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