Well hello there everyone, so as you all know last week was transfer news, so let me give you the news first...
So last Monday we got called suprisingly early for the news, Nairobi had been on Lock Down all day due to the Saba Saba day 7/7 which is a political day where demonstrations and speeches are able to happen. The only proposed danger was in Nairobi, so just for precautions, everyone was on lock down. So the Assistants called and I was the one to pick up. One of the Assistants asked me where I thought I was going, I didn’t really have any idea, but it kinda hinted to the fact that I would be leaving. I guessed either Chyulu or Kisumu. He said well not Chyulu, but you will be going to Kisumu to be with Elder Ndaba. Elder Ndaba was one of the missionaries that was in my MTC group, so we call each other MTC brothers. We were both super stoked to be companions, and he always says that Kisumu is like the promised land of Kenya so I really wasn’t sure as to what to expect. Elder Nyirenda is staying in Langas, but will be with Elder Harding who is becoming the new Zone Leader in Eldoret. His son or the missionary he trained became the new District leader and will be serving with Elder Ndlovu, another one of my MTC brothers, who has been serving in Tanzania his entire mission. The sisters are staying the same except for the fact that Sister Rantlhwantlhwa has been transfered to Dar Es Salam, Tanzania. Due to the fact that Elder Ndaba's current companion at the time was made one of the Assistants, I was told that I would need to be in Kisumu the next day so that Elder Ndaba's companion could leave the next day. So there you have it, the transfer news. Looks like I'm beginning a new chapter in my mission! Feels like it was just yesterday that I was arriving in Eldoret, but looks like I get to remain a Western Warrior (someone serving on the western side of kenya.)
Now the rest of that night I was packing. It seems like every area I’m in, all my stuff just grows and grows, even when I am trying to reduce things, it seems more things appear. Tuesday morning I did the same and continued packing. I had purchased some apples and yogurt on Monday just in case I was transfered, and of course I forgot to grab them in the fridge, so I guess they can be a welcoming gift to Elder Harding. Just so everyone knows, apples are incredibly expensive here, I’m talking 35 - 40ksh per apple and they are small, not the big nice ones like at home. So to compromise I eat sour mangos which are not yet ripe mangos that are crispy and sour. They remind me a lot of Granny Smith apples, but for 5 - 20ksh each. Tuesday morning we took a taxi to the stage where we met up with the Sosiani Elders to say our goodbyes. It was really strange leaving, it didn’t feel real. It was hard to really recognize the fact that I was going somewhere else. It’s like when leaving home, it doesn’t feel real at first, it’s just a strange feeling. It was also especially weird being alone on the shuttle to Kisumu. It’s funny how as missionaries we get used to always being with a companion, and then when your not with a companion its interesting how vulnerable you feel.
So let me give you a sort of mental picture of Kisumu. Kisumu is a beautiful place. It’s directly next to Lake Victoria and far more developed than Eldoret, and much cleaner. It reminds me a lot of some towns or cities in America. Most of the roads are paved, the main roads have street lights, and the roads are even double wide with a middle divider, so they are a 4 lane road two on each side. The climate is warm and very humid, I was sweating up a storm when I first arrived, but now I have adapted slightly. The weather is able to turn on a dime, with being so close to such a large lake, (the lake looks a lot like an ocean) clouds form super spontaneously bringing downpours of rain. It’s much greener here than Eldoret, and far greener than Ukambani. The dominant tribe is Luo and the people are big! A lot of them tower over me and they eat a ton of fish here, so everyone has that bigger bone structure with increased muscle mass. It looks as though everyone constantly goes to the gym, but no one does. Life style is very similar here though to Eldoret, but there is a much higher influence of Indian and Hindu, so in our immediate community there are like 10 Hindu temples so its hard to proselyte around our flat. We are covering three areas, but only one branch. Kisumu regularly has two sets of Elders and one set of sisters, but right now with the shortage of missionaries, we get to take all the areas. We have to take a lot transportation, which consists of Boda Boda's (bicycle taxi's) Tuk Tuk's ( three wheeled motorcycle like vehicles with an inclosed back, they shove 7 people in them, 4 in the back and 2 on either side of the driver up front) and Matatu's. The interesting thing about transportation here is they can put as many people in a vehicle as possible, as long as the door shuts, so they get pretty crammed. Also even though there is a 4 lane road and a middle divider to separate the two lanes on each side, there is no established side to drive on going a certain way, so everyone just drives however they want. There are times where we are going straight head on into traffic. Driving is definitely crazy here.
