5/13/2019 The Death of Sanity, and The Death of Hope.

5/9
Things have been rather crazy this week. We spent Monday in a Trio. It was: E.Bailey (District Leader), E.Tonda, and I. We were like that for Monday, and most of Tuesday. Nothing happened Monday. It rained, and every Internet cafe was closed because some important guy died, and they paraded his body through the streets. So we hung out at the flat all day. Tuesday, we were able to email home, but only one shop, way out in Buza, was open. After that, we gave E.Tonda to the couples and he joined his companion E.Redpath. Wednesday, my companion finally joined us, just in time for DDM. He, E.Bailey, and I will be a companionship until E.Bailey's companion shows up. It's quite crowded.

We've gotten to teach a few times together at this point, on Wednesday we taught one of E.Bailey's investigators. Her name is Hadija, and she's close to Baptism. We taught her the last lesson together. It was nice.

Thursday, we got RAINED on. It wasn't the worst rainfall ever, but it was the worst one I've ever been caught in. We taught a lesson with B.Ernest, and E.Bailey conducted S.Veronica's Baptismal Interview. She has passed, and should get Baptized on the 19th. It's overall been a good day, but I'm wiped and tired.

5/10
"The Third Kind of Death"

There's Physical Death - where the body and the spirit separate- Spiritual Death -where the soul or spirit is cast out of the presence of the Lord- and Sanity Death -where Elder Benson is separated from his wali nyama- this one is also called the death of hope.

Well, the restaurant I ate at for 12 weeks is closed for the month of May. The Muslims do this fast for forty days -patterned after the forty day fast of Jesus- [according to Wikipedia, Ramadan is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (sawm) to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad according to Islamic belief."] where they don't eat from 6am to 6pm. I don't remember what it's called, but a lot of businesses close during May because they won't be able to make enough money to keep from going bankrupt because the Muslims don't buy anything. My favorite restaurant was one of the ones to take a hit. I found a back up, but it isn't as good. It is cheaper though, so at least there's an upside.

The other thing I'm despairing over is that I need to find another place to buy Chapate. That restaurant is the only one I've found that sells them, no one else. It really hurts. I miss my Wali Nyama, I miss my Chapate, this is truly: The Death of Sanity, and The Death of Hope.

Anyway, E.Bailey's companion arrived today. I can't spell his name, but it's nice to no longer be in a Trio. For the most part I just spent the day showing E.Mathemera around the Area. There wasn't much to see, but I think he knows his way around pretty well now. Not much else today, just weekly planning where we both scratched our heads over the Area Book.

Everything AFTER E.Phokane arrived was well done, everything BEFORE was a mess. So we had to do some cleaning.

5/11
More rain today. It's really bad. Utah has nothing on this. It was quiet too, nobody showed up for English Class...

Fortunately, we did get to teach B.Dennis. He disappeared during my first transfer here, and I haven't seen him since. He reappeared last Saturday, and said he still wanted to learn. We tried to teach him Tuesday, no dice - Transfer issues. Wednesday, no dice - Rain. Thursday, no dice - Simba was playing. Saturday: success! We finally taught him again, and he's more serious than I though. He remembers a lot of what we taught him, and we're the fourth (counting E.Phokane and I during my first transfer) Companionship to teach him. Looks like teaching him this time around will go better, but with all the rain, I could be wrong.

Here's a funny thing about this brother: if Simba is playing, he'll say that he can't come because of the rain, but if Simba isn't playing, he'll bike through the rain. *shakes head* The attitude about sports is very different from my home.

So, apparently, my new favorite mango juice has an interesting name. Apparently, the name of the drink is a bad word in Showna. My companion is from Zimbabwe, and he told me that's why he refuses to buy the stuff. I'm kinda amused, and kinda torn at the same time. Stuff is still really good though.

