So my letter this week may not be super interesting or long as usual, (I hope they are interesting, but ya never know, Africa can get boring sometimes haha)
*side note* (The mission is still very low on missionaries, so each area is kinda running on its minimum resources. none the less, I truly believe the Lord understands the needs of our mission and is enabling things to shift a bit and settle into His ways before He will allow more missionaries to enter in. Regardless, the work is still booming, more than ever before.)*
The sisters will be staying the same because Sister Hlatshwayo is finishing training her companion and then she will be finishing her mission at the completion of this transfer. Elder Nyirenda and I will be staying together in Langas again. One of us may move next transfer, but for now it’s the same, probably because we work well together and the work is exploding here in Langas. Now we were also told we would be receiving Elder Harding who will be training Elder Gitonga. I was so excited to get Elder Harding in the zone. We had served in the same zone together in Kilungu hills. When I was training Janda, Elder Ita was training Harding. Elder Harding is a way powerful missionary. He is a go getter just like I try to be, and he knows the reason he is here. I sent him a text saying "prepare to get really busy here in Eldoret, it’s no longer Ukambani" and he responded, "if I didn’t want to work I would have stayed home!" Perfect answer. Things are really going to start turning around here in the Eldoret Zone and many blessings are in store as we align our will with that of our Heavenly Father. So that’s pretty much it for transfers this time around. Elder Maduna who was serving in the neighboring zone for the last 11 months will be swapping places with Elder Dick as office Elder (Rushton was in the MTC with Elder Dick). That was funny news, but it’s way good to switch things up, he was excited, 11 months in one area is a LONG time.
One more thing for Monday is that for the first time on mission, I actually ate Pork. Now normally you'd say "well why wouldn’t you eat pork..? Bacon is so good!" Well I can assure you, you have never seen such nasty animals as I have seen here in the ghettos. Pigs are the worst by far, they swim and delight in filth especially the toxic mystery liquid found along the sides of the slums. In 2007, the pigs would eat the carcasses of those murdered in the election violence.. Everyone says the pigs were FAT then! also once they had a craving for human flesh, if a small child was alone somewhere and the pigs were hungry, they would eat him too... Sorry for the graphic detail, but now you know as to why I have never eaten pork. Elder Barasa, however, was a big fan of pork here, so he bought us some and cooked it up nice. It didn’t taste bad, but just knowing it was Slum Pork was a constant thought in the mind. For all those back in America, don’t worry we don’t eat the same pigs, our pigs are fed quite a bit better and are not just roaming slums all day. So eat on bacon Lovers!
So Tuesday, we were hoping to get Elder Barasa sent off on a bus to Nairobi, but he didn't like bus company we were trying to send him on so we had to try getting an Easy Coach ticket which is a big bus line that goes to Nairobi. Only problem there was that the only bus to Nairobi for the day was to leave at 10:00am and we were there at the bus stage at 9:15am, so there wasn’t even close to enough time to run back to his apartment, allow him to get packed, then run back to the stage. So the AP's (Assistants to Mission Pres.) told us that we could send him the next day via Easy Coach. So the remainder of the day consisted of cleaning their apartment. Their flat was nasty, like super bad, and it’s not fair that the new elders would have to come to such a nasty flat and clean it, so we, their loving Zone Leaders, cleaned it for them. As we cleaned, Elder Barasa packed all day. In the evening, we went to town so that Barasa could buy a second hand back pack. We went to the same place that I bought my small bag for a decent price. Elder Barasa purchased a big red OLD SCHOOL backpacking backpack for 800ksh ($9.25). It’s really vintage looking, but pretty cool none the less. He wanted something he could take on the plane to TZ (Tanzania) with him to lessen the weight of his suitcase. Backpacking to extreme heights I guess. I love the second hand stuff here, many hidden treasures are just waiting to be found. After that we returned back to the flat and talked and took care of problems the remainder of the night. That day had been a rough day for me because of having to deal with unmentionable problems in the zone, so it was kinda stressful and yeah, so as I was kneeling to pray, I really poured out all my heart and thoughts to Heavenly Father, really seeking for comfort. I could feel his comfort as my stresses melted away and I was able to peacefully go to sleep. I could feel his infinite love and assurance that what I am doing here in Kenya is what He wishes for me to do. Just know that God hears everyone's prayers, and he does answer. It’s not always how we want them to be answered, but it's always how we need them to be answered.
