Outside the Wall.

Surrounding our house is a cement and stone wall about ten feet high with hundreds of pieces of broken glass and bottles cemented into the top edge of the wall, and then on some sides, there are several rows of barbed wire above that. The only way to get into the property is through a red gate that has a series of latches and locks. You have to buzz to get in, and then Lenik lets you in if you're an expected guest.

Because we live on the top floor, we can see over this wall into the neighbor's property on the south side. Our neighbor lives on a little farm with geese, turkeys, chickens and goats. The property itself is pretty large to accommodate the animals, but the home is a small shack with walls made of mostly mud and some sticks and rocks. The roof is made from scraps of corrugated metal layered in such a way to hopefully keep out the rain.

I haven't met them yet, but I've observed that it's a family living there with parents who look about our age. They have a son who looks about Paulo's age, a daughter around Andre's age, and a son who's probably around two.

The other day, Hunter caught Paulo peering out the window for a really long time at their home,

and then he said, "Daddy, I want to do service. How can I help them?" I've been thinking about it, and I've decided I'm going to figure out how to make some kind of cookies or something, and muster up the courage to introduce ourselves. Then the kids can be friends. I'll let you know how it goes.

Nothing is EASY here.

I don't really like to sound like a complainer, but I'm being real here. My house, I am happy to report has many "perks" for Kenya (minimum requirements for the US, I might add). But each "perk" has an annoying inconvenience to go along with it.

The house DOES have hot water for the showers--you just have remember to turn on the switch to the small water heater that is mounted to the wall above the shower a few minutes ahead of time.

The showers DO have decent water pressure--you just have to remember to switch on the water pump BEFORE getting undressed.

I DO have a washing machine for my clothes--it just has a quarter of the capacity of my old washer, and it uses a TON of water. It's being worked on as we speak because it's broken. I've been hand washing everything while waiting for it to be repaired. I hang my clothes to dry, btw.

I DO have a refrigerator--it's just that I have to remember to wash my produce BEFORE putting it in the fridge or else tiny bugs will crawl down from my bananas, spread out to all areas of the fridge and die there.

I DO have running water, but we've been advised not to drink it. So, I have to pump drinking water through a Seychelle filter that Mom and Dad told me about, and I have to dip my washed dishes in bleach water, and I also have to use the pumped/filtered water with added vinegar for washing my vegetables.

I DO have flushable toilets, I just sometimes have to flush a few times to get them to completely flush.

I'm just realizing how easy I had it before. It takes so long to do things here that I am seriously considering getting house help.

Invitation to Dinner

I forgot to mention that at church, I made friends with a woman named Miriam. She was so kind and said she lives not far from the church. She invited us to come to her home afterward. I accepted the invitation, and we walked with her

(not that short of a walk after all--it felt like a mile in my uncomfortable shoes, but probably less) to her home. She said, "My home, very small, but 'caribu, caribu' you are welcome any day, any time." Her entire home is smaller than our kitchen. Her "front room" was BARELY big enough for an old love seat, armchair and small coffee table. Like imagine you're packing those items in a walk-in closet and have only enough room to walk in between. They had sleeping rooms in the back. I didn't realize it, but we had passed through the "kitchen" on our way into the living room. It was just a tiny space where she cooks over her fire stove on the floor, and she had a few shelves of pots and dishes.

Anyway, I was SO PROUD of the boys. We had had a conversation with them before we ever left the comfort of our Lehi home, and I told them, "Kids, one day we're going to be invited to eat with a person from Kenya, and they're going to be very poor and it will be a big sacrifice for them to give us their food, and I want you to be brave and eat the food, even if you don't like it." I didn't expect that we'd be doing just that only a few days after arriving, but she prepared this lovely dish of ugali, which is made from corn meal, and it's like a loaf or cake--think of the outside of a tamale. And she also made this other dish--I can't remember the name, but it's basically like a savory cooked kale dish.

Anyway, it was very flavorful and good, and my sweet boys--after I discreetly reminded them of our earlier conversation--ate until they were full. Miriam and her husband, Fred, were so kind and soft spoken. There was a strong, good spirit in their home.

It was an amazing experience. I'd like to have them over in return. I feel a little sheepish having such a huge home in comparison, but oh well.

Mombasa Branch

This Sunday was an adventure. It took quite a bit of time walking in the city to find the place where the Mombasa branch meets for church. We'd ask people along the way, but no one seems to know the Mormons here, or at least they didn't know where they met for church. Turns out they have an office space on the second floor of a city building. We overlooked the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" sign among the hundreds of signs hanging over the "side walk" [in most areas it is broken up concrete/dirt] and litter everywhere.

We would have missed it altogether if it hadn't been for a family that was heading to church late. I'm so glad that family was late for church!

The missionaries were there. One of them, Elder Lyons, is from Pleasant Grove of all places! He's in his 19th month, and speaks Swahili wonderfully. He had an accent when he spoke English to us. For once, I could understand why missionaries come home "weird" (I used to say) with accents and stuff. When you're living/breathing/speaking/completely immersed in such a foreign culture everyday for two years, OF COURSE you're gonna come home with an accent. It made me love that elder. I could tell he was a hard worker. Anyway, the church here, I think, is exemplary and very organized. I think I counted about 45 adults in Sunday school that week. They all participate in class, and they all come prepared with manuals. They all welcomed us and were discussing how to improve on home/visiting teaching, and member missionary work. I was very impressed. We're also lucky to have a fan at the front of the "chapel" so the heat is bearable.

During Sunday school, I was watching the teacher, Brother Karani,

(who is awesome btw), and looking at the ragged-edged chalkboard leaning against the backs of the chairs

and I thought to myself, "We're doing it! We're really doing it!" Let me explain.

We decided to move forward with this international experience for a few reasons (in no particular order). 1) We wanted the kids to see a different lifestyle and begin to be more appreciative of their easy and blessed life. 2) We had it on our family bucket list. 3) We wanted to learn to be more resourceful and less wasteful, and 4) Hunter and I have always wanted to serve a mission together one day. But we decided, we didn't want to wait the thirty or so years until retirement and HOPEFULLY we'll be financially ready, and HOPEFULLY, our health will be good enough, and HOPEFULLY we'll be called internationally. So we decided to MAKE IT HAPPEN! And we decided to just find a job opportunity that would take us international, and be really good "member missionaries". So as I was pondering during Sunday school, I was happy that we were taking our goals and desires and actually making them happen!

Nyali Beach

Our second day in Nyali, we visited Nyali Beach. As we approached the beach, we saw fishermen on the right, dragging their nets out to a boat made of wood ready to get to work, and on the left we saw a man walking with a camel. He wanted us to pay him to ride the camel. We didn't, but we got a picture of the camel when he wasn't looking.

Everyone's selling something. Everyone needs money. Anyway, it was cute; Paulo collected all kinds of coconut shells and kept taking pictures of everything he saw.

On our way back from Nyali beach, we stopped at a little structure along the side of the road so we could buy some chapati and beans to eat.

Chapati is like a thick tortilla or like a naan bread. It was good. Very cheap. Only 10 kenyan shillings, which is like a 12 cents, for one plate of beans and two chapati. We met a man there, Reverend Nixon, who walked us up the road to the place we could catch a matatu. On the way, we saw wild monkeys just running up the road and into the trees, like squirrels.

Andre was so excited! We told him he'd see monkeys in Kenya, but I didn't think they just roamed around like that! Reverend Nixon said the monkeys are afraid of black people because they throw rocks at them, but they like white people because they always try to feed them. Haha! He was so nice and helpful.