Miaka yangu miwili ya bora
for the last time.... Mautuma

Cows

President Edward, this guy has things moving out here in Mautuama, Love him!

Prime Githeri.  I will miss it, kabisa!

Last Letter!

Dear Family,

Well, obviously as probably all of you know, this will be my last letter written to all of you as a missionary.  Its really weird to think about. Lots of mixed feelings. I can't even describe it.  My mission has really been the happiest time of my life.  I have grown so much and I know its because i have had this opportunity to live the gospel so fully.  It will be wonderful to come back home and see all of you, but it will be bitter sweet. 

I have loved my time serving around the people here in Kenya.  People here have sooo much more faith than people back home, and are much more willing and eager to act upon the things of God.  It will be really weird not being in Kenya anymore. 

So with this week...

Lots of lessons with Recent converts.  They are doing good tho. 

We have a really cool new investigator, Joseph. He is really just one of those guys who for sure has been prepared by the Lord! He loves what we teach and really loves the Book of Mormon! He is way powerful.  Only one problem.... he has a polygamy issue that we got to work out. Polygamy is legal and very common here.  So that might take some time but he is powerful!

Sunday, gave my farewell Testimony in Mautuma Branch (Saturday I go to Nairobi for final interview). It was nice though.  All the members came up afterwards and were all sad that I was going.  But after Church, we had a cool experience.  The first councilor in the branch, Bro Kabas, his mom died this week.  So after the service, ALL of the members went over to his home to be with him and his family.  We just comforted him and his family and sang some hymns and it was a really cool experience. I thought it was way cool that all the member mobilized themselves together and did something like this.  It was way powerful.

But a good week, not to much more else to say.

But i know with all my heart that this is God's Church. I'm grateful for Jesus Christ and His Atonement, and because of him all of us can change for the better. I know the Book of Mormon is true. Joseph Smith was God's chosen prophet to restore the fullness of the Gospel, and Thomas S. Monson is God's chosen prophet for us today.  I know God loves us and wants us to return back to his presence. 

  Thanks for all you love and support.  Especially you mom! I know that you have been worrying about me a lot, but don't worry, I have been in the Lords hands.  I will still be Daniel when i get back home, but i wont be the same.  I still goof around and do funny things, but now i really know what matters and whats important.

Well.... this is it.  LOVE YOU ALL!! see you soon.

for the last time.....

Elder Daniel Elijah Thomas

Mautuma Sunset

Out finding

2 Weeks to Go

Another fantastic week. but before i say to much else..... HAPPY BDAY JOE!!!!!! 13 years big boy!! hahahah love you joe!!!

We mostly visited Recent Converts, but we were also able to receive a few good referrals from some members. The members are really trying their best out here, inviting anyone they can to meet with us. Its cool to see members so involved and eager to do the work, its awesome.

One really cool thing this week was we had one less active member, Christopher, come to church. When he walked in the door, it was soo great to see him! Even when i was here last year, we were struggling to help him come to church. But i hope now he is taking a step in the right direction. He has a lot of problems that are keeping him back, but it was a step in the right direction for him coming to church. Its way cool to see less actives come back to church. I was so happy for him!

it was cool to see one of our investigators come to church that we had really been working hard with, Linet. She is someone that elder Musasia and I contacted. We have been trying to teach her whole family, but she seems to be the only serious on, so we are focusing on her. But i think she had a good experience at church, she seemed to enjoy it and members were friendly to her. So we hope that she can start to progress now.

Weirdest thing ever. maybe not the weirdest thing but a weird thing. Cool tho.  SO! We were teaching a recent convert family the Restoration.  We were just at the part of Jesus Christ's Earthly Ministry, when all the sudden this random guy walks in the door... as soon as he walked in i got that strong wiff of that local brew..... and i was like oh no.... this guy is gunna make some noise and ruin the lesson! BUT to my surprise... we received quite the opposite! So, he just walked in and sat quietly as we continued on with the lesson.  We then moved on to the the Great Apostasy and asked the family what they remembered about it. They didn't remember much.  So, as we were just about to explain more about it, all the sudden the drunk guy speaks up and says ''Elders, Elders, may I?'' I was like umm may you what?? But he started to speak.... and WOW..... this guy was teaching the DOCTRINE!! Like he was teaching this recent convert family true doctrine about the Great Apostasy perfectly... and he was hammered! We then went on to the Restoration through the Prophet Joseph Smith... we asked the family again what they remembered about it... not much.  As we are about to explain, the drunk guy comes to the rescue and again teaches the doctrine perfectly!! He was even Quoting Elder uchtdorf!  He was quoting scripture!! Ya he tried to go and use one from the Doctrine and Covenants that was completely off topic but non the less he was going for it!! This guy was on top of his game.  My comp and I were in shock of what just happened... we tried to talk to him after the lesson to find out more about him, but we didnt get much out of him... he was still super drunk haha.  BUT! Afterwards, we passed by the 1st Councilors house, Bro Kabas, and we asked him if he knew this guy.  When we described him, Bro Kabas just started laughing... we were like umm what?? He said ''ohh thats just Ahmed!  He is my neighbor. He is also Muslim and loves alcohol.  But i always give him my scriptures and the Liahona to read.. he likes the church and is always reading about it.  But he is muslim and is always drunk... but maybe one day with him.'' It was crazy.  But way sweet hahaha thanks Ahmed for helping us teach! The best non member present lesson I've ever had. 

