African Wedding

"We went to an authentic African Wedding yesterday but it was actually only a ring ceremony because the couple want to go to America to get married in the temple. The bride, Crystal Bostwick, is from Salt Lake and has done several tours over here helping with a deaf school. All the volunteers from this years tour were there at the wedding. Sure was good to talk to other Mazungas from Utah. The groom, Freddie Guchiku, is an newly ordained elder in our Nakuru group and a real charmer. They met a couple years ago and have been having a internet relationship ever since. I hope they make the cultural adjustment they will need.

This is the bride and groom Freddie and Crystal

"The whole thing was supposed to be from 11 am to 3 pm but typically for Africa did not start until after 1 pm. The ceremony was held on a hill overlooking the Nakuru National Park and we could see buffaloes in the distance and the lake was beautiful.  We had several baboons as uninvited guests. There were three tents set up with a white aisle in the middle. with flowers on wicker cone like stands along the aisle. First there  was a dance to welcome in the groom. This consisted of all the women dancing with swaying hips and arms forming a circle around the aisle, some men joined in, too. The music was from a string  instrument called an okubana made out of a huge gourd with a lute like thing attached which the player puts over his shoulder and played the ten strings that look like nylon twine. Next came another dance to welcome the bride this one got wilder with the ladies ululating with their tongues and swaying even more. One lady grabbed my hand so I joined in the procession and tried to keep up. It was kind of fun except I could not quite  get the hip motion down.

"The mission office elder who had baptized Freddie officiated at the ring ceremony then there was more dancing and then they ate the typical heavy African food. Then all the grandmas on the grooms side gave speeches and gave him a basket to fill with food and one to shop with and one to give the brides mother as none of her side could come over. They also gave him  a stool to sit on and they told him he was to command his family from this seat of honor. The festivities were till going strong when we left at 4 because we wanted to get home before dark. We took all four elders and they were delighted to be able to go to a real Kenyan wedding.
Love Sister Dalley"

Sister Dalley with Mary called the Hat and the Hair

We met these cute little chines girls that we just fell in love with at the wedding

"Sister Dalley didn't mention that we both danced with the group as they danced in the circles, and I really had fun doing so. The biggest problem I had was that men danced with men and some held hands which is normal, so I just kept clapping my hands to the beat so I would not have to hold any man's hand.  They also had me give a short speech and then they wanted me to offer a prayer, which I did.  They Church was well represented there at the ring ceremony of about 200 +. You just can't help but love these people they are so excepting and they just really love it when you join in. There were three little middle age ladies that came up to me and, teasing around, asked if I could please find them a mazungo husband. I told them I would and wrote down their information.  We had a lot of fun just teasing, dancing, talking and just enjoying the ceremony.
Love Elder Dalley"

And then there were the Baboons ;)

(Posted by Katy Kay)

Baptism

Joseph asked me to baptize him after the missionary working with him was transferred. 

First picture is Joseph and I, next is Joseph and his family with me by his side, next is the whole group that was at Joseph's baptism and last is of course is me baptizing Joseph.  It was a very special time.

Joseph is a teacher at his own collage and loves to give scholarships. After our group meeting in Nakuru I went up to one of our members, Tony, and asked what priesthood he held.  He said he didn't hold any priesthood because he couldn't read. I said lets go talk to sister Dalley and see if she would teach you how to read.  As we were trying to find Sister Dalley I caught Joseph out of the corner of my eye and the impression came to me to see if he would give Tony a scholarship and put him on a scheduled to learn to read and at the same time help him train for a better career. So I took Tony over to introduce him to Joseph and asked Joseph if it were possible to give Tony a scholarship that he might learn to read.  Well Joseph got really excited and said he would and they exchanged information and now Tony is on his way to learning how to read and in a couple of months Tony will be given the priesthood.

Hair!

"Here is Sister Dalley in all her glory, as well as I, we are truly African. The comments from the members here are, "You're beautiful. You're very smart". It is a different look let me tell you. But it's hair it will always grow out. 

Ya gotta love it, baby." Elder Dalley

This was a four hour process. The first hour Leah (pronounced Laya) separated the long five inch thick hair peice into small stands and tying them together with a doible tie. Then she curled 3/4 of the the over 100 strands by dipping them into hot water after she had twisted several around the end of a comb. Next she made five vertical braids down the back of my head and stitched the curls into them.Next she took the straight strands and twisted them around little sections of my hair which she is doing in the first picture. It looks long and witchy but she trimmed it off after she got it all braided in.

The second picture is Leah curling the braids to match the back.

The third picture shows the finished hair. Wow, that is a lot of scalp showing but it will only last a week or so and I have a scarf to cover the front if I get too self conscious when I go to Nairobi for zone conference and meet the new mission president.

The last picture is Elder and Sister African Hair Missionaries!

Camel Ride and more!

We are ready for the ride of our lives. Sister Dalley said she felt like she was going to fall off the back at any minute.

(The video file was too large to upload with the internet connection in Naivasha, so these are screen shots of the important parts)

Camel Ride. The first picture is as we were getting up. we thought we were going to fall off the front. I was squealing in fright and laughing at the same time.The 'saddle' is just a bunch of padding over an iron apparatus that you hold onto. The next picture is us being jerked forwards then back with the undulating movement of the camel as he walked. Something about his having two knees in back make it anything but smooth. I do not know how the people in the olden times ever rode these things. The last picture is after we finally got up and before we started. As with a lot of things here I want to experience them then that is enough. We asked the camel driver to take us back before we even went the whole half hour we paid 150 bob (about $2.00) for it was so uncomfortable.

Coming out of the front door of our church in Nakuru. You enter into what looks like a water-house and find yourself inside an atrium looking up five stories, then you climb the very uneven cement stairs to our location on the fourth floor but they call it the third because they don't count the ground level.

This is Mike's birthday he just turned 13 and received the Aaronic priesthood. We gave him a white shirt and tie so he can pass the sacrament. He is so little he spent a year extra in primary because nobody bothered to look up his records until Elder Dalley began to get them updated.

(anyone know how they got the glimmer effect to just be on Mike?)

Sister Dalley received some lilies from our investigator Laura. She works for a flower farm as a procurement agent and we were asked to visit her by her mother who lives in Nairobi. Her Father is bishop of the Upper Hills ward which meets in the mission office complex and all the rest of the family are members. She is a lovely, gracious woman of about 35. Think of a young Sally Fields only black and that is how she looks. We have been visiting her since March and have grown to love her so much.  When she got a dozen lilies from another branch of the company she gave them to Sister Dalley. They really smell delicious.

(posted by Katy Kay)