Perpetual Education Fund

http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/news-releases-stories/perpetual-education-fund-achieves-milestone

Christmas Letter 2009

Dear Friends and Family,
We are taking this opportunity to send Christmas greeting to everyone. We are enjoying our mission very much and hope through this message we can convey our thoughts and feelings about serving the wonderful people here in Kenya. As some of you may know our main focus is to coordinate the Perpetual Education Fund in the Kenya Nairobi Mission and the Nairobi Kenya Stake. There are about 150 loan participants that we monitor on a daily basis. We have coordinated the addition of 30 new participants since we came here eight and one half months ago. We are thankful for this opportunity to serve these young people, most of them are in their mid to late twenties, they keep us on our toes and we love interacting with them.

We also have responsibilities with the Seminary and Institute programs. We teach one institute class every Wednesday (Presidents of the Church). We started with Joseph Smith and have gone through every President up through George Albert Smith. This week we will begin teaching about the life of David O. McKay. One mission district located about 150 miles southwest of Nairobi has 10 branches where they hold twenty Seminary and Institute classes each week. Our duties in that area is to teach the teachers in monthly in-service. The first Friday and Saturday of each month we drive there and meet with these devoted teachers. It is wonderful to see their dedication to the work and we love sharing techniques with them to assist as they teach the youth and young adults.

We understand some of you are wondering why we haven’t written or emailed you since we came on our mission. We have tried to respond to all correspondence we have received and will continue this practice. Please send your emails to flinders1@earthlink.net. There may be some confusion because for a time our email service was interrupted, but it is back now and we would love to hear from you.

This Christmas season is so different because the weather is so mild. The temperature is in the mid 70 degree range night and day. This is also the rainy season so everything is beautiful and green. It is hard to get in the Christmas spirit with no snow and such beautiful summer time weather. Yes, this is summer here because we are in the southern hemisphere. Our seasons are just the opposite of those back home, but the temperature stays about the same year round and the sun comes up about 6:30 AM and goes down about 6:30 PM every day 365 days a year.

We love serving the Lord and feel his presence every day. We know many of you are praying for us for which we give our sincere thanks. This time of year when we focus on the birth of Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice for us we appreciate all he has done as the savior of the world. We wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and may the Lord bless each of you with his spirit.

Our love and best wishes to everyone,
Elder and Sister Flinders, Leon and Brenda, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa (you choose)

August 9th 2009 Update

This is our visit to the giraffe orphanage where they bring in young giraffes that have been orphaned due to being abandoned by their mothers, or their mothers may have been a meal for a pride of lions, or poachers have killed their mothers. These young giraffes stay here until they are able to go out into the wild and survive on their own. Brenda, Mom, or Grandma is shown feeding one of the orphans. The food is like rabbit pellets - they are specially formulated to be nutritious and provide the animal with everything they need to grow up healthy. If one is brave enough they can hold a pellet in their lips and the giraffe will take it from there - hence the person is the recipient of a sloppy kiss from a giraffe. Neither of us did that.

This picture is Elder Flinders dressed in a cap and gown to deliver an address to graduating students from DALC University. The invitation to speak at the graduation came unexpectedly after a visit with Dr. Obarah whom we talked to about the role of PEF as it pertained to students at DALC. Dr. Obarah is the Director of the University. We told him about our call to serve as missionaries and that we do it without receiving pay from the Church. His response was nobody does something like that here in Kenya. They just don't volunteer anything without asking what is my compensation or what's in it for me. A few days after our visit with him he sent us an email and asked me to speak at the graduation. I was to be the motivational speaker and talk for ten minutes on the topic of "Human Sacrifice In The Community - The Case of Missionaries". This was a big challenge especially when I found out there would be over 1200 people in attendance along with press from all the television stations and local newspapers. I told them about how we serve for 23 months and our assignment to work with the Perpetual Education Fund. I encouraged the students to get involved in community service now that their education is completed and not expect to receive anything in return. A few days after the graduation Dr. Obarah sent me an email informing me that during a board of directors meeting the voting was unanimous by the board the I should become one of their board members - the first one to serve on their board as a non-Africian. We are still waiting for instructions to become further involved when school starts up next month.

