1/17/2011

So to start i just wanted to say my comp is from Zimbabwe. And still way awesome. And ya im still loving nairobi. I dont know i just like being in a big city. Anyways ya this week was good. We made some t-shirts that are pretty sweet. We made them for our district. And i must say they are way sweet. And now were gonna make some for us in our flat. Cause its cheep and the guy did a really good job making them. Anyways ya an ok week for me. the problem was the baptism in our ward wasnt able to happen cause we ran out of water. So we have to wait until next week. And ya you know you meet alot of interesting people contacting. Esh some people here really think cause your white you have alot of money. Like yesterday while we were contacting a guy came up to me and asked me for 1000 shillings he was just like its small for you help me. Esh i hate that. And trust me it happens alot. You know it just bugs me. Its worse when the little kids come to you and ask for money esh bogus. So ya other than that me and jimu have been working hard. you know i havent had this much fun on mission. I dont know working and just having tons of fun its awesome. Esh though im enjoying alot. Im loving it. You know i just hope me and jimu are still going to stay together. We have 2 more weeks till the end of the transfer so i just hope we will.
So you guys liked my pics. Well im glad you did, that was a very fun day. And ya everything i was wearing i've gotten here. Just so you know. and those jeans im wearing are 300 dollar jeans and got them for like 10 bucks. So ya pretty nice. They are true religion jeans. Ya i was pretty happy to get them
Anyways we had zone conference this past week. And my friend kirk or elder smeldy came back from dar and chilled with us somemore and even went to zone conference. It was nice just to work with him a little. Ya anyways i hope to send you more pictures this week have to see. But anyways now i must bounce. But ill talk to you next week again. hope you enjoy your week. Kwaheri safari njema. peace.
-love matt

1-10-2011

I gotta tell the highlights of last week. First we had a baptism on Saturday. And that alone was awesome. I was the one who got to baptize her, so i was pretty excited. And you know it was great to see her, and she brought her daughter and i got to meet her for the first time on saturday. And she is a cute little girl. She kept rubbing my hair though. She really likes it. And the her mom started rubbing my hair. Kinda weird but they were loving it. OH by the ways i got my pictures back. So ya still just adds to my week. Also Elder Smeldly the one i went to high school with came and worked with us in nairobi. Cause he was having visa issues. So it was nice to work with him a couple of days. I really missed that kid. Its good to see some people you know. Anyways I gotta tell you again My comp is sweet. I dont think i've enjoyed a transfer as much as this one. This area is just awesome. And my comp is one the sweetest i've had. So ya and its cool to see the pres alot. He likes joking alot and i love it. ANd the ap's are the coolest we've had. In short the mission is just awesome right now. Anyways also something not so good this week. Was when i was helping the sisters wash a members close for their service i got some shida's on my fingers. You know my hands just arn't meant for washing cloths. I need the washer and dryer. Esh its rubbing the skin off my fingers and it really hurts. But you know this is mission and you dont get do these things for forever. But still i give these guys props for doing it their whole life. But ya while i was washing sister kabamba was laughing at me cause i was washing them funny to her. But me i dont care as long as they are clean. Oh also something i found out that makes me want to go back to dar es salaam. The official language in Tanzania has been changed from english to swahili. Everything is now in swahili. So now i want to go back so bad. Esh they are teaching in swahili and i want to be apart of that. So i hope they send me back to TZ. Esh i cant belive they did that after i left they should have done that when i was there.
-love Jack

1-3-2011 - Nairobi

Right now its pretty hot So today was good we had a brye at our flat and the whole zone came over and partook of it. It was pretty fun, except now we have tons and tons of dishes waiting for us at home later. Man i hate doing dishes, i wish i had a dishwasher. I hope you enjoy those things. We may think they are small but esh im dying for those over here, no one has them. Anyways, guess what? We got a baptism on saturday, and im pretty excited for it. Its gonna be awesome. We promised her that we will bake a cake and bring it for her on saturday. Esh by the ways i didnt get a cake exaclty on my birthday. But me and my comp made one the next day so no shida. My birthday was awesome by the ways. I was enjoying kabisa. I think you will figure out what i did for it, if you look hard enough. Anyways about ya cooking. Mission has taught me alot of things, including cooking. And i can cook almost anything simple. If that makes sense. ya i didnt realize how easy it was. The only problem is that the dishes afterward. But ya me and my comp we like to cook, if we have money we will cook kabisa. Anyways, something else i wanted to tell you. You remember when we went over to the old mission pres of here house. And he told us about the slums that are very dangerous and missionaries are not suppose to go there. Well guess what thats in my area and i've been there many times, and we are teaching many people there. In fact we have one going to be baptized this month who lives in there. Its the biggest slums in kenya. And esh you dont know poor until you go there. I cant even begin to tell you about life in there. Anyways love it though, there are alot of people in there. So i didnt tell you that to worry ya but just wanted to tell you that cause you know its kinda awesome that im serving in the biggest slums in kenya. Ha esh really dirty. Anyways ya i got one of the packages and wow it was nice. And i got the pics of elissa, and all i can say is that she is growing up. Esh like i told her things have changes since i left.. So ya sorry this email must be short today. Im in kinda of a rush. I gotta go do something awesome really soon. Its gonna be awesome. Oh ya about new years, ya people are more crazy here about it than christmas. You should have seen all the people who were buying alcohol. Esh everyone was buying, and buying alot. I guess thats the way it is, get as drunk as you can. But ya also at midnight they had fireworks. Many fireworks. Sounded like a war was going on. So ya new years eve just know people get drunk and set off fireworks. I hope your enjoying the obama-land life. Ha still cant belive that kenyans think he is kenyan. anyways talk to you next week.