So let me give you a sort of mental picture of Kisumu. Kisumu is a beautiful place. It’s directly next to Lake Victoria and far more developed than Eldoret, and much cleaner. It reminds me a lot of some towns or cities in America. Most of the roads are paved, the main roads have street lights, and the roads are even double wide with a middle divider, so they are a 4 lane road two on each side. The climate is warm and very humid, I was sweating up a storm when I first arrived, but now I have adapted slightly. The weather is able to turn on a dime, with being so close to such a large lake, (the lake looks a lot like an ocean) clouds form super spontaneously bringing downpours of rain. It’s much greener here than Eldoret, and far greener than Ukambani. The dominant tribe is Luo and the people are big! A lot of them tower over me and they eat a ton of fish here, so everyone has that bigger bone structure with increased muscle mass. It looks as though everyone constantly goes to the gym, but no one does. Life style is very similar here though to Eldoret, but there is a much higher influence of Indian and Hindu, so in our immediate community there are like 10 Hindu temples so its hard to proselyte around our flat. We are covering three areas, but only one branch. Kisumu regularly has two sets of Elders and one set of sisters, but right now with the shortage of missionaries, we get to take all the areas. We have to take a lot transportation, which consists of Boda Boda's (bicycle taxi's) Tuk Tuk's ( three wheeled motorcycle like vehicles with an inclosed back, they shove 7 people in them, 4 in the back and 2 on either side of the driver up front) and Matatu's. The interesting thing about transportation here is they can put as many people in a vehicle as possible, as long as the door shuts, so they get pretty crammed. Also even though there is a 4 lane road and a middle divider to separate the two lanes on each side, there is no established side to drive on going a certain way, so everyone just drives however they want. There are times where we are going straight head on into traffic. Driving is definitely crazy here.
Oh and one more thing about the area, the church is about 5 -10 minutes walk from our flat, and the couples live right underneath the church, on the first floor. We don’t have couples right now, but new couples are supposed to be coming this next week, so I will probably let you know about them next week.
Now as for the week, on Tuesday after arriving in Kisumu, I stood there at the stage for a while talking to the shuttle driver as I awaited the other elders. We then walked back to the flat, we aren’t too far from the stage, dropped my stuff, I grabbed my proselyting bag, then we headed out to go visit a member where we picked up the ingredients for a cake that Elder Nyambita was making for that members daughters’ first birthday. We then went back to the couples flat where he baked the cake and Elder Ndaba and I talked for a while.
Wednesday we got up and did the usual schedule, then took Elder Nyambita to the EasyCoach stage and dropped him off, then waited for a while till his bus departed. We then had a full proselyting day. Ndaba showed me around the area to some of the members and the investigator. There is a member, a nineteen year old who is preparing for mission that we go with everywhere. It’s good for him and it helps the teaching with our recent converts and investigators. Another nice thing about Kisumu and the Luo tribe is that everyone knows English, it’s not the best English, but none the less they know it, so you don’t have to worry about no one understanding your teaching!
Thursday was an interesting day, we headed out of the flat and went to go do service at one of the local orphanages that some of our members work at. While there we came across one of our members sitting down and talking with two white people. We were waved over by our member, so we went over to greet them. Turns out they are all members of the church and all returned missionaries, so we got to talking for a while. The two wazungus (white people) are Kate and John, they are brother and sister and have come to Kenya to do humanitarian work. They were explaining how they do things and how they really just rely on Heavenly Father to lead them and trust that he will provide, so they always buy a one way ticket. Kate has been working in India for the past 10 years and every 6 months leaves and then returns to the states, but then comes back with another one way ticket with no job or service aligned. Really kinda living on the edge I'd say, but it was cool to talk to them. They were telling us about Herbs and how herbs can treat a ton of different things. It was really interesting to hear the opinion on these things, they totally opened a new view of the Word of Wisdom, so since then my companion have been trying to eat more herbs and have been joking around a lot always saying "Get your HHerb on! (long HHH sound) and it’s them HHerbs!" My companion and I have a lot of fun together. He likes to joke a lot and it helps to keep things from being too stressful. On Thursday, we also saw an investigator named Helen, she has a really strong testimony, but has to follow the religion of her husband (it’s the culture here). She is a souvenier maker and she does some beautiful work! Her father sculpts or carves everything, while she paints it all and it’s amazing, and super cheap too. In the evening we went and visited a lot of less active families. There isn’t a ton of investigator work, but there is a lot of less active visiting to do. Some of the homes are really far which would explain a lot of why some of the people are less active.