No water this week but its all good. Bucket showers are nice and the squatter out side is pleasant hahahaaha. We got that bor hole/well outside that treats us well. 

But things are great.  Time is going by too fast... and my time as a missionary is running out.  But I've loved every moment of my mission, its been the best time of my life.  Crazy how fast it goes. 

Ninawapendeni!!!

Elder Thomas

3 Weeks left

Habari Zenu!?

Another week down.... crazy how fast time is going!

So this week.... really not a whole lot to talk about.

Most of this week was spent visiting Recent Converts within the branch and teaching after baptism lessons. It's pretty easy and simple to do but very important! We also have a few new investigators that we are trying to work with, so things are going well for the most part.

Saturday, while elder Musasisa, myself, and a branch missionary were out proselyting, one of the local drunkards followed us around.... for 30 minutes.... it was pretty annoying.  He kept making noise and was just super annoying.  He was speaking english, then swahili, then mother tongue...  this guy was all over the place.  It was interesting.  He wanted to fight my companion and the branch missionary hahah.  Moral of the story: alcohol is bad.  Hooray for Word of Wisdom!

But really, there is not a whole lot more to share about this week.... sorry.

Lakini! I read from Mosiah 2 this week.... powerful! King Benjamin has some powerful teachings for sure.  I especially love what he teaches in verses 20-24.  Verses 20-21 basically teach how for us, if we labored all our days and did all we could to serve God, giving him everything we have, it would never be close to enough.  BUT! Verses 22-24 teach that all the Lord requires from us is to keep his commandments. And even more, if we do keep the commandments, the Lord will ''immediately'' bless us.  I know this to be very true! But i just love how simple it is, if we keep God's commandments, the blessings will come and good things will happen.  Simple as that.  But if we disregard or disobey, we lose those promised blessings from the Lord. The Lord loves us and wants to give us all we need to be successful here on earth, but he asks that we do our part as well. 

Well.... time is really running.  Crazy to think this is my last month as a missionary.... Its been the greatest blessing for me though.  I love my mission and Kenya|!!!

Love you all and have a great week!!!! kaeni tamu!

Happy 2015! Kenya style!

Karibu 2015 - this is how we say bye to 2014.  Steel wool + matches + rope = best homemade fireworks ever.  We only got burned kidugo.

Mautuma- Normal paths we go down daily

Sun Sun Sun Karibu Mautuma..... powerful

Dedication of the new chapel in Misikhu, really a nice building

Happy New Year!

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy New Year!! I really cant believe that 2015 is already here... crazy.

Pretty good week tho, very busy!

Sorry not a whole lot to write about this week, but here is the main stuff!

This week we have been meeting with a TON of recent converts.  Right now in Mautuma, there have been 37 baptisms in the past 4 months... its crazy.  So we are working with the other elders, Osimbo and Tebbs, to teach the after baptism lessons and make sure these people remain active and nourished by the good word of God!  One cool recent convert that is here is named Francis.  Right before I left Kitale and got transferred to Upper Hill, I went to Mautuma on exchanges (so this was like 5 months ago).  While there, we taught Francis for the first time and had a great lesson with him, I just remember that he was super powerful and just really one who had been prepared by the Lord.  Now that I'm back in Mautuma, I've come to see that he has been baptized and confirmed and is a great member of the Branch.  I was surprised that he remembered me so well, he was really excited to see me.  He is a way cool guy. 

Another way cool person is this lady named Paris Kabas(wife to first counselor of branch). When i was here a year ago, Elder Griffiths and I tried to teach her, but she was not interested at all... she did not even like to see us... haha.  But over time, her heart was softened and she was eventually baptized (even when i was in Kitale, I was able to do her bapt interview which was cool).  Now we are finishing up her after bapt lessons, and she is also now the relief society president of the branch! She has only been a member for 6 months, but she is powerful!  There are lots of great members here in Mautuma. 

Wednesday we enjoyed New Years eve by lighting up steel wool and lighting it on fire and swinging it around.  I saw it done once in Nairobi and was amazed when i saw it, and elder Musasia also said it was really cool.  So we did, and it was!! Haha sparks were everywhere hahh it was way cool and fairly safe.  fun fun yaaaa for 2015! pics attached!

