of the apartment we will be using when we are there. It was most enjoyable for us to see them and get an idea of what the place is like. They have really been kind in helping us to know about the area and in our preparations to go there.

Our apartment and some of the rooms

First Letter from Mission