Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Sister Jorgensen updated our blog in April but it went to the big internet wasteland never to be seen again.  We have had several interesting things happen since then.  We have had a lot of baptisms in both of our branches, Kisumu and Busia.  The branch presidency was changed in Busia and we have a new branch president there to work with.  Busia had a Sister and an Elder called to go serve missions.  Him to Durban, South Africa and her to Accra, Ghana.  Kisumu has had five Elders called on missions who are leaving starting today 19 June.  This is an historic day for the Kisumu Branch since these are the first missionaries sent out.  Busia has three out already.

Today the 19 June we were supposed to get the three missionaries to the bus by 7:45 am.  We told them to be here at the church house at 7:30.  At 7:30 only Boniface from Busia had shown up.  Sister Jorgensen made several calls and found that Peter was already at the bus station waiting.  Boniface from Kisumu was no where to be found.  The bus was supposed to leave at 8:15 so we took Boniface from Busia and his escorts and our other two missionaries who will be leaving in July and went.  We got there and no Peter or Boniface.  I found Peter in getting his phone fitted for some new minutes and told him to get out to the bus.  I frantically drove back to the church to see if Boniface had showed up there.  He hadn't!  Back to the bus depot I went and found that he had arrived in a car with his father.  We all heaved a sigh of relief.  I had barely gotten out of the truck when the bus driver started the engine and started to leave.  He was immediately flagged down because the luggage bin was still open.  A few minutes later we all waved Goodby as the bus pulled out.  Tomorrow on 20 June we will lose four of our missionaries who are being transferred out, Elders Law and Taysom are going to Kitale and Sister Wakubeya who is going to Nairobi.  Elder Mxumalo is being transferred from Busia to Mombasa.  That is from the extreme western edge of the mission to the extreme eastern edge of the mission.  We heard that Sister Ndahalele is being transferred from Eldoret and her "baby", Sister Moyo is coming here.  For those of you who are not familiar with the term ab "baby" is a brand new missionary that an existing missionary is to train.  Sister Ndahalele trained two at once.

We had two funerals in one week.  Sister Beatrice from the Kisumu branch lost her daughter a couple weeks after she had lost her brother.  The daughter had been really close to her uncle and asked her mother if she was going to die too.  Beatrice's brother had terminal cancer and her daughter had sickle cell anemia. 

The other funeral was for Sister Ericah's son who had come down with cerebral malaria.  Monday morning  he was in a great deal of pain and told her that he was dying.  She went to town to get medicine for him and when she got home that evening he was gone somewhere.  He was somewhere in his twenties  but would not go out after dark.  She called all of the relatives around the farm and no one had seen him.  The next morning she left for Sabatia a few kilometers from her farm and checked in the clinic to see if he was there.  When she didn't find him she went to the police station to report him missing.  They didn't take her too seriously but a PikiPiki driver asked her about where she was going.  She told him that her son was missing.  He asked her what did he look like.  She described him and was told someone had seen a man fitting that description go into the river.  The hole where he went in is forty five feet or so deep.  Some people agreed to retrieve the body for 3000 shillings but another young man said he would get it for free.  Wednesday evening he dove down and after a couple of attempts got the body.  He was buried Thursday morning with no services.  By Tradition he would have been buried after dark on the day he was recovered and no services would be held.  No one can be sure if it was an accident or suicide so we will go with the idea that it was an accident.

It is nearly July and the long rainy season is coming to an end.  Now it only rains a few times per week instead of everyday.  The mangoes are ripening and mango pickers from the branch and from around the compound come and want me to open the gates and let them pick mangoes.  The trees are tall and loaded.  The way that they pick them is with a very long stick and knock them down or try throwing sticks and rocks at them to knock them down or climb up into the tree and try to reach them or knock them down.  I have been surprised that no one has fallen out of a tree yet.

 Josiah at one year old.  Sister Jorgensen's favorite orphan.  NO! you can't take him home with you.
The mission call
 Elder Boniface, you are called to Durban, South Africa
 Sister Otwane, you are called to Accra, Ghana (above)  President Broadbent, Sister Broadbent, Sister Jorgensen, Elder Jorgensen at Busia when the missionaries got their calls.
 Ericah and Sister Kaluba
 Chicken dinner?  maybe in a couple of months
 we need rain!  a view out over the valley from Ericah's
 Sister Kaluba and Sister Ndahalele having a "tea party"
Sister Kaluba on Ericah's new bridge
 This is the river that washed out the old bridge that the new bridge spans.
 The Sisters with Ericah on her new bridge
 Sister Ndahalele outside a typical Kenyan "bath house"  You take a bucket and bathe on the left side.  The right side contains the "pit latrine"
 Here, take this goat!
 Kenyan dinner
 another baptism
 Sisters Kaluba and Ndahalele
 Yes, we are eating again
 out through the banana patch at President Okila's
 Five new mission calls Boniface, Peter, Benard, Tobias and Daniel
 Zone out to dinner at Mon Ami with the A.P. 's
We see these partly built buildings all over western Kenya.  This is outside
 inside.  note the weeds growing.  I have seen trees six inches in diameter growing in these buildings
 another view inside
 canning tomatoes and mangoes and making face cream
 maybe we can sell this face cream!
 another baptism
 Larry Okila turns twelve and is being ordained a Deacon
Happy Birthday Larry
 Making her trademark Scripture Bags
Elders  Mxumalo, Boniface from Busia and Lyons
 Elder Peter about to board the bus for his mission
 Elder Boniface from Kisumu about to board the bus for his mission,  Just made it!
 Heading out!  OOOPS, someone forgot to close the door!  Stop the Bus!
 Bonking her head against the wall.  Where are those Elders anyway?
 A new house under construction.  I wonder what it will sell for?
 Going to yet another Funeral.  Just turn through here....
and down this road....

We parked instead and just slogged in through the mud.  I did wash off from our shoes and clothes.

























1 comment:

  1. We love to read your blog and marvel at the great work you are doing there. Thanks for sharing and inspiring us.

    Elder and Sister Lindsay

    ReplyDelete