5/12
Today was Mother's Day. It was rather interesting though. We went to church, not expecting anything unusual, and get there to find out that the Baptismal Font hasn't been filled. We missionaries had heard that the Branch President's son was getting Baptized today, so we were a little confused.

It turns out that no one talked to the guy who normally fills the font, and let him know ahead of schedule that he needed to do so.

He started filling it right after Sacrament Meeting, and was still trying to fill it after Church had ended. After about a half hour of waiting a hasty bucket brigade was formed to assist the hose in it's work, and I helped pass buckets down the line. It took a while, about 20 minutes I want to say, but we got it filled enough for a child's Baptism. There was what I assume was a good program -it was 100% Swahili- then two children were Baptized. The Branch President's son, and one other. I'm not sure who the other kid was, but his father looked proud. It was a good Baptism overall, and S.Veronica and B.Komba both watched, so they have a personal testimony of how it's done. Next week, it'll be S.Veronica's turn. S.Hadija -who we taught on Wednesday- will be Baptized the same day.

After the Baptism E.Mathemera and I headed to the Couple's flat and called home for Mother's Day. It was amazing having a semi-decent connection for once to call home. The first one I've had. It was funny talking to S.Shirtliff afterwards, and her telling me about how bad their wifi was. So my sense of "Good Internet" is probably screwed up pretty badly by this point.

Before we left, I borrowed a copy of Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage from E.Shirtliff, and I will be reading it as fast as I can, so I'll probably be done with it by the end of the transfer.

Photos from Erik's Mother's Day call! 
Notice, he's wearing THE SAME TIE as seen in all previous photos.
He ALWAYS wears this tie!!

Erik, show us how skinny you are!

5/7/2019 There are three kinds of mosquitos here: The Big ones, the Fast ones, and the Ninjas.

4/29
Not much today, we went to Milami City -a shopping mall- which was supposed to be a zone activity, but barely anyone showed up. I can't say I blame them, it's the last week of the Transfer, so they're all stocking up on souvenirs. E.Phokane and I were just there for the KFC. It was nice.

4/30
"Truly a Dangerous Foe"
There are three kinds of mosquitos here: The Big ones, the Fast ones, and the Ninjas.

The Big ones are simple enough, they're just big. I kill a lot of these kind. They're the easiest target, and the easiest to spot.

The Fast ones are fairly dangerous. They fly fast enough to disappear from your sight while you're watching them because your brain can't keep up with them.

The Ninjas are the scariest. The have the ability to bite you without you ever seeing them. If you spot one, either it'll bite you in a few minutes no matter how hard you watch, or it's already bitten you. Usually the second one - they get slower and sloppier after eating.

These things are tough as bricks no matter which one you look at, and they will bite you through your socks. Most of my mosquito bites are on my ankles. Only a few on my arms. A ninja did bite me on the pad of my pinky once -I'm still trying to figure out how it happened- it was horrible. I have learned that the most miserable place to get bitten, is a place with a lot of nerves. Your sense of touch gets messed up, and it's the most painful. I had one bite me through my net before too, it was when I first got here, and I slept without a blanket. My feet pressed up against the net, and I woke up with two throbbing and itchy toes. They're evil.

My Companion is a Hunter though, Bloodborne style. His accuracy when hunting Mosquitoes is at LEAST 90% I wouldn't be surprised if it was 98% or so. He is also the only one who can spot Ninjas, and he can find the fast ones after they've disappeared. The big ones avoid him knowing all hope is lost. I need to learn his ways, my accuracy is 30% on a good day, often less...usually less...okay, it's less. Probably about 6% or 7%.

Today was interesting, we performed an emergency exchange with Chang'ombe 1 so that E.Buthelezi could get some work done. It went well, and we swapped back without any issue.

We also did some contacting today, and we met S.Veronica's uncle, and we contacted him. It'll be interesting to see if that goes anywhere.

