Hello Family and Friends:
Another week gone; they go so fast.
The most exciting thing that happened this week happened today on the way to church. We were about five minutes from church and the truck broke down at a busy intersection. There we were three mzungus (white people) (Debi, me, and another guy I have over here working) and one driver from Kenya. Good thing we had a driver with us. The truck (a Toyota 7 passenger vehicle), overheated and stalled. We pushed it off to the side of the road and then walked to a gas station and got some water. We drew quite a crowd. All kinds of guys were trying to help us. By the time we were done I’d given out 700 ($10) shillings for all the help. One guy jumped down into the ditch and filled our bucket to put in the engine about 4 times. We got a bucket at the service station and just filled it out of the ditch by where we stalled. We finally got going and arrived at church just in time for sacrament meeting. So much for my meeting that started one hour earlier.
One other item of note; Debi may be the new Branch food specialist. The Relief Society President wanted to talk to her before we left today to help plan for a Branch open house in November. After last week’s primary “feed” everyone will be looking for suggestions from Debi. The brownies were a big hit and everyone lived what she planned and prepared. She suggested cheese and crackers as one of the treats. No one here has ever heard of cheese and crackers. Anyone have any other suggestions for easy snacks for an open house?
Work continues to get a little bit better (pole, pole). That is Swahili for little by little. Both vowels are pronounced with the long sound, and said fast. I’ll teach you all some Swahili in future letters. I sill don’t have English down yet so I’m not sure I should venture out into another language. One of the problems here is that each tribe has their own language so even in Magadi many people speak Maasai, Swahili and English. Sometimes I have trouble figuring out which language they are speaking. Whenever I try to speak one of their languages they give me a big smile, they like it when foreigners try and learn their language. They get a kick out of trying to teach me because I can’t hear so good and most of the time they wind up writing the word down so I can figure out what they are trying to say.
Ok family, (our kids, you know who you are). We have our plans for Christmas. Debi returns to the US on December 5th (SLC). I return to SLC on December 18th. We will be in St George over Christmas. The days between my return and Christmas aren’t firmed up yet. We will leave St George after Christmas and head to Krista’s. Then we will fly from LA to Seattle on December 30th to visit Mya and her family. We will leave Seattle on January 3rd headed back to Kenya. Margaret will be returning with us. That will be a good time. We will try to make sure she has a memorable trip. Debi and Margaret will return to the US at the end of February just before Krista is due (oh, does everyone know Krista is due in March, my bad). I will return the end of April for the baby blessing and then to go to Cody’s graduation on May 7th. That’s as far out as we have planned. But I guess that is quite a ways.
Should be a busy week; many of the projects we are working on to improve profitability are moving ahead. Now all that needs to happen is to get the purchasing people to order the equipment and the finance people to make arrangements for the financing. If I say it fast it sounds easy. I just have to get all the other groups off their butts and moving. Sometimes that’s hard.
This letter is late because the internet is down. In fact the phone system is out. That’s what happens when you are in the middle of Africa.
Love you all
Paul/dad
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Sun 10/17/2010 12:54 PM
Hello Family and Friends
So this week started out pretty good (and it didn’t end too badly either). Finance put out a report stating that Magadi Soda made money in September. We made enough money to cover for all the losses from earlier in the year. So maybe things are turning around. Last month was a pretty good production month.
I had requested a number of different tools be ordered to help maintenance people do their jobs better. Found out the tools had finally been ordered and will be delivered this week. Also ordered a camera that takes pictures of equipment and shows color based on temperature. It is used extensively at Green River to do electrical and mechanical inspections. You take a picture of a pump, motor, or electrical switch gear and trouble spots show up a different color than the other “normal” parts. This allows you to fix equipment before it fails. There is so much equipment here that runs to failure it will be good to have some troubleshooting equipment.
Also had the fellow I wanted to be the Maintenance Manager agree to take the job; that will make my life much easier. It is going to be a tough transition for those who are not accustom to working. There are two Electrical Managers here. One has one direct report and the other has two men reporting to him. Neither one do much other than complain. Now they will have a lot to complain about because they are now front line foremen and will be responsible for maintaining a plant. It will be an interesting few months as we work toward making everyone here contributing citizens. Too often, the feeling is that if you show up that about all that is expected.
