Kenya also needs the Gospel
Kenya is a country in East Africa with coastline on the Indian Ocean. It encompasses savannah, lakelands, the dramatic Great Rift Valley and mountain highlands. It's also home to wildlife like lions, elephants and rhinos. Near the capital of Nairobi is the Maasai Mara Reserve, known for its annual wildebeest migrations, and Amboseli National Park, offering views of Tanzania's 5,895m Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Kenya
American
USAID employees and families serving in Kenya in the 1970s held Church services
in their own homes. The first African converts in Kenya were baptized in 1979.
The first two missionaries, Elder Farrell and Sister Blanch McGhie, arrived in
1980, and in 1981 two branches (small congregations) were created in Nairobi
and Kiboko. The Church received official recognition in 1991, and that same
year missionary headquarters were established in Nairobi.
In
1988 the Church donated funds that were collected by means of special fasts to
bring water to 15 Kenyan villages located 100 miles from Nairobi. The water
systems were installed by 1989. In 1992 the Church provided food staples to
Somalian and Kenyan refugees affected by severe drought conditions.
On
21 October 1992 a six-acre plot of Church land was planted under the direction
of Church agronomist Joel K. Ransom, and a self-help project was expanded later
to property owned by members. This resulted in the harvesting of vital crops.
By
1994 four districts, with several branches each, had been created and large
congregations attended many of the meetings. Two of these districts were later
dissolved. The first meetinghouse was completed in July 1994 for the Longata
Branch in Nairobi.
A
Church humanitarian community water project in 1994 provided personal water
taps to hundreds of families. In February 1998 President Gordon B. Hinckley
became the first Church president to visit Eastern Africa. He spoke to 900
members who had gathered from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Somalia.
The
Nairobi Kenya Stake was organized on 9 September 2001, the first stake in
Kenya.
Our wonderful Kenyan Missionariesś
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