Jan 12 A Week filled with Blessings

Hello Everyone,

This letter will be a bit different due to time, the week has been great, super fast paced, and this next week will be even faster, some of the things I have included were things that I wrote to my mission President in my weekly letter,

It's been another fulfilling and fruitful week. We have greatly seen the blessings of the Lord this week as he is pushing forward the work here in Kisumu. There was a period in which it seemed as though the work was not growing and that we were sitting at a stand still, but as we have tried harder to fulfill our missionary purpose and better represent the lord, we have seen many people come closer to the gospel.

Beginning last week on Monday, it was a crazy day. We had everything planned out perfectly, went to buy tickets for the conference in Nairobi, then lunch, then cyber, but then at the cyber we get a call from the Assistants saying we no longer are having the conference in Nairobi so we needed to go and inquire about a refund on our tickets, so we left the cyber to go take care of that stuff, plus our water pump was left on pouring water out of the top of our complex, so it was chaos. Well after taking care of everything, we decided to finish cybering at a cyber near our home that we rarely ever go to.. well while there this man slides a note to my companion which said "Are you Mormons? I've been wanting to know more about your church." My comp was a bit confused having just been slid a note. Well he exchanged numbers with the guy who's name turned out to be Bernard and invited him to church.  He came yesterday to church  and is powerful! the Lord works in mysterious ways and truly is able to bring order to what may seem in our eyes as chaos. We will begin teaching him this week, so that will be exciting.

Also while tracting last Sunday we met a woman named Margaret and some others who live with her. They were very interested in the Gospel. We went and taught them twice in the course of the week and each time there was a new additional person to teach and they were very interested. They committed to come to church on Sunday and yesterday they came, it was really awesome.

We also met with the Sister-in-law of President Imende, the Busia Branch President, and have taught them twice this week. They committed to be baptized on the 15th of February. So far they are receiving the Gospel really well and the Relief Society has done a excellent job fellowshipping.

This past Thursday we went to Busia for exchanges. Busia is a fun place. It's like a mix of the bush and city, but wow the road that runs through it is scary. It's always super busy and PikiPiki's (Motorcycle taxis) and Matatus (vans) go crazy on it. Plus it's really the only trucker road into Uganda, so it's filled with big freight trucks traveling through. We had a nice day of exchanges there, I was with Elder Elliot and we were in town teaching people. While there we were really trying to teach about how we can teach as we find and find as we teach. Many missionaries get caught up in just visiting/stopping by to greet people. It's something we all do from time to time, my companion and I are no exception, but when we apply our missionary purpose and try to teach something every time, even if it's small, then that person is drawing closer to the Savior and the restored gospel. It was a productive exchange, and my companion came home with half a jack fruit.. they are these awesome fruits that are really massive and incredibly sticky inside, but the fruit grows around these seeds within them and tastes really tropical.. I guess they are really invasive so they grow all over where they are planted, but they mainly grow in Uganda not in Kenya, which is why we can find them in Busia.

On Saturday we had a movie showing at the church to get members to bring their friends and also provide a place for investigators to associate with members more and feel the spirit. It was really successful. We showed the film 17 miracles and about 20 -25 people came and watched, the majority investigators. We plan to do them every month.

Sunday we had the confirmation of Sister Christine and I had the opportunity to confirm her a member.  It's such a special and spiritual experience. It's been a long time, but she is finally a full member of the church. I also got to teach Gospel Principles class on the Atonement, it was a packed class, so that was really awesome.

Well That's all I have time to write. Thank you all for the support and encouragement.
Mpaka wiki ijiayo, pendo

Elder Rushton Jay Hiltbrand