Today was the primary presentation. Kids are the same all over the world. The little ones that could just barely see over the stand looked so cute. I was on the front row so I was winking at two little boys. There was a little girl that must have been eight or nine that led the music and did a great job. They all had their parts memorized. There were a few kids in the program whose parents are not members yet. And like most primary presentation Sunday’s the church was full. Today was the first time the overflow had to be opened. So its primary presentation, Easter and Christmas that packs the chapel. Anyway the branch president talked again about splitting the branch, guess it will happen pretty soon. Especially if the attendance continues like it has past couple of months. I forgot to mention that Debi was the one that put most of the program together. The kids love her, especially today. After the program the kids got to have hot dogs, chips and brownies. Oh to be a kid again in Langata branch. I didn’t get anything. The ladies were asking for the recipe for the brownies. Betty Crocker Hershey’s, they are great and the kids loved them
Oh, and one last note. I’m ready to drive professionally in Nairobi. Yesterday, I was following a slow truck and wasn’t able to pass him on the right (which is the legal side to pass on in Kenya)so I passed him on the left shoulder. Not sure I’ll do that very often but the traffic here is horrible. Most vehicles fall into two categories; just off the showroom floor or ready for the scrap yard. And most fall into the latter category. Trucks are so under-powered, they barely make it up gentle hills. Oh well, now you have one more thing to appreciate in the USA, good traffic.
Love you all.
Paul/dad
So this week started out pretty good (and it didn’t end too badly either). Finance put out a report stating that Magadi Soda made money in September. We made enough money to cover for all the losses from earlier in the year. So maybe things are turning around. Last month was a pretty good production month.
I had requested a number of different tools be ordered to help maintenance people do their jobs better. Found out the tools had finally been ordered and will be delivered this week. Also ordered a camera that takes pictures of equipment and shows color based on temperature. It is used extensively at Green River to do electrical and mechanical inspections. You take a picture of a pump, motor, or electrical switch gear and trouble spots show up a different color than the other “normal” parts. This allows you to fix equipment before it fails. There is so much equipment here that runs to failure it will be good to have some troubleshooting equipment.
Also had the fellow I wanted to be the Maintenance Manager agree to take the job; that will make my life much easier. It is going to be a tough transition for those who are not accustom to working. There are two Electrical Managers here. One has one direct report and the other has two men reporting to him. Neither one do much other than complain. Now they will have a lot to complain about because they are now front line foremen and will be responsible for maintaining a plant. It will be an interesting few months as we work toward making everyone here contributing citizens. Too often, the feeling is that if you show up that about all that is expected.
Today was the primary presentation. Kids are the same all over the world. The little ones that could just barely see over the stand looked so cute. I was on the front row so I was winking at two little boys. There was a little girl that must have been eight or nine that led the music and did a great job. They all had their parts memorized. There were a few kids in the program whose parents are not members yet. And like most primary presentation Sunday’s the church was full. Today was the first time the overflow had to be opened. So its primary presentation, Easter and Christmas that packs the chapel. Anyway the branch president talked again about splitting the branch, guess it will happen pretty soon. Especially if the attendance continues like it has past couple of months. I forgot to mention that Debi was the one that put most of the program together. The kids love her, especially today. After the program the kids got to have hot dogs, chips and brownies. Oh to be a kid again in Langata branch. I didn’t get anything. The ladies were asking for the recipe for the brownies. Betty Crocker Hershey’s, they are great and the kids loved them
Oh, and one last note. I’m ready to drive professionally in Nairobi. Yesterday, I was following a slow truck and wasn’t able to pass him on the right (which is the legal side to pass on in Kenya)so I passed him on the left shoulder. Not sure I’ll do that very often but the traffic here is horrible. Most vehicles fall into two categories; just off the showroom floor or ready for the scrap yard. And most fall into the latter category. Trucks are so under-powered, they barely make it up gentle hills. Oh well, now you have one more thing to appreciate in the USA, good traffic.
Love you all.
Paul/dad
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Sun 10/10/2010 10:20 PM
Hello Family and Friends: (Hey, check out the date 10-10-10.)