-love matt

12-20-2010

So ya my new area is awesome! and even just this past week was way way way sweet. And i've gotten one of the sweetest comps i've had so far. Man we are having fun. And ya i live in a place called yaya. My area is upperhill. And guess what, im serving in a ward now. No more branches or branch presidents, now its wards and bishops. Esh i couldnt belive how nice the chapel is. And the fact that they had a chapel is alone shocking. And ya so i freaking love my new area. Esh the members are awesome and they love the missionaries. They give us tons of referrals. And even on saturday there was 2 baptisms and 5 confirmations. So ya the work here is very very good, not like my last two areas. Speaking of my last area, fetch that sucked i left a baptism there. but its good. Ya so anyways nairobi is nice, very big, and i asked my comp about theft, and he just told me not to worry about it. It doesnt happen very often. So ya by the way my new comp is elder Jimu, from zimbabwe. He was way freaking sweet. And i thought i told you about elissa. Im gonna send home a punga, and you just have mike or someone holding it, and staring at any boys who come over and while he is staring at them he has to have a crazy look in his eye like he is going to do something crazy. Sawa?. Oh ya by the ways im living in a way nice flat. And im living with 2 other elders. And they both are cool so its been pretty fun. So i dont have much time so im gonna go,

love, matt

12-13-2010

Hey guess what? im being transferred tomorrow. Me im going to Nairobi. Upperhill area if your interested at all. Me i will be right by the mission office, in fact im told i will pass by there everyday. So ya ill be on another 8 hour bus ride, i really dont like those. And my district is just 4 missionaries, me my comp and two sister missionaries. And the two sister missionaries are the ones from my mtc group so im excited it should be fun. And my comp is suppose to be way sweet, so its sounding like a pretty sweet deal. So ya 6 months here and now im leaving for the big city of Nairobi. Not my first pick but ill go where the lord wants me to go. And ya me i hope i go to mombasa before my mission ends. Maybe even die there. So ya me im pretty excited. but kinda sucks to leave though the people here are awesome, and the members are way sweet, i will for sure miss them. Oh by the ways im kinda pissed about this but last week i let a member take some pictures with my camera, and while he was playing with it he deleted all my pictures on there. So ya kinda pissed about that, i dont know what he was doing they are all gone. So ya now i've been trying to scrable around getting pictures of places and people. But still gosh i cant believe that. Even my baptism photo's are gone. So ya anyways other than that things are good. By the ways we had a baptism set up for next week, really sucks that im leaving, the girl we are teaching, is what you call the golden investigator. Gosh sucks that im leaving. But as long as she is baptized me im happy. By the ways many people (who i dont know) have invited me to there christmas party here, so it could have been fun to stay here. Gone to alot of christmas parties. Oh ya also i was texting kirk or elder smedley (the one i went to high school with) the other night and he tells me that he is coming to kitale. So it sucks i just missed him, it could have been way fun to be in the same district. And ya about the missionaires here. All i know is we had upper 80's when i got her and now were in the lower 70's and its still dropping and will continue to drop from the sound of it. Tons of area's are closing like crazy. It sucks they are planning even to close more area's the next two tranfers if we continue only to get 1 or 2 missionaries to replace 5-7 missionaries. Anyways ya mission is good Me im kinda scared to go to nairobi i hear more missionaries get robbed there. So ya just dont want to think about that. But its cool, me now i can say that white people scare me. I dont know what to do when im around them. So anyways the bike thing im just leaving it here, and moving away a few huge miles. So ya ill tell you how nairobi is next week. so kwaheri, tell grandma woffered her i love her. And also please please tell grandma jackson to be careful and that i love and miss her. Sawa kwaheri tena.

