February 10, 2014

This past week flew by super fast! One of the fastest weeks of my mission so far, but now it seems like every week goes by way fast. 

Had an interesting lesson this week with our investigator Titus.  We taught him the Word of Wisdom!!! So i knew that it would turn out to be an interesting lesson. So he obviously had some concerns about it, especially with coffee and tea. Those are really the two biggest things that i have seen people struggle with taking here. Its just about common for everyone to take either coffee or tea every day. But luckily we had one of our members, Evans, who is the same age with him, help us with the teaching. He was able to relate to him about how he was also struggling with these things before he was baptized.  But once he got that confirmation that the church was true, he knew that the word of wisdom was a direct commandment from God. It was great because that really helped Titus see  that others in the church have overcome the same problems that he is facing. Also it was nice because Evans was able to relate to him in a way that me and my comp could not do, both being members our whole lives hah.  But we really hope that Titus will be able to overcome his addictions and that he can continue to prepare for his bapt in March!

The main event this week was Eldoret District conference! So on Friday we went with all the missionaries from our zone to Eldoret. And to say the least it was an awesome spiritual conference!! President Hicken was there as well as Elder Bricknell from the area 70.  Both gave really strong and spiritual talks during the conference.  The 2 main points that were really talked about were Eldoret district becoming a stake and focusing more on the family.  President Hicken really emphasized members becoming more involved in the work, saying that we as missionaries are only really there to assist them in the work, while it should really be the members doing the finding and a lot of the teaching. I really enjoyed it! But its true, we as missionaries come and go, but the members are the ones who remain. So if Eldoret district wants to become a stake the members have to really step it up in the missionary work.  Then Elder Bricknell talked about how we should really do our best to work with our families in assisting each other in following the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He was a really powerful speaker and really inspiring.  Also got to have my first interview with pres Hicken in 7 months! It was really nice talking to him and he is a great leader and mission president. i love him! Also, at the conference after the Saturday session, it was pretty crazy but i saw one of the members from my first area in Rongai! Cosmas was the former 2nd counselor in the branch but had moved back to his home in Kitale, so he was in the district! It was really cool seeing him, he was one of the first people i ever visited on my mission and he was a really awesome member who helped me a lot when i started. He was super excited to see me and came up and gave me a hug hahah! He said i looked a lot different, that i was really skinny when he first met me but now i am big!! YEAH! hah. But its awesome to see old members and friends!

But for my year mark we went out to a real legit PIZZA place! Oh my goodness it was so nice! Only problem was i haven't had that much cheese in a long time so i was a little sick afterwards.... hahah but it was way worth it!! Also me and Elder Griffiths got some way awesome suit coats for the snaggin deal of 500 shillings for 2 suit coats!! haha 6 dollars for suit coats yeahhh we know how to bargain! Lets just say that baby blue looks good on me.... hahahh!!

But not much else to report this week. The work is moving along well and I'm really enjoying serving the Lord in his vineyard of Kenya. Love you all!!!!!!

Elder Thomas