IT'S A WHOLE SET!

It is finished! Dr. Bo Werner finally got the installation completed. Elder Jensen is once again allowed to smile. He did a good job and it actually cost considerably less than it would have in the US. It was also a good chance to give out a Book of Mormon and a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. The dentist was a very interesting fellow.

Where's The Tooth?

Ken is in the midst of experiencing an African Nightmare! One thing that we hoped for when we came to Africa was that we wouldn't need to go to the Dr. or the Dentist. We have taken several elders to the Dr., and Ken was having a problem with a tooth so decided that he needed to go see the dentist. It was not a bad experience for him. The tooth was fixed, and we were only out about $60 bucks, so all was well. But..... it was only a few weeks later that we were having dinner at a fancy restaurant with two missionary couples, and I looked over at Ken and he looked like our 7 year old grandson with a big hole in the normal row of top front teeth. I asked what happened and was told that when he bit a roll the tooth broke off. YIKES!!!!

He has been lucky because he hasn't had any pain. He stewed for about a week, wondering what he should do. He called himself Snaggle Tooth, I told him he looked like a hillbilly, and I would have called him Petie if that wasn't my name. He decided to go back to the Swedish Dentist in the city. He had a root canal, which the dentist called a root filling and they took impressions. Finally after two weeks, the tooth arrived from Nairobi. It fit great at the top end, but the bottom end was way too long. The dentist couldn't figure out what had gone wrong, but he decided to see if he could shorten it so Ken could close his mouth so his back teeth would touch. He drilled until he hit the metal inside the tooth and finally decided that it wasn't going to work. He took new impressions again, and told Ken not to change his bite. Ken tried to explain to him that he only has one bite and that is the one that he used last time, this time and that he will also use it the next time it is needed. Well, we are again waiting for a new tooth from Nairobi! It doesn't bother Ken a bit, but it sure bothers me and I try to remind him to smile with his mouth shut!

African Dresses

It was a fun new experience to go shopping in Kariakoo. We went with our friendly guide, John. Kariakoo is the main african shopping place in Dar. Mzungus (white faces) are few and far between. We hadn't even considered going until John offered to take us. He said we needed the experience! It was an experience!! I wanted to take pictures, but didn't feel like I should, so I just have memories. We bought material, and then John took us to a tailor.

There we selected a dress from a picture on a poster. Then we were measured and were told the dresses would be ready to pick up in two days. I am now an American African with an African dress. In fact, I have two! It cost 10,000 shillings to have each dress made and 10,000 for the material for two dressses. So, altogether, two dresses cost 30,000 shillings or about $27.00. I wore my dress to church on Sunday and received many compliments.

It is a great skirt and top combo with zippers and completely lined. What a bargain!!!!!

An African Wedding!

In Africa, you have to do what you have to do to get the job done. Dissi and Pricilla wanted a temple wedding but in Tanzania you have to be married civilly to have the government recognize it. Then you can travel to South Africa and be married in the temple. That was their plan until Pricilla, a Ugandan, couldn't get a visa from Uganda to travel to South Africa. On Thursday, they called John (our church employee) for help. They wanted him to go to the South African High Commission and apply for a visa for her from Tanzania. John knew that she would need to be a Tanzanian to accomplish the visa in the short time allotted. He told them they would need to get married that morning so he could go apply for the visa. As soon as she is married to a Tanzanian she is recognized as Tanzanian. They came to our house and had an invitation letter written by Elder Jensen then the Branch President was made aware of the situation as well as the witnesses, and they all met at the church to preform the ceremony. With the necessary documents signed, John was off to the city to accomplish his task of getting a visa so they could make it to the temple on their scheduled flight early Tuesday morning. The thing you need to realize, is that in Africa things don't happen in just one or two days. Sometimes it takes many days and many visits. John is amazing, and he knew that he needed to give it his best shot to make it happen, and they had to be married.
The wedding couple carried out the original wedding plans at the church on Saturday afternoon, and I don't know how many of the people knew they were already married when the Branch President married them again for all of the family and guests. They had a cute bridal party and I took some pictures showing them exiting the church after the ceremony and around the church. Notice the darling children! They were so cute and well behaved. I don't really know why, but they always drive a rented car that has ribbons and roses, so I had to take a picture of that too. The Uganda ladies all came in their traditional Ugandan dresses. You won't have a hard time picking them out. (I have video of the Ugandans chanting and dancing, but it won't upload for some reason.) It was really fun to be there. The couple pictured is Tom and Mariam. They got married right after we got here, so they have been married 6 months. We didn't go because we didn't know them and we weren't invited. What we didn't know is that "ya'll come" is how you are invited and welcomed.
Tom and Mariam had a crisis making it to the temple when they got married too, but they made it, and are now happily married and leaders in their branch.
The rest of the story is that John was able to pick up the visa on Monday and the happy couple left for the temple in South Africa as scheduled on Tuesday morning. Heavenly Father wants the young people to make it to the temple, but he wants them to have to work to get there! The temple patron fund helps young people go to the temple; without help from members of the church, they could never afford to go. Check out your donation slip!