I mentioned a few weeks ago that we went Branch Presidents house for lunch on a Saturday. While there, I asked him to explain the philosophy about the Kenyan’s asking for money from everyone they see (didn’t quite phrase it like that but that the intent of the question). He explained that Kenyans have the other person’s interest at heart and they love to make other people happy. If someone needs money or anything else for that matter, they love to provide it. It gives them a sense of satisfaction to help others. He gave his family as an example. He had eight siblings; they all have college educations and are all very successful. His father spent all his money on his kids for education etc so now he has nothing to live on. His kids now all send money each month to support their father. They are in the process of building him a house because he never had one while he was raising his kids. On a side note, the Branch President’s mother died when he was young and his father never remarried which is unusual. Most of the time a man here will remarry. So anyway, I’ve decided to apply those principals in my life, I’m going to give all my money away and depend on my kids in my declining years.
I am always amazed at what can make the folks here happy. After Debi got here, she wanted to get some things to make the house look a little more like home. So we got pillows for the bed, bath mats for the bathrooms, toilet brushes with holders and an ironing board cover. The ironing board cover made Christa’s (our house keeper/cook) day. Talk about the simple things in life that can make you happy. I remember giving Debi a camping saw for her birthday and I still hear about it 36 years later. I should have given her an ironing board cover. Christa likes having nice furnishings even if it isn’t in her house. She gets to take care of the house like it is hers.
Speaking of simple things that make people happy; there are many times I see people walking around with one tool. A pipe wrench, a hammer, a shovel, a hack saw, a wheel borrow, you pick the tool people will carry it. It’s like a rite of passage. They have a tool and now they are someone because they have a means of supporting themselves. The men line up when they are hired to get uniforms, steel toed boots and hardhats. They wear them with pride because they now have a job that provides income. The wage here is 80.5 Kenya shillings per hour (which equals $1.00/hour). Everything is provided however (housing and utilities), so not much is need other than food, which is cheap (goat and maze).
We are so blessed and most of the time we don’t appreciate what we have. I’ve said it before; you don’t have to be here for long to understand just how well we have it in the good old USofA. We can complain all we want but it would be a real shock to our systems to give it up what we take for granted. Running water and electricity would be two of the first things to go by coming to the bush. When I walk through the community here and compare it to what I have in the US it makes me very grateful for the opportunities I have been blessed with.
So just got back from church. I’d say the meeting was exciting but I was the concluding speaker and I spoke on home teaching so I’ll let the Langata branch be the judge of if it was a good meeting. But anyway, before the meeting started I asked the Brach President if we could use priesthood meeting next week to do some home teaching. We will call those people that are not in church and tell them we miss them and would like them to come next week. Home teaching here is so difficult. Few people have cars and those that do seldom drive them; too risky with all the crazy drivers. So I ask if we could count home teaching if we called and talked to the members. It will get things moving and hopefully let people know they are missed. The chapel was full today and extra chairs had to be brought in so activity is certainly increasing and will provide more strength for the branch to be divided.
Oh, and by the way, we saw a leopard along the road on the way home from church!!!! Debi almost got a picture of it (she will post what she got on FB). It shows a big cat in some bushes. It was kind of exciting to see one in the wild. After Debi missed the shot, I told her I would wait in the car if she wanted to run after it to get a close up. When we got back to Magadi, we talked to some local folks and they said that leopards are bad animals. The Maasai don’t like them because they kill their animals. So that was our excitement for the week.
Love you all, send us a note when anything exciting happens back in the US.
Paul/dad
I mentioned a few weeks ago that we went Branch Presidents house for lunch on a Saturday. While there, I asked him to explain the philosophy about the Kenyan’s asking for money from everyone they see (didn’t quite phrase it like that but that the intent of the question). He explained that Kenyans have the other person’s interest at heart and they love to make other people happy. If someone needs money or anything else for that matter, they love to provide it. It gives them a sense of satisfaction to help others. He gave his family as an example. He had eight siblings; they all have college educations and are all very successful. His father spent all his money on his kids for education etc so now he has nothing to live on. His kids now all send money each month to support their father. They are in the process of building him a house because he never had one while he was raising his kids. On a side note, the Branch President’s mother died when he was young and his father never remarried which is unusual. Most of the time a man here will remarry. So anyway, I’ve decided to apply those principals in my life, I’m going to give all my money away and depend on my kids in my declining years.
