Beautiful Beaches on the Indian Ocean!

We went to a cute little shopping center down by the beach to buy sour cream. Real sour cream!! It cost nearly $7.00 for about a 4-6 oz container. But it made me happy, cause it helps make good food. While we were there, we walked across the street to the beach and took a few pictures. It was the first sunny day for weeks, and it was pretty.

Home Sweet Home

Today we went to the US Embassy with the Kenyons and the Trees. We went to have lunch and to register as citizens living in Tanzania. That is so in case of an emergency they can contact us with information. It was amazing how getting behind that wall made it seem just like we were back in the USA. The grounds were like the Capitol or some other public building, the insides and the equipment were like the US. We saw our first drinking fountain since leaving home. Oh how we take things for granted. In front of the Embassy is a monument with the names of people who died in an attack on the Embassy in 1998. The building is in a completely different place now, because at the time of the attack it was right against the road. Now it is far from the road with parking and much grass and landscaping. The whole area is behind a high concrete wall with much security. The picture attached is in front of a memorial door inside the Embassy. It is made of Zanzibar wood. It was fun to go there and feel a bit closer to home for a few hours.

Elder Jensen Street Boarding

Ken decided to give street boarding a try yesterday. He said, "it was kinda fun!" We thought that we were going to be rained out for the 4th Wed. straight, but we went through the rain and when we got to the city, it had stopped and the elders had a successful day. These elders don't like to go to the city, because most of the referrals are for the other group of elders. But today, they got referrals for their own areas. Success at last!!!

PHOTO OP

Ken and I met with a couple of gentlemen from South Africa who are in charge of Church Distribution. They came to Tanzania to officially close the Distribution Center at one of our branch meeting houses that had not been functioning for quite some time. We will now be in charge of the Church Distribution here by ordering through South Africa and receiving goods either shipped from there or Salt Lake City. They told us to dispose of some of the out of date materials, and make the rest available to members of the district.
Sister Kenyon and I went to the meeting house in our grubbies while our companions had a meeting there with the District Presidency. Our purpose was to clean out the room that housed the old distribution center.
In one of the cupboards, we found a bag full of old donated prescription glasses. When I say old, I mean old and very out of style. Some were like coke bottle glasses, others dark, and most were very large and with somewhat stylish frames.













The elders do a lot of their teaching at the church and there were a couple of sets of elders who peeked in to see what was going on. We asked Elder Hansen if perhaps one of the pair of glasses would help him with the eye problems that he was having. Well, you can imagine what happened after that. Everyone had to try on glasses.











































Then one of the Elders was told that he looked like Erkel------laughter------then they pulled up their pants toward their armpits, creating floods------more laughter-----then came the cameras. We were all laughing our heads off.













Then one of the Elders said that he really liked his pair and asked if he could have them. Well, it was a fun-filled evening. There were enough cameras for a celebrity news conference. Hope you enjoy the shots from the "photo op".

ZONE CONFERENCE NOT GENERAL CONFERENCE

We just enjoyed a great zone conference with the other missionaries and President and Sister Taylor. It has been a busy few days! It started out on Thursday. It is our responsibility to pick up and deliver all missionaries and visitors from the mission. We picked up our leaders and delivered them to their hotel. They invited us to their room where we had an informal interview and a nice visit. We didn't have time to go home for supper, so we went to a place called slipway, where we picked up fruit for the lunch for zone conference, and then made our way back to the church where we had 5:30 PM meetings. The men met with the District Presidency, while the women met to plan a presentation for District Auxilliary Training Meeting. They have recently called new Presidents in all three auxilliaries: Primary, Young Women, and Relief Society.
The District President asked Sister Kenyon and I if we would train the new presidents. Sister Taylor was a great help as we brainstormed about what was most important to instruct.
We were late getting home that night and still had rice krispies treats and cookies to make, and 4 pineapples to cut up and all the fruit and vegetables that we bought had to be JIKKed. That means that it has to be thoroughly washed and then placed in a solution of water and Jik (bleach)
to kill the bacteria. It is a real pain, but it beats getting sick. We have a hard time getting the elders to do it (even the American boys). They think they are invincible.
Zone conference was so good. The Elders are amazing as they plan and teach the lessons on the scriptures and gospel subjects. Elder and Sister Taylor had good messages and each of them left us with challenges that we need to return and report on next zone conference. Lunch, (another responsibility) was good (even if I do say so myself). The afternoon was filled with interviews with the President. The ladies played games with the young elders while they were waiting for their turns. It was so fun!! The African Elders were a hoot. We played Catch Phrase. It was so funny how they tried to explain things and interesting the things they knew about and other things that you would expect them to know, they had no idea of. To end the day, President took the senior couples out to dinner. It was a good day. Then today, we had the auxilliary training, which went very well. Then after a short meeting with the Pres. it was the shuttle bus back to the airport, and they were off to Nairobi. This was our spiritual uplift for the weekend, cause we don't get any of the sessions of conference. We don't even get a delayed showing.....well....yes we do. We see it when we get a tape sent to us from SLC, or the Ensign. Whichever comes first.
President explained it like this: Some want it and don't get it. Others have it and don't want it.