Baby Brigham

I've been in Kansas this week for the birth of grandchild #19. The miracle of life is truly that. A miracle. After having seven kids and never seeing a birth, my eyes have been opened! What a joy.

Here are some pictures of the new little guy.

Brigham and his mom, Joni.

3 days old

FERTILE MYRTLE

This lovely pink grapefruit was very prolific in the seed department! We love grapefruit, but sometimes it isn't worth the effort. This one grapefruit had 49 seeds in it, and that wasn't counting the skinny, underdeveloped ones. It did have great flavor, and we enjoyed it in spite of the inconvenience.

Home Sweet Home

These adorable children are orphans and their "Home Sweet Home" is in an orphanage.

They come in all sizes, from babies up to college students and they all have the same home.

As one of our responsiblilities, we were involved in a humanitarian project where we went to this orphanage and took a shell of a building and did all of the finishing works including toilets, sinks and showers and made a nice boys' dormitory to help with the overcrowded conditions in the other boys' dormitory.

With the completed dormitory, we had a handover ceremony on the 29th of May. Here we are in the final preparations for the event


It was attended by a member of Parliament, and other local officials. (Who arrived about 1 1/2 hours late). We did wait for them, and even longer for the press team to arrive, and then enjoyed
a nice program. (If you understand Swahili!)

The ribbon has been cut, the doors are open, now the Yatima Trust Fund can officially start using this nice home for the younger boys. All done as a humanitarian project through LDS Charities.

LDS Charities does wonderful things to help the people in Africa. Clean water is number one, with health care probably number two. We have been involved in a measles campaign in Tanzania and later this year there will be a neo-natal resuscitation training for up to 250 health care providers, mostly midwives.

KAZURI BEADS (small and beautiful)

At the end of April we flew to Nairobi for a Couples Conference and an Area Coordinating Council. While we were there, one of the fun attractions that we were able to visit was the Kazuri Bead Factory. Kazuri means small and beautiful in Swahili. A tiny workshop began in 1975 making hand made beads in an effort to give single mothers regular employment. It has grown to a large workforce (mostly single mothers) skilled in the manufacture of hand made jewellery. The beads are made of clay found at the foot of Mt. Kenya. They are all hand made and hand painted. They have a beautiful collection of all shapes and sizes. It is all done in a small town called Karen found on the outskirts of Nairobi. These beautiful beads are being sold around the world, and are easily found on the internet.


These ladies have the fun job! They get to play with clay all day, as they mold different shapes and sizes.


Her job is to put the hole in the bead with a long weaving needle.

Plates of round, flat, large and small beads are left to dry in the sun.

The ladies paint the beads according to the assignment they receive that day, then put them on the racks to dry.

She enjoys her job as she paints an additional color, or pattern on the beads after the first firing.
It is amazing to watch them hand paint intricate designs and patterns on the small beads.

Working in the hot kilns, making sure the beads are situated and ready for firing.

She is assembling the beads into the finished products of necklaces, bracelets and earrings.

It was an amazing process, and mind boggling to go into their outlet store and try to select what you wanted from the many different choices......and I mean many, beautiful bead creations.

Did I buy some......You bet I did! Wish I could take my girls there, cause they would love the jewelry. Check it out online! www.kazuri.com

Investigating the bore holes.....

The children at play at a primary school.

The well is there by John and Elder Esplin, but those desiring to have their photos taken blocked it out.

Everyone wanted to be in the front.

Sorry that you don't get to see the wells, but the kids are lots more fun to look at anyhow.

We are involved in some humanitarian work in Tanzania, and recently we had visitors from Nairobi who came to see our old and new projects. They are the Esplins from Bountiful and they are over Humanitarian Projects in Kenya and Tanzania. We went to visit 4 bore holes that were drilled and had pumps installed in about '05 or '06. None of them are currently working. The Africans want us to fix them, but they forget that they were given as gifts and they were instructed to repair them and keep them functioning. The wells belong to them! All of the projects were at schools and the children mobbed us especially when they saw the camera. We love the African children.

The result of an African deluge.........

I needed to go to the bank, so off go the sandals, I know how to wade!

The bank is at Shopper's Plaza, and this is how things looked for blocks.

The water is clear to the top of the planter boxes, and there are lots of empty

parking spaces today.

This tree is flooded clear to where it branches out.

Anyone want to go shopping for a new car?

It is the rainy season in Africa, and boy does it know how to rain! It rained hard for two and a half hours on Wednesday and the pictures show the results. Traffic came to a standstill, and instead of cars, you really need something that floats.

PREPARED TO ENTER THE HOLY TEMPLE

On January 26th we were privileged to travel to Johannesburg, South Africa to attend the temple with a group of saints from Tanzania who were going there to do their own temple work. The trip was not without its problems and challenges, but we were blessed to be able to accomplish the important work that we went there to do.

President and Sister Kachuchuru of the Kinondoni II Branch

It was wonderful to be able to witness sealings of husband and wife, and especially to see family units joined together for eternity in the House of the Lord! We were so happy to be able to attend the temple again after a year. We take the temples for granted because they are so available to us. These great saints will likely never make it back to the temple because of distance and expense. They were so grateful to be able to go. The temple patron fund is a wonderful program that allows saints to go to the temple who otherwise could not afford to go. Donating to this fund is a way that we can help special people find their way to the temple.