I asked Rushton about the terrorist attack in Nairobi and these were his responses: (My questions and comments are in blue.)
Did you even hear about it? Yeah I hear of everything here. All the missionary sets have cellphones, so text messages get to everyone, so I heard right after it happened, plus all the Kenyans were telling us at church.
The mall is in shambles. That's what I hear, and to answer dad, yes missionaries would shop at that mall. It was one of my buddies favorite places to go on PDays (Preparation Days-the one day a week missionaries have for shopping, laundry, emailing, etc.), he was telling me how awesome it is and how many muzungus (white people) are there.
It was international news and the country was put on a US travel advisory. That's way funny that the country is now on the US travel advisory. There's always attacks and stuff going on here. Everyday there is a riot in Nairobi, but they tell us that as long as no one is running away, there is no need to run. The next few days after the Westgate attack there were some more shootings and attacks in other parts of Kenya, the AlShabaab are crazy here, and I guess they now teamed up with AlQueda?
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Hello everyone,
So this week has sure been an interesting one. It has gone by super fast, which is suprising because each day has been rather slow paced. (Click on highlighted words to learn more.)
So last Tuesday, there wasn't really anything very eventful after emailing, we just did laundry, and ate food. Not much to it. For anyone who wants to try going without a washer and dryer for a week or so, the key to getting cleaner laundry and whiter shirts is SOAP. The more bubbles you can produce, the better. I have learned this the hard way as the two shirts I am using in this area have progressively become more brown (the water's brownish yellow, so it makes whites the same color). Tuesday night, I remembered right before bed to give out assignments for DDM(district development meeting). This is one of my responsibilities as a District leader, so I had to make sure to do it; otherwise DDM would be a catastrophe...and I'm no fan of disorderly meetings.
So Wednesday we hiked up to the church. I was happy because we left much earlier than usual. We are supposed to teach classes each week beginning at 10:00am, but when we arrived there was no one there to be taught. That was a bummer, because I really do enjoy teaching the classes. We just proceeded with DDM, the meeting went smoothly, and Elder Mulondo (previous AP) was impressed that we take DDM seriously and respect them so that we may all learn. I had assigned Mulondo to give the training in DDM, because I knew he could do a good job and enlighten us with such little prior notice. He shared with us a talk by Elder Stanley of the quorum of the 70. It was a great talk and great training. My favorite quote from the talk was "This is not my mission. This is God's mission." After DDM, we ate again at our favorite hotel. I have really grown to love supu (soup) a lot here. It doesnt matter that the meat used is more mysterious than that of Wendy's hamburgers, as long as it tastes good I will eat it. After eating, the Kyambeke elders set off to walk back to Kyambeke, at least going back is all down hill. We were walking to the appointment we had scheduled when, half way down Jackson's Nightmare Hill, Big Mike and Brother Antone (nicknamed Muzungu) called us saying they were coming with us, and that we should stop and wait. We decided to wait because it would only be a few minutes. We just happened to stop at a line of Safari Ants. (Note from mom: Safari ants can travel in columns up to 50 million ants. They are natural pest control as they will eat all insects and small animals in their paths. Great way to get rid of the crop insects. If they enter a home the family will leave for a few days and when they come back all insects and rodents will be gone.)
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| Safari Ants |
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| Safari Ants |
We stood and watched them as they are really an interesting insect. They have warriors escorting the harvester and small ants. The Big warrior ants make a solid wall that prevents any of the small ants out, and prevents anything in. We decided to mess with them with water, because being boys of course we are going to disturb the ants. If we had a magnifying glass we would probably have burned them too. Anyways, we poured water on them and they all dispersed rapidly, the warrior ants went out on a search to find the culprit. Since they were all scattered, Elder Utonga decided to pick a few up and let them crawl around. Eventually, they started to bite his finger. He said it didn't hurt at first, but they keep squeezing and biting harder until they break through. Once they have broken through, they'e difficult to get off, you have to literally pull them off, nothing else really works. He let one bite, then I pulled off the back body and let it remain so I could take a picture showing they really can work as stitches. He did it, but I couldn't get a picture because my camera couldn't focus that close. The funny thing was that even without the body, the ant continued to bite harder and harder until it broke skin! It was crazy, so now I know if I get a cut all I need are some safari ants to suture it shut.
Finally Big Mike and Bro. Antone came running down the hill, with a huge cloud of dust following behind. All five of us marched off to New Zion. They were all joking with Elder Janda about how he wouldn't be able to make it to New Zion. Elder Janda is fresh here and considering he is from America, they say he doesn't know how to walk yet. They say I now know how to walk, and that I walk fast Kabisa (Emphasis)! In New Zion, it was a beautiful day, everything has been green lately, and because the sun has been bright, it makes for good pictures. Sadly though, the investigator we wanted to teach was not there, so I had Bro. Antone translate 100+ words from english to Kikamba in a notebook I purchased as we waited for them to return. We shared a spiritual thought with the wife of our investigator (the wife is a member) then went on our way. We took a new way back from New Zion. It's not nearly as steep, so that was nice, but it is much longer. The rest of the day wasn't very eventful, because trips to New Zion take up most of the day.
