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

8/23/2010

Things in utah sound pretty fun. Especially with the rodeo and randolph. Im missing that place and grandpa and grandma alot. I want to go to a rodeo. There are no rodeos back here, its to bad . The bugs dont bother me. But anyway to get off this matter. I had zone tour today with f. michael watson of the seventy. He is a powerful mizee. He and his wife both gave us a powerful trainings. You could really feel the spirit there and also President and sister Broadbent they both very powerful. . I can tell he is loving it, i still dont think i've seen him without a smile on his face. He is a pretty awesome guy. And do you know he writes back everyone who emails him. Still cant belive that. It was a very good zone conference, i enjoyed it. And sadly it was the last for my comp. He gave his farewell testimony today and it was good. I can say Elder Lemma is way sweet, i love that guy. You would never know that he is going home in 5 weeks. He works way hard and is just a good missionary. In fact alot of missionaries are going home. And even more the transfer after this one. Which means were going to get a whole bunch of new missionaries. Pretty cool stuff. So ya since my comp is leaving this tranfer its obvious that im staying here. Likely im going to be in this area 6 months. It seems everyone has to do 6 months here before they can leave. But im still cool with that. So ya this past week was pretty crazy with all the new elders coming in. We showed them around kitale and other places. Im still showing elder lemma our area. Which doesnt really matter since he is leaving in a couple of months. But something im looking forward to this week is a baptism. Its always good, our invistagtor is solid. She understands keeps commitments and comes to church. Freaking awesome! Im loving it, she is going to be interviewed wed. and baptized on Saturday. Im pretty excited. Oh by the way im in eldoret today. Its very cold here but the computers are fast, im wishing i would have brought my camera cord so i could upload pics for ya. I tried last week, but it took an hour to load one and then it told me that there was a problem and the picture didnt upload. Esh the computers in the bush are not all that good. So ya things here on mission are great. I can say im making the best of it. So now im gonna go, but i love you and miss you kabisa. Have a good week..

-elder jackson

8-17-2010

First the bugs dont bother me all that much, i find them crawling on me from time to time. They are like tiny tiny cockroaches. But i switched beds yesterday since Elder Munastsi got transferred i hope it helps. Ya it sucks though we only had 1 transfer together, the aps need to stop doing that to me. But as it turns out Elder Munatsi is leaving me and going to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Im freaking jealous of him though, i want to go back there.But my comp is cool, and i just actually talked to him on the phone, and he is excited to come. Although this is his last transfer before he goes home, so im the lucky one who gets to kill him. I didnt want to kill anyone on mission cause i know they are going to make me super trunkie. But these things they are just there. So ya i know im going to be here for at least 3 more months. I dont mind though i like this area, and the members they are okay. Yep it sucks to see elder munatsi go, im going to miss that guy alot. So anyways thats good you and dad are doing your home teaching. Thats what were trying to get our member to do, but they are really struggling with it, they just cant seem to visit them for some reason, and its really frustrating. But cant make them do it, just encourage them. Oh by the way im emailing you today cause we had no time yesterday. We got the transfer new while we were in kitale, so we had to go home pack elder munatsi's stuff and go back to kitale cause thats where the bus leaves. Esh it was really crazy, the ap's dont give us enough time to do stuff it sucks. So ya now i get to show lemma around when he comes, which doesnt really matter since he is leaving this transfer anyway. But i have a feeling im going to get to know my area really well, cause i think im going to be here for a while.
So ya i feel for andrew, i emailed him last week but i know he can get through this, he is tough kid. And wow i miss that kid alot. And it does make me mad that he has a bogus comp.i would beat the crap out of him. Im way happy that i have not had one yet. And im praying that i dont get one. So the new couple for our area just got here. And wow they are freaking green. They know nothing about kenya, they still think its like those commercial ads of starving kids you see on tv. Its pretty funny though they ask you all these question about kenya, or they ask you how to say something in swahili. I feel bad for them they only get a week to learn there area before the other couples go home. But they are way nice, and excited to be here. They are elder and sister beecher, from Orem. Im kinda glad the other couples are going home, cause that guy was just getting grumpy. He is always grumpy, you never see a smile on his face, and he never really looks happy to see anyone. But he is still a good guy. So mom now im just sitting in kitale with elder Ravelajona and elder waiswa all waiting for our comps. It sucks i have to wait till tomorrow till i can go to my area. But i think we are going to get some food in a little bit, so i better go. Love ya and miss ya kabisa. So ill talk to you next week.

