A Week of Cleaning...Deep, Deep Cleaning Aug 20, 2013

Carrying 100L (26 gal) water barrel for Big Mike's wife.

Okay so this was one week that will most likely not happen again on my mission, it was a week entirely filled with cleaning from Thursday - Saturday, it was cleaning.

On Wednesday, we had our usual DDM and then went and ate at the usual hotel. Afterwards our exchanges started, I was with Elder Jones, in my area, and Elder Kazomba my companion was going to Kyambeke (Elder Jones area) till Friday evening. We really didn't do much after DDM, we went to the church building and we had to print scripture reading charts and such for the branch members, and print other stuff. After that we talked for a while with the members who were there repairing the building, breaking away huge chunks of wall where plaster is so that they could replaster and then eventually paint. The Mitini Meeting house really is in disrepair.  It's gonna take a while till it actually looks really good. Anyways, we got home around 5 as usual.  We kept being given loquads, a small yellow cherry like fruit, that is pretty sour. I really like them, so I appreciate it when people give them to us.

On Thursday, beginning in the morning, we set out to literally clean both missionary flats to the point that you could lick them. We moved everything out of each room, then scrubbed the walls with bleach and clothes washing soap (it's all we had) till the black mildewed stains came off.  We only had small hand brushes to use at first, so it was a drudging task. We cleaned everything in the apartment, EVERYTHING.. After first cleaning mine and my companion's bedroom, we splashed water everywhere to get the final dirt and mildew off.  It was nasty watching straight black water pour off the walls onto the floor. We then moved to the main sitting room in the other flat as the bedroom dried.. Moved everything and then went at it again. This time I found two big brooms, and I figured "hey, if we are using small hand brushes, why dont we try these big brooms so we can work faster..?" We tried them and found they worked quite well, so I used them to get the high spots and to do as much as possible on each wall as Elder Jones went through and did a touch up with the smaller brushes. That room was disgusting.  The wall was so black that elder jones could write his name in big letters on it and the contrast made his name pop out. Oh and the spiders coming from one of the big metal doors were narly! Huge, as big as my fist, and I've got some big fists if you havent noticed... One of the spiders was carrying a huge sack of eggs on its chest, I made sure to annihilate that spider and all the chances of those eggs hatching. One thing I don't like most is the spiders. 

After cleaning the big room we went and got some food to eat, while it dried.  Then after getting back, cooking the food, and eating, we moved all the stuff back into my bedroom, the floor was still wet though and it seemed to have spread into the other room, so some of our stuff got wet, luckily all of my stuff was fine except the bottom of one of the suitcases was wet, but nothing inside was.

It was 6:00pm by the time we finished just those two rooms, and we were meeting with Big Mike to show us a new flat at that time. We met with him, and he had told us the new place for sale was 100 meters from the market, so we figured "Okay! if its nicer than what we already have that will be great".  We met with him and started walking together... as we were walking, we found out the new place was actually 2 kilometers from the market and a 50ksh picky picky ride.. we didn't even go all the way to the new place because we already determined it as too far. No one wants to walk 2 kilometers to go get bread in the morning, and that adds to the distance we must walk when proselyting..

That night we played cards together, I couldnt remember any good card games, so Elder Jones and I played California Speed, Its a fun game, but it gets boring after a while.

The next morning Friday, was the same routine, but instead, this time we were to clean the worst two parts, the kitchen and the bathroom.. Both of which are horrid. We moved everything out of the Kitchen, including the sink and put it all in the hall way. We then scrubbed like crazy, this time we had no bleach, but we had lots of clothes washing soap haha, the walls were so destroyed from mildew and steam, that they were crumbling as we washed them. We had to really be gentle (this was a challenge especially with how dirty it is)  We worked on that kitchen for hours, from 8:00am - 4:00pm we finally got it to a point that was manageable and could probably pass Kenyan Health Code (just to inform you, they don't have a Kenyan Health Code). We also cleaned the bathroom as much as possible. It seems to always smell in the bathroom, and we found out why.  Our toilet has a leak when it flushes so it leaks out some of the toilet water and that drains from a hole out the wall. Somehow all the flies immediately reappeared in the bathroom, so that was no fun, but we got some pesticide to destroy all Remanence of insects.

After cleaning we headed to Mitini to end exchanges and switch back. Overall, our exchanges were pretty successful, the other guys did a lot of hard work in Kyambeke, and as you read above, we worked very hard too.

Saturday was Mormon Helping Hands day, so in essence that meant another day full of cleaning. We got to the church building at 9:00am, it was supposed to start at 8:00am, but on Kenyan time that just means show up whenever you desire.. (its like Mormon standard time on steroids). For the project we were going to clean the church building which had been under construction for the last two weeks and has been in great need of someone to clean it up and remove all debris and cement dust. I was assigned to clean the Branch Presidents office.  Considering I was put into the cleaning mood from the last few days, I did an awesome job in there.  I swept, dusted, reorganized, and threw away a bunch of trash. The Branch President seems to horde a ton of old papers that are unneeded, so I piled them all up and asked him permission to trash them. He said I could. Also while cleaning I had to battle some more spiders, these ones were the same size if not bigger. I asked one of the members if they are dangerous and he said they are too small and can't kill you.  He then said the ones to watch out for are the size of a small watermelon, and weigh about 50 grams.. Thats a BIG spider!! they live in banana trees and holes. Those will kill you he said, but he also said they are very rare.  Just like the deadly snakes, RARE.

The Mormon Helping Hands turned out a success, got the whole place cleaned, and three of our investigators came, the Makwemas, Josephine (their friend we teach with them) and they brought their mother. It was great! After the service project, the Branch President had me share a short message. I shared how "we are all unified together for a great purpose in the service of God. This is one of the best tools of missionary work by being an example to others in word and action. It applies to everyone at all times." They than gave everyone the usual refreshment, a loaf of bread and a 300ml soda.. gonna miss those baked goods for refreshments.

Mormon Helping hands day.  Can you find Rushton?

After the Mormon Helping Hands we went to the Branch Presidents for a Dowry/ Marriage Ceremony. We sat there for 5 hours. They made me share another spiritual thought, so I shared about marriage and the love between a husband and wife, as well as the love of the parents to the children. I dont know that anyone understood it, but I thought it was good, and the Branch President thought it was great. The rest of the ceremony was boring, but at least there was some of my favorite food! Rice, potatoes, onions, and nyama (meat) with a bone. I actually really enjoy that meal. It's bland but tasty to me, the people here don't like rice, and only serve it because they can make a lot very fast, luckily for me I happen to love rice!

The Branch President's Picky Picky.  

Sunday was good, church as normal.  They had me teach the Sunday School class about Family History because I guess I am the only one with a knowledge of it. I was happy to do it and surprisingly I was able to teach a pretty powerful scripture lesson without any preparation. (Blessing of being a missionary.) After church, Elder Kazomba and I were able to create the Branch Mission Plan on the computer. I typed it up and it looks sweet, very professional. The ZL was suprised because he says his looks nothing like it.

Monday was a normal proselyting day, we went to the Matua area. It's always a hard area, because the people there are are not motivated to do much and are very idle. We taught the members we could find and then got home around 4:30pm.

Today we started in Nunguni, then the power died, so now we are in Machakos where there is an ATM. It is about two hours from our home.

Anyways thats all for this week, it went by very fast!
Love you all,

Elder Rushton J Hiltbrand