10-27-2010

We were not able to have the baptisms because our dl was unable to come and interview so we had to move it to later. But its okay the people they dont mind. So elder Mdlalose says hi. We are finally going to watch conference on saturday and sunday. Im pretty excited for it, i dont know how long ago it was, but its just arriving here. So anyways its week 5 and the transfer is almost done, cant belive it, it went by so fast.. So anyways this past week has been pretty good. We bought a chicken on saturday. Alive. ANd then we went and had it slaughtered and then we had it plucked and its insides taken out. And then we cooked at ate it. It was pretty good, but now we are thinking of buying a goat or a pig. I thought it was funny though that we bought a chicken. Also yesterday, on the way to kitale, we were in a matatu. And this drunk was talking to me and i was bored and wanted to mess with him. So at first he was speaking english to me, and then i started speaking swahili to him. Then he asks me if i know swahili and i say no. Then he keeps takling to me in english and i keep talking to him in swahili. Then he starts talking in swahili and i switch back to english. The guy was just flat out confused. I couldnt help it, its funny. This continued for a few more minutes, and whichever language he would talk to me i would not speak the same one. The guy finally gave up and just spoke swahili the whole time and i was speaking back in english. By then the guy got mad and stoped talking to me, ah pretty funny just to mess around with him. Now i havent seen any other animals, but i've seen alot of other stuff, including stuff that i dont ever want to see in my life again, nor should anyone see in their life. But yes i have run into the maasai or however you spell it often. They are actually everywhere. But you do know that everyone in africa has a tribe. They may not live in the village but they are apart of the tribe and can go live there if they wish. Even barrack obama has a tribe here. He is a louya. Did you know that barrack in swahili means blessing? Im not sure that you might agree with that though. And i dont live that far away from barracks grandma. She is only a little ways a way. But i dont know i think there are over 40 tribes in kenya including the maasai. And they all have their own language. Sometimes people dont greet me in swahili but they greet me in their tribal language. So i've had to learn some tribal greetings. But just so you know if i ever run into barrack i will be able to greet him in his mother tounge of louya. But anyways a cool thing this past week was we went and found another investigator with a member named james. He took us and it was awesome. The guy only has one leg and struggles a little, but he is awesome. He has good understanding. We were able to teach him the restoration, and had him read in the book of mormon. It was just one of those lessons that are hard to describe but awesome. You just have to be there for them. But anyways he wants us to come back this week to teach him more, which im pretty excited for. But his pastor at his church heard about us and wants to meet us, so we will see how that goes as well. We left for him a pamphlet the testimony of josesph smith to read. I just hope he did. But anyways this week has been pretty fun actually. Going here and there teaching. Esh we rode tons of piki piki's this week. We seem to be riding them more and more, and they actually are kinda fun. Oh i wanted to tell you about the activity the relief society had here. They invited us to come and share with them, and plus there was going to be some less active mama's there, so it was good. But anyways the activity they had was kinda a cooking thing. They got all together and they showed each other how they cook different meals, what they use, what helps them when they cook. Kinda nice to learn some new stuff since i cook my own meals. But anyways the activity was good, at the end we got fed of course. ALOT OF FOOD. freak it was like 3 pounds of food each for us. When we got ours i look at the mama and i said mama we are only 2 here, we are not 4 we are only 2. And she says ah this yours we cooked it for you. You just finish it. And man it was alot of food. But you know i did struggle but i did finish it. Ya pretty proud of myself. But anyways all the mama's there took more food then us and all of them finished quick. I was just flat out amazed. Even this small small mama, she freaking ate everything. But anyways ya it was good, and we were well fed.
-love matt

10-18-2010

So ya still i hope for the best for utah state, just hope they can win their homecoming game. So here has been pretty busy for me. We have been working alot, and now we have 3 people who are going to be baptized on saturday i hope. But our DL is in nairobi right now for a big meeting with elder holland. Pretty cool. So he doesnt know if he will be able to come interview them this week. But its ok, all of them are excited, and i know they can wait. And ya even now we are working tons with the people in our branch. Everyone is getting us a referral, and are going to help us teach them. Im pretty excited. So ya now i;ve come the relization of my comp. Before i thought he was lazy and didnt care. But this week did a 360. Especially with the lesson we taught yesterday. Wow you could just see that he cares and how powerful he is. It was way sweet. Although i dont think we will be together for long. i think at the end of this transfer he will leave because he has a girlfriend really close to us. And its making president nervous. Oh ya this morning we have had tons of guys over at our flat repairing things. Like our water heater broke and doesnt work. There is a short with the electricity which makes the lights go out every 5 minutes. So ya just had the power go out for 10 minutes just now. Ah its bogus, thats why i was unable to email last week. The power never likes to be on when i need it to be on, but ya nothin i can do about it. So ya We had those guys over and they fixed it, kindof, their coming back to make sure everything works. And then we have to pay them. its the worst part. Ha im not sure if the working fund will cover for us but we will see. I hope it does. I know you know that im getting sick of kenyan food. I want some american food. But that wont happen for a while. So did mom send that ensign with conference and priestood. I dont think i will be able to see it here. We are way too far out in the bush for that. So im relying on that ensign to know what was said. I know it was good stuff. So im sorry but this email must be short i dont know if the power will go off again or not. I better not risk it.
I've told you that there are some shops named after texas. All i know that texas is being represented over here in africa. I think its pretty cool.
-love matt

