8-20-2010

This week was not the best week for me but it was ok. First i killed my first missionary last friday. yep my comp elder Lemma is now home. He had to leave early for school. So i have to finish the rest of the transfer in Kitale, in a threesome. Which is not all that great. But at least the guys im with are cool. So ya ill be working in kitale for almost 2 weeks. Which means i wont be in my area for that long. I had to go to church in kitale yesterday, and it was weird not being at the church in Misikhu. Its also kinda werid not having a comp. I wont get my new one till next week...... and the power just cut there again. it went off when i was emailing elissa too. Gosh the power here sucks. So if Stockton want to go on a mission tell him GO! Mission is one of the best decisions i've ever made. I've never ever regreting going. Once you start serving the people and seeing them light up when they understand the gospel makes the mission worth it. I know if he choses to go he wont regret it.
So ya this past week was kinda crazy for me. We had 3 days of teaching in our area until thursday in a middle of a lesson we got a call from our DL. And he told Lemma he is leaving the next day. So we had to hurry home and he packed, then we had to go get a bus ticket for him to go to nairobi in the morning. The Kitale elders came down to our flat to spend the night so when lemma left i wouldnt be alone. So crazy day and we put him on the bus the next morning. Then me and the kitale elders headed back to kitale. Where i went and worked with them in their area. which is different since they are in more of a town rather than in the middle of no where. Im not sure if i like to serve in a bigger place its all pretty hecktic. But i know i will, ill end up in Nairobi sooner or later. All missionaries serve in Nairobi in their mission. But as for right now i know im not going to Nairobi. So ya something cool that happend, was in kitale. We went to see a less active guy and see how is was doing and if he would come back to church with his family. And it was a really nice visit. We taught him about prayer, and family. And im glad i was able to use an example of us as a family praying together. I challenged him to pray as a family and you know what he did. i saw him the next day and he told me he did. and to make it even better at church sunday he came with his whole family. It was way awesome to see that our efforts were worth it. The guy is a really powerful guy, the whole family is, and im way happy to see them come to church. Oh by the ways the kitale elders use bikes alot in there area. Not like the bikes at home, they are really big and heavy. And they only have two and guess who got to ride on the back of it? Me of course. I got to sit on the metal part over the back tire, and the roads here are not the best, really bumpy. And now lets just say my butt is not feeling the best right now. Although today i made it a little better, i got a blanket and used it as padding. But still not all that great.
Oh so by the way ya, im slowly forgeting math. I think ill be taking the same class as zach is. Cause all that is just going out of my head. Especially my english, lets just say its not good. It helped when i was teaching english class in Dar. But now that i no longer do, the english is going. The kenyans and Tanzanians dont speak english quite like america does. Its alot more messed up.

Love matt

9-13-2010

So i thought i told you about where i live but i guess not. So i dont have a chapel, i havent had a chapel since i've been on mission. We meet in a house. Not a very big house. We have like 30 to 40 people at church. In fact the mama at the school we visit called lillywhite. She brought all the kids from there over 30, it took them two hours to walk to church. But i couldnt belive she brought all those kids by herself. So my flat is in the middle of the town of webuye, you would never, i mean never be able to find it. Its in the back of some buildings, its completly surrounded by buildings. And we live in the same compound as our landlord, and everynight he lets out his big freaking dog out to guard the place. And of course i've gone out to play with the dog, and i can say its a wuss. Its afraid of everything. And the milk here is nothing like back home. I've had fresh milk. Or heated milk is pretty good. But no 2 percent or anything like that. We have to drink like it is. Which it actually isnt that bad, im getting used to it. But im wondering if i will like to 2 percent when i come home. So im not sure about the christmas thing, i dont know if i want anything. Except a hamburger, i havent had one since home, or pizza that would be good. I would kill for a betos burrioto. Oh by the way im sick of ugali. I hate it, i dont know why Kenyans and Tanzanian's Like it. Im just flat out sick of it. So Anyways other than food i cant think of anything. But i hope that bank thing will work out. And for the package, i will tell you when it gets here, but i have to wait for the ap's to come cause there freaking bogus and wont send it to me till zone conference.
So today was pretty fun day. We all went to kitale last night to do an activity today. And we got to go over to the couples house the Beechers and had ice cream and watch a church movie. it was pretty sweet, by the way ice cream here is no where near as good as it is back home. But today we went to kitale animal park. And they had a bunch of different displays of the enviroment, and the guy that was showing us around let us climb all over the exzibits. Pretty sweet. They had some exzibit's from the bible. And of course i got some good pictures with them. And they let us climb and crawl over them as well. But the fun part was the animal part. They have a bunch of different or special animals. Like i saw a cow today who had a jaw misplacement, and 4 horns, with 3 eyes. Way freaky, i got tons of pics with that. And tons of sheep and goats with 3 legs. We got to see some cows from uganda with huge horns. Like bigger than longhorn horns. And also i got to feed an austridge or however you spell it. They are freaky lookin. But overall it was a pretty fun time. Also i saw some monkeys on the road today that was pretty cool. I got a picture of one of them, right before they all ran off. Man there are tons of them here We ate at the restruant there it was good, only kenyan food. I was hoping for some american foot but there is not any. There is no american food anywhere here. I think im going through withdrawls. But i got some chips and everthing was good.
So ya this past week was pretty calm and normal week. Nothing too exciting happened. On tuesday brother kisembe one of the members made us go to a village meeting to talk about a new bridge or something. And we were not really suppose to be there but we kinda used it as an advantage and started to contact people there and invite them to church. We actually found some members there that i didnt know were members. We asked them why they dont come to church and they give the same excuse as everyone else. That the church is too far away for them to attend. There are tons of members like that. It sucks they refuse to come because of the distance, which can be really hard to work with.
so i know the first thing i want when i come home if you havent guessed. I want a hamburger from wingers, and little ceasers pizza, and a betos burrioto. Those thing i will be craving kabisa. I dont ever want to see maze or ugali again.
love matt.

p.s. Bogusness never was happiness.

