Elder Dalley's Birthday (plus misc. pics.)

Elder Dalley celebrated his birthday at Monica's Memorial. They sang to them and, per tradition, he served them cake!

Monica's Memorial is a place where vulnerable kids up to age nine can come to school and get two meals. Many are kids whose parents are dead or missing in action in life and live with any relative that will take them in or otherwise would not go to school as it is so expensive here.

The children of Monica's Memorial singing to Elder Dalley

Elder and Sister Dalley cutting the birthday cake 

As is the tradition in Kenya, because it was his birthday, Elder Dalley served the cake.

Pictures from April 2nd 2014:

Elder Dalley at the church with the branch president's wife, Millicent, on his left and the first counselor's wife, Jacinta, on the right.

Sister Dalley with Gorety who is the second counselor, James's, wife in front of her kitchen in Migori. She hardly speaks any English but welcomed us with a wonderful meal.

Sister Dalley with Pili and Selline in Migori, delightful girls, nieces of James.

James and his family in front of their mud hut in Migori. It serves as the living room with bedrooms partitioned off.

James and his brother in front of our truck which the boys washed while we ate.

A tilapia fisherman on Lake Victoria

Two women washing clothes in Lake Victoria

Elder Dalley helping to haul in the nets to bring in tilapia from Lake Victoria. The nets were longer than two football fields.

Elder and Sister Dalley with James and his brother.

Sister Dalley's English student's 88 year old mother in her kitchen in Ol Kalal

~Edited by Katy Kay~

The Hippo, Finally Got It!

"We took another senior couple to Flamingo Lake to see some Hippo's and guess we did.  There was a bunch in the water but as we continued on we saw a big old Hippo laying out on the beach. It looked like a big brown rock at first but then it moved and sure enough it was this hug Hippo. As it got up it shook the ground and almost caused a tsunami in the lake we were in but we survived as we took pictures.  This was worth the whole trip.  I think we will dedicate this picture to Mailea, I can still see her singing that song..

Love ya"

~Elder Dalley~

~Edited by Katy Kay~

A little Something Extra

Funny Looking Creatures

 "We found these funny looking creatures on the road on a Sunday afternoon drive."

Nakuru Church Street View

This picture is looking down on the street from the Nakuru Church 3 stories up.

 The street looking down from the church looking the other way.

Orphanage

 One of the class rooms of the orphanage

Sister Dalley in the middle of the kids in the orphanage

Christmas In Kenya

"Well Sister Dalley and I have been busy this month with two Christmas parties, getting two missionaries prepared and off, working with Sister Beatrice who received 40,000 shillings of counterfeit money on a business transaction and was facing charges from the business owner. She is putting her papers in for a mission and that could have kept her from going.

"First of all I want to thank all those who donated funds for our Christmas gift program for Christmas.We were so impressed by your willingness to give. We received altogether $885.00 (75,225 shillings) Wow thank you so much, I am impressed by your generosity. I know why it had to be that much.

Beatrice lost the 40,000 shillings ($471.00) and was devastated and said she could not sleep all that week. If you were to compare it to us by what we make and what they make here, it would be like $4,000.00 and that is no exaggeration. Sister Dalley and I offered a very concerned prayer that week on her behalf and felt that we would offer her 30,000 shillings ($353.00) from the money that was donated. We figured that the Nakuru branch could come up with the balance by donations. When we went back up to Nakuru we found that she had negotiated it down to 30,000 and that there was no donations from the branch, which was disappointing but true. So we took her and another brother of the branch over to the police station where they paid it off with witnesses. I do hope that those of you who donated are OK with this decision. We met with her after at her home and just set there with tears in our eyes as she expressed her appreciation for that wonderful gift, the 30,000 shillings. She asked us to please thank you, for we told her if it was not for you, our family and friends, this could not have happened.

SO THANK YOU, WE WILL NEVER KNOW JUST HOW FAR THAT MONEY DID REACH."

"We took the balance of $532.00 and bought enough candy, windup cars, rope to make jump ropes, retractable pens with sticky note pads that they can't afford here, made coloring books along with crayons, CTR rings, apples, gum, suckers and sweeties. Divided them up according to ages into 164 bags with their names on them and had the branch pass them out at the end of the party. They did not open them but just hung onto them as they went home. We thought it strange that they would not open them until they told us why. They do not open their gifts until boxing day the 26 of December. It was a thrill to see them treasure those little gifts even the adults as  they don't get many sweets either. I tell you those pens were a treasure for the adults. The $532.00 came out to be about $3.25 per bag, which was a wonderful gift for them. I cannot believe how it all worked out money wise. I can't thank you enough."
~Elder Dalley