We also got fed a ton this week... people here love missionaries!

Mosquitoes destroyed me this week. Yeah.

But that's it for this week! Love you all have a good week!

Elder Thomas

This will be the last area that Daniel will serve in on his mission
New area... iko wapi??

Bush - is there sunshine in your soul?

Gearin up for Christmas!

New/Old/Last Area

Well..... things have been quite interesting over here.  Lots of things changing and things happening.

If you didn't know, i got transferred back to Mautuma.  I was here exactly this time last year..  so its kinda crazy.  Its way cool being back here. I have already seen a ton of people that i knew from before, and all of them were very shocked to see me.  I really like being here because I'm also able to see people from Kitale and Sikhendu branches(my old areas). So I'm super excited to be here! Its really dry right now, so its super dusty, but its really nice. 

For Elder Musasia and I, we are splitting the area with the elders already here, Elder Osimbo (Kisumu) and Elder Tebbs (Queen Creek, also my old comp in Darajani).  So what we did this last week was we mostly just went on splits with them.  Right now in their area they have 37 recent converts and like 15 other investigators... so the work is BOOMING! its pretty crazy.  So they are going to show us where all these new converts and people stay, and after another week or so Elder Musasia and I will be able to know the area well enough.  we are super super busy! Its really cool tho.  I haven't really got to know any of the new people, but its way cool to be seeing some of the people i knew from here before again. 

Christmas was pretty nice.  We were able to spend it in Kitale with the rest of the zone and also with the couple missionaries, the Flakes.  Nothing like Christmas back home, but still pretty good.  Its not about the material things tho. 

Sunday we went to the dedication of the new chapel in Misikhu! I was here last year while they were just starting to build it... and now i was there to see it be dedicated one year later!! Pretty sweet.  President Hicken came up to do the dedication and it was really nice.  I was able to see quite a few familiar faces from some of the different branches.  Its a really pretty building.  Biggest building around for sure tho!

Sorry not to much else to share this week... sorry its not  that interesting.  Just getting used to the area, and loving it. 

But this past week I finished the book of 2 Nephi.  It was powerful as usual! But something I really liked came from 2 Nephi 31.  This is a really nice chapter outlining the Gospel of Jesus Christ very simply.  But I especially liked vs. 13 where it talks about us following Christ, and it says we need to ''follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent.'' This is something that i have been thinking about lately.  That a lot of people all over the world say 'I believe in God', but when you see who they are and how they act, it is very contrary.  More importantly than believing in Christ and knowing about him, is living for Him. That's how we show Him that we REALLY believe in him and accept his Atonement in our lives.  It's very difficult to do, but every small thing we do to take a step in the right direction towards living for Christ helps.  His Atonement is real, all we have to do is to come unto him by keeping the commandments and live righteously.

Well that's all for this week.  2014 has really been one of the best years of my life.  Sad to see it go... but its all gooooood! Love you all!!! It was good to talk to you mom~!!!!!!!!!

Elder Thomas 

Elder Musasia and Daniel gearing up for Christmas
Kristmasi inakuja mapema!

Daniel- Birthday yangu
This is how Dan does bdays- Pizza Inn!

Pre game hand wash before the baptism

Kuoshanguo kwa mikono yangu

Baptism of Bro Gerrald Mutuku - great day!

Baptism

Another Baptism!

Soooo.... this was quite an eventful week... lots of things going on!

This past week we have really been working with a few of our new investigators, Joan (17),her brother Jarred (14), and Naomi (17).  They were referrals from a member. Referrals are a missionaries best friend!  They  are in Nairobi for the Holiday season on break from their boarding schools.  Almost all kids here go to boarding schools.. its weird. Back home im pretty sure thats frowned upon to put your kids in boarding school... here its the best education.  Anyhow, both are really progressing well.  Had some powerful lessons on the Book of Mormon and some of the commandments.  Both are very understanding and wanting to learn more.  Even both of them this week will be attending the stake FSY (for the strength of youth) activity.  Its basically EFY.  But im happy for them, it will be a good time for them to meet other members their age. We are planning for their baptisms on 28 this month.  

Wednesday was pretty exhausting... haha.  Woke up at 4:00am to pick up some new incoming missionaries (all are kenyans) who are serving in this mission.  Even one of them was Bro Emmanuel (now Elder Emmanuel) who was the ward mission leader in Upper Hill Ward.  Ha it was cool to see him as a missionary now! After that we went strait to help the sister missionaries move flats from Upper Hill to South B.  It was cool tho because we had the whole district with us so we had a lot of help. It did take us the whole day tho... i was dying!  The sisters did make us food tho so that was nice, green grams and rice.  Powerful.  Then they also bought me a birthday cake!! It was actually corn bread but who cares! same thing haha it was nice tho.  I enjoy doing serving now, back home... not so much haah.  but mission changes you!!

