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.

April 25, 2011 - Nairobi

Ya im getting transfered. I leave on thursday. Im not that happy to leave this area that quick. But some people thought otherwise. But ya im gonna miss this area i love it. And ya im gonna to kisumu. should be nice. Like i told everyone its on the equator. So might be a little hot. But still gonna be good. Well you know im going to be eating alot of fish now. But thats ok, i was eating alot of fish in my first area and i didnt mind. It actually was pretty good. And now im going to be eating some kisumu boys. See if you can figure out what that is. Just know alot of missionaries dont like them. And also i will be seeing lake victoria. And the missionary im going to be with is from smithfield ut. He is cool, he came and spent a couple of days with me in my area last transfer. So ya he is a cool guy. And ya im excited to go, i just only wish i could have stayed a little longer in this area. But ya nothin i can do. Anyways last week was ok. We were not able to have the baptism were suppose to. Something came up for the guy and he was unable to come to church. So they will have to push it to later. As long as they get baptized im happy. You know though i wish i could have been there for it though. Anyways remember that guy Jimmy, the guy from congo. Well he is still awesome. He studies alot. I think he knows more than most of the church members in utah. Some of the questions he asks are just like wow, you really did read. And again he told me he wants to be baptized and he will be soon. He is another one i wish i could be there for. But again i guess these things are just there. So ya thats me, oh and by the ways my new comp is not new on mission. He goes home in 4 months. I hope i wont kill him. I dont think i will but hope i wont. So i guess the next time you hear from me i will be in kisumu. Yep im really going all around kenya. And its pretty awesome. By the ways now im gonna be in the same district as the other elder jackson from zim. Should be fun. Well i love you and ill talk to you soon. Bye's.



love, matt.

4-18-11

I dont like drama i try to stay away from it. But you know, i heard mike and woody talk about drama in mission and i thought i couldnt be that bad. But oh i was wrong. There is so much drama here, even more than high school. Its just very stupid. And i have to say its just mainly sisters. But ya there was this one time that, one elder tried to stab his comp with a knife. ya that wasnt very much good. Anyways you know my comp wants to be a hr manager too by the ways. I dont know, he wants to hire and fire people. But as long as he wants to do that its all good. Anyways, we havent had transfers yet, its not until next week. But you know i still want to stay here. I could actually finish my mission in this area, i love it. Also i could finish my mission here with elder munatsi. But i dont think that will happen. Anyways i do hope at least ill be here another transfer. Im loving this area too much to leave it that soon. But by the ways, i got to watch conference yesterday. And it was awesome. I think i got the main message for me. And that is that i need to get married when i come home. Not to wait until later and get things out of the way. But just need to get married. And even elder scott was telling us about what to do when we are married. But you know what caught my attention. Was if you tell your spouse you love them. And not to assume that they love you. you know thats what kenyans do. I asked someone when is the last time he told his wife he loved her and he couldnt remember. So i hope you just dont do those things as well. Tell everyone you love, dont just assume that they know. So anyways ya i also like hollands talk. Gosh i love him, he is the one im looking forward to the most. Esh he is powerful and you know these last two talks have just been mello. Not like the one last april, woo he was on fire. But there is one thing im certain of is that that man does have angels minister to him. There is no doubt in my mind. Anyways i just like his reminder that conference is suppose to be listened to and remembered that these men are inspired and they are telling us what god wants us to do. So i do hope all you singles dudes are looking for a daughter of god. Anyways ya i just loved it. So the bottom line is that not to waste time. I dont know i find it kinda weird that they told me that. And also elder clayton did a few weeks ago as well. So i think i got the hints.


love, matt.

