Hello everyone, hope you all had a nice week, I sure did.
It's been a really busy week, but we have had some really great
experiences.
So this past week we went up to Eldoret for a Mission Leadership Conference, and in
talking with Elder Harding who is still serving in Langas, my old area, he told
me that Joshua one of my recent converts had recently had a child, the name of
the child is literally this... "Elder Hiltbrand Nyirenda" . I guess his
baptism had such a big impact for him that he decided to name his child after
us. I thought that was kinda funny, people already have a tough time
pronouncing my name, I can only imagine what it will be like when that kid is in
school...
On Tuesday we had a really nice productive day, lots of
teaching appointments and some potential investigators that we met with. Sis
Consollata and her son Paul are really progressing. They had tons of questions,
so that really showed that they are ingesting what we are teaching instead of
just brushing through it. Sister Consollata made us an awesome thing of Pilau, (a rice based dish of Indian decent).
It was so tasty. Her sister was known for making really nice Pilau in Busia,
but I guess it runs in the family! We also met with Bernard, he is the one who
wanted to know more at the cyber café last week. He is a really nice guy, really converted
already. We committed him for baptism on the 22 of March so that he has time to
read the Book of Mormon and so that we can finish teaching the lessons to him.
We also met with a man named Naftali who is the music leader for another
church. We taught him the Restoration and invited him to know for himself
through prayer. He didn't fully understand the Priesthood and the restoration of
that authority back to the earth, and how because of the Restoration of that
Priesthood, the fullness of Christ's Gospel has been restored and all the
Ordinances are able to be done by proper authority.
Wednesday we had a great lesson with Margaret, she and
Maurice, her nephew, were there and had many questions for us. She said that never
before in her life had she felt so much love in a church as she did on Sunday.
It was really awesome to hear that, because when members fellowship, lives are
blessed and the true charity of Christ is shown. We also met with Christine for
the first time since her Baptism and Confirmation. It was really interesting,
she has had a mighty change wrought in her, she is very meek and dedicated to
the gospel. After teaching for half the day, we travelled up to Eldoret. It's
always nice to catch up with the other elders.
Thursday was our Mission Leadership Council, it was
wonderful, tons of important things covered and some really good counseling
about the subjects. We mainly discussed counselling and finding, and how we can
better implement the new focus of the mission and the goals that have been set
so that 2015 can be a powerful and productive year. After MLC, I had an
interview with Pres. Hicken (The Mission President). I always love those interviews with him. I feel
the spirit so strong, and he says the right things to give me guidance and
comfort. Afterwards, I asked him for a blessing. Priesthood blessings truly
have great power to them, they give direction and clarity as to the focus the
Lord's desires for you at the time, so I was really grateful to be able to
receive that. Shortly afterward, we headed back to Kisumu so that we could make
it back before curfew and so that we could have a full and productive day on
Friday.
Friday was more teaching and a few bounces, but the sisters
had been given a rooster in Eldoret so we slaughtered that for them. The
previous night it had stayed in their flat and they said it woke them up at 5
making noise haha. So Elder Horner, taught us how to field dress it and not have
to pluck the feathers. We Met with David and he had some questions about the
Priesthood and how certain ordinances have no record of Christ performing them
in the Bible. So we discussed all different angles of the Priesthood, it's
division, it's importance, everything. This next week we will have to help him
understand a few more doctrines before he can be baptized next Sunday.
Saturday was busy busy day, we worked with Davis for the
day, he sure is a funny guy, you always have a good time when working with him.
He will be a powerful missionary soon. We have been teaching the object lesson
using nails this week, but referred to it with the Atonement. There is only one
way to balance everything in life and only one way we can receive salvation,
and that is through Jesus Christ and his Atonement. In the evening we had a
really great lesson with the Wafulas. It's been a long time since last seeing
Brother Wafula, so we were happy to meet with him again. We taught on Baptism
and the Holy Ghost and then challenged him to be baptized on the 15th of
February. He didn't accept because he says he still has some things he is
working out before, but he said that no doubt, some day he will be baptized. He
already knows that. Progress is moving on, but it's slowly by slowly, we were
thinking of buying them a picture of the temple and putting it in a nice frame
so that they can keep it in their home as a reminder of their goal to be an
eternal family some day. That is what I see in them. I can just picture Brother
and Sister Wafula holding hands walking into the temple someday with their
children to be sealed for time and all eternity. This past week when I see
certain investigators I can't help but to think of the great potential that they
have and it builds this desire in me to strive to do my best to help them reach
that potential. I can only imagine how our Heavenly Father feels about each of
us knowing our potentials, wanting so badly for us to fulfill them.
Sunday church was good, we had many of our investigators
come. Brother Maurice came for his second time this week and says that he is
now understanding the Book of Mormon and really finds it interesting! I was so
happy to hear that, he and Margaret have been Golden investigators. Also Moli
came to church for the first time. She kept her commitment and came, she said
she really enjoyed it but it was a bit difficult at first because she is
somewhat shy. Ah the joy that comes seeing those whom we have been working with
keep their commitments and progress on the path to Eternal life!
Well Everyone, that is it for the week, we had a Zone
activity today with our zone doing bumper cars. It was a blast, everyone had a
lot of fun smashing into one another, and then tonight the sisters are making
Pilau, so that will be fun, we have a really fun zone.
Hope you all have a good week,
Love always, Elder Rushton Jay Hiltbrand
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