Thursday was very interesting. We were on exchanges with the Athi River elders for Bapt interviews, so Elder Bradford came to be with me and Elder Musasia.  Midway through the day we were told that elder Musasia had to go with the assistants for a new missionary lunch with the mission president, so he left us.  But there was another missionary, elder Wambete (who came from Nakuru for interview with the mish pres)  who was with us for the day.  Ha it was waaay cool.  We all had a blast together and had some great lessons.  But most importantly.... Bro Gerrald passed the bapt interview!! He was super excited and i also was told he teared up in the interview. POWERFUL!! So after all our lessons, we were told to go into town to go buy some bus tickets for the new missionaries going to their new areas.  Seemed simple enough right??? hapana.  wow.... traffic jam... woooow. I'm not sure if its because of the holiday season or what, but traffic in Nairobi has been the worst i have ever seen it.  From the office to the bus stage is about 4 kms, if that.  IF THAT.  Dont worry tho, it took us only 4 and a half hours to get there.... no joke.... hahaha woooow. Sittin sitting not moving an inch... i was about to lose it.  Cars were jammed for as long as the eye could see.  We finally got to the bus stage at 8:45 pm.  and wow.... Nairobi at night is something else.... its like a zoo.  People are everywhere going every which direction.  It was pretty intense.  We took advantage of the time tho, and because it was my birthday, we got some PIZZA!! Ohh man it was nice.  Happy birthday me.... haha.  I dont feel like I am 21. Wild day tho.  

Friday the Pres Hicken invited us and the assistants to play bocce ball and go out to eat.  It was really nice.

Saturday we mostly just contacted, and did some more service.  We got to wash the baptismal clothes from our last baptism that never got washed... ya they were a lil stinky.  Haha but me and elder Musasia dominated those clothes! and yes we did it all by hand. Fun fun. 

Sunday was really powerful.  The baptism for Gerrald was perfect.  Elder Maduna (my old comp) got to do the baptism.  But Bro Gerrald is one of the most spiritually prepared people i have met on my mission.  He has his own testimony already.  I am just grateful that i was privileged enough to take part in the teaching process.  Even pres Hicken came to the baptism (he helped us teach Gerrald when he had time).  Also! Nifred, one of our RC's, also gave a fantastic talk at the baptism!! She has only been a member for a few weeks, but she did a great job, using scriptures from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I was really happy for her. Great Sunday. 

quite the week.... but a lot of fun tho!!

Read two scriptures this week that really meant a lot to me.  Both of them really got me thinking about what my mission, and what it has meant to me so far.  Mosiah 5:2-5 and Alma 32:28.  Both talk about change, and giving place for the gospel in our lives.  I absolutely love my mission and especially the things the Lord has shown unto me since i have been here.  

But this will be my last week in Upper Hill... crazy.  Pres Hicken said elder Musasia and I will be transferred out next week.  So sunday night we will find out where we are going.  It will be my last area... weird.  

BUT HEY! Benny boy and Becca i hope you have a great wedding!!! Im excited for both of you!!! 

Lakini nawapendeni!! Endelea vizuri na kumbuka vitu vya muhimu kwanza.  Wiki njema!

Elder Thomas

 

December 8, 2014

Wow its already December... last month of the year!

Not a bad week.

So this week we had our ZTM Zone training meeting), and it went ok  for the most part.  We discussed the things we talked about at MLC, and we mainly focused on 3 topics: 1) How to increase trust between  zone leaders and zone members.   2) How to improve our councils.  3) How to be more diligent as missionaries.  With increasing trust and improving our councils, both topics went over pretty well. Everyone was pretty understanding and gave in good input, and we were able to put ideas together to what we could all do to  improve.  With the part of diligence, that is just something that Elder Harris and I thought would be good to discuss, being something that we feel our zone is struggling with. But it went pretty well.

After ZTM we were able to go on exchanges with the Riruta Elders, so elder Musasia and I went to Riruta to be with Elder Njuguna.  It was a pretty good exchange.  They are doing ok that side, still trying to figure out the area and trying to find out where people stay.  Persecution out there is pretty intense.  We ran into some pretty interesting people who were not happy to see us... it was interesting. 

Also this week we were able to meet with Bro Gerrald.  We thought that he had disappeared, because every time we called him or tried to arrange an appointment, his phone could not be reached. But  this week we got a call from him  and he said that he wanted to meet with us.  So we met and asked him how things were going with him.  He said that he went to Kyambeke for some time to be with his family and that he was attending the services there.  So we talked, and we felt ok to still have him be baptized on the 14th, this next week.  We have been able to review a few of the lessons with him and we feel like he is still doing good. 

