FIRST WEEK IN DARAJANI / CHYULU

So i am definitely no longer in Nairobi! It was really hard to say goodbye to all the friends that i had made in Rongai, but i guess the Lord needs me here in Darajani now!

On Thursday, me and 2 other elders, Elder Simcock and Jamieson, got on a bus that heads from Nairobi to Mombasa. Only Elder Jamieson would be going to Mombasa, but me and Simcock would get off half way in Chyulu.  So we got up early and left around 8. So the bus was super nice!! we got free snacks and soda which was awesome! But once we got 1 hour out of Nairobi, our bus broke down...... hahahhahahahah. At first we thought that they would just be able to fix it in like 20 mins, but it turned out that the bus was totally broke down and that they had to call a new one to pick us up and take us. so we had to wait just about 4 hours for the new bus to come, but it finally got there and we were off on the road again.! About 4 hours later i finally arrived in my new area!! We got off the bus and Elder Dobard (my new companion from California) and the couple missionaries, the Schwabs, were their ready to meet us. 

One cool thing about my new area is that we have IRON HORSE BIKES!!!!!!!! hahah they are just the typical bikes that most people have here in Kenya, buts its great that we have bikes because our area is HUGE. We also have 2 branches in our area, Darajani 1 and Darajani 2. Both are great branches with super humble people. We even have our own church building here which is super super nice. It is no joke a major landmark here in Darajani.  Everybody here knows where the church is so we don't even have to give people directions to find it. 

So i guess that you can consider Darajani to be a mix between a town and a village.  there is a main town area called Kambu where we stay, and then there is Darajani where all the members live.  And nobody lives close to each other!! we have to ride our bikes all over the place to find people, which is a little frustrating, but not that big of a deal. Also, most people here have their own shambas where they work in, and they either produce corn, peas, carrots, or watermelons.  So we usually find people outside working in their shambas.

But Darajani seems to be like a very good place. Lots of good humble people here who are very interested in the Gospel.

One very interesting thing here in Darajani is that English is the 3rd language for most people. Most people speak Kikamba, which is the mother tongue for mostly everyone here, then people sometimes speak Swahili, and then when people see us missionaries they will use English! haha but the church meetings are done mostly in all Kikamba, which is a little frustrating for me, but is good for the people here to have the gospel in their own language. so that will take some getting used to.

But hope all is well back home. Love you all!!!!

Elder Thomas