Okay hello there everyone,
Because I don’t have a whole lot of time and there wasn’t a whole lot that happened this week, I will keep this somewhat short, and I know I always say that, but this time I mean it.
Tuesday was a really slow day, for the most part this week, planning for each day has been really slow because everyone we call or have made appointments with don’t answer the phone, or are not around at the present time. So on Tuesday we went around visiting some less active members. We visited brother Juma. He is a really cool guy and really has a great desire to help the street kids, so we talked with him a bit and shared a scripture from Mosiah with him to help see how the Lord would have things done. He says he loves the scriptures, but has been unable to come to church lately due to health issues and such. Later that day, we met with a man named Didymus and his friend Bonface. They really had a ton of questions to ask. We showed them around the church then sat down to discuss with them. They really did their research on the church, but obviously not from lds.org, so they were asking tons of questions, not in a negative way, but rather in a learning sort of way, a way to collaborate ideas and see where our beliefs come from. It went well and we arranged another time to meet on Thursday.
Wednesday was DDM. It was a great DDM, taught by sister Nachaki. She was super nervous to do it, but she did a really great job, including role plays and those are a rarity when it comes to DDM. She taught on the subject of promising blessings when making commitments. Also I had a bunch of packages delivered to me. Shout out to Sister Farrell who is in Kenya for Safari. Thank you so much for bringing all the packages with you! That was sure a huge blessing! There’s a reason they are called care packages. It’s like in the army when everyone is low on supplies and then a care package is dropped, or like the hunger games situation, that works to, so thank you! After DDM, we had lunch and then were taken out to Langas by the couples where we attended FHE with sister Jane. It was a good lesson about scriptures that we taught and we committed everyone to read their scriptures as a family each day and promised them the blessings that are associated with it.
Thursday was service day. I had a really fun time playing legos with the kids. There is this one little girl who loves to play and joke with me. She doesn’t talk, but she has squeel like laughing bursts and she would snatch the legos from the ship I was building and I would trade her certain colors. After service we went and taught a lesson with the District Leader and his companion, then hurried back to Langas where we taught Didymus and Bonface again. They again had tons of questions. We gave them each a Book of Mormon so that they can study that and really learn what we believe. With all the questions they were asking, the scripture where it says "and you shall not be confounded came to mind" how true. No matter how many questions they asked, we were always able to answer, and the answers would come to mind every time. Bonface has studied "history" but we are pretty certain that meant theology. It is easy to tell by the way he asks questions and uses certain scriptures.
Friday was a slow day, but we were able to meet up with our recent convert Simon. He just returned from Nairobi. He was recording a song with his producer and they found him a girl singer to support in the song. His music is actually really nice. It’s Kiswahili gospel bongo music so it’s spiritual music with an upbeat tune. We taught Alfred with him. Alfred is a picky picky driver (motorcycle taxi driver). I sat on his motorcycle to see what they are like here. They are really light and small engines, 150cc is the largest, but if there were anything larger here, many people would die. The roads aren’t safe for bigger bikes. Afterwards we went and got dinner with Simon at the nearby hotel. As we were walking over I had the prompting to contact a guy sitting in the grass. I ignored it and kept going. Then I had it again when we were coming back. I ignored it for a bit and we walked about 50yards past him, then I knew I needed to, so I told my companion, hey I feel we must go contact that guy. He said he was chewing mirah (drug commonly used here, it’s like sticks but its a stimulant naturally grown) so we went back and contacted him, and you know, I could just feel that love for him, that Christ like love, seeing that he is one of our brothers and sisters. My companion insisted we give him Word of Wisdom, but I didn’t feel that was what he needed. I gave him the Plan of Salvation, and discussed it with him a little bit. I don’t know if anything will come from that contact, but I feel good knowing that I followed the prompting to do so.
Saturday we had one plan for the day, but we prayed that it would some how turn out to be fruitful and successful. It really was amazing how it turned out so well. We went to the church and got bounced from out one scheduled appointment, but then we were able to teach Lucy one of our Recent converts. She has been dealing with some family issues and we were able to discuss with her patriarchal blessings and temples, to help and give her that hope for the future. As we were talking with her, 6 more people came all at different times and we went around giving them tours of the church and discussing, so we were able to teach 7 lessons that day even though we had had nothing prepared. When we walk with faith, the Lord opens the way. As we were still around the church, we did some service and mowed the grass at the chapel, just like my boyhood days! I got a good deal of enjoyment out mowing, but then the mower overheated being electric and all... not cool.
Sunday was an interesting day, it was a great church service. Jones one of our Recent Converts did an incredible job teaching the Gospel Principles class. He is a really solid member and super devoted and converted to the church. After church we had to run over to the sisters apartment and fix some problems within the companionship. We were there for almost 5 hours discussing, but we were able to work out the problems, and they even fed us! woohoo, and I have learned that sisters know how to naturally make wonderful food.
So that’s pretty much it for the week. I have really been on a spiritual, mental and emotional rollercoaster, but I know that trials will always prove to be for our good.
Love always, Elder Rushton Jay Hiltbrand
Here’s a story you may like:
"there once was a man who had a dream, and in his dream he was on a beach in which he could see all of the events of his life layed out before him parallel to two pairs of footsteps, one was his own and the other of the savior, walking side by side, then he saw that in the hardest times of his life there was only one set of footsteps... He turned to the savior and asked him, why did you leave me, why did you abandon me during those times, the savior responded, no no i didnt abandon you, it was at those times that I CARRIED YOU."
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