Daniel might be in Kenya but that doesn't mean he doesn't have South Africa pride.
This was at the Langata elder's flat during exchanges.
This is Elder Gideon's flag.

Street Contacting.  Super successful.  Lots of Book of Mormons were given out.

Companion exchanges in Langata.  Elder Schneider is awesome! 
He has really helped Daniel out a ton.

April 15, 2013

Really enjoyable week!

This might have been the most enjoyable week of my mission so far. So this week we had companion exchanges with the Elders from Langata (zone leaders). So i got to go to Langata and be with Elder Schneider. We had sooo much fun together! It was also kind of nice to be with someone from the USA who could understand me and kind of relate to me. So in Langata the first thing we did was we went to the Langata hospital and did some service there. We mostly just helped bottle anti-acid medication, like pepto-bismal stuff. It was kind of a nice change of pace from just doing tracking and teaching all day. But the people there were really cool! We worked with this 20 year old guy named Simon and this lady named Mary. Both super cool, and they were wondering when i would be coming back to Langata. So I hope i can see them again! It was funny, because they offered us some morphine to take home with us... hahahahha we said no thanks! they say it taste sour... hahahahah. But after that we went to go meet with 2 ladies who were going to be baptized this week. Their names are Mellon and Cathrine. Mellon is probably in her 40s-50s, kind of shy but is a sweet lady. Catherine is 20 and is super funny. She already has two kids though, one is already 4... but she is a great person. They live in these apartment complexes right on the out-skirts of the Kibera slum, which is one of the largest slums in the world. Its huge! but i wasn't able to go in there. But we just went over some of the commandments with them and just made sure they were ready for baptism. But it was a great lesson, and they wanted me to come visit them next time i came to Langata! hahah they are awesome. After we went to a dinner appointment with a member of the Langata branch, sister Peggy. She is the relief society president, but has just recently been released from prison... she was falsely accused of some sort of election fraud, or something like that. So we were checking up on her and seeing how she was doing. She is an awesome lady, and did not seem affected at all by prison! hahah but it was great we got some super good carrots and rice with beans! i ate a ton! hahah. But it was great to Be with elder Schneider, he really helped me a ton and gave me sooo much good advice.

This week we also had an open house for our branch!The plan was for members to bring their friends and family, so that we could help introduce them to the church and make them more familiar to us. We were expecting a big turn out, but unfortunately not very many members attended, so we had a poor turn out. But the big success of the open house was the street board contacting that we did on the street. We were able to talk to a ton of people and a lot of people were interested. Even two of the guys that i contacted came to church this week! Their names are Gilbert and James, they are brothers and are in their early 20s. It was sooo cool to see them at church. i got to talk to them for a while and found out that they love Basketball! haha so i talked to them about that for a while. They like the Lakers! I also asked about their favorite soccer team... and they said they LOVE ARSENAL!!!!! Hahaha i was so excited because almost everyone i talk to say they like Manchester United. So Emmy you better start liking arsenal! hahah jk. but they seem like super guys so we are going to meet with them more this week.

But i am really starting to enjoy my mission! I love learning more and more about the gospel and i am really starting to love teaching the people here.

Good to hear that all is well back home. Remember to read your scriptures! And maybe read Alma 5-7 this week during family scripture study, these scriptures are great and have really helped me.

I love you all! and always remember how truly blessed you are to be living in such a wonderful country!

Elder Daniel Thomas

This is how Daniel's shoes and pants look everyday.
He wishes they would pave the roads.

Lunch at Krispy's- Daniel's go to place.  They serve chips (French fries) and chapatti.
Elders Gauti (Zimbabwe), Nyambita, Gideon, Schneider

Something funny Daniel saw was this bug trying to get into his flat but the lizard
snatched it right before it got in.  It's the circle of Life! haha!

April 8, 2013

Habari!

Not to much of an exciting week, but it was still ok.  We have been trying to find more people lately, because our 2 main investigators were just baptized, so we are looking to add more people into our teaching pool.  So we have been trying to work with members lately, and have seen a lot of success with that! The members here are sooo amazing! they are always helping us out with giving us referrals and are always telling their friends about the gospel.  The members also love the missionaries so much! We are like famous in the Branch hahaha. They always want us to come over and visit, so we try our best to fit them in our schedule.  The members love to feed us as well! and so far everything that i have eaten has been pretty good! nothing weird so far....(I pray it stays like that hahah). Mostly pilau (spicy rice), potatoes, beef stew and chapati. 