I am always amazed at what can make the folks here happy. After Debi got here, she wanted to get some things to make the house look a little more like home. So we got pillows for the bed, bath mats for the bathrooms, toilet brushes with holders and an ironing board cover. The ironing board cover made Christa’s (our house keeper/cook) day. Talk about the simple things in life that can make you happy. I remember giving Debi a camping saw for her birthday and I still hear about it 36 years later. I should have given her an ironing board cover. Christa likes having nice furnishings even if it isn’t in her house. She gets to take care of the house like it is hers.
Speaking of simple things that make people happy; there are many times I see people walking around with one tool. A pipe wrench, a hammer, a shovel, a hack saw, a wheel borrow, you pick the tool people will carry it. It’s like a rite of passage. They have a tool and now they are someone because they have a means of supporting themselves. The men line up when they are hired to get uniforms, steel toed boots and hardhats. They wear them with pride because they now have a job that provides income. The wage here is 80.5 Kenya shillings per hour (which equals $1.00/hour). Everything is provided however (housing and utilities), so not much is need other than food, which is cheap (goat and maze).
We are so blessed and most of the time we don’t appreciate what we have. I’ve said it before; you don’t have to be here for long to understand just how well we have it in the good old USofA. We can complain all we want but it would be a real shock to our systems to give it up what we take for granted. Running water and electricity would be two of the first things to go by coming to the bush. When I walk through the community here and compare it to what I have in the US it makes me very grateful for the opportunities I have been blessed with.
So just got back from church. I’d say the meeting was exciting but I was the concluding speaker and I spoke on home teaching so I’ll let the Langata branch be the judge of if it was a good meeting. But anyway, before the meeting started I asked the Brach President if we could use priesthood meeting next week to do some home teaching. We will call those people that are not in church and tell them we miss them and would like them to come next week. Home teaching here is so difficult. Few people have cars and those that do seldom drive them; too risky with all the crazy drivers. So I ask if we could count home teaching if we called and talked to the members. It will get things moving and hopefully let people know they are missed. The chapel was full today and extra chairs had to be brought in so activity is certainly increasing and will provide more strength for the branch to be divided.
Oh, and by the way, we saw a leopard along the road on the way home from church!!!! Debi almost got a picture of it (she will post what she got on FB). It shows a big cat in some bushes. It was kind of exciting to see one in the wild. After Debi missed the shot, I told her I would wait in the car if she wanted to run after it to get a close up. When we got back to Magadi, we talked to some local folks and they said that leopards are bad animals. The Maasai don’t like them because they kill their animals. So that was our excitement for the week.
Love you all, send us a note when anything exciting happens back in the US.
Paul/dad
Monday, October 4, 2010
Hello Family:
This is late because Sunday’s are very busy these days. Went to church, then to lunch and then to a tourist trap. At the tourist trap they have huts from all the tribes in Kenya. There are 42 different tribes so there is a wide variety of hut construction. We made sure we visited the huts from Obama's fathers' tribe. Margaret, we will have to go there while you are here. They also have a show where they present tribal dances from the country.
In church, there were three testimonies that were very interesting. The first was from a woman, who with her husband had just returned from the US. While there, they had an adult son sealed to then and the fellow from here baptized his grandson. It doesn’t come across that well in a letter but to hear her talk about it was quite inspiring. The fellow that was involved is the first counselor in the branch presidency and works in the public affairs department of the Kenyan government. They have been members for a while but apparently their son did not join the church at the same time they did. The next lady talked about translating the conference talks from English into Swahili. What an experience. She works in the Education department for the Kenyan government. She said it is difficult doing the work but very rewarding. She had a jump on what was going to be said in conference. The other fellow spoke about how his parents had disowned him when he joined the church. His parents are Muslim. His parents own/operate a fuel station and his dad saw missionaries come into the stations so he asked them for copies of the scriptures. After looking at all the scriptures, he called his son and said your church does not worship the devil so you should do what you feel is right.
The church is so new in Kenya, this is what it must have been like 150 years ago when our families were joining the church and moving away from their homelands. Anyway, an interesting day. We did not have conference because our Sunday started before conference did. We will watch conference in a few weeks when the CD’s arrive. We get to watch it without the advertisements.