Oh yeah, I am a little proud of myself because I mended one of my shirts. I'd caught my shirt pocket while standing up, and torn it a week ago. I forgot all about that happening until I placed my shirt on the ironing board today, and noticed that the pocket wasn't sewed on anymore. Half an hour of head scratching and fiddling around later I was able to get it sewn back on. I got a thumbs up from my companion for it. It'll hopefully hold up for a little while. I don't want to have to pay someone to fix it.

5/2
Exchanges yesterday with E.Bailey. It was nice, but nothing happened of note. It was just quiet. Too quiet, I had to turn on music.

Today was pretty exciting though. We have one new investigator, and I taught another person for the first time. Yesterday, a member brought his friend as a referral; E.Phokane and E.Buthelezi taught him, so he was a new investigator yesterday. E.Phokane and I taught him today, so it was my first time teaching him. His name is Brother Ernest. He's nice, and considering who referred him, the likelihood that he'll get baptized is rather high. I probably won't be the one to do it though, the Transfer ends this week, and I have no idea if I'm going or staying.

Anyway, the circumstances surrounding the new investigator for today were rather funny/interesting. About a week ago E.Phokane and E.Bailey (it was exchanges) were stopped by a lady named Brenda, so they contacted her. E.Phokane and I went back later to teach her, she wasn't there, but her sister was, so we contacted her. Today, we taught them both at the same time. The sister's name is Blessing, and I think she's funny. She knows English better than Swahili, and when I asked her which pamphlet she'd like I got the response: "English please!" with a large amount of desperation. I still find it rather funny to think back on. These sisters also had a lot of questions, which was nice. People usually just listen and nod, even when they don't understand. That just makes our job harder, but these sisters just asked a lot of questions. It was nice.

Nothing else, but the end of the transfer brings a sense of impending doom and joy. It lets me know that, yes time is moving; but on the other hand, I think I'll be moved, which I don't want since I want to be around for S.Veronica's Baptism, and to help teach S.Mary and her husband B.Brighton, but I'll go where I'm told regardless.

5/3
Correlation meeting today, that took up a lot of time. Correlation is when you meet with the ward mission leader and catch him up on the people you've been seeing and teaching, and you let him know how the ward/branch can help with missionary work. Today's was extremely long since we haven't held this (weekly) meeting in three-four weeks.

After we got back we checked in on S.Veronica who is still recovering, but she feels well enough to open her shop. We also met our Recent Convert: B.Kevin there. Fun fact: his real name isn't Kevin, but I can't for the life of me write it, and I've only successfully said it out loud once (twice since I just tried again, and no one is around to correct me). We taught him about the priesthood, and said hello to a member named B.Luis, who is B.Kevin's fellow-shipper.

Overall, it was a nice day, except for the fact that the power was off when we got up in the morning. I was a little annoyed that I couldn't iron my shirt, but I wasn't desperate enough to put the iron on the stove. I know some missionaries have had success with that one, but it just reeks of danger to me; danger, and a broken iron.

5/4
Really quiet today. No one showed up to English class. They probably assumed that it had been cancelled since there's a District Conference today and tomorrow (it's like Stake Conference).

Anyway, I ended up ordering Pizza today. I will admit that I feel torn. On the one hand: it's pizza, I haven't had pizza in 6 weeks - since last transfer. On the other hand: the pizza here just isn't right. The crust is really thin, they skimp on cheese, and the pepperoni is super thin. I suppose you could say that I feel like I've taken a Potion when I need to take an Elixir. (KH reference. Potions restore health, Elixirs restore health and magic, they're better.) I also learned my lesson from last time. I ordered the biggest size they had, and finished most of it. It was about the same size as the large pizza back home.

Aside from that, I cut my hair, and bought mango juice. I gotta admit two things. 1: I'm feeling fresh, I've needed a hair cut for a few weeks now. 2: Mango is starting to grow on me. I can see why Drake likes it.

We're just waiting for transfer news. Probably won't be till after midnight, I won't be getting much sleep.