4-11-11

I saw Jimu this week, he came to nairobi for zone conference. Esh i was very happy to see him again. Ha he told me when he got to nairobi, he was home. Just goes to show that our area was awesome. And we did have fun together. And you know this is stilll my favorite area. Members are the best and the work is good. And you remeber that guy i told you about who looked up the church after talking to a sweedish guy. Well he accepted to be baptized on sunday. Esh freaking sweet. Again it just shows what talking to someone about the church can do. But anyways back to that, i got to hang out with jimu for a day. And it was awesome. He bought me a swahili, shirt and a bag. So again pretty awesome. And you saw the pics of the hospital. ha that was a fun and crazy day. Esh i cant belive we got the bounce castle into that small hall. Didnt think it could fit. But ya eveyone seemed to enjoy it. I got alot of pics of that day. And the christmas party. So ya for service, we just kinda do anything. We help member with whatever. Sometimes we go to the orphanage. It just depends. Like this week were going to a members to help them with yard work. And by the ways i love that family. Ya i know english class in Dar was fun. And i miss those guys and some of the crazy questions they would ask me. You know any english word they would find they would bring it to me and ask me what it means. It got hard when they were taking rap lyrics and asking me what they meant. Or they ask me a few swear words and tell me to explain. You know its kinda crazy to think that i was there a year ago. Doesnt seem that long ago. ya we had to go to a big mizugu market to meet an investigator. Seemed that our contacting did pay off. But anyways ya there is some nice mizugu things there that i didnt even know they had here. It reminded me of home too much and was even making me feel uncomfortable. Im still very much excited for jimmy. The guy who came to church. The guy who looked up the church on the internet. And by the ways that guy is awesome. He is powerful investigator. Although he has a sad story. He is a refugge. He is from congo. Some people had a dissagrement with him. And they wanted to kill him, so they went to his home, and he wasnt there but his wife and kid were. And when they didnt find them, they killed his wife and kid. So he had to leave the country. Kinda intense stuff. But it was good to share the plan of salvation with him. He was happy when i told him he could see his family again. But all i know is that that guy is powerful. And he wants to be baptized by the ways. He asked me on sunday after he told me he got his answer when he prayed about joseph smith and the book of mormon. So ya as you know it was a pretty awesome experience. He is excited to be baptized and wow he is very smart. He understand things. Esh he think on every word you say. Ha on church even he was contributing in sunday school, and priestood. People thought he was member. Kinda funny since thats only his second sunday there. But ya this week should be an awesome week. We get to see conference on saturday. And im excited for it. You know last october i never got to see the preistood session, kinda bummed me out. But i hope i will get to this time. Anways ill talk to you next week.

love, matt.

4/4/11

I had an interview with the Mission President a few hours ago. It was good, just talked about my comp and my area. And i found out my old comp. Elder jimu, who is opeing a new area in mwanza Tanzania. He is in the branch presidency there. Awesome. Im excited for him. The church is just starting there and he right there helping it. And ya im excited for conference. Although we wont see it, for another few weeks. I think at the end of this month i think we will see it. And im looking forward to it. You know its kinda bogus that i have to wait that long to see it. But i guess these things are just there. Anyways ya so i can tell you a short story about us walking to email today. On the way we got stopped by a guy and he starts telling us that we are devil worshipers. And that our church is the devil. And you know me i dont like standing for those things. So me munatsi, and sister missionary blasted him. And still esh that guy was being bogus. He refuses to belive that we belive in christ. He only trusts what he hears from people who have never been to our church. Sometimes people can be stupid. But we got his number and he wants to meet with us later this week. So ya im going to unload on him next time i see him. But ya just something bogus that happens every now and then. Other than that though everthing is good. We are working on finding people to teach. We have been contacting, and members are helping us out as well. Its nice. And you know last week we had a guy from congo come to church. He doesnt know much about it. He meet a guy from sweeden on a plane, and he was a member of the church. And he talked to him for 20 minutes. And told him when he gets to nairobi, to look it up. And so he did, got on the internet and looked it up and came. We are meeting him later this week. He is very very interested. But it just goes to show what talking to somebody can do. Like president says, its one of those miracles. Well ya anyways ya i had an awesome week. And it sounds like you guys did too. But anyways ya thats it for me, and i think mange did like his hat and picture. Oh by the ways pres. ordered pizza for us today. That was a score. Pizza doesnt happen very often for us. BYE'S ALL YALL'S

love, matt.