This week we got 3 referrals on Sunday! All from one member.  They are all boarding students who are back from school, all of them have met with missionaries before and already have a pretty good understanding of the church. Even the member who gave us the referrals is a RM and lives with all the referrals she gave us.  So we have talked with here and she will be able to teach a few of the lessons to help us out.   So I'm excited about this! It should be good and we hope to have some more baptisms at the end of the month. 

Also this week we were able to have Sis Nifred confirmed! Only took 3 weeks after the baptism to have it done but I'm happy she is now a full member and has the gift of the Holy Ghost.  She is awesome!

Not to much interesting for this week.  but things are going ok. 

love you all!

Elder Thomas

Elder Musasia- from Upper Hill Ward.... serving in Upper Hill ward.  He is enjoying it.

Washindaji- getting that good counsel from the elder.  Nairobi museum

KFC for Thanksgiving but all is well!

Wow i cant believe that its already december... only one more month of 2014....crazy.

But this past week was not bad, and some pretty interesting stuff going on here...

So let me just get to the juicy info.  On tuesday, elder harris and I were in the office doing some few things, when president Hicken came out of his office. He came up to greet us, as usual, but out of know where he says ''Elder Thomas, you will be training the new elder who will be coming in tomorrow, he is all yours.'' .... I was like ummm whaat!? haha soo crazy! So now I know that I will be finishing my mission training a new missionary.  But even what's more than that.... the new missionary is Elder Musasia.... who was 2 weeks ago Brother Eunicon.... one of our ward missionaries!!! I've already worked with him before and we know each other pretty well.  So for now, we will be in a three some here in Upper Hill, and then at the end of the transfer Pres. Hicken said that both of us will be transferred out and white wash an area.... so that's interesting as well.  But for now we are still in Upper Hill with Elder Harris.  Elder Musasia was originally assigned to the Johannesburg South Africa mission, but because of visa problems, he will be in Kenya for now.  But until he goes we will be together!. So i will probably have one last area to serve in.  

Wednesday we had an early start, taking the Hickens and AP's to the airport, and then to pick up Elder Musasia from the airport coming in from the Ghana MTC. He was happy to be back in Kenya! He is just a really happy and positive guy, so it will be good to be with him.  The rest of the day was just filled with office work that we had to do... so i felt bad for Elder Musasia just because he was just like following us around, not really doing any proselyting.  

Thursday we had our MLC (missionary leadership council), which was pretty nice.  We talked about how to improve our councils as missionaries in our districts and zones, and even how there are soo many councils in the church, and how that effective counseling makes a huge difference in the administrative side of the church.  So that was nice.  Also we had KFC (yes they do have KFC in kenya)..... and it was powerful! not quite turkey.... but close enough!! it was waaaay good. We had to drop of elder musasia in Riruta for the day because of our meeting... but he said that he enjoyed things there, which was good.    

Friday we had to drive some elders around so they could get back to their areas, and we also just did some office work.  It was nice tho because we finished the day with a nice dinner appointment at the Badoo family home! They made us lasagna and chicken!! haha it was powerful! They lived in Atlanta for 3 years, so they know what thanksgiving is, so they invited us over to have a thanksgiving dinner.  it was really cool!

Saturday was our first full day of proselyting during the whole week..  It was ok.  Our plans got like changed 5 different times because of canceled appointments and other things... but it seemed to work out ok.  Right now we are struggling to find consistent investigators... we find someone, then the next week they disappear or some funny funny thing happens to them.  Its frustrating, but its manageable.  So really no investigators to report about, but we are still looking for more!

Sunday was also interesting... ha. We planned to have 2 confirmations for Kevin and Nifred (who were baptized 2 weeks ago and because of stake conference they had to wait to be confirmed.). But we only had one.... for Kevin. Which went really well! We had his father, Livingstone (who is also a convert of just over a year) do the confirmation.  He was really nervous he would not be able to do it right, but he did great!! was really happy for him! Unfortunately with Nifred the bishop in our ward forgot to do in in sacrament meeting.  We called him the night before, and told him twice in PEC meeting that we would have her confirmation the next day.  He said it was fine.  But when it came time to the confirmation in sacrament meeting.... he never announced it.  So afterward we went up to him and asked what was going on.  He said he forgot...... hahaha ummm ok.... anyways we all make mistakes.  We talked to Nifred about it afterwards and she said it was ok.  So next week with her!! She is doing great tho, no concerns about her.  

SO that was the jist of the week. 

But all is going well.  One cool thing this week was during our lesson after church with sister Nifred.  She said during the week, she got into an argument over something with her boss and it really made her feel bad.  But she said after that situation, she went somewhere quiet and started to read the scriptures.  She said it really helped her to feel better and remember what is really important.  She said that she was reading in 2 Nephi 4 and that chapter really helped her, especially vs 20-21 and 34.  Its all about trusting in the Lord and really putting him first.  If we all did that, all of the things that seem bad to us would not be so bad.  Putting God first, by living his gospel, is the only way we can find lasting peace and happiness.  Its the truth! I have definately seen that on my mission.  My mission has been the happiest time of my life because its been the first time for myself to be consistent in living and applying the Gospel of Jesus Christ to my life.   So if we are lacking peace or happiness in our life, its because we are thinking to much of ourselves, and not enough about the things that are really important, like the thing s of God.