Last month we attended a CES conference held here in Nairobi for all the CES couple missionaries in this mission. The Area CES Administrator from South Africa was in attendance as well as the administrators from Kenya and Uganda. This conference was held at the Fairview Hotel, one of the best ones in Nairobi. The conference lasted two days - we ate lunch both days at the buffet which was comparable with any in the U.S. The last night of the conference we ate dinner in the gourmet room upstairs - the food was excellent and we think very expensive but the tab was paid by CES so we loved it. We are having a wonderful time interacting with the PEF and Seminary and Institute students. These young people are so humble and teachable and grateful for the chruch and the progams it provides for them. We are thankful to be serving here in the Kenya Nairobi Mission and having this opportunity to interact with these choice young members of the chruch.President Hinckley was certainly inspired with this program. It is truly blessing the lives of many students, especially here in Africa. We add more students every month. They are very thankful for this opportunity. We are grateful to the Lord that He allows us to interact with these great people. The gospel is true of this we are sure. May the Lord bless you all.

Random things we've seen in KENYA

On the way home from a day of shopping - the best way to transport heavy bundles of just about anything. The ladies here carry large things on their heads. Most of them don't even use a hand to balance the packages. They must have very strong necks.

Not fifty feet from this sign we saw a man standing right on the side of the street urinating.

Interesting billboard!

What a load! We see things like this all the time. We will post more pictures another time.

As we arrived at church in Athi River, this little girl was standing in front of the church. I took her picture through the window. When we got out of the truck. She wanted to pose for us. The kids love to have their pictures taken.

June 13, 2009

Hello to June and all of you. We are still having a wonderful time in Nairobi. With our PEF assignment also comes an assignment with the CES. This assignment took us to the Chyulu area for some training of 20 teachers. This area is where the church actually began in Kenya. It is a remote area. It took us four hours (130 miles)to get there. There is a lot of road construction and several deviations. In America we call them detours. The roads were sooooo bad in the deviations the only way I have been able to come up with an explanation is this: if I bought a pint of cream before I left and set it in the back seat of the truck and drove the four hours, I would have butter when I got there. There are couples that drive that road every day and they say that it is a rarity that there aren't some of the big trucks tipped over. One day they saw seven. It is so dangerous. We were told that one of the sections of new road (divided highway) will be completed by November. That is the part we drive every Sunday going to our branch. We love going there, the people are so great. We begin teaching the Temple Preparation class tomorrow. I'm not sure who is more excited, them or us. What a wonderful opportunity for them to become eternal families. We have one student who lives there, he has served a mission but did not get the chance to go to the temple. There are many native returned missionaries that haven't been to the temple. This time of year is the beginning of winter, or so they say-- right now in our flat with the windows open it is 75 degrees, a cold winter day. Many of the Kenyans are wearing sweaters and coats when they come to work; when the temperature gets below 70 degrees it is cold to them. We visited the Bru Bru Chapel this morning, it is designated as the Stake Center for the Nairobi Stake. This building sits on about ten acres of property, the Chapel occupies about three acres and the rest of the land is a shomba (garden) area for the members who attend there. The Nairobi 1st and 2nd Wards meet in this chapel. The garden spot is divided into sections where the members plant and harvest for their own use or they sell their harvest. One of the young men in the PEF program was there spading his section to plant peas. He showed us one area with peppers. The climate is so mild here that the gardens can produce year around. They are able to get three growing seasons each year. What a tremendous blessing this is to the members. But like everything else here, those with ambition are the most successful and those not too motivated have weeds where their crops should be.

