Rushton Hiltbrand's Missionary Blog: I've Got a Son! Sept 24, 2013

Just a note: Rushton did not mention anything about the unrest in Nairobi. He is in the Hills a couple hours away. He may not even be aware it is going on as I don't think they have TV's. I mentioned it in my email to him, but he did not respond to my inquiry. I have heard from other mothers that do have sons in the city of Nairobi that all are safe and accounted for. I am sure the Mission President has implemented protocols to ensure that everyone is safe during this time of unrest.

The elders in Kilungu Hills with the Mission President.

Well hello everyone,

So this last week has been exciting! On Wednesday, it was the usual DDM (District meeting) in Mitini, that took up a majority of the day, because we are now actually teaching classes at the church. I was in charge of teaching both the English Class and the Temple Class. This was sure an interesting experience, because I only had two students in the classes, and they spoke very little English and mainly Kikamba. Luckily I had Brother Antone (nicknamed Muzungu) present to help assist in translations to Kikamba. In the English class, he would write English words on the board and then the Kikamba translation, so I took the liberty and wrote all those translations down in my planner. I have become very interested in learning Kikamba, so that is what I have been doing diligently this week. Kiswahili and Kikamba have a close tie, so if I can learn either one, it will help me to learn the other. Also a plus to learning Kikamba is that there are six other main tribes in Kenya speaking a very similar language, so I will be able to speak to them as well. So Wednesday night, Elder Ita sent me a text saying that my son (Elder I will be training) is a Muzungu (American – Rushton had thought that with the name Janda he would be from Africa)!! I was ecstatic! I called up my son at the MIssion Home where he was staying to talk to him for a few minutes, then went inside and threw my fists in the air and yelled "my son’s a Muzungu!!!" (I felt as though I had scored the winning goal at the FIFA World Cup or something) I was seriously worried about recieving an African son. I love the Africans, but I feel it is much more productive to train a muzungu, because we are immediately able to understand one another. With an African, that isn't necessarily so easy because our native tongue and culture is so different.

So on Thursday, I received my trainee or son as they call them. He is eighteen years old from Gilbert, Arizona. He is a nice guy, excited to be here on a mission, but you can drastically see the difference between those that came at nineteen years and those that are starting to come right out of High School. I will explain a bit more about that a little later. Anyways, after allowing him to set his bag down and giving him a tour of the flats (apartments) , I had planned a BUSY day for us. We went and visited and taught seven member families in Kikoko. I wanted to show him that here--we work hard, we don't delay, we have people to teach, things to teach, and souls to save. It ended up being a really productive day, allowing him to see the hills and walk up some good ones, then meet all the members in the Kikoko area. People were shocked to see two muzungus together. It was funny, because now the kids walking home from school ditch the roads so fast, all we have to do is make a notion that we're going to run at them, and they all dive off the sides of the hill into the bushes, brings me a good deal of laughter every time.

On Friday, it was our official full day together as a companionship, and my first day of training with my trainee. We woke up at 6:25am, and started our day. I have set my alarm for 6:25am, because that way we are up out of bed by 6:30am. I told him while giving him an orientation on Thursday, that we will be obeying all mission rules. He may see other missionaries do otherwise, but for us we will be exactly obedient. I explained to him that as we do so, we are promised the necessary strength and guidance that we so desperately need here in Kilungu Hills. We were ready and doing our personal studying by 8:00 am. It’s nice that now that our shower is somewhat working, we are all able to get ready much faster (except multiple times the last few days there has been no power in the mornings, so that puts us right back at bucket showers). Personal Study is definitely one of my favorite times of the day, I am able to really focus on the scriptures, and I learn so much, my scriptures are going to be beautifully marked with all sorts of insights by the end of my mission. We began our Companion study at 9:00 am over in the bigger apartment, and so I being both the District Leader, and Trainer, I have been having to take charge in leading everything. Companion studies are much better than they used to be as I have altered them slightly from that which I was taught, to be more productive and applicable to our work for that day. As before, we still share what we learned from our personal study, but now we plan for the day before that, so that as we share what we learned from our personal study, we can all collaborate on how we can apply those insights to our teaching for the day, and if we can use them when sharing spiritual thoughts. If we are teaching many of the same lessons in a day, then we will work together to find scriptures and better way to teach it. After our comp study, Elder Utonga does English Language study, and I train Elder Janda.

Training...so being a trainer so early is an odd experience. I feel as though I just arrived here in Kilungu and started my own training yesterday, but now about four months have gone by, and I am now the one training a new missionary in the hills. The training manual has the training start out slow for the first three weeks, so on the first day training, I ran through with him all the basics of things, what being trained consists of, all the work we will be doing in the areas, and the people we will be focusing on.