 Some of the kids at the Christmas party

Our Christmas tree ant the church in Nakuru

 "Well its Christmas Eve, the last day I can send Christmas greetings so here they are: Merry Christmas from a beautiful, bright Kenyan summer.  Yesterday Dave said he set a personal first: mowing the lawn and making a Christmas tree stand on the same day! We got three "Christmas trees" in Nakuru last Saturday which are actually limbs from a Cyprus tree but they look a bit like real firs and smell good. Dave took some boards he had found in our back storage to make a tree stand for the tree at the Nakuru church. His tools were so flimsy- you an hardly get   sturdy things here- and the boards kept splitting. After a frustrating evening of work he finally made a stand that was wobbly to say the least. We figured we could tie it into the corner if we had too. When we took it out of the truck the next morning it was in pieces again. Dave hammered it together again and then found out the lights we had bought wouldn't work. We put the forty gift bags around it but looked kind of empty and forlorn but the little children were so excited as they  pointed out the bags with their names on it.  I had brought some sheets of paper for the children to color ornaments and make paper chains while their parents had Sunday School. Then the teacher didn't come so they decided to bag Sunday School and go right into our presentation of the Christmas Story. All my plans went out the window so right after Sacrament meeting I hurried and got the kids to color the paper ornaments and cut them out and stapled them onto the tree and with the children's ornaments we finally had a real Christmas tree.

Sister Dalley holding Lilian's baby

"Luke, our group leader there, narrated the Christmas Story. He is a big man with a sonorous voice and a great sense of fun- reminds me our David Jr. in that he owns any room he goes into. His wife, Selline, sat up front dressed as Mary  holding  her baby for Jesus. He is a nine month old very active child who wonderfully slept the entire time- and their 14 year old son, Pinto,  put on Dave's robe and became Joseph. The reading of the birth of Jesus from the scriptures brought the spirit so strongly and as we sang the carols interspersed through out the story of Christ's birth, both Dave and I teared up thinking of the many Christmas Eves we have spent with our family surrounding us reenacting the nativity. Maybe a little homesickness is to be expected. We got through it though and handed out the bags of goodies and presents we had prepared for those wonderful saints. They were so appreciative and the kids loved the candy, gum and the toys and CTR rings. We also had a bag for each family with  a bag of  Green grams- a high protein lentil  bean that they like to cook here -and some popcorn to pop and a small tub of margarine to put on it.

"All in all it worked out great and on the way home we were filled with the spirit of Christmas  and then we looked at each other and realized the tree had actually stood  on its own! Our miracle tree and additional blessing.

"Today we are having the Christmas Eve party here in Naivasha and the rest of the 164 gift bags are covering the living room floor ready to be taken to the church. Dave's growing expertise in making  tree stands is evident in the tree we have ready to take also and we tested the lights and they actually work. Our own little tree is standing in a bucket of rocks and flashing happily on and off for us. Dave is presently with the branch president getting some kuku's- chickens- for a hotel (cafe here) to fry for the food for the party which they will serve along along with chapatiis - a flour tortilla like bread-  and soda pop. The party is slated to last until midnight. I hope I last that long.

"So despite the lack of snow or cold we are still immersed in Christmas celebrations. I even made some gingerbread cookies- no cutters for gingerbread men but the spicy smell was Christmasy enough. Merry Christmas and thank you all so much for helping make this a very special Christmas for us and our sweet African Saints."

~Sister Dalley

Dancing at the party, they had a good laugh over us!!

~Edited by Katy Kay~

Young Adult Party

"Well we introduced hot dogs to the young women and young men men at an activity last Saturday. We got sharpened sticks and put those little puppies on them and they roasted them over two jikos - little charcoal stoves-at a park by the lake. We had to explain how long to cook them and how to put them on the buns but when they finally tasted them they came back for more. We also had the traditional fare of sodas- they like them room temperature and chips (soggy french fries)   that we got at a shop all cooked. First they played soccer and volleyball and had races. Then they gave out prizes tot he winners and we felt it was very successful as we had 50 in attendance and a lot  brought friends. Two inactive girls came and we were so thrilled to see them."

~Sister Dalley

 This was our young adult party at the park.  

The guy with sister Dalley will be going on his mission to South Africa Durbon mission.

NOTE:  in the group email Sister Dalley says "young woman and young men" 
but in the picture attachment email Elder Dalley says "Young Adult Party"

~Edited by Katy Kay~

Eldoret

Elder and Sister Dalley with the Rift Valley far below them in the background.

"We took our first trip  this week to see another senior couple, the Andersons at Eldoret. This was 225 km ( 140 miles) on a one way highway with part of it under construction. The drive was so beautiful in the mountains with rolling hills of grain and corn dotted throughout.

"We made it in about 4 and a half hours.Our non member friend Laura had to go up there to get her 14 year old son's stuff from his boarding school. He's the one who has asthma and they kept telling him to buck up so he would try but it made it worse and he would have an attack and so missed a lot of school so she brought him down here and put him in another school. So we took her and her son up with us.