Wednesday morning we got up and got ready so that when the couples arrived we would be ready to send Elder Barasa off on his way at the Easy Coach station. The Andersons, our senior missionary couple here, are so awesome! Always willing to lend a hand and it makes things so much easier on us. We got Elder Barasa on his bus, and I got to see Elder Maduna and talk with him briefly before he left for the Mission office. Once they were all off and on their way, we headed back to the Sosiani flat to continue cleaning the "Den of Spiders". We took a short break for lunch, but for the most part, we cleaned all day long. No one likes cleaning, but it needs to be done. With these new elders who are coming, we are putting our foot down on cleaning and will establish transfer cleaning checks as,well as sheets of what should be cleaned daily, weekly, monthly, and at the end of the transfer. This should definitely assist with keeping things clean in all the flats. "Cleanliness is next to Godliness." We teach the law of Chastity about being chaste, virtuous and clean, so shouldn’t our flats be the same? Yes they should. When you are living in a clean home or apartment both on or off mission, when it’s clean, the spirit can be more present. Keep that in mind everyone. So yeah we cleaned and cleaned all day, a deep cleaning of everything. We also tried to fix their old broken down oven, but with no luck... that thing is retired for sure. Elder Nyirenda knows a lot about fixing electronics, so he was trying to fix it, but the wire systems and everything are ancient, so there was no chance for a revival of the oven. It would have been nice, but I guess the zone shall go without. We had one appointment for the day, but because we were still stuck busy with cleaning, we had him, Benson, come and meet us in Sosiani so we could teach him there. We agreed to pay for his transport, so he gladly came out to Sosiani. After teaching, it was getting late, so we all headed back together to Langas. It was a bit of madness getting home, because the whole town is preparing for the coming of Dr/Prophet Owore, a Pentacostal preacher who has a massive following in Kenya. Due to his coming, the town was filled, people everywhere, no matatus (vans). During the day people were doing a deep cleaning of the streets for his arrival. They don’t even do that for the President of Kenya, so this guy surely has a lot of followers. We did manage to get back to the flat on time without any issues, we just had to take a big bus. I may have mentioned this before, but for some unknown reason when a big bus pulls up, everyone races to get in, they all mash up against the door and it’s just a big chaotic scene... then once you get inside you see that there is plenty of seats so there is no need for such a rush... Just something interesting I've seen here.
Thursday was the arrival of the new Elders. They had rented a private matatu and left Nairobi at 5:00am, so they were coming much quicker than if they had been on Easy Coach. We got into town at 10:30 expecting them to arrive anytime. They ended up arriving around 12:00pm, but it was okay because we had some errands to run, and we needed to make a copy of the leadership handbook we had found in apartment. It was made in 2004, but still had much good advice, so it was worth while to give a copy to Elder Harding our new District leader. Once the elders arrived we quickly unloaded their bags and things so that their matatu which was carrying Elder Dick and a new missionary could get on its way to Kitale. It was way cool to see Elder Dick again, he was stoked to go to a new area, but a bit nervous being so far out of Nairobi where he had served the last 10.5 months of his mission. He came with me from the MTC, so its always cool to see one of your MTC brothers. We allowed our new Elders to rest a bit as we showed them around their complex and explained some of our expectations. We are really putting a lot of responsibility on our District Leader, but only what is supposed to be his responsibility. He is a stud, so he will handle it well. His "son" (new missionary he will be training) is a Kenyan from Nairobi and is super tall! He is also really funny, and speaks really good English. He says he comes from a wealthier family, so he will be able to get along better with someone who comes from the states. They both are determined to work hard, so I am really excited about that. Soon after, they were both hungry, so we went and got some lunch and then headed to town as a zone to take a PMG (Preach my gospel) survey. Once finished with that, we showed them a little more around town and then returned home for the night. I bought some phone credit to speak with Elder Ita. It’s been a long time since talking to him. Now that he is in TZ (Tanzania), it’s not so easy to get a hold of him. He is training for his second time, and white washing (whitewashing is removing the 2 old missionaries from an area and bringing in 2 new ones) for his 3rd time, so that’s sure gotta keep him busy. Sadly until his working permit gets approved, he cannot enter back into Kenya...that could be his whole mission..