8-6-2010

I just got homesick for the first time in months. I miss football, and utah state. Ah im sick of soccer, what is the freaking big deal about it over here. People are getting excited about this activity they try to call a sport. But anyway speaking of homesick, my comp is getting there quick. He had a solid hard working first 3 weeks. my comp. is awesome. He is a hard worker, but it is finally getting to him that he is going home in 3 weeks. He is getting pretty excited. I dont blame him i would be pretty excited too if this was my last tranfer. And the work here is good, we have alot of refferals from members, who turn out to be bogus. But there are the one and two golden ones. The baptisms last week were intense, and guess what he had another one this week. Yep busy work, but hey i had to interveiw the lady we baptized on saturday. That was some intense stuff. We had her husband baptize her and it took him two times to do it, cause he was not dunking her completly under the water. Her hands kept sticking out. And not to mention he is kinda old and was having a rough time getting her under, in fact he almost knocked her head against the side of the font. pretty funny, but she was baptized and i dont think i've seen her husband so happy. So for you to get how this happend, it was earlier this week, and bro edmonds wife came to town, she stays in nairobi for some reason, but she is moving back with him this december. But anyway she came and they both wanted her to be baptized on saturday. She had been taught by the missionaires in nairobi, but they didnt finish. So we had to call the AP's and president Broadbent, and they told us if we go over everything with her we can baptize her. So we did we taught her for and hour and 45 minutes. And we had edmund go over stuff with her after we left. And we didnt have time for the distrit leader to come interview so i was somehow chosen to do it. It was kinda scary, but not bad. But we got her baptized and esh it was all very fast and hecktic. So we got them all confirmed yesterday. And i was lucky enough to confirm one of them. And it was one of those just go with it moments. You know when they come up to you 5 minutes before church starts and says your confirming. But it wasnt bad, i liked it, i've never done it before and it was a very good experience for me. So by the way we are in a branch. There are almost all branches here except in Nairobi. In tanzania there are all branches as well. So mom you started a quilting club well that is very old of you. but anyways if you enjoy doing it thats good. So by the way the power has cut three times in a row, it sucks you have to wait for it to come on. So i've been here a while. Im still going to try and email everyone, but if i dont its cause the power is being lame. In fact i hope i make it for this email.And now its i wanna go home. i had a dream about home. but its ok i would be doing the exact same thing. And it ok cause he is a freaking sweet comp. Im gonna miss him when he goes. But i gotta wonder who my next comp will be and what he will be like. But hey something cool that is happening this week is we are making some t-shirts. Yep that is the highlight of the week, minus teaching. Man being a missionary you get excited over things that are really nothing. Like when we go out to eat, its always exciting. But im thinking about it and man im gonna be weird when i come home. I got to confirm someone yesterday and wow that was just awesome. Again one of those missionary moments that make mission all worth while. But i gotta go,

-love matt.

8-30-2010

Yesterday was pretty awesome, we had two baptisms yesterday. And wow you can just see their faces light up when they are baptized. So me and my comp had to give talks for it yesterday and we got maybe a 2 minute notice, which isnt too bad. But when i got up there to give my talk i was just looking at the two of them and i couldnt help but smile, i just relized how happy they were and the fact that i was able to help them be that happy. Its an amazing feeling and it makes all those bad mission days worth it, it makes the whole mission worth it. Gosh i love mission. But ya they were suppose to be baptized on saturday but we had a problem. We got there and looked in the tank and the water was filthy. By the way the tank is outside. And we really couldnt baptized in it, so we had to empty the water out with buckets. (oh ya thats how we do it around here, we dont have the nice fonts like back at home) But we emptied it out, and then we had some guys with their bikes come with buckets of water to fill it back up. As you guessed it took a while. So we had to call it off till the next day. I felt really bad cause how far the people had to walk, they walk for over an hour to the church, and then i had to tell them that it was not possible today. It was really hard, but they were very understanding about it. So we had on sunday and it turned out very nice. Esh though my area is really in the bush. By the way i have i told you i hate maze? i think i have but im just gonna tell you again...... I hate maze. We are now looking for someone to come and cook for us. Cause it just sucks after a while. But hey i have another amazing food, i have to add to my favorites, and it would be chapotty's. They are awesome and seem to go with almost everything. Its pretty nice. im going to bring home some chapotty flour when i come home so i can make it for you guys. Cause you just dont know on what food your missing out on over here. Also speaking of food, i would die for a hamburger or pizza or even a betos burrito. Im having withdrawls i think, whenever i think about them i just get hungry. So hey by the way just something random, but i can hear the muslum prayers right now. That is not something im going to miss when i come home. They wake me up in the morning at 5 am. It sucks, but at least there is only one mosque in the town. If there were anymore im not sure i could handle it. And im not going to lie that is pretty funny that berkley pack didnt have a suit jacket to go up on the stand, but i've seen worse. The second counsler here came to church with flip flops on the other week. I dont think you can beat that. It looked pretty funny they were a pickish redish color really stood out.
All we have is an old old nokia. Like old, but at least it has a color screen. The phone in my last area was a green screen, it sucked. Man i miss real phones, all they have are fake phones. Like the other day i saw a blackberry and it looked legit but when you turned it on it had the nokia tone. And the tone was a fake as well as the phone. But anyways you cant get anything original around here, everything is fake. They like to sew on well known brands on jackets pants and shirts and play them off like they are oringinal but they are not.
-love matt