This is the Kilungu Hills area

Their shamba's (gardens) are planted in the hills on terraces. 

They grow alot of corn, avocado's, sugar cane and all sorts of fruits and vegatables. 

This is Elder & Sister Shakesphere who took us to Naivasha. We stopped at this little place for a bathroom stop and a cold drink.

This is us getting ready to head out on the Naivasha Lake to see the Hippo's.  Took about 1 hour.  Had a great time. 

Hello to all of you. We were on lock down fore four days kind of boring but I find I have gotten use to taking a short nap. We are off lock down now and can go back out . Yesterday we picked up our two Elders and brought them back to our flat and had our ddm meeting . Mom had prepared a big meal of roast beef . The Elders really enjoy the food and the attention. They have never had such attention . Last Sunday was Elder Kissaka's birthday (22) and we were to have them over after church to celebrate it but with lock down we were not able to attend church or bring them here. At DDM after our meeting and dinner I brought out a cake with candles sparkling on it with 22 of them. He was so surprised and was so happy. We asked him if he'd never got a cake for his birthday and he said no. He had fun blowing out the candles as they just kept lighting up. He had tears in his eyes. We had gotten them a DVD player at the mission home and brought back some DVD's and also sent a box of food and goodies home. He seemed so pleased and so did Elder Banda. Right now we are uncertain about our mission. We have transfers coming the end of the month and feel our missionaries will be leaving us. President Hicken is in charge of the missionaries and feels it's not fair to them to be in lock down so much as to not be able to do their mission so with current things going on we feel we will not have them long. We do have mission tour coming up on the the 21st of this month but unsure whether with the current circumstances that, that will happen. Arrangements have been made but they can change easily. Now if they are transferred we have asked what we will be doing and he told us before that we would stay with our branches here in Mombasa. We were OK with that as we have come to love the people here but now he mentioned he might send us somewhere else for our safety. He has mentioned Kilingou Hills which is closer to Nairobi but in the bush. Not sure we want to give up the conveniences we have here. We will do as directed. We will let you all know. We have so enjoyed getting to know the people here in Mombasa. We also know that after we leave we will not hear from so many of them due to no Internet access . We feel a great need right now to continue to press forward in the things we have been teaching. The branches feel sort of displaced since most of the missionaries have been transferred out but they tell us we at least have our Sr. couple. Dad asked each branch president if they thought they could get along with the knowledge they have now to move forward and teach and bring other's unto Christ and each one answered no. We have come to love these branch presidencies and have felt like Mother Hens trying to keep their chicks all together. Two branches will do good but the new presidency in Changamwe will struggle. We still have so much to teach each one and hope we have that opportunity to do so. We left for Nairobi on the 22nd of April and went half way and stopped in at Chyulu to visit Elder & Sister Goatcher. Elder Goatcher has been put in as a branch president in one ward and Sister Goatcher (Melvina) is a real go getter. We stayed with them for two nights and had such a wonderful time. They took us out visiting the widow ladies and their families. It was so hard to see such young women having no husband and most had 3-6 children. Sister Goatcher had made up boxes of clothes, and food and treats for the kids and they were so grateful. Each one received a nice blanket from the church and many other items. It was so neat to see a 12 yr old boy was given a ball that we batted around like a volleyball. He was having fun as I was too. Each child was so appreciative of the things given. The little little ones was happy to have the sucker with a balloon wrapped around it. We think back of all the many blessings we have each day and it saddens us to think we take things for granted. So many things needed here. One little girl in Changamwe branch comes to church, she is 13 with a white dirty dress that has to have a safety pin to keep the zipper together and it's too small for her so while out giving all this stuff to the families I thought of her and her family. So Sister Goatcher took me around to the Duka's and I shopped for this little family of 4 kids. I bought that little girl a beautiful dress for church and ended up buying the other children as well an outfit. Now you must be saying wow, that was expensive. Everything at the Duka's are second hand and sometimes you can get some nice stuff. I think back at all the things I have given to D.I. and they have been nice stuff. So as of yet we have not been able to give it to them but hoping today. My main concern is the 13 yr old. She is a sweet girl and I hope she will like the dress. It happened to be new. We arrived in Nairobi on the 24th of April and it was much cooler there than in Mombasa. Wished I had brought a sweater. We were asked to stay with the Shakespeare couple which we had the best time. I was able to get a much needed haircut and we came to Nairobi because two couples were leaving to go home and they throw a going away dinner at the Presidents house. What a great feeling it was to be with other couples and to feel of their love for their missions. Wonderful time was had by everyone. We took off on a road trip with the Shakespeare's and went to Naivasha. What beautiful country side we seen. It has 100's of green houses there growing the most gorgeous roses you've ever seen. They told us that the roses are picked at 11 pm and are in Holland by 6 am the next morning. We were amazed at how green everything was. We headed off to the Hippo area where we got into a small boat and they drove us around this lake and there were hippo's everywhere. You would not believe the size of them. We got great pictures and will have them on our blog soon. We also met up with other's and went to our first indoor movie. I believe it was Captain America??? It was fun for a change . We find great comfort in knowing that where ever you go the gospel seems to be flourishing. Oh they have a long way to go to building up the kingdom but it sure has a good start. Well we just want to wish all our daughters and daughters in laws a Happy Mother's Day. You are great mother's. Your beautiful and kind to our grandchildren and we appreciate that. I myself feel much gratitude in having such wonderful daughter's and daughter in laws in my life. I couldn't be more proud of you all. Well we hope you know we love you all and wish you the very best. Thanks again for all your support and love. Love Mom & Dad

This is a 90 yr old man with Elder Goatcher and Elder Palmer.  He was honory when we first arrived and then we gave him a sucker and became our best friend.

The second picture is the old man with his grandkids.  It was such a great day