Hello there,
Well this week has seriously flown by, it was super busy and I blinked and boom it was finished... but it seems with all the busyness, once it caught up to me it made me sick, so right now I’ve got the flu or a cold or something, so I’m a bit out of it, so if this isn’t the most detailed letter or doesn’t make a lot of sense, then know that’s why!
Tuesday was the beginning of a very busy week, having sisters in the area and only one branch causes us to have to share investigators and we have to show them around everywhere, but it’s okay, soon they will know the area and be able to get themselves around everywhere. We went and visited Wycliff in the morning. We have been trying really hard this past week to prepare him for baptism so that he could be baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday, then return back to school on Monday. We tried to visit brother Cyprian, but found that he wasn’t around, so we were going to visit some Less Actives, and on the way we found the sisters in the same area, so we took them with us to visit the family. We had a nice visit with the family of George, the 2nd councilor in the Branch Presidency. In the afternoon, we did splits and I worked with Stephen. We had a very full day of teaching, in the evening, we visited Sister Lilian who just returned from Nairobi from studying Psychology. She really opened up to us about all the trials that she has been going through lately, and what’s really cool is that her psychology knowledge allows her to read people and understand what they are going through, providing the patience needed to get through trials. She has three super cute and playful triplets, they make me think of what Brook and Mason will be like when I return home, because these children are 2 now as well..
Wednesday we had our first DDM as a new zone, it was good, a much different feel to it than what they were like in Eldoret, much much shorter, which is okay, but I feel it’s better to have it long enough that you can get something out of it and have that spiritual edification to teach one another and strengthen each other. Sister Muduwa gave the training on how to utilize PMG (Preach My Gospel). After the meeting we had splits, my companion went with Stephen and I went with Benard. We were pretty pushed for time because there was a PEF meeting (Perpetual Education Fund) being held in the evening and Benard really wanted to be there, so we went and taught Wycliff who is actually his brother, and then went to visit some people in Manyatta, but when we arrived, we found that those whom we had come to visit were leaving to go to the PEF meeting, so we went with them. The meeting was good, I didn’t really have much purpose in being there, except for waiting for my companion to return with Stephen. After the meeting we went and bought the sisters lightbulbs, it started to rain as we were heading to their flat, and one thing about rain here is that people go crazy when it rains and everyone hurries around. One of the piki-piki's that was racing from the rain totally nailed a female cop, she was walking with a military person, she got knocked flat on the ground, then the piki-piki raced off.... Hit and run is a regular thing here, that’s why you want to avoid getting knocked at all costs and if driving a car never get hit. It was raining so hard that we got stuck at the sisters flat and Elder Horner saved us with is car and drove us back to our flat. (one of the funny things we missionaries joke about is that when you get rained on, your future wife is becoming more beautiful, and then if you drop your scriptures your future wife gains 5kgs... )
Thursday once again a full day of splits, Stephen met up with us in the morning, we went with him to teach Wycliff, but Wycliff ended up not being around, so we went and met with the sisters to do service at the orphanage. The service we did for them was weeding the grass, we were hunched over or squatting plucking these tiny weeds from the patch of grass so that the grass could look good in a few months time. Kinda funny that that’s what we ended up doing. They had the sisters go and be with the babies. I’ve been to the orphanage a lot, but never once have I seen one of the children there... As we left the orphanage we began splits, when I’m with stephen, he turns me into a philanthropist, volunteering me to pay for the sisters a lot, like my companion had asked me to buy him a soda and so I did, then being with the sisters Stephen said hey sisters we bought you sodas and the one I had bought for my companion and the one for myself were given away to them, haha okay. Being around Stephen I really learn a lot though, he is a total inspiration and everywhere he goes he is able to show love and everyone gives him respect. We took the sisters to meet some of their Recent Converts, the two girls we had gone to introduce them to asked us intense questions! After our teaching appointments, we reunited with my companion and released those whom we had gone on exchanges with, then headed to Sister Lilians for a DA (Dinner Appointment). It was the kind of DA that tops all other DA's, I have never seen so much food cooked for one dinner appointment. She cooked everything, beef, chicken, chapati, pilau (rice cooked and seasoned in a certain way), Omena (tiny sardines cooked with tomatos and onions then eaten with Ugali), so much food! I was totally stuffed, and my companion actually got full, it’s hard to fill him. While there it started pouring so we being unprepared tried to wait it out, but eventually just had to go for it.
Friday was totally exhausting, we woke up at 5:00 so that we could catch the 6:00 bus to Busia, but as we were walking over to the station we see the bus going by, so we tried to chase it down, but had no luck, there were some others trying to chase it down like us, but they jumped on a piki-piki and it got the bus to pull over, but for us no luck. So we got on the 7:00 bus. These buses are totally crammed, the seats are tiny, they try to allow as many people a seat as possible, and because there is no personal space, everyone is crammed together, being a bigger person that makes these bus rides quite uncomfortable. We got to Busia around 10 and then did the baptismal interviews that we had traveled there to do and by 12 we were on another bus back to Kisumu, this time we sat on the opposite side of the bus and it has "three" seats, but both my comp and I are big so we couldn’t help but take up 2.5 seats, we squished as much as possible, but everytime someone sat down next to us they could only get one cheek on the seat and would quickly move when possible. After returning, we went and had a lesson with Wycliff, finishing with him the lessons so he would be prepared for his baptismal interview on Saturday.
Saturday was a Baptism day for brother Wycliff, we did his interview in the morning. I was his interviewer because we don’t have a District Leader in this area. I was worried that he wouldn’t pass because he was having a hard time remembering the things we taught him, but everything went perfectly and he was strengthened by the Lord and brought to a remembrance of the things we taught him. We had the baptismal service planned to be at one, but we were waiting for his father to arrive. One thing about culture here is that if someone doesn’t want to do something, then they won’t show up, they will just totally miss the event, it’s a bummer to see that, it’s not a good way to handle things. So Davis was the one to baptize and he did a really good job, Davis is awesome, always willing to assist when asked, he is always ready. Davis is the one that looks, talks, and acts just like Jordan Procuniar, like he is the Kenyan Copy of Jpro. After the Baptismal service we had a correlation meeting with our Brand Mission Leader and the sisters. This coming week we are going to face a slower period of work because all the students will be returning to schools so it will take many from our teaching pool and Recent Converts, but it opens up the doors to do much finding. We are planning to start having English classes and open houses so that people can become familiar with the church and we can build up our teaching pool.
Sunday was a nice day, a nice meeting at church, we had the confirmation of brother Wycliff and had some new investigators at church, so that was really awesome. After church we went home and had a nice lunch, then headed out with Stephen and Davis. Sundays are very busy for us, but they give that needed time to have things a bit slower and ponder the week and what lies ahead.
Well there’s the week, sorry it’s not super interesting. It was just tons of teaching and running around that made it really busy, Time sure is moving so quickly, it’s crazy, before we know it, this transfer will be over...
Well love you all,
Elder Rushton Jay Hiltbrand
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