May 31, 2009

This has been way too long since we updated this blog. Sorry to all of you. We are still alive and doing well. We stay busy with the PEF students. We are loving the association we have with them. This past week we had two of our students (funny how they become ours) come and told us that they served their mission in Dar es Salaam with Steve and Margaret Terry. "Hello" Terrys.
We spent Tuesday of this past week with some very dear friends we have made since we arrived here. Elder and Sister Luke from Greenriver, Utah. They have been so kind to us, taking us around, feeding us when we first came, telling us fun places to go and do and see. We went with them to the Nairobi Game park. They wanted to take us there since we first arrived but we have been waiting for our work permit because it is cheaper to get in. Elder Luke worked for the Forest Service before their mission. Well the permits haven't come and the Lukes' were being released on Thursday so we bit the bullet and went anyway. We had a wonderful time. We saw more black rhinos than any other couple had seen since the Lukes' came 18 months ago. We have some awesome pictures. The thing that is so astounding about this park is that it is right in the city limits. We took pictures of rhinos with the tall building that is right next to the church complex where our office is in the background. Amazing. As I have said before, this place is beautiful. We love it.
Let me tell you about some of the people we have met. Betterman is a young man who has helped train us in the office. His wife lives in Uganda because that is where she is from. She went through the PEF program as he is now doing. But she can't get a job here because she is Ugandan.. One day while he was in the office his mother called. She lives "Up Country". That is where the native village of their tribe is. She told Betterman that her cow had died and she didn't know what she was going to do. By selling the milk from one cow she was able to sustain herself. Now she is left with just three calfs. She could sell two of the calfs and buy another milk cow. Not sure what she has done.
The Branch President, James Chylu, joined the church with his wife several years ago. They went to the temple. I don't know anything about his family but he has served as branch president for nine years. His wife is inactive and quite antagonist towards the church. The saints here are super. When they serve, they serve well.
The people here are so different. For the most part their testimonies are so strong. They really do rely on our Heavenly Father. If they have something come up in their lives, they know that they can go to the Lord and He will help them.
The PEF program is for young men and women between the age of 17 and 30. When they have their 31st birthday they have to get an age exception to be considered for the loan. We had a young lady come into the office seeking a loan. We looked at her age and determined that she would need to go through the Age Exception process. As she left the office, Betterman told her to say a prayer. We began looking at her birthdate and determined that she wouldn't be 31 until June. He ran and caught up with her and told her to come back. She was speechless. She said that she had never had a prayer answered so quickly. We started the loan processs for her that day. The next roadblock was that the school started before the loan process would be completed. Elder Flinders typed a letter stating that Judy was in the process of the loan and would they allow her to begin classes before the funds would be disbursed. They said "OK". Then by the time that the loan would be processed she would have her 31st birthday. Another delima. Her church records state her birthday June 21st. We needed until July 4th. She said the the church records were wrong. She had chided her mother all her life for putting the wrong birthdate on her blessing certificate. All of her other records had July 6th as her birthday. She had her birth certificate and her National I.D. card as proof. As our luck would have it, the brother who is over the records for the whole mission has an office down the hall from our office. We spoke to him and told him she had proof that her church records were wrong. Judy gave him the documents and by the following morning the church records were corrected. Everything she needed was in order now and her loan papers were submitted. She is done and the check to pay for her tuition is in our office waiting for her to pick it up. The Lord is certaintly aware of his children and the struggles. The PEF progran is for worthy, ambitious, and needy students. She is probably the most ambitious that we have seen.
We begin teaching the Temple Prep Class next week. We are excited about that. There are three or four families that will attend. It will be a wonderful experience to be able to go to the temple with them. When people go to the temple, they receive their endowments one day and then get to attend several more sessions for a couple of days. Usually the missionary couple ends up being the sitters after the initial temple session. Sounds fun?

May 17, 2009

This has been a busy week, Sister Flinders has been working with one of our PEF participants to update our files. For those of you who know Brenda, Sister Flinders or Mom will recognize her as the perpetual organizer. She just said, we should take a picture of what those files looked like before and after. Those who follow us will certainly appreciate this great work.



We have met so many wonderful students. By our standards in the US they are not even on the radar screen as we define poverty. Their living conditions are more primitive than people in the US over 100 years ago. There is an area called Kibera, one slum area in Nairobi, over 1 million people walk the main road in this neighborhood every day. Someone told us about walking down this road and having to dodge flying toilets. Flying toilet defined: A plastic bag used for a toilet, tied up and thrown into the street where raw sewage is running. Many of the people living in this area are members of the Upper Hill Ward in the Nairobi Stake, their chapel is connected to the mission offices and service center where our office is located. We are so blessed to be assigned to this area and to have a beautiful modern air conditioned office in which to serve.