After training, we went to Mutua and visited five families. Upon arrival, we found close to twenty people gathered at Papa Johns. They were all waiting for people to arrive from Nairobi over a land dispute. Anyways, we talked to them for a few minutes, then Papa John suggested we go visit some others first and then return. We were about to do that, when Sister Rebecca suggested we share a quick message, then go. I liked that idea, so that’s what we did since everyone was okay with that. I gave my new trainee the privilege to share a spiritual thought with the group. (The faster I can make him more comfortable with teaching on the spot and in awkward situations, the better, because there is a lot of that here.) He shared a good message about contention and rivalry, I forget exactly what scripture it was, but it was good. After teaching them we continued our day and taught the other members that we could find. For Thursday and Friday, I really just wanted to get the new companionship and Elder Janda acquainted with the members and the areas. With Sister Philomena, I had her teach me some Kikamba (I write it all down in my planner so I can study it later.) She taught me how to pray in Kikamba, so now i can pray in three languages, English, Swahili, and Kikamba. I'm glad God understands my rough attempts to bless the food and such, because I haven't gotten sick from food since.

Saturday, today was a funeral day, and because the lady who died was a member of the church, we had to attend. She was an 85 year old mama that died in the hospital after being sick for a while. Funerals are always boring, because I don’t understand all that Kikamba yet, but we attend them anyways. It’s a good way for us to contact many new people, and to help others know that we share the message of Jesus Christ and not of the devil. There are other missionaries that don't attend them, but Branch President Kasave has asked us to, so we do. At the funeral, there were many people. It was a hot day, so everyone was crammed in what little shade could be found. Like I've said there is no such thing as personal space here, so people are all over.. when I say crammed, I mean crammed! Kabisa (emphasis). We were served the regular funeral food, (rice, boiled potatoes and tiny piece of nyama or meat) Its bland, but I still love it. It’s my favorite dish here. While eating, President Kaseve unexpectedly chose me to share a spiritual thought during the program. I have no problem doing this, and surprisingly, I actually kind of enjoy it. The funeral was going on late, so we left when they were all heading to bury the body. The funeral took up the whole day.

Rainy Sunday, its been rainy and cooler weather this week, which is odd, because we are supposed to be right in the middle of Hot season. I have no complaints with the absence of heat, but I don't appreciate the power being gone so often. The rain coat I have really comes in handy on days like this, except by the time I get to the church after walking up Jacksons Nightmare (a former missionary used to have nightmares about this hill), I am so drenched with sweat that it’s almost better if I went without a jacket in the rain. Church was good. It was nice to introduce everyone to Elder Janda. I was also so happy to see the Makwema family at church. We haven’t been able to visit them for a while, and they weren’t at church last week, so I wasn’t sure if I would see them or not. At church I began outlining a Plan of Salvation Pamphlet, and finding bible scriptures to support all of the principles and doctrines that we teach in it. I am doing this because the Mama whom I purchase produce from each day, (I just recently found out her name is June), was asking me about the three kingdoms of glory, and where that is found in the Bible. I couldn’t think of 1 corinthians 15:40-41 at that exact time, so I have set to the task to find all of those Bible scriptures. This pamphlet has turned into a great resource for me when teaching. It was funny in Elders Quorum (a men’s meeting at church), the 1st councilor asked Elder Janda to teach! haha, the people here really crack me up with stuff like that. Elder Janda did a good job teaching about families. I had to help him out near the end though when they started talking about one man, one wife, and we had two polygamist investigators present.

For Monday’s, I made the decision to make them a service day rotating between Mutua and Kikoko. Otherwise, they are so slow and unproductive. We showed up to our first appointment with Sister Philomena, where we had agreed to shovel, carry and place manure, but to our surprise, she was nowhere to be found. So we went to Sister Frida's where they were building a cow shed, they didn’t need our help right that instant, so they gave us chairs to sit and wait. While sitting there, a bunch of people including police showed up to the house below, they were all yelling in Kikamba, so we couldn’t understand. She then explained what was happening to Elder Utonga in Swahili, and he translated for us. I guess the mama below was beat by her husband so she ran away. She was beat because while her husband has been away working in Mombasa, she has been having her mother who is a witch doctor come and kill chickens and pour their blood around the premises casting spells or something. The husband doesn’t approve of that, so he beat her. (Witch craft is very present, you may not believe it, because I sure didn't before arriving here in Africa, but it definitely exists in the world.) That was interesting, afterwards big Mike walked up to Frida's. I had him teach me a bunch of Kikamba, whenever there is a chance, I have people teach me. We decided to go up and teach Sister Martina an investigator of ours, then come back and eat food with Sister Frida. The lesson with Sister Martina went well, but for whatever reason, when we teach her she gets super shy. Otherwise she is super loud and laughs with us a lot. At the end of the lesson, I felt inspired to commit her to baptism, my mind was filled with exactly the method I should go about asking. I followed that prompting and she agreed to be baptized October 26. After eating food with Sister Frida, us three Elders, sister Frida, Sister Martina and her children, and Big Mike and his Wife all headed down to the valley to fetch water. It was fun helping them, carrying 20L of water on my back was not too heavy, just awkward with the weight distribution. While going back up the steep hill, the konga (towel type thing) came loose and my water jug fell and started rolling back down the hill, it was a funny sight I bet. Overall, the day was productive and turned out to be good.

So far so good with the threesome companionship, Elder Utonga’s Swahili really comes in handy. I never realized how much of an accent Muzungus have right from America, but now i know! Elder Janda's Swahili attempts crack me up, but I know I was just the same 12 weeks ago.

Till next week!
Love you! Elder Hiltbrand