Lukes Mission Blog

It seems we have settled in to somewhat of a routine.   I drive on the left side without thinking much about it.  I haven’t turned on the windshield wipers nearly as often.  Mary Ann hasn’t gasped as much as she used to.  I don’t cuss under my breath with a women cuts me off and didn’t have the right to.  We know just about everyone in the office.  I can understand more than half of the conversation there and at church.   I can even understand our boss “Elder Olukanni”, he just can’t understand me and my fast talking.  We are actually going to get our flights arranged and go to our other countries and help train one of these days.  We have spoken to all the NDPA’s except Ethiopia.  We have gotten a news article on Al Jazeera TV about a LDS Charities donation to the Catholic Relief (we contacted our media specialist and asked him to help) and sat in the back and listened, while Elder Pocock did the presentation.  We did take a couple of pictures.   We have driven on our own to the grocery store and hardware store.  We have only taken two one way roads the wrong way (they don’t mark them at all) and had only one matatu bus driver yell at us.  (I’ve yelled at lots of them, under my breath).   And best of all, we took another way to work and beat two couples who have been here awhile to work.  I even missed two turns or we would have been there sooner, and only had to turn around once.   Mary Ann has been shopping for souvenirs and bought some neat stuff including African jewelry.   I’ve realized that driving here is every man’s dream to drive like a crazy man driver and be normal or maybe a little too cautious.  We have even found a golf course to play golf at just a few blocks below our office.  They don’t have golf carts, but you do have to hire a caddy for 200 shillings ($3) for 9 holes.  Weekdays are 900 shillings and weekends are 1200 shillings per nine holes.  Now I just need to get someone to go with me.

Well we thought things calmed down, then today happened. A peaceful prayer rally turned violent, and protesters started a post office on fire. Before we knew all this was happening we decided to take a lunch hour trip to the Yaya center (kind of like a mall with a grocery store, hardware store, etc. (I wanted to get a kitchen timer so I would have less chance of burning stuff I was trying to cook. Its already challenging with strange food and a strange stove) Anyway as we were driving back to the office, we noticed a large group of soldiers matching up the road we are heading down. Needless to say we made a turn around, through a gas station and tried to find our way back another way. On our way back we also ran into a large police presence. They were stopping cars and searching them. We went the way with least resistance and finally made it back, through the extremely heavy traffic, to work. We have received more text messages telling of more buildings being set on fire and more riots. We will stay here until we feel it is safe to go home. If we have to stay all night, we won’t starve, while we were out we bought some sandwich fixing stuff. The adventure continues…..

love, Elder and Sister Luke

Things seemed to have calmed down a little bit, there is a lot more traffic and people out. It took us about 3 times as long to get to work and back home yesterday.

We have heard so many heart wrenching stories of the terrible things that have happened to so many people, many of them members of the church. We even have met some of them. One is a man named David Olawa. He comes and washes our car and cleans our laundryroom.  The Sudweeks had him do this before us and we just kept it up. He is also a school teacher. His story was published in an online magazine located at http://www.meridianmagazine.com. If you wanted to read about it. This was sent to another missionary couple and they told us about it.  I read through the article and then noticed at the end they were asking for donations. I am not telling you about this so that you will make donations, just so you can read some of the Kenya happenings.

We asked David to eat dinner with us last night and learned a little more about him. He is the oldest of his family and from a poor family. He did very well in school and qualified for college but didn’t have enough money. He stayed for a while with his family and helped support them but then decided to try on his own. He came to Nairobi about 10 years ago. He worked in our flat compound washing cars and cleaning for missionary couples. He then joined the church. After the US Embassy was bombed here, he got a job working constuction rebuilding at the Embassy. That lasted for two years and he was able to save enough money to attend college. He said he was the oldest student but did very well. He earned a teaching certificate and now teaches primary grades in the slum where he lives. The children have to pay 500 shilings a month to go to school. That is about $7.50. That also pays for a breakfast and lunch each day for the children.  I think he gets his pay from that money,too. Not many children have come to school this month because of all the unrest so he has not been able to earn much money.

