Elder McKay visit and District Conference Oct 31 and Nov 1

 

We had the honor of being with Elder Kyle McKay, who currently serves as the historian of the Church and has been a general authority since 2018. We went with the Livingstones and the McKays to the pyramids and rode camels. Elder McKay had a picture of his great-uncle, David O. McKay on a camel in front of the pyramids. However, unlike his great uncle, Elder McKay did not wear a suit. It must have been very hot in a suit.

The McKays gave a fireside on Thursday night and then presided and spoke to our district conference on Friday. Both of the McKays were delightful people. The were flying to Kurdistan today and then back to Salt Lake afterwards. They interviewed a number of the branch members, who had wonderful, faithful stories to tell.

Kathleen and I were rather sore after riding the camels. We enjoying associating with these good people.





This was the choir in our district conference. They sang in both Arabic and English. There was a great group of people attending. The district clerk counted 138 people. We have a great mix of expats, refugees, a few Egyptians, and friends of the church. One of the ladies talked in the meeting about her conversion, which was praying that the Lord would help her find the true church. After searching on the internet, she found The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She lives over 2 hours away from the Church, but has been a member for about 3 months.

We are very careful that we do not proselyte. We were told today that our application to register LDS Charities with the Egyptian government was denied. It might be related to their concerns that we will try to proselyte. As was stressed in the district conference, we will first obey the laws of the land in which we live, but will show by how we live what we believe. If Kathleen and I are approached by anyone wanting to learn the gospel we would refer them to the branch leadership.





















Comments

  1. Deanna E.November 4, 2024 at 7:11 PM

    How wonderful you had the opportunity to be with Elder and Sister McKay….and how wonderful they got to be with you! Incredible pictures!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dinner with Daud's Family and Trip to Alexandria with Whipples

Image
  We had dinner with Daud and his family. I wore the shirt that he wife sewed for me. They are still waiting to be relocated to Winnipeg, Canada. We took a one-day trip to Alexandria to visit two NGOs with whom we have projects and considering others. The new couple, Dave and Maire Whipple came with us. This is the Citadel on the coast. We visited a Roman museum. Here is Kathleen viewing the many pots preserved. Here is the travel that existed in the Mediterranean Sea thousands years ago. The museum had many ancient coins, some going back to Alexander the Great. Kathleen looking at a burial sarcophagus.  This was a Christian mummy that had a painted head. They even mummified crocodiles. Kathleen and Steve at a mural. The Whipples and Walstons with the leaders of Don Bosco in Alexandria. Welding training in Don Bosco in Alexandria. Dave Whipple in Don Bosco training area. Kathleen in Don Bosco Alexandria. We were told that the roof over this facility was made of asbestos and ne...
Read more

Valley of the Whales and Youth Activity

Image
  On Feb 28th we took a trip to the Valley of the Whales or Wadi al Hetan. Here there are more than a thousand fossilized whales that have been found. The area used to be a large sea millions of years ago. Ironically, this is the same day that the Trump administration decided to bomb Iran and start a regional conflict. It is a lot of desert here now, but there were mango swamps millions of years ago. Many different kinds of whale bones have been discovered here. There was quite a evolution of different whales. These rocks contain remains of fossilized mango swamps. More desert. We went when the weather was quite cool (for Egypt) and there was a breeze. The temperature was probably in the 60s. The area was interesting to see. We traveled there with the other missionary couple, Dave and Maire Whipple. Interesting rock formations. You can see in the middle layer of this rock a whale skeleton. The next picture is a monument to celebrate the valley of the whales. It was probably 30 mile...
Read more

Elder Bednar visit Nov 22, 2025

Image
  We had a priesthood leadership council training meeting on November 22, 2025 that was led by Elder Bednar and our Area Presidency, Elder Perkins, Parrella, and Back. They are pictured in the back of our villa where we hold church in Cairo. Elder Whipple and I had a lot to accomplish to prepare for the training. He coordinated all of the travel and I the work preparing the facility and food. It all worked well and we were spiritually fed. I was impressed with Elder Bednar's presentations and the practicality of what he taught. He requested that we not try to keep detailed minutes but to seek for impressions of the spirit and write these down. Much of the meeting was question and answer. I actually made a couple of comments in the meetings, which might be unusual for me in such settings.  Here is a larger view of our chapel and Elder Bednar. After the training meetings Elder Bednar visited the Gran Imam of Egypt. When he finished we met him at the Magdi Yacoub Hospital where w...
Read more