Hello Family and Friends:
As I’ve said before, the weeks go fast but sometimes when you look forward to how long it is before I come home it is sure a long time. So I’m down to less than 20 days but whose counting (I started with 99 days). I left the day the well blew up in the gulf so when they talk about how long the well has been spewing oil, that’s how long I’ve been here on this trip.
Today in church there were two speakers. One young man from Sandy who had been out on his mission about 6 months and the other a young man from the branch here that just returned for a mission. Now maybe I should give the new Elder a break but there was no comparison in the talks given. The young man from here will be a church leader before too long. His father is the first counselor in the branch presidency. I am very impressed with the level of understanding in the young brethren here. I handed him a home teaching assignment and he was so excited to have home teaching responsibilities. He said he had never been asked to home teach before. What a difference between here and some in the US. But on the other side of the equation; most of the people in the Nairobi area are not from the city. So attendance is sometimes sporadic. The go home to visit the “Village” frequently. I haven’t seen one of my counselors in a month and the other is only about 50%. Those that are most faithful are those from the area that don’t have to leave. Today the RS president asked when Debi was coming. She said she was excited to see her. I guess they are tired of seeing me without a wife.
After church we went and looked for some world cup shirts for Andy’s grandkids. We hit two very nice malls. Debi has said her spending will go down once she gets here but if she finds these malls the plastic will melt. They have some unusual stuff. I found a store that sells the expensive rugs and some beautiful jewelry. Since Andy has been here there has been a drive on Sunday so that’s why I haven’t been to these malls, they are deep in Nairobi. They are in an area populated mostly by Indian people and many of the international embassies.
Yesterday we went climbing and with my African friends so I have attached some pictures of that and a pic of the hot springs. I wanted to show what the hot springs look like so no one gets the wrong idea. They are a hole in the ground with hot water and native women (fully clothed) selling homemade jewelry to the visitors. On the way to the hot springs we saw zebra, flamingos, and a lot of other water birds, wildebeest; this is like living in a zoo. In fact Andy went to a National Park today while I was in church and he said driving around the plant was better than the Zoo. I attached a picture of a Maasai village we pass on the way to church. It sits at the bottom of a hill so a view from the top is gives a good perspective. You can see the goats in the pens in the middle of the village. I also attached a picture of a tree. For a long time I thought that type of tree was dead. But then I noticed it has yellow flowers on the branches - strange tree. Only yellow flowers.
Work has had its normal ups and downs. Sometimes I think great strides are being made and then problems come up that should have been taken care of long ago. A man that works in one area told me this week that his area has improved dramatically in the last few months. It was the worst area to work in and now it is one of the bests. So we are making some progress.
Well not much else to report. I’ll be arriving in Vegas on July31st. Debbie and I will go to St George on the 2nd of August, a Drs. appt. on the 5th in SLC and the picnic in Green River on the 6th of August. We plan to be in St George the week of August 8th (let me think, what important historical event happened on that date). We leave to come back to Kenya on August 15th.
So see ya in a few weeks, looking forward to it.
Love
Paul/dad
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