Just got news (it's 11). E.Phokane and E.Buthelezi are going to Buruburu (in Kenya). My new companion's name is E.Mathemera (Matt-e-meh-rah). It's interesting to see how excited my companion is. His mind is absolutely blown. He was expecting to be here for another Transfer. It was kinda funny though, I had a heart attack when President Msane called us, but it turned out to be a mistake, he was calling the other Elders. E.Bailey is now a District Leader. E.Buthelezi will be working with E.Duke, who came in with my group.

5/5
It was a good, last day today. We attended Distric Conference, and got to hear President Msane speak, and his wife Sister Msane. She was really funny, because she said that she wasn't dead yet. On mission, being dead means that you've lost all motivation for the work. You often see it with people who are going home soon. One of the Elders in my Zone was dead, you could see it on his face. He still worked and all, but he had no fire. Anyway, S.Msane got a lot of laughs from Missionaries when she said that.

It was nice, but it rained ALL DAY today! I'm not joking! It started last night, and only stopped a few hours ago. Utah rain can't hold a candle to the stuff here. It's like the ocean decided to jump on your face, driving down the road, is more like fording accross a series of lakes all filling pot holes. Wanna know how deep some of them get? If I wanted, I could have touched the water as we passed through one of the puddles in a Daladala today. They are deep!

After the District Conference, we went to a member's home and ate dinner with him. It was nice. He's a returned missionary, and he served in this mission: B.Phineas. He's powerful too, you can tell just by looking at him, spending time with him? You can feel it too. He's helping E.Phokane and I (now E.Mathemera and I) teach B.Brighton and S.Mary.

5/6
We didn't get to email home today. Some important buisness man died, and everyone closed their shops out of grief. We tried 3 different shops to email, all three were closed. So we'll email tomorrow.

Nothing happened today. We dropped E.Phokane and E.Buthelezi off at the airport, then E.Bailey, E.Tonda, and I hung around E.Bailey's flat till lunch. That was when the first sign of things to come was seen: the restraunt was closed. It's never closed, never. Almost gave me a heart-attack. We had to improvise for lunch, and then we went looking for a place to email. I called the guy we normally go to, he said that he wasn't around today. We took a Daladala all the way out to Buza to try one there, nothing. That was when we found out the reason. Spent the rest of the day doing nothing, we just contacted (well, E.Tonda contacted, my Swahili will never be that good) just one person. It's gonna be a long week.

Oh, this one shopkeeper ma-ma was shockingly nice to me while we were out. She called us over and lent me an umbrella since all three of us couldn't fit under one. I gave it back, and as thanks I didn't ask for my change (yes, on purpose) when we bought soda from her later.

4/29/2019 Needed to lock ALL the locks on the apartment's door

4/22
We went to Kariakoo (car-ee-ahhh-co(as in "co"operate)) today. It was a great, huge market, it looked almost like Times Square, it had shops and stalls lining the sidewalks and going down any alley felt like going in doors because of how many products they'd hung over head. I got a bracelet, and "something else" which will remain a surprise until I give it to the person whom it is intended for. My parents do know, but I have sworn them to secrecy. They are not to tell anyone!!!  So don't tempt them.

Anyway, I had a bit of a heart attack at Kariakoo, I bumped some guy's foot with my foot by accident when I was rushing to catch up to the other Elders. He grabbed my arm and started saying something in Swahili, and gestured to his foot. I have no idea what he was saying, but I think he was demanding money.