He had his family here in Nairobi with him but it cost to much to keep them here so he sent them up country to live and he sends money home to support them. He has a wife and four daughters.

He has to stay up at night and guard his home. Many men in the slum have to do this. They usally sleep until about midnight and then get up and guard their homes until about 6 or 7 in the morning and then try to sleep for an hour or so before they go out to work. The gangs usally rob late at night I guess.  When the big riots were going on, we got a call from David that he was at a hosptal, then the line went dead and we couldn’t reach him and didn’t know if he was hurt or what had happened. We found out later he had taken his cousin there. His cousin had been cut on the hand and head with a machette and had to have stitches. Last night David said that his cousin was doing well.

We just heard of another man that washes cars in our compound that was robbed last night. Four men broke into his home and stole everything from his shoes to the little bit of money he had.

These are just some of the stories we know about. It seems to me that some of the stories from the Book of Mormon of tribes fighting each other are being acted out here in Kenya.

On more of a happy note. We were able to meet almost 30 people on their way to the temple. They had come from Eldoret and another area in Kenya. They were families on the way to be sealed in the temple. The group from Eldoret arrived Sunday and we went to get them some blankets so they could sleep at the church. The Elders found them some mattresess and the missionary couples that had worked with them supplied them dinner and breakfast the next morning. They were such sweet humble people and we were able to hear some of their stories about how they have worked for years to go to the temple. One man said he and his family was baptized 12 years ago that day and they had been working since then to go to the temple. They had almost made it one time before but didn’t get the right authorization from the government to go. They must go to  South Africa and there is a lot of government paper work involved.

This time the government did not want to let one of the families go because they thought with all the trouble in the country that they wouldn’t come back. The church has to show proof that all the people came back after the trip. They got that worked out and all the families got to go. They will stay in South Africa until Saturday doing temple work and then return home. I don’t think many of them had ever left their home towns before let alone fly on an airplane. It would have been fun to be with them to see their reactions as they experienced so many new things.

 We are still learning all our duties (slow learners), but have completed several tasks.

Love,

Elder & Sister Luke

Today we got to go on our first, self guided “safari”. We went to Nariobi National park. It is only 6-10 km’s from downtown Nairobi. You can seriously see the skyscrapers from the middle of the park. It was larger than we thought it would be. We spent the entire day, 7AM to 5PM in the park, driving on roads (and trails). It was great.

Here is the list of the animals I can remember and recognize. We saw 5 lions, one male and 4 females eating on a carcass. They were far enough away that we had to use binoculars to see them better. We saw crocodiles, turtles, baboons, zebra (tons), warthogs, giraffes (lots), wildebeast, hartebeast, impala, gazelle, cape buffalo, eland, bushbuck,
roan antelope, orzx, steenbok, waterbuck, guinea hens, eagles and lots of other birds. We saw most of these many times. It was very african.

I can’t believe we saw all of these in one area about 15 miles square. Anyway. We have to go with the couples and eat out. We are going to a Brazilian grill.

Mom posted on the blog about Sat. On Sun. she was sick, so I went by myself with the Bishop’s (another missionary couple) to a small branch in the mountains about 80 KM from Nairobi. It was a different experience. The main road was under construction and looks like it will be for the next ten years. At times we were on paved, but rough road, paved and almost new road, dirt and rutted road, washboard, 4 inches high, potholes that couldn’t be missed at least a foot deep, and so on. It was rough, and we drove those roads at about 80-100 KM’s on the good roads he went 120-140 KM passing big truck after big truck. After we left the main road we went on mountain roads for another 20 KM some of these were so bad we were climbing up rocks and through gullies (see picture). Our last KM was straight up a trail (called a road) with washes on each side. I’ve never been on anything worse anywhere we have traveled on 4 wheel roads in our mtns. We parked and walked down some steps to a small but nice chapel on the side of the mountain. It took us over 3 hours to get there.

