Nairobi Trade Fair

Friday we attended the trade fair. It was very much like a state fair, but without animals. There were tractors, booths, agricultural displays. The church had a booth and the missionaries and members helped explain the church to people who came in and were interested. They had a video of Man’s search for happiness, with panels telling about the church and families. They gave out Article of Faith cards with Jesus and the children on the front. They would give copies of the Book of Mormon to those who were really interested and took down names and contact numbers (we don’t have addresses, just telephone numbers here in Kenya) for those who wanted to know more. The trade fair went from Monday to Sunday. On Sunday we attended church in one of the wards and Sister Oprah told in her testimony about a man who came into the building with his family and was so excited when he saw the emphasis on strong families. There was a copy of the Home Evening Manual on display and he wanted it. He was so desirous, they finally sold it to him and he took the manual, held it to his heart and tears rolled down his cheeks. He was so excited to get something that would help him raise his family to be good and strong. When Oprah told this experience I felt empathy for that man—I had had similar feelings the first time I heard of the FHE. The Elders told of a man who was a catholic, his father was a catholic priest, but he didn’t like what was taught in his church. When the Elders told him that this church wasn’t catholic, or protestant, but was the original church of Jesus Christ restored to the earth, he sat right down and wanted to know more. They talked for about ½ hour and he wanted the missionaries to come and teach him more. There were many examples of people learning about the church. Some of the pastors of other churches teach that this is the devil’s church--that we worship the devil and so many won’t listen. But this helped teach truth and hopefully will bear fruit—now and later. One man came and is a pastor of a church in Nakuru. He was going to gather the pastors of his town and have the missionaries come and teach them about the church, because it wasn’t anything like he had been told. Many members were fired up about how easy it was to talk about the church to other people. I hope this also bears fruit and that they will help the missionaries more and introduce their friends to the missionaries. It was a pretty exciting week.