Well that's all for this week.  Ninatumaini sana kwamba sisi sote tutaendelea kuishi injili ya Yesu Kristo na eldelea vizuri. Wiki njema!!!

Elder Thomas

In a recent letter to Daniel's dad, Daniel said "Dad I miss you and the family, but I don't want to leave, I love my mission."

November 24, 2014

namna gani vipi?!

yes yes yes another week has come and gone leaving this month with only one more week.... crazy!

Well, this week was not our best, but we still had some good things that happened.  But most of this week was just trying to find new people.  

At the begining of the week we got to go on exchanges with the Elders from Athi River, so i got to be with Elder Barasa again! He is a super funny guy from Busia Uganda.  And we had a pretty good day together with some good lessons.  We were able to meet with a few new investigators. The first one was Antony.  He was some guy that Elder Harris and I contacted at Uhuru Park.  He had a ton of questions for us, so we told him we would love to meet with him again on Tuesday.  He agreed and gave us his phone number and we went our separate ways. So on Monday night we tried to call his number... but it was a wrong number.  So we thought that he either wrote it wrong or just gave us some funny funny number because he wasnt interested. That was discouraging.... until he showed up at the church at the exact time we planned to meet with him! so we met with him, answered his questions, and gave him a bapt date that he accepted! He is really awesome! only problem is... when we met he gave us another number.... so we thought ok great now we his 'actual' number'. it was a wrong number again......... so i dont know, i hope he shows up again randomly so we can continue to teach him.   but this happens a lot with people. 

Also this week we were able to meet with Gerald again, and he is doing great.  We are planning for the 14 Dec with him. We reviewed the restoration with him, and he basically taught us everything.  He is super powerful! He says that now that he understands how the gospel works, he wants to be able to spend more time with his family. Right now he lives here in Nairobi, while his family stays in Kyambeke (which is like 3 hours away).  So he wants to quite his job here (which is a pretty good paying job), and be able to spend more time with his family, and be able to teach them the gospel there.  POWERFUL!! Thats the way it should be, so im really excited for him.  Family first!!!

Saturday we got to go to Kibera.  It was interesting as always.  We had a member there to help us so it was good because Kibera is soooo big, and confusing.  It goes on for miles and its easy to get lost.  But wow we WALKED.  no joke probably like 14 or 15 miles round trip. But hey, serving a mission makes you stronger... both spiritualy and physically!  but i enjoyed it.  Some drunk guy wanted to fight us because we didnt greet him.... haha. But he was to drunk to do anything haha so it was just more funny than scary. Hooray for the word of wisdom!

Sunday was Nairobi Stake conference! So I was able to see some familiar faces from Rongai branch!! It was waaay cool to see some of the members again from there.  We watched a broadcast that went out to all of the stakes/ districts in all of Africa.  It was cool, Elder Robert C. Gay from the Seventy and Elder Bednar and Pres Uchdorf spoke.  The main message was putting the gospel culture at the center of our lives, by not putting our cultures above the things of God.  Like no Dawri! Which is paying for your bride when you want to marry.... haha people love doing that here.  But its bad! So just some things like that.  

But things are great!I love my mission and Kenya so much! Its such a blessing to be able to be out here to serve the Lord and his people.  This week I read 2 Nephi 4, and it really sank in for me.  Especially vs 16-34.  While reading it I was just thinking about what my mission has meant to me, just being a time where I have struggled a lot and had lots of challenges, but more than that, a time where I was able to learn for myself who God really is.  That he is our Loving Father in Heaven.  That he wants us to succeed and be happy.  As long as we keep ourselves clean and do our best to come unto Him, we will be able to feel of His presence and love and see him more fully involved in our lives.  

Ninawapenda ninyi nyote! Wiki njema na Mungu awe ninyi!!

Elder Thomas

Nifred Vike, Daniel, Kevin Juma and Kevin's dad Livingstone
Daniel baptized Nifred

Nifred and John Musau after the baptism.  John introduced her to the church- Member Misionary Work!

Bro Kevin Juma and his family.  His father Livingstone did the baptism for him.

Saying goodbye to Elder Nyambita.  Also pictured is Elder Kisekka

Baptisms, Transfers and Goodbyes

Powerful week! But super super busy!!

Monday was Elder Nyambitas last day.... so we got to go to his farewell dinner at the mission home.  It was nice.  Just crazy how fast time flies.

