Typical Day in Kenya

Dear Eric,

One of our typical activities is driving the young Elders to see their investigators
and to visit branch members. We have the only transportation(a Nissan pickup) and
the people we have to see are so widely scattered that it is the only feasible way.
We may drive 5 to 10 miles on a tarmac road, turn off on a dirt road for a mile, turn
off onto a track with bushes scraping the sides of the pickup, barely making it through mud puddles, finally getting out and walking a hundred yards and there is a mud hut where the Relief Society President lives!

She welcomes us, obviously very pleased with our visit, and invites us inside her home. Inside it is very dark and often quite hot, especially if the hut has a metal roof. She has a low table covered with a cloth she has embroidered, surrounded by a wooden couch and a couple of wooden chairs. She prepares a cup of hot cocoa for us as we watch the chickens come and go through the open door. All the children in the neighborhood gather around to see the visiting "wazungus"(white people) and want to shake our hands. A cow wanders past the door.

We discuss the gospel with her, perhaps giving a lesson to her daughter-in-law who is
visiting and is not a member of the church. She asks one of us to leave a blessing on her home, which we are glad to do. We part with many hand shakes and smiles and with tears in our eyes, stunned by her humble circumstances and her strong testimony and absolute dedication to the gospel. She walks two hours to get to church every week. That is two hours to church and another two hours back home! As we drive away we feel shame at the knowledge that if our circumstances were reversed we would probably not even be active members. Who is actually teaching the gospel here, she or us?

Thought you might appreciate this perspective.

Love, Dad and Mom