Work continues to be crazy. A lot going on. The Board told us to move forward with the planned changes in the operations. So we are out looking for some money (anyone want to loan us some, 10 million should cover it)? Still making changes in the organization, interviewed half a dozen candidates for Maintenance Manager and will interview two more tomorrow. My favorite is a fellow that is Masai (farm/ranch boy), went to public school, worked his way through school, and isn’t afraid of work. I may be biased; there were other guys that had better degrees but wouldn’t know what hard work looked like. Of the two that had the best education both are lazy, one is not motivated at all and the other fellow can’t manage anything. So the decision may be easy for me. Just hope the others on the interview committee have the same opinion as me.
We went up to the Masai village on the hill again on Saturday to take the pictures we took last week. They were glad to see us (and the pictures). The children grabbed the pictures whether they were in them or not. They just liked seeing pictures of their village and friends. The woman that I helped carry the log up the hill did a dance to welcome us when she saw us. I’ve said it before, but 99.9% of us citizens live in better conditions than the people in these villages. But the kids run around and are happy and playful. Just an example of money not buying happiness. We took some cookies to give to the kids so we were a hit for that also.
I may have spoken too soon on how well behaved the children are here. Debi said the kids have no control in Primary. They run in and out of class and no one cares. She is trying to get the Primary Presentation ready and it is a challenge. So, girls, I may owe you an apology. You may not be the most irreverent kids in the world (but you might be).
Not much else to say other than have a good week.
Love
Paul/dad
This is late because Sunday’s are very busy these days. Went to church, then to lunch and then to a tourist trap. At the tourist trap they have huts from all the tribes in Kenya. There are 42 different tribes so there is a wide variety of hut construction. We made sure we visited the huts from Obama's fathers' tribe. Margaret, we will have to go there while you are here. They also have a show where they present tribal dances from the country.
In church, there were three testimonies that were very interesting. The first was from a woman, who with her husband had just returned from the US. While there, they had an adult son sealed to then and the fellow from here baptized his grandson. It doesn’t come across that well in a letter but to hear her talk about it was quite inspiring. The fellow that was involved is the first counselor in the branch presidency and works in the public affairs department of the Kenyan government. They have been members for a while but apparently their son did not join the church at the same time they did. The next lady talked about translating the conference talks from English into Swahili. What an experience. She works in the Education department for the Kenyan government. She said it is difficult doing the work but very rewarding. She had a jump on what was going to be said in conference. The other fellow spoke about how his parents had disowned him when he joined the church. His parents are Muslim. His parents own/operate a fuel station and his dad saw missionaries come into the stations so he asked them for copies of the scriptures. After looking at all the scriptures, he called his son and said your church does not worship the devil so you should do what you feel is right.
The church is so new in Kenya, this is what it must have been like 150 years ago when our families were joining the church and moving away from their homelands. Anyway, an interesting day. We did not have conference because our Sunday started before conference did. We will watch conference in a few weeks when the CD’s arrive. We get to watch it without the advertisements.
Work continues to be crazy. A lot going on. The Board told us to move forward with the planned changes in the operations. So we are out looking for some money (anyone want to loan us some, 10 million should cover it)? Still making changes in the organization, interviewed half a dozen candidates for Maintenance Manager and will interview two more tomorrow. My favorite is a fellow that is Masai (farm/ranch boy), went to public school, worked his way through school, and isn’t afraid of work. I may be biased; there were other guys that had better degrees but wouldn’t know what hard work looked like. Of the two that had the best education both are lazy, one is not motivated at all and the other fellow can’t manage anything. So the decision may be easy for me. Just hope the others on the interview committee have the same opinion as me.
We went up to the Masai village on the hill again on Saturday to take the pictures we took last week. They were glad to see us (and the pictures). The children grabbed the pictures whether they were in them or not. They just liked seeing pictures of their village and friends. The woman that I helped carry the log up the hill did a dance to welcome us when she saw us. I’ve said it before, but 99.9% of us citizens live in better conditions than the people in these villages. But the kids run around and are happy and playful. Just an example of money not buying happiness. We took some cookies to give to the kids so we were a hit for that also.
I may have spoken too soon on how well behaved the children are here. Debi said the kids have no control in Primary. They run in and out of class and no one cares. She is trying to get the Primary Presentation ready and it is a challenge. So, girls, I may owe you an apology. You may not be the most irreverent kids in the world (but you might be).
Not much else to say other than have a good week.
Love
Paul/dad
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