We also got transfer news, and I will be staying in Upper Hill and my new comp is Elder Harris! He is from Alpine UT, and has been out for about a year and a half.  So it will be cool to be with him.  And Elder Kisekka also got transfered to another area in Nairobi. 

Tuesday I was still with Elder Kisekka and we had a good day.  Mostly just contacted the whole day.  But it was cool we really made things fun.  We were contacting at Uhuru Park (which is a pretty famous public park), and elder Kisekka saw some white people sitting down on a bench and said hey lets go contact them! I was like ummm errrrr what?? I've never done that before! He persisted though... so we did hahaha! I was like how do I talk to these people?? It was kind of awkward..... but interesting.  They were from Germany, so ya they were Lutheran.  And they were not interested. It was an interesting experience..... but hey Africans are soo much better because they are willing to listen and learn! I'm grateful im in Kenya!

Wednesday was pretty crazy.... lots of driving around picking up elders from the airport and bus stages going back and forth all day! But at about 5 elder Harris came in so we picked him up from the bus stage, and after that drove the rest of the night around Nairobi helping transport missionaries around.  

Thursday.... a lot of the same.  Except a lot of the missionaries getting transfered around had to stay an extra day for some different things, so we were just trying to keep track of all of them.  One cool thing tho! We had to split to do some different things and teach a lesson, So elder Harris went with some other elders and I got to teach with Elder Tshongoyi!! We were in the MTC together and are really good friends.  Ha we hadn't seen each other in a year so it was cool to be back together.  We were able to teach Silas again.  He came to church last week but had a TON of questions about some things that he saw.  He is pretty accustom to Pentecostal churches... so lots of getting up and shouting hallelujah and other stuff like that.  So we taught him about how the church works, and how the gospel works.  How we should be reverent and how that leads the spirit to be with us and allows us to be better able to receive promptings from it.  He was very understanding and said that it made sense.  Of course it does, its the truth! But a nice lesson.  He is doing good, but he will be traveling soon upcountry.  

Saturday was ok, mostly just contacted the whole day but we did have a few good lessons.  

Sunday.... POWERFUL!! We had the baptisms for Nifred Vike and Kevin Juma!! It was soo nice and it went smoothly.  I baptized Nifred, and Kevin was baptized by his father Livingstone (who i love kabisa he is a superstar!). Both were smiling the whole time and were just super happy! It was really cool to see both of them progress and prepare for this day.  Now we just have to continue to work with the ward to help strengthen them and keep them active in the church and work towards continual conversion.  Powerful baptisms and im super happy for both of them!!! YA!

Also after the baptisms we were able to meet with Gerrald, one of our investigators.  He is super converted.  He has been taught everything and has a really good understanding of how the Gospel works.  He wanted to wait for his wife and kids to be taught, so they could all be baptized together, but he came to us and told us some concerns that they had, and told us that he would like to go ahead and be baptized and set the example for them.  He even said that eventually, he would like to move back to Kyambeke with his family so he could be closer to them and really help them to learn the gospel and accept it.  He is super powerful! So we are planning for the 14 Dec with him.  

Busy busy week though.  I've really been enjoying my Book of Mormon reading this week, from 1 Nephi.  Nephi is my hero! He really understood what was up.  But two scriptures that I read that meant a lot to me was firstly 1 Nephi15:24, when Nephi was answering Laman and Lemuels question about the rod of iron.  He told them about how it was the word of God, but i love how he goes on to explain more about it saying ''and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish, neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them''.  The part I think is most important is the need to ''hold fast unto it''.  There is a difference between holding fast and touching.  If we want that divine help and strength, we need to put for effort to really hold on and grasp the rod.  if we just touch the gospel from time to time, we will eventually fall away and become lost in the things of the world.  So its for us to increase our commitment to following Christ and His gospel in order to receive his divine grace and support.  

The other scripture, that really relates well to this is 1 Nephi 16:16, talking about the Liahona.  ''And we did follow the directions of the ball, which led us in the more fertile parts of the wilderness.'' If we want to find ourselves in the ''more fertile parts'' of the world or of our lives, we need to give heed to the guidance of the ''ball'', or the teachings of the Savior, found in the scriptures and in the words of modern day Prophets and Apostles.  It is the only way that we can successfully navigate our way through mortality and get back to Heavenly Fathers presence.  I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon and its teachings!!!

Time is flying to say the least.... but im loving my mission and Kenya!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!

Daniel's sister Emmy made a church bag for a Personal Progress Project.  She sent it to Daniel and asked that he give it to one of the little girls there.  This is Immaculate Mutisia (Emma) 8 yrs old who received it.

Emma






November 10, 2014

Well... another week is gone in the books. Crazy!  But this week was pretty good, really up and down but not bad!