Here it is Thursday of this week. We have to get better at posting on our blog. We don't know what to post that anyone would be interested in so we are going to just post things that we are learning or want to remember.

On Wednesdays We teach an institute class from 1:00 to 2:00 P.M. It is Presidents of the Church. The Couple before us taught an Eternal Marriage class for the whole time they were here. I guess you could say that not many graduated from the class because there are soooo many young single members here. They also served the students lunch every week. That's my part. Peanut butter and jam sandwiches, some kind of sweet or fruit and punch. We can get little bananas, at home they are called fingerlings, I think. They are very inexpensive here. Everyone seems to like bananas. There are many different sizes here. Anyway, sometimes we serve one of them with the sandwich and sometimes just a biscuit (cookie from the store) or a homemade cookie. They really like the homemade part as most of the people in Africa don't have ovens. Many of them cook on electric hot plates but most use charcoal to do all of their cooking. Anyway, back to the class. Brother Gideon Matwale asked us to teach this class.
There are mostly young men that come to the class. A couple of young ladies have attended, but are sporadic. They get fed spiritually as well as physically. For many, that is probably the only meal they get. We love the class. Some of the members of the class are the custodial workers at the church complex so we see them every day.

We see a lot of young people in our office. Many of them want to use the phone. And let me just say - everyone here has a cell phone. They buy what is called a sim card to be able to call out on their phone. They can receive a call for free but they have to pay to call out. Their phone will ring and then the caller hangs up. They call that being "flashed". Then they come in to the office to call back. Funny how that works. For the people that live "Up Country" they have rigged up a car battery with which to charge their phones. We don't know how long that lasts or how that works but the people "Up Country" don't have cars!!

The stake had a Young Single Adult activity on Saturday. They invited us to the planning meeting. They told us that there would be between 150 and 400 people there. WOW! When it came to Saturday - probably there were about 100 there. They always serve refreshments which consists of sloppy joes, banana and punch. Let me explain about the sloppy joes. It is nothing like you have ever seen before. Onions, green pepper and spices cooked up in a lot of oil and then they add what they call mince - we would call it hamburger in America - about 50/50. Fifty percent meat and fifty percent fat. Then they put about a tablespoon of it on a bun and call it good. They like it. IT IS NOT FOR ME!!!

We have been asked to attend the Athi River Branch for church. This is about a 45 minute drive on horrrible roads. If the roads were like even the worst road you have ever seen - it would take about 20 minutes. The branch president has asked up to teach three families the Temple Preparation Class. We are excited for this opportunity. There are several other couple missionaries who have taught that class and then they get to plan and prepare the trip to the temple. This is a wonderful experience for these humble souls. It is really a sacrifice for them to be able to go. They will probably only get there once in their lives. Other couples have said that the experience of going with these people to the temple is the best highlight of their entire mission.

We love what we are doing and hope all is well with our family and friends.

We have had great week. We continue to meet more of the students in the PEF Program. This is such an inspired program. Here in Kenya, just a little bit of education can bring these humble saints out of the depths of poverty. There is no middle class here, either the people are quite affluent or they are very poor. We see both at church. There is an area of about one square mile where over a million people live in tin huts in deplorable conditions. They have no electricity, no plumbing, no running water and yet they are so humble. It is amazing to aee the smiles on their faces. Many of them come into our office to apply for loans or get another draw from their loan to help pay for their tuition or books.
We met a family that has six children in the PEF program. All six are returned missionaries. They have two sons currently serving missions. The mom and dad are just waiting for their chance to serve. They are planning to go to the temple in South Africa this fall. We attended their branch with another missionary couple last Sunday. Elder and Sister Anderson have taught other saints in our mission "square foot gardening". They saw the plot of ground outside the chapel. He suggested that they catch the rain water and they would have enough to water the whole plot. This brother with all the missionaries said, "If I could feed my family off the land, the church wouldn't have to pay for my children's education". Such humble people.