I've heard about a similar scam in Japan where a person will claim that you've caused serious harm to them (just by bumping them), then demand a large sum of money. I'm just assuming that this guy was doing the same thing, I couldn't understand him after all. The other possibility was that he was cursing me witch doctor style. Regardless, I have the red marks on my arm (at 10 in the evening, 9 hours from the incident) to prove that he didn't just grab my arm, it was like he was throttling it like it was the neck of someone he'd hated for years. Ooh, look at that, I see a bit of purple, how nice.  Anyway, my focus remained on catching up with my companion, so when I shouted for him the guy let me go. He probably thought I was calling for my buddies to come back me up. Well, they didn't hear me. I had to run to catch up to them. So if a spurious court case is sent my way...it might not be the photograph from last week. It might be a black guy suing a Mzungu for "causing severe trauma" or "breaking his foot" or something like that.  I had a brilliant brain wave last week: instead of waiting for the Liahona to arrive in June. How about I buy a flash drive (USB stick/drive, what ever you call it) and put the conference talks on it to listen to at the flat? So that's what I did. I'm just missing three talks from the Sunday Morning Session, but I'll be able to get ahold of those really soon. E.Phokane and I need to take a survey, so we're going back tomorrow - I can download the missing three in the background. I'm pretty excited since one of the three I'm missing is President Nelson's talk.

4/23
I got the rest of the talks! I also went crazy and tried to download every talk given by President Nelson - ever. Well, I got half of them, so that 10 hours or so will have to content me for now.  I did enjoy conference though. I got to finish the last session I hadn't listened to (Sunday Morning) tonight. I am noticing a theme I would encourage you all to embrace: "Personal Accountability." I would encourage you all to be personally accountable to the Lord for every commandment you keep, for every one you fail to keep, and for everyone you keep without true purpose of heart. I feel that we all fall into a routine too easily - we don't keep our covenants with the joy and hope that we should, we just keep them because we're used to it. I would just encourage each of you to embrace your own personal accountability. It will bring you blessings and strength beyond your means.

Anyway, E.Phokane and I met a Potential Investigator who's in the other Elder's area today. I must admit that I have a bit of a problem with the guy: he reeks of ulterior motives. I think he just wants to hang out with and talk to Mzungu (white person). I can -and will have to- teach him, it will just be hard for me to love him.  Side note: I'm sick now. I can still work, but I have a head cold. I hate being sick, especially on mission. I need sleep. Goodnight.

4/25
Sleep, huh? HAHAHAHA!!!! Last night on exchanges I didn't fall asleep until AFTER 4! E.Buthelezi and I went to bed LONG before that! SLEEP DOES NOT EXIST. Still sick by the way.

Something interesting did happen though. I was reading the BoM right before we turned out the lights last night, and E.Buthelezi -who was in the middle of passing out- suddenly gets up and walks out of the room. He comes back a few minutes later and tells me that he had the thought that he needed to lock ALL the locks on the apartment's door.  There are three of them. Two bolts, and the door knob.  At about midnight, I heard someone either banging on it, or trying to force it open. The gave up in less than ten minutes, but I wasn't keeping too accurate of a time table. I was in the middle of planning my game plan of what I would do if he got though the front door, and trying to figure out if I should wake my companion. I reached the conclusion that I would have enough time to wake him if whoever was pounding got though the front door since our room door was locked too.  I also reached the conclusion that we would hide on the balcony and attempt to dump the person off of it in the event that they got into our room.



We were on the third floor, and their floors are higher than the ones in the US due to their very high ceilings.  Well, nothing happened in the end, the guy -who I assume was drunk-gave up, and we didn't hear anything else afterward. Though I did have to explain this to E.Buthelezi in the morning. Overall, fun! -_- Anyway, something cool did happen today, well yesterday. So while on exchanges E.Bailey and E.Phokane were stopped by a lady who they then contacted. Today, the same lady stops E.Phokane and I with questions, so we teach her a little, and set up a proper appointment for tomorrow. It was quite amusing. She seems pretty serious, so It'll be good to start teaching again. Things slowed to a crawl during -and after- Easter.

I also met a really cool member yesterday named "Prince." He's from South Africa and served his mission in the Kenya mission, back in 2011. He moved to Tanzania to marry a girl he'd met while serving.  He's a really nice guy, and he fed us. He really knows the way to befriend missionaries.  He also makes this cool little handicraft that I WILL be purchasing for myself, but as for what it is, I'll keep that a secret. I don't know if I'll be moved next transfer after-all.