Friday was my first weekly planning here in Kisumu with my new companion. It went well, and we planned to have a powerful and fruitful week. We then went and visited Hilda, an investigator who works at a VCT Clinic as a counselor, (VCT is a clinic that tests and councils those infected and possibly having HIV/AIDS). It was strange being in a place like that, but after a few minutes we moved to the Cafe (it is pronounced CAFF here) and she got us Sprites and chips (Fries). She is a really kind lady and really loves to learn about the gospel. We taught the first principle of the Plan of Salvation, after we left and went and visited some less actives in the area. They were all happy to see a new face, it was a surprise to many of them too. After our appointments for the day. we went and bought some things for the flat to get it up to missionary standard, and then went to Tuskeys (supermarket) and the outdoor market to buy some food and HHerbs.
Saturday was the birthday party of the daughter of Shadrack one of our members whose wife is an investigator. We arrived hoping to arrive in time for food, but there was none as they were still cooking, so we waited around with the 5 members we brought with us. They had told us to bring as many people as we could, so we tried just that. We also brought the cake that Elder Nyambita had made. It’s interesting how cakes are here... they are made similar to the same way, but cooked until they are a dark brown on top and bottom. The activity was good, and the reason we didn’t leave was because the investigator would get offended if we were to leave prior to the food and the cake. After it was late, so we headed home for the night.
Sunday was my first Sunday in the Kisumu Branch. It was a great experience, the church is well functioning here. Prior to Sacrament meeting starting, John the brother of Katie volunteered to play the piano, but we realized that the cord was at our flat, so my companion and I literally ran as fast as we could back to the flat. This is when I realized just how out of shape I am, we grabbed the cord and then ran back to the church, arriving with tons of sweat. My companion looked to me and was like "I feel like a pig", I got a good laugh out of that. The Branch President had asked for me to give a talk the day prior, so I tried my best to do a bit of preparation while sitting there, but tried my best to let the Holy Spirit take control and speak through me. There was also two recently returned missionaries who spoke. They were coming from the Ghana Accra Mission. There seems to be many Kenyans that serve in that mission. The theme of the talks was missionary work. I felt prompted to relate my talk to the story of Amulek in Alma 10, where he describes who he was prior to becoming the companion to Alma. I could really feel the spirit as I spoke and I felt it went incredibly well. I was really amazed how smooth it went, usually when I try to wing it I get up there and kinda have jumbled thoughts. It’s amazing what the Spirit can do. If we rely on the Lord and do our part, then our mouth shall be filled with the words to speak and the Spirit will address the things in which those whom your are speaking to need to hear. The rest of church went well, each class was filled with people. Katie and John stayed for all three meetings, then after church we were talking to them for a while, we were telling them that we have been trying some HHerbs lately and bought a bunch, they were really excited about that. I figure hey if it works, or has the potential to work I may as well try it. Like 1 - 3 tablespoons of cayenne pepper in a half glass of water and then drinking it. They say it is a cure all sort medicine especially for blood pressure and things of that sort. So I tried it when we got home. It sure makes you sleep well, I’ll tell you that, but besides that I haven’t seen too much of a difference.
So there you have it, now I’m in Kisumu, a very humid and warm area, so it is very possible that I will lose weight here, and I’m sure my companion and I will have alot of fun, we always seem to do so. My companion is from Johannesburg South Africa, he is a Zulu by tribe and knows 9 languages fluently, he also loves to goof around, but can be very serious too.
Well I love you all,
Elder Rushton Jay Hiltbrand
Now as for the week, on Tuesday after arriving in Kisumu, I stood there at the stage for a while talking to the shuttle driver as I awaited the other elders. We then walked back to the flat, we aren’t too far from the stage, dropped my stuff, I grabbed my proselyting bag, then we headed out to go visit a member where we picked up the ingredients for a cake that Elder Nyambita was making for that members daughters’ first birthday. We then went back to the couples flat where he baked the cake and Elder Ndaba and I talked for a while.
Wednesday we got up and did the usual schedule, then took Elder Nyambita to the EasyCoach stage and dropped him off, then waited for a while till his bus departed. We then had a full proselyting day. Ndaba showed me around the area to some of the members and the investigator. There is a member, a nineteen year old who is preparing for mission that we go with everywhere. It’s good for him and it helps the teaching with our recent converts and investigators. Another nice thing about Kisumu and the Luo tribe is that everyone knows English, it’s not the best English, but none the less they know it, so you don’t have to worry about no one understanding your teaching!