"What she did not tell us was the school was another 50 km on past Eldoret on terrible roads. You could tell it had once been paved but so little tarmac was left that it was mostly big potholes.  She told us why it was so bad. The second president of Kenya, Moi, built the road. When it was time to be re-elected he went back to the area and said,"Look at this beautiful road I built for you. You can be sure I will do even more for you if you vote for me. However, like every president Kenya has had he was corrupt so the people told him he could fold up his road and take it back to Nairobi with him. Even though he was elected for three more terms he as so mad he vowed he would never allow this road to be repaired and he kept his word as has the two presidents since.

"So it took up forever to get there and then they did not want to give  Hillary his stuff until the next day but Laura finally convinced them  graciously that she had to get it then so by the time we headed back it was close to dark. We took them to her friends house and then had to call the Andersons to come show us where they lived. We were exhausted but stayed up and talked with them for a long time.The next day they showed us their four branch chapels and a new one that was almost finished. I love how the church does everything so well. It was the most beautiful building around but of course it had a high iron fence and security gate and 24 hour guard.

"They also took us out to eat at a place called Iten where you could look for miles down into the Rift valley as you ate. A shelf of land just below us was covered with neat little shambas- farms- and as we ate we watched a team of oxen plow a field and saw the corn from last years crop all bundled up into sheaves. So charming. Each farm was surrounded by a hedge. It is so green up there- much more so than here.

"We came home the next day and stopped at the sign that marked the equator. It said it was 9100 feet in elevation. When Dave took a picture of a guy herding a small bunch of cattle he came up and demanded money so Dave gave him 50 bob and he was happy." ~Sister Dalley

The corn or maize husks in sheaves drying on the shelf below the restaurant, One corner of plowed land is where the oxen were plowing the field.

Women carrying huge loads of sticks home on their backs to make their cooking fires.

Donkeys carrying sticks to sell at the market. We saw a lot of these along the way.

The old cow herder who posed for a picture then held out his hat indicating very strongly he expected payment. Dave gave him 50 bob or about 55 cents. The shacks in the background are curio shops by the equator crossing point.

Elder and Sister Dalley and Hillary.

"The top of the sign says, "Jambo Kenya Hakuna Mstata" or, "Hello Kenya no worries." . . . The sign is really old and rusty but we cheered when we found it because we have always wanted to straddle the equator. There were also the inevitable curio shops nearby and we got a couple things.Our friend, Laura, bought us a carved bamboo bowl on a stand as a token of her appreciation for us taking her and her son up to Elderet." ~Elder Dalley

"After we dropped Laura and Hillary off in Naivasha we had to go to the store and get 18 small loaves of bread as today we watched the Sunday sessions of conference and in between they furnished each person with half a loaf of bread and some pre-packaged cookies and pop. This is their favorite refreshment.

"Well nothing spiritual except we enjoyed conference and had two investigators come but maybe it was for the bread and pop. It was great to swap stories and ideas with another MLS couple as like Myrna and Keith, we have to figure out what and how to  best support our members and leaders and try to reactivate those who are not coming out to church.

"They have a bigger house with a 10 foot hedge around it and a private guard but we were glad to get back to our little house and felt blessed by the protection the Lord gave us on our trip. Back to trying our best to b good missionaries. Love Elder and Sister Dalley" ~Sister Dalley

~Edited by Katy Kay~

Books and Toys

 Sister Dalley reading "Are You My Mother?"

"The kids, 10 of them, really loved the new books and toys (contributed by Dayna et al and sent) by way of Ron Hardinger. . . . I also have a variety of books in a carrying case that I call a mobile library to take to kids that live too far away to come to the church. . . . The girls made a whole scene with the puzzles and the lace up cards. They were Irene, Annah, Alice and Mary. The boys, Mike, Felix and Alvin, and Edwin loved the cars and soldiers and played well together. We had a story time which they sat and just ate up. In the picture with Sister Dalley holding a book I was reading "Are You My Mother," Notice the boy holding up the book. He wanted me to reads the story of Sampson from the bible story book so of course I did. His name is Felix, a delightful, smart kid who is also the one holding the transformer. He would not leave until he was sure the books and toys would be locked up as he was afraid other children would come in and "carry them" or steal them. We put locks on the bottom two drawers of the primary cabinet to keep them safe .

"We now have almost 150 books and magazines and activity books. We open once a week on Wednesday night between 5 and 7. Only those who have their parents sign a permission slip can check out books but all who come can read while they are in there."
~Sister Dalley~

Felix & Transformer

Children reading and playing with toys in the Naivasha Branch Primary Room

~Edited by Katy Kay~