The chapel was full and many of the children didn’t have shoes, but were dressed nicely. Two small girls came in with 1 month old twins wrapped on their back. They made it on time, but the mother came in about 10 minutes later. When the babies fussed the little girls took one baby at a time to the mother and she nursed them. There is no modesty here either. The sunday school teacher was an 18 year old young man. In priesthood, the teacher taught in both swallihli and english, but I had a hard time telling the difference. Especially when he asked me to answer a question. It was quite the experience.

Everyone was again so friendly and shook hands. They are very poor here and live on usually one meal a day, and only have meat to eat on rare occasions. Most of them walk at least an hour to church and some longer. There is no electricity there and the church has just drilled a well and furnished water for them. The toilets are an outhouse without seats, only a hole to stand over. (I really think that is why mom didn’t go with)

On the way we did see wildeabeasts, giraffes, and gazelles. They usually see lots of baboons, but didn’t see any this trip, but I have seen wild animals now.

The email is getting too long again, so I will stop. Just a note to let you know we are eating well, ate out 5 out of 6 nights last week, and lunch every day. Hope this week slows down on the eating. Mom has bought four necklaces already, and just getting started. She also got some nativity scenes too. Hopefully I can attach some pictures for you, but may have to send a second email with pictures. Love you all

Today for our preparation day, we explored Nairobi. Elder and Sister Dickman guided us to some of their favorite shops. We bought a couple of nativity sets and a few trinkets at the first one. Then they took us to a few of the more expensive ones and we looked around, but didn’t buy. There is so many beautiful things that we can’t decide what we want. After that they took us out to visit the giraffes. One really liked me and gave me a big sloppy kiss. Twice. Dad had two of them eating right out of his hands. Then we took a quick tour of the Kazuri bead factory and store. I bought my first African necklace. Kazuri beads are handmade ceramic beads that are world famous. After that we went to a nice out door restaurant for lunch. There were birds all over the place and guess what, Adam? I have joined your club. One got me. It was only pigeon size not seagull size though. We also stocked up on food, because more rallies are planned for next week and we may be confined to our flats again. Then tonight at dinner I started feeling queasy. Thank goodness I made it in our flat’s door before all …. let loose. So where else can you kiss a giraffe, have a bird poop on you and be yucky sick all in one day. Life is great and this is Africa! (Sister Dickman says the giraffe kiss did not make me sick because they have an antiseptic mouth, so it was probably my lunch or bird poop flu)

