Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Funeral

Mutu Wata,
haha hope you enjoy that Kikamba gretting! but this week went by fast and was a little sad.
To start though, we had another awesome lesson with James Mutisia! He is doing very very good. We were able to teach him about the Plan of Salvation. He was very attentive and focused. The spirit was strong and it went well. He really enjoys meeting with us and has come to church the past two weeks in a row!! He loves going and especially likes seeing his family there as well with him.  He is also doing really well reading the Book of Mormon. That's a big struggle we have here is getting investigators to read, but James is very motivated and enjoys reading it. And the Book of Mormon really leads us to have a lasting conversion, both for new members and old.... remember that! Its also kind of funny because we were talking to his wife at church (who is a member) and she was telling us about his reading. She said she found him one day kind of hiding and reading the Book of Mormon, and as a joke asked him why he was reading it. He said because he wants to know as much as he can, so that if the Elders ask him a question, he wont disappoint them by not knowing the answer!! haha he is great.
We were also able to work with a few of the priests and prospective missionaries this week, Kelly, Eric, and Brian. We actually had a lot of fun with them. They are all crazy guys, but are really strong in the church and are all planning to serve missions.  Even with Brian he is starting his mission papers. But it was great being with them. They were super helpful, with the language and just being able to connect with people in a way that we really cant (because we are foreigners). One funny thing that happened though was i guess that around here lately there have been weird things in the sky.... like random glowing clouds that are moving around all over the place.... not sure if its true but i have heard this from multiple people, including my companion hahah. So someone we met said that the meteorologist were saying it was some sort of weird thing going on with the clouds lately. But in response to that, Kelly said "Umm I'm not sure about that. We are all Christians right?? So yeah Christians and Meteorologist don't get along.... so i don't buy it" ahahahaahhahah it was super funny and random! but yeah help the missionaries out please!
Also this week we really got some sobering news. On Tuesday night, our District President, Steven Mwangangi, passed away. He was the man that i gave a blessing to on Saturday. He apparently had super super high blood pressure, that apparently lead to a stroke and a brain hemorrhage, so it was too much for doctors to do to help him.  I got to be really good friends with him, he was a return missionary so he knew what it was like to be a missionary. He was living in Darajani and attended one of the branches, so i pretty much saw him just about every other day.  He was one of the happiest and most humble person that i have ever met.  Its sad that he will not be with us anymore in this life,but then again we know that this is not the end of our lives. I truly know that Steven is in Spirit Paradise now, probably preaching the gospel to those in the Spirit World who are in need of the knowledge of the gospel. So this week we were really doing a lot of service at his house helping out his wife and kids. It was great to see the support of the members and community in helping out the family cope with this difficult time. I was also asked to give a talk about comforting those in comfort and a fellowship meeting at his home with his family and about 80 members of the branches. so it was pretty cool, Mosiah 18: 8-9 and 3 Nephi 12:4 were two good scriptures. So his funeral will be this Saturday, and there are expected to be 700 people in attendance, as well as the President Hicken and a member of the area seventy. But I'm glad we have a understanding of the plan of salvation in our church.... knowing that death is really only the beginning for us. That one day we will be able to see all who have passed on.  So thank goodness for the plan of salvation... it brings true peace and understanding.
But things are continuing on.  Still looking to help Chyulu become a stake and helping the less actives back to church. Also trying to avoid all the drunkards that roam the streets here... one of them basically ambushed us and started hugging elder Tebbs and singing some crazy song smelling and drunk and such.... it was super annoying. And then the guy got smacked around by another drunk guy.... pretty crazy but yeah that's Kenya for you!!!
haha but i love you all!
Elder Thomas

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