10-4-2010

Well things back home sound really nice actually. Im glad Davis beat Viewmont, always need some davis pride. So ya we do have zone conference this transfer. We are going to eldoret on wed. for it. So ya kinda weird im starting my third transfer here. ya im back in my area after 2 weeks. All the people at church were asking me if i got lost By the way i got my new comp. his name is elder Magero. he is from Kenya. And he actually has family close to where we are. So ya he speaks swahili and that is very nice. He is very tall and skinny. And very laid back and chill. He is not to excited about anything. But he saw our type of area when he took the long bus ride from nairobi and he doesnt like it. Its just too much in the bush. He says that he wants to leave. And he really seems sure that he will next transfer. But we will see. So ya the area im in, is actually one of the hardest, cause its in the bush. The area thats similar to mine is called Chyulu and i wouldnt be suprised if i go there after this area. But me i dont mind the bush. Im actually getting really used to it. Like the mud houses with the tin metal roofs are now pretty sweet. You know peoples kitchens are sepreated from their house. Usually its like a small tiki mud hut, next to their house. and there they do all their cooking. So ya its good to be back in my area but sadly im going leave again this week cause of zone conference. We have to leave wed. to get to eldoret and then we stay at the zl's flat. The only bad thing about this area is how much you travel. We get 2000 shillings at the end of the month to make up for transportation. We really do travel alot and it ends up costing alot of money.But he is a cool guy. He even made a big dinner for me on saturday night. He is a good cook kinda like all kenyan mama's. But something i found out is that Tanzanians are better cooks than kenyans. Just from what i've experienced. One of the things i miss most about my last area are the mwingira family. They had us over every friday night for a DA. And wow that mama could cook. And not to mention their families is one of the coolest families i've meet on my mission. So even last week i got a letter from a member in my last area. He was wondering how i was doing, and told me what he was doing back in changombe. I miss that kid alot. So im excited to watch conference. I dont know when they will do it here, or if they will, cause i wont lie our area is out in the middle of no where. The president doesnt even come out this far. So ya i know what he was talking about for more missionaries. Out of the 6 missionaries that left last transfer only 3 came to replace them. They even had to close down one of the area's. We even loose 5 more missionaries at the end of this transfer. I dont know what were going to do. Slowly we are decreasing in missionaries. We do need more, and i hope we do get more. So its andrew's birthday on Sunday. And i want everyone who reads this to email him, write him, or contact him somehow to tell him happy birthday. And his comp better buy him a cake. I did when it was elder mkhabela's b-day. Speaking of elder Mkhabela, he is now with my father. Kinda cool my dad, and my step dad are now working together. Im going to text them this week, to with them both a happy 1 year mark.

So ya i cant believe we beat BYU finally. And i wasnt there for it. Still way awesome though. And bronco fired his defensive cordinator. Ha funny, always blaming others. But prob someone needed to be fired, i bet the university was pissed. So ya 31 to 6, I cant believe it. ha i wonder what the byu fans there were like. Prob couldnt say anything. Now when byu plays utah and tcu, thats just going to be flat out sad. But wow nice. It was on espn, thats actually way sweet. Anyway football season is killing me, i just cant believe im missing it.
-love jack

9-27-2010

So ya this week was not bad for me. Just in a threesome still. Waiting for my new comp. In fact im waiting for the call right now to tell me who my new comp will be. I hate waiting, i just want to know. So davis beat northridge eh? that pretty sweet. I just met, well kinda met some kid from bountiful in the mission. He is serving with my father in chyulu. In fact he knows a girl i know from over there. So ya there is big change in the mission. Zone conference will be held every 12 weeks. And mission pres. interviews will be every 12 weeks as well. And there is a leadership training everymonth for zl and dl's. And there is a training for trainers every two months. I think they are trying to take off some of the loads from the mission presidents. Oh ya this is church wide, not just our mission. At least thats what im told. So ya big changes for the mission. So another thing that i found out about the relief society here is that they are the ones who remixed hymn number 7. Isreal isreal Got is calling. Ah they remixed it big time. But it actually sounds pretty cool. Before i leave here im going to record it so you guys can hear what its like. So ya i dont have much to say today. But i will tell what happens next week with the transfer news. I just talked to my DL and he says that no one has called him that the ap's have not called anyone. So i guess there holding out to build the suspention. . Nita onana