Lukes Mission Blog

We attended the 35 year celebration in Chyulu with Elder and Sister Lewis. We helped and took a few pictures and lots of video, which we made into a DVD. The day started with sports, football (soccer) and basketball.Then they all gathered together for a video, “The Testament.” They don’t get to watch movies very often. There is no electricty, (We used the generator at the church building) and so this was a treat for them. Then they showed how well they had memorized the scripture mastery scriptures.

Sister Lewis awarded everyone who had completed their notebooks a CTR ring. Elder Luke is checking notebooks and passing out rings.This is one group of students with their completed notebooks and CTR rings.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the day. I said, “Smile” as I took the picture of these beautiful girls. They wouldn’t smile. I told them, “You have to be teenagers”. and then I asked them how old they were. You guessed, it 13 and 14. Of course they wouldn’t smile. Teenagers are the same all over the world. I did get one of them to start laughing, but I didn’t get that on camera. I wasn’t fast enough.

 

LDS Charities donated an Ultra Sound Machine to a medical clinic in Kibera Slums. The Kibera slums are the largest slums in all of Africa. We have heard that close to a million people live there. We drove as far as a police station and left our trucks there, then walked down the narrow alleys to the clinic. The clinic is a small building with a waiting room, a small pharmacy, and an examining room, where the ultra sound machine would be set up. The inside had been painted and nicely fixed up. The train tracks run through the slums and while we were there a train engine came through. The people who were using the tracks as a walk way just got out of the way. Someone grabbed the children who were playing on the tracks just as the train came by. When the Ultra sound machine arrived we walked back out to as far as they could bring in the truck and took pictures of the men carrying the machine in. It was very heavy and they had to carry it across the train tracks and down a narrow alley to the clinic. The machine will allow the expecting mothers to have examinations that they normally couldn’t afford. They hope this will save many baby’s and mother’s lives. They said they were going to start by charging 300 shillings for three ultra-sounds. That’s about $4.50 USD. The clinic is located next to a butcher shop and there were various other shops such as beauty shops, fast food stand, (French fries), fruit and vegetable stands, along the alley. We noticed you could buy just about anything you could think of from the stands, even barbequed goat head.

We had heard that the slums were a terrible place but actually felt better about them after visiting. Even though we saw open sewer and litter, we also saw a community of people trying their best to make a living. The stands were full of all kinds of food, clothes and other items, and the prices low, so that hopefully people living there could afford to buy them. The crime rate is very high there, so we were always with a native as we walked to and from the clinic.

 

Enos was baptized two weeks ago, confirmed a week ago, and this week stood to bare his testimony in fast and testimony meeting.  He told a story about when he was a little boy. He was playing with his sisters some other children and at his grandfather’s banana farm.  His grandfather called out to the children to come help him get the chiggers out of his feet. His feet were old and the toes were gnarled from walking bare footed his whole life, so all of the children ran away except for Enos. He went over to help his grandfather get the chiggers out of his feet. The truth was there were no chiggers in his feet. He told Enos since he was the one to obey and come to help he could have the key to the bin of ripe bananas. He could eat all wanted, but he could not give any to other children who ran away. When the other children saw, they came running and said give us some.  Enos had to tell then no, because his grandfather had told him not to give them any.  He had a wonderful feast of delicious ripe bananas.

 

Enos likened the story to living the gospel, obeying and being willing to serve, then when it is time for your reward you will be blessed, but that reward is not something you can share with others who did not obey and serve.