Lions at Massi Mara

Maasai Mara Safari Experience

We had a wonderful experience this past week. We had a couples conference. There was one couple from Tanzania, one from Ethiopia, and the mission president and another couple from Uganda and our mission president and eight couples from Kenya who attended. One of our couples had a daughter and her husband visiting and they also participated. We had dinner at President Taylor's home on Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning we boarded a plane and headed to the Intrepid camp in the Maasai Mara for a three day safari. This was a wonderful experience. To see the Lord's handiwork in nature was totally awesome. The animals we saw were incredible. Here in Africa they have what they call the Big Five. They include the elephant, lion, leopard, water buffalo and the rhino. We were able to see all but the rhino. Maybe some other time. We would post some pictures but are having a difficult time doing anything with pictures. We will learn and then post some.

Alema Primary 4/19/09

Dad said "We look like a couple of thorns among all those beautiful roses"

Dear friends and family,

Here are some pictures from our Sunday trip up country. We attended church in the Alema Branch and took these pictures after the meeting block. This was quite and experience traveling to the top of the mountain. The trip was worth it to visit these humble saints who live without running water and electricity. We can be truly thankful for what we have. There were about 60 children in attendance many with no parents with them. No cherrios, no quiet books, no fruit snacks, and no toys--but total silence and well behaved during the whole meeting even during the prelude music.

We love you,

Elder and Sister Flinders

We are having technical problems with the picture - sorry

Animal Sighting

Today - Sunday we spoke with my parents via web cam. They had been to church out in the "country". They traveled a very bumpy road for about 5 hours with another senior couple Elder and Sister Bishop. They are originally from Logandale, NV and more recently from Boise, ID. Their mission is to travel these mountains every day teaching discussions, visiting members and Sister Bishop even teaches keyboard lessons. They have had a lot of success in these areas. They have baptized 70 people during their mission (they have 8 weeks until they return home). The area is still so new to the church that the first baby born in the covenant was just born yesterday!!

Mom said they saw giraffes, wildebeests and I think she said zebras along the road. I asked if she got some pictures and she said the pictures were pretty bumpy from the ride but she will try to post some soon.

They are very grateful for the mission they were called to serve.

First p-day

Dear Family, Mom is busy cooking so she asked me (Leon) to compose this email. Today was a fun day--we went with Elder and Sister Elam to scope out some fabric and souvenir shops. I bought a Safari hat and another baseball cap to add to my collection. Mom didn't buy anything but I could see the wheels turning in her mind of things she would like. She will return later for some of the cool nativities we saw and also some of the beautiful African fabric we saw. We visited the Westgate Mall--a mall as modern and up to date as any in our country. Many upscale shops, a movie theatre and many eating establishments. We had lunch at the Artcaffe Restaurant--the sandwiches were superb with unique bread that was great. The Nakumatt Store, also located in the mall, is Nairobi's answer to Wall Mart but on a smaller scale. We did our weekly grocery shopping and returned home. Nakumatt has several locations throughout the city, but the one in the mall is by far the cleanest and most modern of all of them. As I type this email I am smelling the scent of onions and chicken cooking in the kitchen--it smells just like back home, my sweetheart is such a good cook and she feeds me well. Every Saturday the couple missionaries has a date night at a local restaurant. Tonight we are going to For You Chinese restaurant. Each week the couple who is in charge of the Family Home Evening is the person who selects the date night restaurant. We have the honor of doing that in two weeks. This is a great day. This week we have trained on the PEF system with our supervisor couple from South Africa. Elder and Sister Von Stetten are from Allentown, PA and they work out of the Africa Southeast office in Johanasberg. We are slowing making progress on our duties and responsibilities. Last night we rearranged our flat so now we can say it is our digs and it looks pretty cool.

We love all of you and pray for you.
Mom and Dad, aka Grandma and Grandpa

This is a picture of Nairobi I found online

We've been keeping in touch with my parents via skype and web cam so they haven't written much to us. I will try to remember what they've told us.

They live in an apartment that is in something like a compound. They go through a locked gate to get to their locked door. Last I spoke with them they haven't driven yet. Apparently the drivers are quite aggressive. Mom said she won't be driving at all :). They have a comfortable appartment or flat as Mom called it. The city of Nairobi is very large. They travel about 30 minutes or so to get to the mission office where they "work". They are still learning what exactly they will be doing. We will talk again this week and find out what they've been up to.

