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

8-20-2010

This week was not the best week for me but it was ok. First i killed my first missionary last friday. yep my comp elder Lemma is now home. He had to leave early for school. So i have to finish the rest of the transfer in Kitale, in a threesome. Which is not all that great. But at least the guys im with are cool. So ya ill be working in kitale for almost 2 weeks. Which means i wont be in my area for that long. I had to go to church in kitale yesterday, and it was weird not being at the church in Misikhu. Its also kinda werid not having a comp. I wont get my new one till next week...... and the power just cut there again. it went off when i was emailing elissa too. Gosh the power here sucks. So if Stockton want to go on a mission tell him GO! Mission is one of the best decisions i've ever made. I've never ever regreting going. Once you start serving the people and seeing them light up when they understand the gospel makes the mission worth it. I know if he choses to go he wont regret it.
So ya this past week was kinda crazy for me. We had 3 days of teaching in our area until thursday in a middle of a lesson we got a call from our DL. And he told Lemma he is leaving the next day. So we had to hurry home and he packed, then we had to go get a bus ticket for him to go to nairobi in the morning. The Kitale elders came down to our flat to spend the night so when lemma left i wouldnt be alone. So crazy day and we put him on the bus the next morning. Then me and the kitale elders headed back to kitale. Where i went and worked with them in their area. which is different since they are in more of a town rather than in the middle of no where. Im not sure if i like to serve in a bigger place its all pretty hecktic. But i know i will, ill end up in Nairobi sooner or later. All missionaries serve in Nairobi in their mission. But as for right now i know im not going to Nairobi. So ya something cool that happend, was in kitale. We went to see a less active guy and see how is was doing and if he would come back to church with his family. And it was a really nice visit. We taught him about prayer, and family. And im glad i was able to use an example of us as a family praying together. I challenged him to pray as a family and you know what he did. i saw him the next day and he told me he did. and to make it even better at church sunday he came with his whole family. It was way awesome to see that our efforts were worth it. The guy is a really powerful guy, the whole family is, and im way happy to see them come to church. Oh by the ways the kitale elders use bikes alot in there area. Not like the bikes at home, they are really big and heavy. And they only have two and guess who got to ride on the back of it? Me of course. I got to sit on the metal part over the back tire, and the roads here are not the best, really bumpy. And now lets just say my butt is not feeling the best right now. Although today i made it a little better, i got a blanket and used it as padding. But still not all that great.
Oh so by the way ya, im slowly forgeting math. I think ill be taking the same class as zach is. Cause all that is just going out of my head. Especially my english, lets just say its not good. It helped when i was teaching english class in Dar. But now that i no longer do, the english is going. The kenyans and Tanzanians dont speak english quite like america does. Its alot more messed up.

Love matt

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.