-love matt

12-6-2010

I had cocoa yesterday. I dont know the need of the people to bring out the cocoa in the summer time but whatever. And yes the bike thing, me and elder obinna have been laughing about all week. We keep joking about it. And i assure you there is nothing to worry about. Me i just have been having fun with it you know. Im going to see whats the dillo (mest) tommorow. I might have to go to the police station again but not sure. But hey not a big deal. I just think its funny cause he chose me cause im white. But just so you know people here dont have lights, decorations, christmas tree's or anything for that matter. All they do is have a big party on christmas, and eat chicken. Which i will be happy to go and party with them and eat chicken. So something else, i want to thank you for your prayers in fact everyones prayers. Cause something as a missionary you come to learn is the power of prayer. I know the lord blesses me cause of them. So me myself now want to tell you about last week. So ya we live by some mountains and i've never been up there. And me i wanted to know whats up there so i was asking a member. And she told me to not go up there its dangerous. That people who go up there dont come back. And upon hearing this you know what i did...... i went up there. And wow its way nice up there, it looks over webuye, and you can see far, you can even see uganda. So ya its pretty awesome. And to make things better, we found people to teach! like tons! like wow we could spend the whole day up there teaching people. So ya im pretty exctied and im glad i went up there. We are going back again this week. Should be some good stuff.
So ya like i told the ap's were here last week and i think i figured out why, i think they want to close our area. They told us they need to close 2 area this transfer, and i think they targeted our area as one of them. That would make 7 area's closed in the last 3 transfers. All cause we are not getting missionaries and we losing them like crazy. And the ap's told us we are only getting 2 next transfer and we are losing 5. So ya our mission is getting smaller and smaller.

Now im sending home a punga which is a small sword, and whenever boys come over to the house i want mike or someone of large stature to wear it and to stare at them like they might do something crazy sawa? So ya im just kidding about that but really im gonna do it.......... and please dont worry about the police nini, i've got the lord on my side. So ill talk to you next week..

love matt.

12-1-2010

Christmas there sounds alot better than christmas here. Snow and everything. Ha i can say there is no snow here. So ya its summer now, and it feels nothing like christmas at all. Its getting hotter and people around here give us cocoa. I dont know whats up. But esh they expect us to drink two cups each. So ya christmas here, doesnt feel like christmas at all. You know girls around here shave there head or cut it way way short. And me i really dont like it, it just doesnt look right. I like girls with long hair, and now i know that i will take care of my wifes hair, cause if she deciedes to shave it esh no ways it will cause shida's. Anyways kinda intersting week. We had another elder come home with us last wed. to work with us a couple of days since his comp. Had to leave the country cause his visa was expiring and they had to renew it. Anyways while those elders were out of there flat, there bikes were stolen. And on friday we got a call and were told that the bikes were stolen and the night guard that watches the compound at night is saying the missionaries stole it. So the next day we go to kitale to the elders flat. And by that time the other elders comp who left the country just returned. And so we were all together. And We had the chief of security there and a whole bunch of other people. and they asked the night guard who stole the bikes. And first pointed at the missionary who had been out of the country. And then he pointed at me. And he said that these ones are the ones that stole the bikes. So ya im being accused of stealing other missionaries bikes. So ya since saturday i've been in kitale dealing with this. We have been the police station and waited there for hours. Finally they took statements from me, two elders, and the nightguard and another guard. So ya thats whats i've been doing this week. But since one of the kitale elders was with us and the other in tanzania i dont think so. They guy is a drunk who keeps changing his story. I dont know whats going to happen, me i was sick of kitale so i came back to webuye today. Kinda bogus, we will see what will happen later this week. I might have to go back to kitale and see whats gonna go down. but you know me and the other missionary have just been laughing about this. Cause that night guard is just making up a story, and it keeps changing. The police want to lock him up for a couple of days until he remembers perfectly what happend. So ya thats been the highlight of my week.. Being accused of stealing bikes, and sitting in a police station. So with dealing with all that i was sick of it, and decided i was going to buy a burger in town, where all the tourists are. And esh its way way way expensive there. But me i didnt care i got a burger and esh i was one the best things i've ever eaten. So ya anyways the mission pres and the ap's came to kitale yesterday. And we got to have a famliy home evening with them last night it was nice. By the way you know david's pizza in kaysville, well that my mission presidents brother. And he told me last night that there will be a free pizza waiting for me when i go home. So ya it was fun last night, but crowded. There isnt enough room for all the elders in the kitale flat. so esh we all were cramped together last night when we were sleeping. So ya its been fun, the ap's wanted to see our area, so we took them and showed them around, they came looked at the area and the flat, not sure what there going to do. They might close it down. They have closed down 5 area's in the last 2 transfers. We are loosing missionaries like crazy and we are not getting any. So esh our mission is getting small. Like way small, we really need alot more missionaires here. Oh i talk to the ap's and odds are that me im being moved after this transfer. Im hoping for mombasa. I really want to go there, but we will wait and see. But anyways our ap's both are way sweet. So ya thats been my week and its getting late so i gotta go. But i love you and miss you. And i hope i dont have to go back to kitale and deal with the bike. But ill let you know how it goes. so ill talk to you next week
-Elder Jackson