5/23/11

Sounds like summer is getting close there. Did you by chance hear about that guy that pridicted the world was gonna come to an end this past week? Cause everyone heard it here. And wow everyone was talking to us and asking us about it and we were like ah this guy is bogus. Go read your scriptures. We even had a mama in our branch call us and told us that her kids were sad that they wouldnt be bapitized before the savior came. Which their baptisms are 2 weeks away. But anyways we told her the world is not ending and that they will be baptized soon. Kinda made me laugh though everyone here thought for sure the world was coming to an end. But you when it was suppose to happen, nothing did. And everyone was like oh, well i guess it wasnt gonna end then. So ya made me laugh. Anyways besides that, things here are good. Im espically happy, cause we just got the go ahead yesterday for one of our investigators to be baptized. He had to wait and see since his father was a polygimist. So we had to get the clearance from the church. And it finally came yesterday. So ya that made my week. His name is John in case your wondering. He is an old mizee in his 60's but he is cool. He accepted to be baptized a few weeks ago just needed the clearance first. So ya he is happy to hear that he can now. And ya i think in fact we have 5 baptisms on the 4 of june. Which is gonna be an awesome day. Another one is named Agneta, she works at the big hotel here and president B gave us her as a referral. And she also will be baptized on that day. Kinda cool huh? Well i thought so. So you know i work in a ghetto as they call it here. But you know its just normal to me now. And i love it. Anyways ya the place is called manyatta. Pretty big place and im still getting down. And i have to do it fast cause im pretty sure that elder larsen is leaving me soon. And you know one of my friends here elder dalling has to learn his area in 4 weeks cause his comp is getting kicked out of the country. Not only him a handful of missionaries. The immigration department has had it with us and are not kicking us out. So now there is an emergency transfer for some to Tanzania. Pretty intense stuff though. Pres. sent a text to the mission asking for a mission fast to soften the hearts of the those people. But im not sure how fast its going to soften. So ya we are having some serious businsss with them. By the ways transfers is in two weeks. Just so you know. Ya i've seen lake victoria. Its ok, not all thats its cracked up to be. But that ok. I liked it. The cheetahs by the way were just at a animal park. And we had to talk to guys into letting go in there and pet them. But you know evenutally we did. But anyways ya im gonna go, so ill talk to you next week. Bye's like always.

love, matt.

5/16/11

You dont want this weather im getting into now. you know its way too freaking hot. Im dying. Esh but at least it not as hot as dar es salaam. But still very hot. Anyways did i tell we have a garden in our front yard. yep the member that kinda lives with us is growing it. It looks nice. he is growing beans and somethings else i not sure. But ya he is just a little gardener. But cool guy he sometimes cooks for us. Oh by the way we had a tin foil dinner the other night and it was awesome. We have a little brye stand we used and all i can say was it was awesome. We are going to make enchallada's sometime this week, we have the sauce just need sour cream which i highly doubt we will find around here. Anyways ya just some things we made, Oh by the ways i learned how to make a cake from scratch. Pretty easy by the ways and we even cooked in on the stove. We dont have a oven but it was pretty good. We might try it again this week. Im pretty excited to tell you that i did something that you have never done and many have not. And that is that i got to pet a cheetah. It turns out that missionaries can sweet talk some people into letting you do some cool things. Yep last week i got to go into the cheetah pin and got to pet them for few minutes. i just got something checked off the bucket list... And of course i got some pics. Ya i was excited ill send you some no worries. But ya i was pretty excited for that. But ya i told you last week about a lady who couldnt be baptized cause of poligamy. Well she cried when we told her she couldnt be baptized and we werent sure how she would react. She just kept saying ill never recive the full blessings. But we told her she would. We even went to president and asked that she be put on the home teaching and visiting teaching list which he did. But you know she still very uneasy with it very torn up and sad. So ya the way she reacted is by coming to church the next sunday with her husband and her two sisters. And she wants us to teach them which we are. And to tell you the truth that is one of the most powerful testimonies i've ever seen. The fact you cant be baptized but you still want the best for someone who can be. But ya that really touched me and put true conversion on a whole new level. But ya thats the big things that happend this past week. And about the meeting house, ha no chapel. But we have a 3 floored building that we meet in. And we hold sacrament meeting on the roof. Pretty cool though ya? Anyways though im gonna go for this week. Well bye's till next week.

love, matt.

5/2/11 "By his feet you shall know him" - Kisumu

So is it true that it snowed there this past week. My comp just showed me a pic of salt lake and it had fresh snow there. And ya i do hope that there will be no flooding this year. Especially for us that last time sucked. So anyways my week went pretty good. I did have to sit in a bus ride for 8 or so hours. Ha i can remember when i used to not like 2 hour rides to somewhere, i thought they were too long. Well now they are nothing at all. You know it seems everytime you get transferred here your either on a bus ride for 8 or more hours or on a plane to another country. Quite alot for tranfers. But im loving it, im slowly making my way all around kenya. Anyways ya kisumu is awesome by the way. Im loving it so far. And my comp is way sweet. Ha kinda werid to be with an american but it has been fun.
Anyways i saw utah state's new schedual for football this year. Looks good although playing aburn first game, pretty intense. And yes by the ways my comp is a USU fan. And plus the other missionary here is from logan ut and also a usu fan. So you we are all together here in kisumu. There is only 4 missionaries here by the way. And 3 of us are from Utah. Elder Jackson is from Zim. And by the way thats awesome Curtis Marsh was drafted im excited for him. And thats sweet anderson kinda helped him out there. So by the ways kisumu is hot. And it has rained everyday since i got here. But only at night. The day is always sunny and hot and then when night comes it starts raining. And also my new flat is big. Very big. The biggest i have had on mission so far. And my comp is sweet. Im loving my area so far. And the church house is a little different but i like it. ITs a 3 floored building and we have sacrament on the roof. Pretty sweet i think.
love, matt.