Thursday was an interesting day, we headed out of the flat and went to go do service at one of the local orphanages that some of our members work at. While there we came across one of our members sitting down and talking with two white people. We were waved over by our member, so we went over to greet them. Turns out they are all members of the church and all returned missionaries, so we got to talking for a while. The two wazungus (white people) are Kate and John, they are brother and sister and have come to Kenya to do humanitarian work. They were explaining how they do things and how they really just rely on Heavenly Father to lead them and trust that he will provide, so they always buy a one way ticket. Kate has been working in India for the past 10 years and every 6 months leaves and then returns to the states, but then comes back with another one way ticket with no job or service aligned. Really kinda living on the edge I'd say, but it was cool to talk to them. They were telling us about Herbs and how herbs can treat a ton of different things. It was really interesting to hear the opinion on these things, they totally opened a new view of the Word of Wisdom, so since then my companion have been trying to eat more herbs and have been joking around a lot always saying "Get your HHerb on! (long HHH sound) and it’s them HHerbs!" My companion and I have a lot of fun together. He likes to joke a lot and it helps to keep things from being too stressful. On Thursday, we also saw an investigator named Helen, she has a really strong testimony, but has to follow the religion of her husband (it’s the culture here). She is a souvenier maker and she does some beautiful work! Her father sculpts or carves everything, while she paints it all and it’s amazing, and super cheap too. In the evening we went and visited a lot of less active families. There isn’t a ton of investigator work, but there is a lot of less active visiting to do. Some of the homes are really far which would explain a lot of why some of the people are less active.
Friday was my first weekly planning here in Kisumu with my new companion. It went well, and we planned to have a powerful and fruitful week. We then went and visited Hilda, an investigator who works at a VCT Clinic as a counselor, (VCT is a clinic that tests and councils those infected and possibly having HIV/AIDS). It was strange being in a place like that, but after a few minutes we moved to the Cafe (it is pronounced CAFF here) and she got us Sprites and chips (Fries). She is a really kind lady and really loves to learn about the gospel. We taught the first principle of the Plan of Salvation, after we left and went and visited some less actives in the area. They were all happy to see a new face, it was a surprise to many of them too. After our appointments for the day. we went and bought some things for the flat to get it up to missionary standard, and then went to Tuskeys (supermarket) and the outdoor market to buy some food and HHerbs.
Saturday was the birthday party of the daughter of Shadrack one of our members whose wife is an investigator. We arrived hoping to arrive in time for food, but there was none as they were still cooking, so we waited around with the 5 members we brought with us. They had told us to bring as many people as we could, so we tried just that. We also brought the cake that Elder Nyambita had made. It’s interesting how cakes are here... they are made similar to the same way, but cooked until they are a dark brown on top and bottom. The activity was good, and the reason we didn’t leave was because the investigator would get offended if we were to leave prior to the food and the cake. After it was late, so we headed home for the night.
Sunday was my first Sunday in the Kisumu Branch. It was a great experience, the church is well functioning here. Prior to Sacrament meeting starting, John the brother of Katie volunteered to play the piano, but we realized that the cord was at our flat, so my companion and I literally ran as fast as we could back to the flat. This is when I realized just how out of shape I am, we grabbed the cord and then ran back to the church, arriving with tons of sweat. My companion looked to me and was like "I feel like a pig", I got a good laugh out of that. The Branch President had asked for me to give a talk the day prior, so I tried my best to do a bit of preparation while sitting there, but tried my best to let the Holy Spirit take control and speak through me. There was also two recently returned missionaries who spoke. They were coming from the Ghana Accra Mission. There seems to be many Kenyans that serve in that mission. The theme of the talks was missionary work. I felt prompted to relate my talk to the story of Amulek in Alma 10, where he describes who he was prior to becoming the companion to Alma. I could really feel the spirit as I spoke and I felt it went incredibly well. I was really amazed how smooth it went, usually when I try to wing it I get up there and kinda have jumbled thoughts. It’s amazing what the Spirit can do. If we rely on the Lord and do our part, then our mouth shall be filled with the words to speak and the Spirit will address the things in which those whom your are speaking to need to hear. The rest of church went well, each class was filled with people. Katie and John stayed for all three meetings, then after church we were talking to them for a while, we were telling them that we have been trying some HHerbs lately and bought a bunch, they were really excited about that. I figure hey if it works, or has the potential to work I may as well try it. Like 1 - 3 tablespoons of cayenne pepper in a half glass of water and then drinking it. They say it is a cure all sort medicine especially for blood pressure and things of that sort. So I tried it when we got home. It sure makes you sleep well, I’ll tell you that, but besides that I haven’t seen too much of a difference.
So there you have it, now I’m in Kisumu, a very humid and warm area, so it is very possible that I will lose weight here, and I’m sure my companion and I will have alot of fun, we always seem to do so. My companion is from Johannesburg South Africa, he is a Zulu by tribe and knows 9 languages fluently, he also loves to goof around, but can be very serious too.
Well I love you all,
Elder Rushton Jay Hiltbrand
No comments:
Post a Comment