6-20-11

The ways swahili here in corrupted. People use whats called sheng. Which is a mixture of swahili english, and some other stuff. Ha ya if they dont know the word for something in swahili they will just use the word for it in english. Its really bad, but i think its pretty fun. Like a really common on is (he's coming). Which is ana kuja, but people will just say instead "ana come" or there is also "im coming" which is "Na kuja" but people will say "na come" But ya there is alot more than that and its really bad. And im not really suprised that they would try to take advantage of him. Cause people here if they think your not from here they will rip you off and do all they can to get money from ya. It sucks have to deal with that stuff everyday. But luckly people in Tanzania dont use sheng. They only speak swahili like the real swahili. And alot of times people in kenya will not even understand them. Kinda bogus of kenya. But no worries i still love kenya. So ya Anyways you met someone new coming from kenya. Well thats awesome im excited for him. What is his surename or his last name? Ill look for him when he comes. I dont know if i will be in kisumu still or not. Im betting ill be getting transferred in september. But ya i hope you tell him to get ready for a culuture shock. Even my kid when he got here he was having it bad. He was not used to kenya and he tells me that transportation here is crazy. Which it is. But ya its still fun though. Anyways though ya thats pretty cool though all these people you met coming to kenya or are from kenya. I do hope ill get to meet some when i go home. But ya anyways this past week was awesome. See last tranfer we baptized pretty much our teaching pool so we are looking for new people. And this past week the lord blessed us with new people. Thanks to our recent converts we have met some. And you know i can truely understand why they want you to invite recent converts to teach with ya. Cause esh they really help out in relating to the person your teaching. I cant even tell what a lady named agneta did for us last week. She finally got through to her sister and helped her better understand and accept the book of mormon. And there is something i know that i could not have done that by myself. She really did help us out there. And ya just one of those awesome things on mission. But ya the lord is blessing our work. And i can really tell now that he is pretty much doing everything. But ya esh mission is awesome, im loving showing elder mbazima around and stuff. Its fun to watch him learn and teach. Kinda glad i got the oppurtunity to train.

So anyways ya the building im sitting on is our church. Ha ya our building is pretty awesome, still love how we have sacrament outside on the roof. How many people have that? And ya sorry i havent sent any pics for a while. But i got some good ones for ya. Like today we went to see hippos and we actually saw some. I got a pic of a mama with her two kids, not sure what they call hippo kids. But ya it was fun, we got to go out on a boat in lake victoria and you know the water actually it really warm. Kinda sucked we had to get up way early but still fun and it was worth it. So ya got some good pics for ya. So other than that mission is going good. Im loving showing my comp around. In fact i like knowing my area and knowing where im going. And i would rather do that than go and not know where i am or where im going. I just dont like the feeling. So ya now its good, dont know when i get tranferred, esh you have the stress of learning the area and the investigators. i like just knowing them. But anyways ya the work is good. And im loving our recent converts. They are giving us people to teach and even helping us teach them. Its pretty powerful and im loving it.


love, matt

6-13-11

I cant belive im training a new kid. He really is new and green and doesnt know anything. Ha this past week we had to go pick up some stuff from the store and him he takes out all of his money for the whole month and wants to spend it all now. And i was like wo chill a bit. And he tells me back home whenever we go shopping we spend all the money. But you know i talked him down and he didnt spend too much. But ya just kinda fun to show him around and how things work. But ya i've been having fun so far with him. But ya its been fun teaching with him. He is reminding me how it feels to come out of the mtc. But i think he is more powerful than me. The thing i love about him is that he is always wanting to pray for people. At the beginning or end of a lesson he always asks can i pray for you? Pretty powerful guy. Last night we had the other elders over at our flat and we were playing games with him trying to keep his mind off of home. But ya thats the news for this side. Otherwise we continue our struggle with investigators and getting htem to come to church. But you know this is mission and im loving it. So ya we were unable to go to the hipp'os last week and todya was a no go but next week for sure we are going. But we did go to the park today and see some animals again. Ha it was funny this time, there was a elementary school there for a field trip and some of the mama's came. And they had two photographers there to take pics of the animals and the kids. And it was funny when one them came up to me and elder olsen the two white guys and said that the mama and kids want photo's with you. So we agreed and you know we took like 50 pics with the kids. And then the mama's wanted to get pics with us. So we agreed there too and i know exatly where there pics are going. They will be hanging up on all of the mama's living room walls. But ya i thought it was funny. Im not sure how many homes we will be hanging in but just know that i will be haning in some african homes here. BUt ya cool stuff but anyways im gonna go for this week. Ill talk to you later. I hope you enjoy this week. Anyways bye's

6-6-11

My old comp elder Larsen is going to Nairobi to die. Ya he is finishing his mission with mange. But ya as you know im training and my new comp is Elder Mbadzima from Zambia.. He comes on Thursday this week, so this week im chilling with elder olsen till our new comps come. Which by the ways im going to be a trainer and a district leader Oh by the way the other elder jackson, or the black jackson is replacing mom's son elder mangenela. And im pretty excited for it. He will make a good ap. We were joking last night that they would send me instead of him just as a joke. So ya that should be fun. Still think its funny im training by the way. But anyways should be good. So anyways im happy to hear Jimmy was baptized. Esh that guy was golden. We had 4 baptisms from us and 4 baptisms from the other missionaries so ya it was sick. We confirmed everyone yesterday and wow it was awesome. I got to confirm two of them. Which is always an awesome experience. But ya saturday was fun the baptisms and we had a branch party. We are celebrating two years that the church has been here in Kisumu. And it was fun, actually it turned into a water fight between missionaries and some members. Ha actually we threw elder jackson (black one) into the baptismal font with all of his clothes on. esh awesome and then he got all of us one by one with a bucket of water. But we got him back with some water ballons. But in all it was a good day. Esh though im happy munatsi is having success there in upper hill. You know Munatsi got stuck with his branch missionary again. So he is going to have one for 3 months. Esh i bet next transfer though he will train. Since we have like 11 kids coming in. And the tranfer after that there are 12 coming in. Anyways ya the big groups are going to start leaving soon. Starting with mange's group. And then my group is the last of the big groups to leave. But ya pretty excited with all these new missionaries coming in. So ya thats it for this week, but ill talk to you later. Have a good week bye's.

love, matt.

5-30-11

We are going to the couples tommorow to make an attempt at Navijo tacos. Ha though the new couples here are cool but struggling a little. The new couples here are bad they are have a culture shock and its bad. You can barley get them out of their flat. the only time they leave is to go to the store. They live right below the church, so they dont need to go anywhere for church they are litterally there. But ya kinda funny the way they act and the way they talk. ha She always say that she doesnt like the food here cause it taste's like Kenya. So i guess kenya doent taste good. But as for me i think its just fine. Just a little sick of it but its overall fine Ii got some new shoes on the street. The guy wanted 1900 shillings for them and i bargained him down to 700. Ya i know pretty awesome they are good shoes ecco's. But ya i wearing them now and its pretty comfortable but ya i will keep my old shoes i guese. Im not really sure what im going to do with them. But anyways mom, i got some good pics for ya that im going to send next week. Nice ones of kisumu and lake victoria. Also im going to see hippos next week as well should be pretty exciting. . But you know morice the guy we live with his garden is looking good. Although its full of weeds and he likes it. He is going to eat them he says. He made for us the other night its called Mbogus, all i think he did was go to a plant and take a few leaveas and boiled them. And ya its pretty nasty. Anyways though, im bouncin for this week.

love, matt.