- Elder Jackson

8-9-2010

So ya the great circumcision ceremony is alot more weird than i thought. But ya i did get a video of a big group of people chanting. Esh kenyans love cameras, this once guy saw i was filming him and he started to dance like crazy. So they do the ceremony out in front of there house. And before they do that they sacrifice a cow and he takes it home to his family, then waits outside till they come. And its not just the guy with the knife, its a whole bunch of people. Boys and girls, of all ages come to see. Its all some weird stuff, im really glad i didnt have to do it the way they do it around here.
And the Elections were okay. the people voted yes for the new constitution. Out of the 40 million people in the country 12 million were registered to vote. And out of the 12 i think 7 or 8 million voted. but there was no violence, the streets were empty though. No one was out. We were in Kitale that day and it was pretty much empty. We didnt go out and work that day cause we were not suppose to. But ya everything went well, and the people are excited for the new constitution. And they voted yes to the new constitution. It was like 5 million yes, and 2 million no.
Im scared to come home. Im to used to Kenya. Im so used to poverty its just sad. Whenever i see something nice, like a car or a phone i just look at it and cant believe what im seeing. But Speaking of kenya i've been blessed with bed bugs here. I have bites all over me, but i can say also that im used to them, it doesnt even bother me at all.

So today though, im 6 months out. Pretty exciting stuff. Me and some MTC buddies are going up to waterfall in our area today in celebration for it. And were burning our ties tomorrow night. Ill make sure i get some pics of the waterfall, its suppose to be really cool. But ya do you still want to climb mt. Kilominjaro? i promise if you would have saw it like i did you would have been here already and started to climb it. Ah it looks fun. But anyways dad i better run for today. I hope all goes well with the extreme makeover.

-love matt

8/2/2010

first off i just wanted to say im sorry you have to eat corn. You wont believe how many times i ate this past week. And to answer your question i've eaten corn in two ways. First of course on the cob like we all know. Then the other one they pluck it off and mix it into beans. I cant remember what they call it, its some crazy name. Ya so when i come home i dont want to see corn for at least 6 months. So ya about the kilominjaro pics. They were from the plane, Dar is a few thousand miles away from kilominjaro. But the pics i have are actually really good. Its cool though it comes up above the clouds, its really high up there. Im sure if you would have seen it, you would have def. wanted to climb it. Even i was like, esh that looks fun.
So something i've eaten this past week that was good was guava. Have you ever had the juice in the stores? Well its nothing like the real thing. It legit, its good. All i can say is go find a guava and eat it. Also i've been making alot of chips mayai and i can say that im getting pretty good at it. Did you guys ever figure out, how to make it? Its kinda unhealthy by the way. But what you do is skin some potatos, then cut them up into large fries. Then put some grease into a frying pan(alot). And soak the fries in there till they are crisp. Then take them out put them into a bowl or something. When you made some fries what you do, is take the grease out of the pan, then put the fries in (pan should not be big). Enough to cover the whole pan. Then crack some eggs, in a cup, stir them up real good. Finally just pour the eggs over all the fries evenly. You want enough eggs so you can cover all the fries. Then you just cook it. You need to flip a couple of times. But ya really not hard to make, so if you ever get bored one day, try it.
So ya i gotta tell you about the circumcisions that are about to happen. 14 year old boys get lined up and a really scary guy with a knife comes and cuts. The boys are not allowed to show pain or any other emotion or else they are not a true man. Its some intense stuff. They have been getting ready for it by running up and down the streets with whistles, bells and chanting. Im gonna try and send you a pic i took of them chanting, but these computers here suck, they dont like to upload the pics from my camera, it sucks.
But ya we have some elections this week. The elections are for the new constitution. There have been many people who are on the yes team and many on the no team. They drive around in their trucks with huge systems and play music and tell the people to vote yes or vote no. its pretty cool. I want to get the t-shirts they have. They have a yes green t-shirt, and a No red t-shirt. They are pretty cool, and im trying to find them. The elections are on Wednesday. We are not suppose to work that day, and are encouraged to stay home. But as for us we will be in Kitale aka Kirtland that day. So we will have to see what happens, i dont think there will be any violence but you never know these things. There have been a few incidents around kenya. Including someone getting shot, and there was a missionary there who witnessed it. But ya thats only in the bigger cities. It shouldnt be bad where im at.
But anyways dad, the work here is good. And we are getting a bunch of referrals, like alot. We recived two today already, its hard to keep up. But ya mission is still very good. This transfer is getting close to the end its kinda intense stuff.

-Love matt