I will admit, I don't know what he fed us for the most part, but some of it was really delicious. I did regret eating the rice later -they'd added coconut, my stomach and coconut don't get along- and I also regret not eating more Chapate. The Chapate they'd made for us was NICE. They also gave us this kind of smoothie that was excellent. I don't know all that was in it, but there was Avocado, and Kiwi, and a few other things. It was excellent.

4/26
Today was the day of English. We met about 4 people who spoke GOOD English. That never happens. 3 were random strangers we contacted, and the last one was sister-cousin to our newest investigator, the one we taught yesterday. So today was pretty good, but it was slow since we had Flat Checks. The Zone Leaders were really pick, our flat is probably the cleanest in the zone (Credits to E.Phokane, everyone who visits comments on how clean it is), but they still gave us a "yellow card." So they were really picky.

Nothing else really today, I'm still sick, and I've been listening to President Nelson's old talks. It's interesting to see how the changes to the Church are reflected in his earlier talks. He has spoken often on families, and the divine roles of Women - in addition to many other things. You should take a look.

4/27
Today was a good day. We weren't able to teach a lesson, the member we went to visit wasn't home, and only one person showed up for English class - an hour late. However, that wasn't what made today good. We did get to experience blessings because of those things though.  Because we were un-able to teach -though we were able to see the person who we wanted to teach-, we were able to contact 10 people (11 counting the Muslim who rejected it). Because the member we went to meet wasn't home, we were able to meet her sister, who is less-active, and we've been trying to meet for a while. Because we were at English Class, waiting, for so long...I got to take a nap under the nice-cool A/C. Today was a good day, and I haven't even mentioned the fact that we were finally able to catch B.Steven.  We've been trying to meet up with him for a few days now, and he hasn't been home, but we caught him today! It may, or may not, have been our second try at his home today. Seeing him was nice, we invited him to church again, and we shared a message before going. He really is a good Brother. When E.Phokane asked him to share his testimony -he thought for a moment- then responded: "I know the Gospel is True." It was interesting to feel the conviction behind his words. I hope he comes to church tomorrow.

4/28
"A Tough Decision"
So, about a month ago, I made a really tough decision. I decided to take off my necklace while proselyting. I am fully aware that Keaton, and Alekken, both have worn and proselyted with necklaces, and have had no issue what so ever with them, but I had impressions from the Lord for a long time to take it off. So I did. I still wear my necklace around the flat, and I miss it when I'm out proselyting, but I feel that this was necessary. I know and understand why necklaces are against the rules, and I know that my necklace doesn't infringe upon those reasons, but I still listened to the Spirit of the Lord in the end.

Anyway, today has been a bitter-sweet day. We finally got to teach B.Brighton and his wife: S.Mary. They have been attending church regularly for about...5-6 weeks or so, maybe a little more. B.Brighton has been a little less consistent about his attendance, but with good cause: he was either sick, or attending to family, so he gets a pass. I think I've mentioned S.Mary before, she's the one who commented that she like seeing the changes in her husband. It made me very happy to teach them today, they're rather hard to pin down because of how busy they are, but they (especially S.Mary) are very ready for Baptism at this point. We just need to help them make those commitments, and teach them.

Now, for the "bitter" part of this day: E.B. is sick. At first his symptoms sounded like Malaria, but after looking and listening a little longer, E.Phokane and I have concluded that it might be Typhoid. He's going to the doctor's tomorrow to check. Send a few prayers his way, yeah?

It's not just him today: S.Veronica was in the hospital with a blood infection today. She was admitted yesterday, but we didn't find out till after Sacrament meeting, so we visited her after we checked in on E.B. We also gave her a Blessing. Here's hoping she'll get better soon, we might have to reschedule her Baptismal Date again because of this.

Erik LOVES Chapate!  It is nothing like a tortilla!