Nov. 12 2023
Pictures
Farrell is with Bravo, our friend Geralds son the day of Geralds fathers passing. Gerald is one of the guards at our villa. He invited us to come to his home and meet his family. It is in a nice location, there is a stream nearby, and a large tree that offers shade against the heat of the sun. When I asked Bravo about memories of his childhood his eyes lit up and he started to share about his extended family. It reminded me of the love I have for my own and extended family. We did feel of their sorrow, the two sisters of Gerald had just found out the sad news and sadly made the comment, “He is gone, he is gone.” Death is so final. It touched our hearts as they shared emotions. We felt of the love and support of family and friends who were there helping. They were so gracious. We felt humbled to be there with them. It made me grateful for the blessing of having the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ here upon the earth, Jesus Christ’s priesthood power and temples to seal families together.
I enjoyed visiting with Grace, Gerald’s daughter. It was difficult for her to lose her grandfather. I asked her what she remembered about him and she suddenly began to smile and commented on his big smile. She then said, “He loved me.” That reminded me of my family and extended family and the love I have for them. We talked alittle about medical school. Gerald had told me that she is very intelligent. It is very difficult here for people to be able to get a degree because of the difficulty of funding. She said to me , “It is so hard with the classes and the finances. “ She then asked,”Will you pray for me?” I am finding that these people are resilient and have a humble faith in Jesus Christ.
Farrell got a picture when these children first arrived. We appreciated the sisters who brought them and taught the childten. Because of the difficulty of getting to the church and communication challenges we were not sure who would be able to be there. It turned out well.
I continue to learn from experiences here. It was time to start, and the Mission Pres. had not arrived. He was the one who wanted us to do this. Farrell, let me know that the GPS had not worked and he was lost. At first I was kind of stressed knowing the primary children had already been there for two hours, sitting in their chairs and everyone was there. but then I started to notice that the children were happy and visiting with each other along with all the other people. Some people were even singing with me along with the prelude music. I let go of my worry. After 35 minutes he arrived, and we started. It made me wonder how many times I had created anxiety in my own life when it really wasn’t necessary
The weather app was wrong.
Videos
Early morning walk…
There was a variety of musical numbers starting with a Primary choir. I love children! Most of these children all arrived together two and ahalf hours before it started and waited for their turn to practice. They sang so well, singing another song in Swahili.
It was great to have some of the missionaries here participate in the choir for our music program. We appreciate their unselfish efforts in serving and teaching people the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our friend Gerald is being taught by the missionaries and look forward to him learning about Heavenly Father’s Plan to have families be together forever.
Pres. Eghan, the Tanzania Africa mission President enjoyed spontaneously leading the Chang’ombe district choir in one of his favorite songs. “Do not weary by the way.” This was at the Evening of Music that he asked me to organize. There were many tender mercies that occurred to make this happen. I was so grateful. 300 people in the two districts attended, it was a very rainy day which limits travel for these people, anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours toget there. There are very few people who have cars. They walk, ride piki piki’s(motorbikes) Bajaji’s, or buses. The people seemed to enjoy the program and also visiting together afterwards while eating cookies. This is a new thing for these people and it seemed to unite the members.
I was really excited to have these youth sing. It was their first time.