When I picture Kenya, I picture flat safari land. When I jokingly asked if they'd seen any animals mom said the mission president that picked them up from the airport saw giraffes on the way to the airport.

Deric's call

From Annalee, Deric just opened his mission call. It arrived in our mailbox on Friday but we were in Ohio. Cristi expressed the letter overnight to us and Deric opened it today. He has been called to the HONDURAS SAN PEDRO SULA MISSION. He reports to the Provo MTC on Wednesday, June 24.

We're Here!

Dear Family, Here we are in Africa. We have met many wonderful people. The countryside is beautiful, lots of flowering trees, reminds me of Hawaii.We are doing well. The flight was looooong. We slept and ate and slept and ate. It got really boring. We are having dinner tonight two other couples. Then we are having Family Home Evening with all the couples in our apartment complex area. We haven't been to the store yet but they promise us that someone will take us tomorrow.Our apartment is nice. The previous couple left a lot of spices and canned things and condiments.

We are all waiting for Deric's mission call. He has it in hand and will open it tonight. I will post as soon as I know.

Africa - Here We Come!!

This was an excerpt from an email dated April 2nd:
We have had another wonderful day in training. We spent today in SLC with training for the PEF Program. We met with Elder Carmack. He told us that when the Prophet stood at the pulpit in his 18 minute talk that it was pure revelation from the Lord. No one else had even heard about the things that he said. Everything that he said to outline the program is just the way that it works. They are doing some fine tuning on the paper work process right now. The PEF program has benefited 35,611 young people to date and is expected to reach over 100,000 by 2010. What an inspired program. This program is and will bless many lives. Not only lives but also families, communities and the church. We will be in SLC again tomorrow for another half day of training. This is all going to be on the computer, learning about the systems etc.
I got to speak to mom today. She called from the airport in Chicago. They are on their way!! They should arrive in at 9:00pm African time on Sunday. They are 10 hours ahead of us in Las Vegas.

MTC

My mom asked me (Cristi) to update their blog. They are really busy. They arrived in the MTC in Provo, UT on Monday March 23. It was snowing and pretty cold. After being there for just one week they said that if they went home now, they would have partaken of a spiritual feast.
They were able to squeeze in a "date". They went to the basement of the Wilford Woodruff building and did laundry.
There were 16 other couples and one single sister in the group that entered the MTC with them. They are going to different parts of the world; Florida, Fiji, Russia, New York, Romania... Many of the group have served before. Mom and Dad are doing CES as well as PEF and there is one other couple doing the same.
On their first full day in the MTC they learned how to teach a discussion on the Restoration and were able to practice teach on members from the Provo community who pretend to be investigators. It was a great experience. Tuesday evening is a devotional with a general authority. Elder Kenneth Johnson and his wife spoke. It was an uplifting experience.
The next day they were able to focus on the Plan of Salvation. "As we opened the door to greet our investigator the person was a familiar face from our past. June Nelson a dear Sister from the old 21st Ward in Las Vegas was this familiar face. What a joyful reunion meeting with her. After our lesson sister Nelson found her husband Glenn and we stood and talked with them for several minutes before going to our next class"
The next day they wrote, "For one hour today we served in the call center, both of us received on call from persons asking to receive material that was advertised on a television ad. Today’s teaching ended with a visit from Ed Pinegar, he has served several mission, been a mission president and is a professor at BYU. The time we spent with brother Pinegar was inspirational and entertaining. He quoted many scriptures without using notes or the actual scriptures. He would give us the reference and called on one of us to read. What a spiritual giant Brother Pinegar is. Giant meaning tall in stature and heavily endowed with the spirit.
Many of the other couples left for their fields of labor last Friday but Mom and Dad will be staying for another week of CES training and PEF training. They leave for Africa April 4th.

Columbus Temple 3/15/09

After a special stake meeting with Elder Russell M. Nelson we visited the Columbus, Ohio temple with the Kittaka Family. President Benjamin Ogles of the Columbus Ohio South Stake set us apart as misisonaries. We had an opportunity to meet Elder Nelson after the special meeting. He told us he will be visiting Nairobi, Kenya in May and was thrilled to know we will see him again there. As he shook our hands he said, "Bless you, bless you".