Headed to the White House!

There has been much enthusiasm in Africa with the election of Obama. With that said, here is a little humor from Africa! This picture was actually sent out with the title of "Headed to the White House". I guess that they will all arrive this week. Unpacking will be a big job.

Our Safari

Jerilyn and BJ came to visit us for Christmas. We flew up to Arusha where we headed off on a 4 day safari to Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro caldera. We saw so many animals!

At the Dar airport going to our plane.
The first animal we saw. A giraffe standing right by the road!

At dinner at the Lake Manyara Lodge

At Lake Manyara:

We saw many elephants!

A large group of baboons - we liked watching the little one ride the bigger one like a horse.

Lots of giraffes

The crater

The crater view from our hotel room balcony

In the crater:

A beautiful Cheetah that our wonderful tourguide James skillfully tracked

A pride of female lions and their cubs

Two male lions resting in the shade of the safari vehicles

A sleepy brown-backed jackal

A zebra mom and baby

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful African Christmas! Here are some pictures of our Christmas DDM meeting. The elders had a fun time playing "ho ho ho"

WE HAVE A PET!!

Our missionary friends, the Kenyons, have a little kitty who has adopted them as its supportive family. It comes to their door and meows, and it knows that they will open the door and fix a bowl of cat food for her. Well, we now have a pet too, but ours is a monkey! She is a cute little critter who is very friendly and curious. She was outside our front door and the crows were really harrassing her. They were making an awful noise. When I looked out, there was a cute little monkey in the yard. She jumped up in the tree just outside our office window. We went outside with the camera to see her better and take some photos. She was not afraid but watched us very carefully. Ken decided that we would see how she liked mangos. Guess what? She did! He set a piece up on a branch very close to us and she hurried right down and grabbed it, then ran up to the bushy part of the tree and ate it. He repeated the process, and she was there in a flash. She didn't seem to get full (or tired as our African missionary friends say). We had fun with her for at least a half hour and then we had to leave for an appointment. She was sitting on a branch and I heard a sound and looked over and she was peeing all over the driveway. Glad I wasn't underneath that! As we got in the car, she kept watching us and I had a good shot of her, so I asked Ken to wait while I got another picture. When I opened the window she came running down the branch and got so close that I was afraid that she would jump in the window on my lap. I wasn't sure what I would do with a monkey in the car, so I quickly rolled up the window and forgot about the good picture. It is fun to be living with the unusual animals that we see here. We often see a mongoose family in our yard, and about a week ago we saw a lizard in our neighbors driveway that was 3 feet long. When we drove in, it quickly disappeared across the porch up the wall and into some shrubbery. Kinda fun, just have to watch where you walk!

TERMITES...........Delicious???

A normal stop off at the church turned into a Biology lesson. When we arrived, the gardener, his boss Brother Onditi and another member of the church were busy under the tree digging up the ground. When we inquired as to what they were up to, we were told that they had just located the queen and they were just watching the termite soldiers. I didn't know that the termites had queens or soldiers. In fact, I didn't know what a termite looked like. I knew the kind of damage they can do, because the house we live in had to be fumigated when the last couple lived here because of all the termites and the damage they had done. We don't have termites now, but we still live with a lot of their damage.

The queen was as long as and as big as my little finger. She was cream colored and about 90% of her was a big abdomen. She couldn't move, so the workers had come to rescue her and had gotten the troops together and they were trying to move her to safety. It was amazing to see the number of termites that were in the colony. They weren't eating the tree roots, but the tree was just a protection for them. Is it any wonder that the buildings here are made of concrete and not wooden structures like at home?

The gardeners moved on to the next tree which they found to also be infested with termites. They found a queen in that colony too, and an equal number of termites. It was an amazing thing to watch.

The kicker was that as they were telling us about them, they said that some people eat the queens. Gaaaagggggggggg! John came to the church to meet us about some business and he told us how as kids they used to put a green stick down into a termite hill and leave it for a minute and then pull it out, and there would be termites attached to it. I asked what they would do with them and he looked at me and said "Sister Jensen we would eat them, they are very delicious!" Later that day, Sister Taylor (wife of the mission president) told us that Elder Brewer ate them when he was serving in Kitale (out in the Kenya sticks). At zone conference, he admitted that it was true and that he liked them! He also likes surfing and Bath and Body Soap!
Same guy, different days!

INTO THE WATERS OF BAPTISM!

On September 28th, 2008 there was a special baptism at the Ubungo Chapel. Our friend and garderner, Melkiory Said Mganzwa was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Elder Jensen. This was a great blessing for us to see Melkiory accept the gospel and keep his commitments, and desire to be baptized. He is such a good guy with a great interest in all aspects of the Church and a desire to keep learning. He has been the most faithful person attending our Temple Preparation Class. We call him our little "sponge"! He has since been confirmed and will soon be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood. This morning he learned how to tie a tie so that he can be prepared to fulfill his calling in the Priesthood.
He has been the gardener for 3 or 4 couples here, and has had much exposure to the Church. Our lesson learned is that you must keep asking and inviting, and when the time is right, they will accept.
He has a brother who is interested in the Church, and would like to be baptized, but he does not speak English. He must attend English classes and learn to speak so he can be taught in English, and then he also could be baptized. Perhaps Melkiory will have the opportunity to baptize his brother. That would make him very happy!

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.