Branch Pres. Odero's children!

 This was our best day....we love the Kenya children!  They are so happy to see Masungoo's (swahili for white people).  They always wave to us as we drive by and we love to give them attention. 

After being here, slaving away in the office .... trying to learn our job, we finally headed out to West Kenya, specifically, Kizumu, Busia, Katili and Eldoret for the last week.  Our intent was to finally get "hands-on" approach to our purpose as missionaries for LDS
Charities.  We visited all the branch presidents (5), listened to their various needs.  The following pictures will tell the story of our week in the "bush"; by the way if you think the bush is Simba out in the jungle, it isn't.....its considered "up country" where the very poor live on the wide open spaces, surviving in the most primative conditions we have ever experienced.   Our impression of the saints here is how their faith/belief is so strong to deal with the adversities of being so isolated, having the bear minimum of support - and yet its the center of their lives, they are trying to be so obedient and righteous, we have so much to learn!

OUR ONE-MONTH REPORT

Welcome to our blog ...... be patient as we learn how to write creatively and tell the stories of our experiences with supporting pictures.  Hopefully we can share with all of you our view of this part of the world.   We spent the first month getting settled in our flat (very adequate 2-bed/2-bath 3rd floor), our office (see Dick above, he looks officially but be aware he's like a fish out of water).  I sit right next to him and mine is the working desk even though I cleaned it up for the picture.   It takes about a month to organize your office, learn all the names of the Mission President (its Broadbent) the other senior couples (there's five) the staff (about 20) and all the necessities of maintaining life in a huge city (Nairobi 4 million).  Our biggest challenge at first was the driving....its more or less a free for all - no one follows any traffic signs, expect the unexpected is the rule.  Be aggressive or you'll never get anywhere.  We're finally figured out how to get around - but it wasn't easy.

Our next challenge was understand the scope of our job....big surprise to us was the large amount of administrative work involved in doing the charity work.  We had the expectation of more or less "hands-on manual help" not even close.  We spend the majority of our time networking, on the phones, on the computer and basically managing existing projects, including:  bore-hole drilling (wells), springs capture, wheelchair distribution, HIV/AIDS education, food initiatives and a few misc. projects.  All projects are tracked for progress/finances/budget reporting on an elaborate computer tracking software - its all rather overwhelming for both of us.  Learning the administrative part of the projects is difficult, but we have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the Kenyan people - they are so soft spoken, gentle and kind.