Lukes Mission Blog

From Recently Updated

We have had a  busy week and a half. On Wednesday we went to Dar es  Salaam and trained the new Tanzania Public Affairs Council. On the way there we flew over Mt. Kilimanjaro. We were able to also spend some time with the Elder and Sister Kenyon and Elder and Sister Jensen. We all drove out to the beach on the Indian Ocean, which required riding on the “scary” ferry. They squeeze on about 15 cars and 500 people. The scary part is trying to drive off the ferry without running over any of the people.  At the beach we watched a bus load of little children come, all wearing their school uniforms. Then they changed into swimsuits, and their teachers took them out to the water. It was fun watching them run and scream as the waves splashed them. We got home on Saturday, attended Church on Sunday and got in a day at the office on Monday and then headed to Johannesburg, South Africa to meet with our new International Directors of Public Affairs for Southeast Africa, Elder and Sister Jackson. We exchanged ideas with them and learned a lot. We also made lots of plans for next year. We spent one afternoon touring around Johannesburg and even got to briefly visit some parks and see the rare white lions, but best of all we finally got to see a meerkat  (Timon from the movie Lion King). He looked and acted just like Timon did. We even got to do a session at the Johannesburg temple Friday morning before we flew home, which really was the highlight of the trip.  

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From Sandy and MA dancing with Masaai

From Elder Luke dancing

I have tried for several weeks, when I had time, to figure out how to put a video on the blog. I think I may have succeeded. Here is some of the best Masaai Dancers you will ever see, and some are just beginners. Bet you can’t tell who they are! We needed to be very careful where we stepped because at night the Masaai people bring all their cattle into the middle of their homes to keep them safe from preditors. Sandy and Sister Luke were not so careful and so they had to put their shoes in plastic bags so they wouldn’t  smell up the little tiny plane we flew in to get home. We had lots of fun site seeing with Lynn and Sandy. Sandy gets the Super Tourist Award for being such a good sport about flying in little single engine planes over Africa.

Tis the season for Primary Sacrament Meeting programs and we have been able to attend a few around Nairobi. This one was in the Riruta ward. I wanted to take a picture at each one and didn’t dare, but this time others were taking pictures of the kids before the meeting started so I did too.  On their hats was written, ”I am a child of God.” The children had all the scriptures, songs and themes memorized. Several gave short talks.  They really did a fantastic job. This is the primary Hunter attended when he visited.  Hunter, do you see anyone you recognize?

Caution: Do not try this at home!