ELDER and SISTER BABCOCK: April 2012

Purchasing fruits and vegetables from the downtown market proved to be a challenge for the first few visits; now I find the market a great adventure and the people a pure pleasure. It is a large market, filled with people in every corner to the point you have to keep your head up and be aware of the surroundings to stay out of the way of men carrying the heavy bags of beans or the large stalks with bunches of bananas. When we first started shopping here we had the feeling the people did not enjoy our visits to their market but now we are met with hellos and smiles every time. I'm not quite certain what caused the change but I do wonder if we are now able to relax, enjoy such a different way to shop, admire the excellent produce, and find it a pleasure to talk with the many men and women who market their wares.

We planned to deliver a pair reading glasses to Esther, a woman living not far from the Kapsaret Primary School. It turns out that William Kipsang, Head School Master wanted us to come on the same day to pray for a facility member, Noah Korir from his school. Noah is in a state of kidney failure and travels to Eldoret a couple times a week for dialysis. William used us as an example to all in the community for giving in the fund raising campaign for Noah. In the small community of Kapsareth, if you become involved, even in a small way you don't know if you will be in the media, or what. Anyway, William put together a meeting for us with Noah and his wife for later that afternoon.

First we went to Esther's but she was not home so we took a walk over to the water falls and goat stream not far from her home. I had previously arranged to have two of the missionaries come with us so we could give Noah a blessing before his future surgery to receive a new kidney. Following our hike to the stream and falls we returned to see Esther at her home. When she saw us she hugged Elder Harper from Blackfoot, Idaho, Sister Babcock and me, but Elder Odungo got no such treatment. When Sister Babcock pulled out the glasses she grabbed them put them on and said, "clear" in the native tongue. I talked her out of the glasses and adjusted the nose pads for her with my fingers at no extra cost and did a good Kenyan job on them. Esther invited us inside her mud hut and Elder Odungo from Busia, Kenya began a discussion in Swahili with her about the gospel. Esther's children had gone to the dispensary to get malaria medicine so we missed them, but promised we would return some other day to greet them all. Esther said, "No, I will get my neighbors to all come and listen to you.....I will call and we have many people here." Esther was so excited to see to read it was a pleasure to have done something nice for her.

Bridge to Esther's home.

After our visit at Esther’s we crossed the stream and found the truck still in one piece and drove up the rough dirt road to William’s school. We found him waiting and ready to go and we immediately left for Noah’s, his home was not far, perhaps three miles from the school. I didn’t know what William had in mind regarding our visit to Noah’s but I made it clear we would not be doing a prayer circle but rather a priesthood ordinance as explained in James 5:14-15. He was good with that and said the elders from the African Inland Church could do that but not him, his is just a pastor. Elder Harper explained that we have the Priesthood of God and are the authorized agents to exercise this authority. The Elders and William piled in the back and we were off. As we drove into Noah’s yard the front door opened and Noah and his wife Rebecca came out immediately, they had been waiting since morning. We were promptly invited it and sat down. Rebecca began preparing to serve us, I requested we wait until the we had given the blessing to Noah and she obliged. We again read James 5:14-15 in another language other than Swahili. We made necessary explanation and all were comfortable with the ordinance.

As we proceeded with the blessing William jumped up to see what we were doing, I don’t know what we would have done had he joined in the ordinance..... yes I do. We completed the ordinance and took our seats, Rebecca placed four serving bowls on the table and William started removing the cats from underneath the table in a Kenyan fashion. The food was traditional Kenyan, rice with some vegetables, beans, boiled and fried mutton and chiptalis. We drank the water, it had been boiled and then cooled. The food was delicious and we were comfortable with the water. As we finished eating William sat his bowl on the table, he had manufactured a huge pile of mutton bones, a cat jumped on the table and proceeded to stuff it’s mouth full of bones. After lunch we continued our visit. We had brought pamphlets on the Restoration and Joseph Smith the Prophet and had given them to Noah. He could not keep his hands off them our entire visit. Finally, Elder Ogungo announced he had a copy of the Book of Mormon and would leave it with them.

Prior to the blessing, I should note, Noah’s mother and another lady entered the room to join us. Neither of these women spoke any English whatsoever. Noah’s mother communicated that she had never been around any white men but she noticed we were so kind and gentle. Mama (expression for a mother/grandmother) didn’t realize that it was the spirit of God she was feeling with us. That made our day. William, later explained that the British had been extremely brutal and cruel to these people and this woman no doubt has some vivid memories from her experiences. Anyway, the clock was setting on 3:30 PM or so and I knew the missionaries had a 4:30 appointment we had promised to get them to if they would go with us.

Suddenly, William jumped and said he wanted to talk with me outside. I agreed. He said, “We are not leaving until you explain the Restoration of the ancient Gospel of Jesus Christ throught the Prophet Joseph Smith to Rebecca and Noah. I was stunned and wondered why I had been negligent. As you know, William is a pastor of the (AIC) and he reminded me of my responsibility. We returned into the house and I launched a discussion that went just short of a half hour. Noah and I kept eye contact throughout, his attention and interest was remarkable. The love and goodness of the people is something to behold. We were very much impressed. We will never forget our afternoon with Noah and Rebecca, they were wonderful, humble, loving, carrying, gracious people, none better anywhere. We came as strangers to this family and left feeling almost as if we were leaving family.