This past week we were put in a three-some, Elder Nyambita, myself, and an elder named Elder Kisekka.  So we got the opportunity to work with him the whole week. He is a really cool guy and i knew him before from Kitale zone. But he has been out for almost 23 months... ha so he is almost finished.  But he is from Uganda, a convert to the church and a former muslim. It was cool to be working with him this past week.  

On Tuesday we had our Zone Training Meeting.  So we had the whole zone with us and we were able to discuss a few different topics like finding more people to teach and doing better with working with ward/branch leaders.  So elder Nyambita and i went over these topics with the zone and It went well for the most part.  We mostly just discussed having the faith to find and also having faith in the members and leaders and working with them more effectively.  So we hope it helped the zone in one way or another!

Wednesday and Thursday we mostly just drove people around and did office work... so nothing really that interesting.  BUT! We had an awesome lesson with a new investigator, Silas.  He is super powerful! We contacted him a few weeks back, and we have met with him a few times since then, mostly just answering his questions. And he has a ton! But on Thursday we were able to teach him about the Restoration, and it was POWERFUL!! He had lots of great questions.  At the end of the lesson we asked him about his thoughts about what we had shared with him.  He said that everything we taught him was very new to him and different, but that it all made sense to him.  So we committed him to pray about it and we also extended him a bapt date and he accepted! So hopefully as he receives and answer to his prayers  and continues to keep commitments and progress he should be ready by December.  And he also came to church on sunday! We asked him how he liked it and he said ''yeah i enjoyed the two classes a lot (priesthood/gospel principles) they were very interactive and nice.  But the sacrament meeting.... i'm not to sure about.'' We were a little confused and asked why.  He said he didn't see people standing up and praising the Lord, and the hymns were very quiet to him... he was expecting people to get up and get all fired up ready to praise and say Hallelujah! hahahahaha! So we explained to him how important the sacrament is and how it should be reverent, so then he understood.  People are very into the Pentecostal stuff here ha. So we hope to meet him again this week.  

Friday was not bad.  We got to  go on exchanges with the assistants, so i got to be with Elder Maduna again, my old comp!! it was a lot of fun to be with him.  We had some good lessons and it went well.  We then had a dinner appointment with on of the families from the ward, the Badoo's.  They are super awesome! They are from Ghana, but Bro Badoo works in kenya with IBM.  They have also lived in Atlanta while working for IBM, so they are pretty interesting people.  They really love missionaries soo much.  Bro Badoo says the reason why he likes missionaries coming to visit him and his family so much is because he wants his kids so see what missionaries are like, so they can serve one day as well.  he also said that he likes to feed missionaries because he wants his kids to get fed when they go out. That reminded me of you mom~!!!! haha i remember you said the same thing, so that was cool.  They made us fried rice, mashed potatoes, chicken wings, and then brownies and ice cream...... wow!! it was very nice.  

Saturday was up and down. All of our appointments got bounced... so that was very disappointing.  But, we had one of the Ward missionaries with us, Bro Coulston, so we were able to go on splits with him.  So i went with him and elder Nyambita and Kisekka went out together.  So Coulston and I just went out tracting and contacting... and it was pretty nice.  It was just really cool being with a member who was so willing to go out and go tracting with the missionaries.  So it was really enjoyable!

Sunday was really nice! We had the opportunity to go back out to Machakos to go help out with the group there.  Since the last time we were there, they have had one baptism! The members fellowshiped this guy named Frank(24 yrs or so), they taught him all the lessons, and he was then baptized at the Athi River ward.  So this week as we did the sacrament, he was able to pass the sacrament.  it was really cool.  I presided over the meeting (hahahaha) and Elder Nyambita, Kiseka, and I all gave talks.  There were 7 people total.  But by small and simple things are great things brought to pass! 

Also, because both Nifred and Kevin are only avaliable on Sundays, they were interviewed yesterday for baptism... and both of them passed! So this next Sunday we will be having their baptisms.  So i'm super excited for them!! They are powerful! We really hope that all goes well for them this next sunday!!! 

But this was also Elder Nyambita's last week on mission... tomorrow he goes back home to Mwanza, TZ.  Its crazy... he was my first companion and now he is finishing! It was good to be with him twice.  

Transfer news are tonight, so we will see who my new companion is.  

But This week i began to re-read the Book of Mormon again. I want to finish it again before i go home, and i'm excited to have the chance to read it again! We had a lesson this week with a recent convert who is preparing to serve a mission and we read Alma ch 26.  I would recommend all of you to read it.  Its Ammon reflecting on his missionary service. Some of the Powerful verses are vs. 3,15 about being instruments in the hands of the Lord, and 37 how the Lord is mindful of all people.  I'm grateful for the Book of Mormon and It's teachings about the Savior and the things that will bless us the most.  I know its true.  

Love you allllll!!! Wiki njema na endelea vizuri! 

Elder Thomas