I wanted to get this written as soon as we came home from church, but the Internet was totally off. It is now on and some of you are probably up or soon getting up. We just got back from my first drive (me driving) through the city and to areas we will be going a lot. It was pretty uneventful. I had a worse time with the turn signal than staying on the left side of the road. (only turned on the windshield wipers a few times) I only had to slam on my brakes one time. We were going into a round about and a car about got us. We did get to see lots of Nairobi though. I wanted to tell you about some of the interesting things we have seen the last few days, and some of the things we have to do here at the flat and in Kenya. First, we have to only flush the toilet as necessary, and no tubs and in the shower, wet down and turn on and off the water. We only have so much water each day. Plenty of hot water though. The power does go off a lot and we have to watch what we keep in the fridge. We also don’t have a dishwasher and so I have to help with, or do the dishes (I really do). The stove is half propane and half electric and small. We really don’t get ice anywhere. The water has to be filtered and we never drink the water out of a tap. We never know about the Internet, it’s just nice to have it. The phones seem to work pretty good, but everyone uses cell phones instead of land lines. We live on the fourth floor of our flat and get to go up and down stairs alot. The parking is covered, and you have to miss the pillars by inches to make it into your spot, after backing in and pulling forward and backing some more. Every missionary vehicle I’ve seen has a scrap or two. We have pickups and they are quite nice, but small. On these roads I wouldn’t want anything bigger. The roads are narrow and we miss the other cars mirrors in inches sometimes instead of feet. The drivers ignore the signs and do about anything they can get away with. But they say they usually let you in. Today’s traffic wasn’t very heavy. As we drove around today I had a hard time watching the road (not really), because the scenery is so beautiful. We have seen so many flowers and trees with flowers. I think it’s better than Hawaii. Everything is green and pretty, and the streets aren’t that dirty. However we haven’t been in the real low income areas yet though. The weather is fantastic, it’s cool at night so we sleep with covers on, and mosquito netting, and during the day it’s shirt sleeve weather and if cloudy possibly a light sweater, but not usually. The air has a smell of something burning a long way away, but could be the riots burning tires, but is clear and nice. So far we have spent a lot of time socializing with the other couples and the mission pres. and his wife. We went there today and talked with them again. They are from Idaho Falls, and are potato farmers. They kind of stay to themselves and don’t do a lot with the couples (yet). I’m going to work on them. We do a lot with the couples and I’m sure we will get to be very close to them. A couple of the couples are close to our age, but we are the youngest so far. We have watched 4 or 5 movies with them already, because we have been stuck in our flat. Eaten dinner with different couples at least three times. We have also had FHE with them, and Mary Ann played Phase 10 with them. I quit after my first hand was 65, and worked on getting them set up with Skype. Last night we went to a Japanese restaurant and really enjoyed it. We sat in a semi circle and had our food prepared for us by the chef on the grill where we were. We started it with a tuna shussi (Mary Ann wouldn’t try it) and then had a salad, then he started cooking (cool to see a black Japanese dressed chef). We first had prawns, then lobster, then chicken, then steak and ended with grilled vegetables and fried rice. To end the meal was a piece of watermelon and honeydew (almost as good as Green River melon). Mom’s water cost more than my diet coke. We will have to take anyone that comes here to this place, it was great. Now I want to tell you about church today. I want to preface this and tell you that the ward we went to was in a lower income area and the church had to pave the road to the chapel. I have never felt so humble and thankful to be in a congregation as I was at church today. I learned more in priesthood mtg. today about the power of the priestood than I have in years. The Bishop taught it and it was so simple and so true. I had tears in my eyes half the time (that’s not to strange). In Sunday school, the same thing happened. The instructor taught the lesson in such a simple yet wonderful way that I felt I was learning from a general authority. He made the gospel sound so simple but so right and true anyone would understand it. Mom said Relief Society was the same way. Incredible lesson yet so humble and sweet. The instructors truly taught with the spirit. It was fast meeting and they bore their testimonies about how thankful they were and that they were safe. A couple people talked a little about how their lives had been threatened. One said this was a good thing that was happening and would make them all stronger in the end. I cried a bunch more. Before and after the meetings everyone (and I mean everyone) introduced themselves and shook our hands, some gave us hugs and treated us as if they had known us forever. Little children gave us hugs and talked to us. I’m still teary eyed as I write this. I think I heard mom sniffling also. I just hope they let us stay in Kenya and things will settle down. The members here seem so humble and teachable. They made the comment today about remembering when they were converted, talking about all of them. The church has only been recognized here since 1992. We really enjoy it here and want to stay. It is a great place for us right now. Love to all.

We are in the office and doing fine today. We went grocery shopping yesterday and going again this afternoon to get some more in case we have to be in the room for an extended time. The mission president talked to us and said they were pulling out the satellite phone and getting it ready in case. He also letting us know that we may need to house the young missionaries for an extended amount of time and get more groceries. We we are going for that soon.

We haven’t seen anything bad yet. Hope we don’t. Tomorrow will be the day that things will either errupt or start to settle down. Hopefully the latter. I can’t see anything on this computer so hopefully the spelling will be alright. Love you