Thursday we had planned to go visit Elder Utonga's proselyting area in Kyanga, let me just say, their area is far! We planned to see many people in his area, but sadly like our areas in Kalongo and Mutua, many people are not home. (It's difficult to make appointments here because of the lack of phones.) We try to make appointments after church on Sundays, but many people still aren't there when we show up. This is mainly because it's hot season so everyone is in their shamba (farm) preparing for rainy season. With one of the young members in the ward, we were discussing what to expect in the rainy season. He said that the rains are intense here. He presumes they're more than anything I've experienced before. I guess we will have to take a different route to church because the river is so high and flash floods are common. He recommended I get some gum boots (rain boots) when I can so I am prepared. The worst part though is that he said that the power is rare during the rainy season, so I will be using many candles, and I'm not sure if there will be power to email each week. The rainy season doesn't start till the end of October, so I have till then to enjoy having power.
Friday was a normal Mutua day, we taught a few families, all the families we could find. We also contacted many people, we wanted to achieve our contacting goal this week, so we had to be sure to contact everyone. Big Mike accompanied us to teach some of our investigators who we have not been able to teach in a while. It is incredibly helpful to have members present in lessons, it helps people to understand more, and become friends with those in the branch. All of our lessons were super rushed though, all of our investigators had to be somewhere or were commited to something else. We really just wanted to see them and check in on how they are doing, and see if there is anything we could help them with.
Saturday was an adventure, we planned to go see Julius first, and he is the furthest in Kikoko, so that meant we had to take the short cut again, or at least try to take it again. I led the way, and I had a good idea of where to go this time because of all the past errors and failures. Like they say, "if you learn from your mistakes, someday you'll reach your goal!" We were taking a interesting route, it began as a trail, but soon turned into a shamba, then a river. It was a funny sight to see us hiking through shambas, and rivers trying to find the right trail. Totally could have been a scene in a missionary movie or something. I finally found a trail that looked promising, we took it and made guess work of it as we hiked up a hill. We came across an old man walking the path too, and he said he was going to Kikoko and would lead the way. He was slow, but that was a blessing in itself because we were able to teach him about the restoration and set up a time to come and meet with him at his home. Earlier that morning I had prayed for someone to cross our paths so we could teach, and well that exact thing happened, literally in the path. After teaching a few families throughout the day, and being bounced by a few, we went to the Kivi Kivis. While sitting there next to the cow pen, we were all talking and laughing about my attempts to speak Kikamba. Whenever we sit close to the cow pen, the cow likes to come real close as though its listening. I was scratching the cow because it really likes it, then it started to taste me haha, it kept licking me, and if you've ever seen a cow's tongue, they are massive, and strong! It was funny! I can now say I have been licked by a cow.
Sunday was just like any other Sunday with church and walking Jackson's Nightmare, but the morning was a bit more exciting. While taking a nice lukewarm shower in the morning, I started to smell some sort of burning smell, it was faint, so I didn't think much of it right away. I continued to smell it, so I thought hmm, maybe the plumber who had just fixed our water didn't connect the wiring correctly. I looked up and before I could do anything I saw the wiring above me explode with a huge flash. I jumped in shock of course, because what else was i supposed to do while standing in the small confined space of the bathroom. I was still all soapy, so i finished really quick with the now cold water, and got out. When two 220v wires touch one another, it definitely is not a good reaction.
Monday, once again a service day in Mutua. We arrived in Mutua rather early, around 12:00pm and immediately sought to do service. The funny thing here in Africa, well Kenya at least is that when it is hot outside, no one works. They just chill at their homes till the evening when it cools down. We aren't big fans of sitting around waiting for hours, so we tried to find people whom we could carry water for. Sister Frida told us no because it was too hot, but Big Mikes mother said we could and that she would accompany us. We all got 20L jerry cans and headed to the valley to fetch water. After our jerry can was filled, we would right away set off back up the hill. Elder Utonga set off first about 3 minutes before everyone, I was after him. He was carrying it on his shoulder instead of his back, so I decided I would do the same, because last week the kanga slipped and my jerry can rolled away. Having it on my shoulder was much more comfortable and easier to carry, but you have to switch shoulders every few minutes. While at the steepest part of the hill, I was trying to switch shoulders, but because my hand was wet, the jerry can slipped out of my fingers, and rolled off my back. The rest was almost cinematic. I turned yelling Nooooo! (slow motion feelings) watched the jerry can start to roll end over end, as I attempted to chase it. It was going fast!! I almost had it when it rolled off a cliff (approx 1.5M) into the shamba below. I watched it go off the cliff and impact with an explosion of water... ahh geeze, how am I going to explain this one... I quickly grabbed the can, and tried to salvage as much water as possible. I carried it the rest of the way in my arms, as dirt and water got all over me, when i reached the top, I was a mess, but I did save 10L of water!! Big Mike saw me and just started busting up laughing saying I looked as though I had just come from a shamba or something. He was impressed I was able to salvage that much water, but laughed at the fact it had happened again like last week. He didn't care that the can was broken, although they said there is no need to, i will buy them a new one this week. They're only 150ksh ($1.75), so its not expensive. Francis, Mike's brother came over and said he had watched the whole thing. He replayed it all for me actions and all. Big Mike joked with me that they won't take me to the river anymore, they'll leave me behind with the children as they all go get water. We shall see haha.
So that has been the week this week, not a whole bunch has happened, but it has flown by.
I have a quote this week for everone, "It is not enough to say I will do my best, but rather, I will do everything which is within my power; I will do all that is necessary. - Harold B. Lee.
Well that's it for this week, till next week!
Love you all! Elder Rushton Jay Hiltbrand
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