Friday was actually a full teaching day. We had our Weekly planning in the morning, but had to rush to the church to teach 3 new investigators who had contacted us the day before. It’s awesome because most of our investigators call us or seek the church with us not even having to find them. This is the case with probably half of our current teaching pool of 30 investigators. We met one of the three investigators on the road to the church, he was needing to run off to a building site with his fundi (craftsman), so he was unable to stay long. We just arranged another time to meet, and invited him to come and watch conference with us. At the chapel we found an army of children cleaning the whole church with our branch president in preparation of the Africa South East Area viewing of conference over the weekend. (The children just come and clean the church each week, because they want it to be clean. They are not even asked to do it! They love coming to church and often even come without their parents.) We set up a spot for teaching as usual and were waiting for our next appoinment, but I really felt we needed to go do contacting on the road, so after some persuading my comp, we went up to the road and started contacting. We contacted everyone who came by, explaining the church, and inviting them to come and hear the words of the living prophet at conference. Two younger guys who you wouldn’t have thought to be interested in conference agreed to come and said that they would stay another night in Eldoret so that they could do so. We also arranged to finish the pre-baptism lessons with brother Jones so that he would be ready for his interview the following day. After teaching him we headed out into the ghetto to go and teach another of our investigators who was to be interviewed the next day as well. We took a member, Brian, with us to show us the place, and then taught the really simplified doctrines so that Ken, 9 years old could understand. He is a really smart kid. We somehow got to talking to Brian about Ken's father and how we should start teaching him so that his whole family can be united in the gospel. Brian really doubted it’s possibility, but doubt is the opposite of Faith, so I encouraged him to build his faith, and that slowly by slowly he will see Ken's father come unto the gospel. He says his father agrees with everything of the gospel, but the only thing keeping him away is the need to work on sunday. Faith makes all things possible. Not easy.
Saturday morning we had a meeting together with the senior couple and the landlord of our complex to discuss the needed fixes and repairs of damage done by water coming into the walls. We also discussed the issue of safety, and the necessity for increased safety during the day and for our whole apartment, period. The seniors came right on time at 8:00am, but little did they know that although our meeting was arranged to happen at 8, that meant if we adjust for Kenya time, it would be about an hour or so later than that. After the meeting, we went to the chapel with the couples to watch conference. There were only 2 members present, but we had 5 investigators there, including those two whom had agreed to come the previous day. Conference was so powerful! I loved it! The testimonies born and the principles spoken of are so applicable to each of us, and it really gives you a deeper knowledge that this truly is Christ’s church restored back to the earth. For all those who were unable to watch conference, I encourage you to do so. My favorite talks were that by Elder Holland, and Elder Nelson of the quorum of the twelve apostles, but all in all, all the talks were great. (Click on bolded names to read the referenced talks.) As we sat in the chapel delighting in the words of the living prophets and apostles, hordes of people came along the street from far distances to see Dr/ Prophet Owore, you can tell a difference between truth and falsity through prayer. God will never lead you astray if you honestly seek the truth. After watching conference, Jones and Benson had their baptismal interviews at the church, and both of the passed. Elder Harding and Elder Gitonga had come out to do the interviews, so after interviewing Jones and Benson, we headed into the ghetto by way of the short cut. While jumping across the rivers off death inducing liquid, one of the rocks slipped out and my whole foot dunked into the water. Elder Gitonga quickly grabbed me and pulled me back to keep me from going in further, but regardless, my foot and sock were soaked in that nasty awful smelling liquid. We all joked about it and continued on our way. Ken passed the interview with ease. It’s a bit simplified for children, so that was good. We then took the other guys to our flat and showed them it so that now they know where we stay, and how to get there.
Easter Sunday. So Easter is quite a bit different here, there were absolutely no celebrations of any sort that I saw in town or anywhere, possibly due to the large muslim presence here. It really didn’t feel like Easter much without all the traditions and food, but regardless it still was a special day, and it gave me more time to remember the true significance of Easter. We continued with conference for church, watching the Sunday morning and Afternoon sessions. We began at 9:00, but by 10:30 we had tons of people present in the chapel. On Friday night we had sent messages out to all our investigators, recent converts and less actives, and doing so, we saw great blessings. A total of 13 investigators came, and 8 less actives. Many of the investigators brought friends, especially those whom had attended Saturday as well. The Sunday sessions were perfect for everyone, and it really helped to make people know that we worship Jesus Christ, this is His church, no one elses. One of our investigators present came up after (he took notes the whole time) and exclaimed that now he knows that this is the church in which he will learn of the true gospel. Great power and spiritual edification comes from the testimonies of the prophets and apostles. After finishing conference, we had the baptisms of Jones, Benson, and Ken, we couldn’t have asked for a better day to have conference and baptisms. It was perfect. To read or listen to the General Conference addresses click here: General Conference,)
I seriously love this gospel, everyday, I can see great changes in my life and in the life of friends and family as the gospel is more closely lived by them. Such a privilige it is to spread this gospel and brighten the lives of so many in Kenya. Great is my joy.
I love you all so much, and encourage you to draw closer to the savior, take that leap of faith, just try taking the discussions or reading the Book of Mormon. It can change your life for eternity.
Love always, Elder Rushton Jay Hiltbrand
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