Lately it seems like there have been a lot of crazy people around. I don't know if people are getting drunk because of elections or something, but a lot of weird stuff happens every once in a while. For example, we were out tracking and this guy stopped us. He told us not to go down a certain road that we were planning on going down. So we asked him why. He said because while he was in his house sleeping, he woke up and found a snake on top of him. He said the snake spit venom in his eyes, so he ran out of his house, and left the snake in there.... he said he was waiting for the snake to leave his house so he could go back inside. hahahahaha me and my comp were trying not to laugh it was just kind of a weird thing.

Glad to hear that everyone is doing well back home! Sounds like Emmy had a great party and lots of fun. Glad that Hailey was able to use me as an example in the talk! ha and tell her to keep doing track... And I'm glad Joe is staying busy with baseball! Tell him i saw some guy wearing an old school Dbacks hat and another guy wearing a Suns jersey! hahah

But we did not watch conference this week, we don't get to watch it until the 19 and 20th... hahah. But I'm really looking forward to it and am excited to hear from the prophet! So glad that we have a living prophet today who can lead and guide us. its sad to think that people think that God does not give modern day revelation... which is FALSE. He does!

Remember how much the restored gospel has blessed our lives, it truly does bring happiness to all of us. I'm grateful to get to share it with others!

I love the updates. Good to hear my letters got home! hope everyone enjoyed them. And i got the Easter letter, thanks! Love you all, have a great week

Elder Daniel Thomas

Zone Leaders:  Elder Schneider (Idaho Falls) and Elder Gideon (Cape Town,
South Africa).  They have helped Daniel so much.

Sister Sophie, John (their friend), Ruth, Rose, Brother Washington
Daniel, Edith, Elder Nyambita
Great family, they are awesome and love the gospel.  Sister Sophie is a character- she is funny
and loves to speak Swahili.

Elder Nyambita, Brother Lukoye, Ruth, Rose, Daniel
Great baptism and great sisters!

Ruth & Rose Baptized

Made it through my first transfer!

Haha but hello from Kenya! This week has been pretty good. It was great because our investigators Ruth and Rose got baptized! So happy for them. They have been receiving the lessons for a long time (like 6 months), so it was great to see them get baptized. I was lucky enough to get here just in time to teach them the last lessons and see them get baptized! They have great parents who are recent converts as well, who have really helped them in the church. They were baptized by Brother Lukoye from the branch. and at the baptism, i gave a talk about the need for baptism... and was given 3 minutes to prepare it! haha it was ok though, i just talked about Matthew 3:13-17 which talks about why we need to be baptized. it went well. But lets just say things in Africa aren't as organize as things are in the US. you just kind of have to go with whatever happens here.

But the rainy season has begun here in Kenya! hahah. It is cloudy everyday, and at night it rains so hard. Like a storm every night! haha its crazy. it usually rains from about 8 at night to about 7 in the morning, on and off. But during the day it only rains a little. But i love the rain and cloudy days, its my favorite weather! Nice days, usually around 70 degrees. There are some bad things about the rain though. First is the bugs. When it rains a lot, the bugs seem to come out, especially mosquito! ha at night i can hear them humming right next to my head, trying to get through my mosquito net. So that's really annoying haha. Second bad thing is the MUD. Can escape it! all the roads are dirt here, so the rain has just turned it into mud roads. haha but its no big deal it make things fun. Lastly, the rain causes the power to go out a lot. Not just for our apartment, but for the entire city! ha so that stinks, but its no big deal, we got gas cookers and flash-lights!

But the work is going well. We are trying to find more investigators, and the members are helping a lot. Seems like every Sunday we see someone new because the members are always inviting new friends. The members are awesome! they are always looking to help us and love the missionaries.

All is well with me.   I love you all. Remember how much the Savior loves you all. He died for us, but more importantly, he was raised from the dead and resurrected. He LIVES! And i know that because of this, we will all be resurrected, and have the opportunity to live again as a family for all eternity. And i am excited for that! love you all

Elder Daniel Thomas