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~
