12/15
I had a really hard time updating this week. There just didn’t feel like any point, there was NOTHING that HAPPENED!
I’ll be honest, this was probably the worst week of my entire mission, we taught one lesson, ONE!
It’s not like some previous weeks we’ve had like this where we had something going on that kept us busy elsewhere, it wasn’t like we weren’t proselyting or were sick, we just didn’t get to see anyone after Tuesday!
EVERYONE (except 1) has gone to their “Ushago” (hometown) for the Holidays, which means that the teaching pool of Elder Benson and Elder Tolbert is GONE. SOOOOO we’ve been contacting A LOT this week, but NOTHING has come of it!
We had this one lady agree to meet us, so we set an appointment and she calls us fifteen minutes before the time to say that she was there, well, we weren’t expecting her to come on time (nobody does), so we were over half an hour away when we got the call.
We immediately headed to the appointment to find that this lady had left and she refused to talk to us when she called. Oh, she’d pick up, but she wouldn’t talk, just wasting our credit.
Since phones here are all pre-pay, essentially this lady was making us waste money for no reason, only a few people do this, but when it happens there is nothing you can do but move on. I’ve seen this happen to Elder Clegg a few times, and he’s still unable to speak to these people.
Now, the biggest frustration I have here is the DOUBLE STANDARD. If these people are THREE FLIPPING HOURS LATE they EXPECT us to still be there! BUT! IF we’re so much as a minute late they give us a metaphorical middle finger and –like this lady- get their petty revenge. IT doesn’t happen a lot because –like I said- 99% of people are late to appointments. 0.99% are on time and 0.01% are early – if even that. IT grinds my gears to have to deal with this and I’m sorry that this isn’t a positive update, but I’m not in the mood to be positive, I’m still dealing with the crushing frustration that comes with not being able to work.
The only consolation this week is that I got Pizza Hut when my comp and I went to Karen to visit the Dentist for a follow up visit. The best part? IT WAS REAL PIZZA!!!! Admittedly, it tasted slightly off because the cheese is made from cows here, but it was good enough for me, it was real pizza!
I got a large pepperoni pizza and my comp got one call the “Carnivore” which was a bit disappointing since they had about 4 different meats listed, but only 2 on the pizza. Elder Tolbert and I swapped a slice and I thought it was alright, they don’t skimp on toppings like Pizza Inn does, but considering it’s $9.90 a pizza, they better not.
The price back home is expensive, but expected. Here? It’s something only for the RICH $$$$$$$.
I snagged the phone number for the place and while I don’t think they deliver this far, I can pray that one day I’ll be transferred closer, but at the same time I don’t want to be closer since that means I’ll be in N’gong, and Elder Tolbert will cheerfully tell me that he was lucky to teach 3 or 4 appointments a Transfer in that area. No thank you.
Tuesday, December 17, 2019
12/8/2019 -- B. Benson was confirmed!
12/6
Well, it’s pretty annoying when you get a call “Can I meet you now?” “No, you need to give us advance notice.” It’s really annoying. Nothing we could do then.
Funnily enough, of course, I proudly announce how busy we’ll be today this morning to Elder Madsen, only for that to NOT happen, and for us to be completely bounced for a while.
We did end up having something to do in the evening as we visited some members, but it was still a bit of a slow day.
12/7
Busy morning. We went to unlock the church, then visited B. Steven, then we tried to meet with B. Benson (the Less Active), but he wasn’t around, so we went to the OPPOSITE end of our area to see S. Kate and S. Serena.
It was a bit of an awkward visit as their three year old decided to attend the lesson without any pants, but it was fun to answer all of their questions. People rarely ask any.
12/8
B. Benson was confirmed! That was all that happened today!
Well, that and another vicious round of Phase 10. I stayed out of it since there were already 7 players, but the game took forever.
Well, it’s pretty annoying when you get a call “Can I meet you now?” “No, you need to give us advance notice.” It’s really annoying. Nothing we could do then.
Funnily enough, of course, I proudly announce how busy we’ll be today this morning to Elder Madsen, only for that to NOT happen, and for us to be completely bounced for a while.
We did end up having something to do in the evening as we visited some members, but it was still a bit of a slow day.
12/7
Busy morning. We went to unlock the church, then visited B. Steven, then we tried to meet with B. Benson (the Less Active), but he wasn’t around, so we went to the OPPOSITE end of our area to see S. Kate and S. Serena.
It was a bit of an awkward visit as their three year old decided to attend the lesson without any pants, but it was fun to answer all of their questions. People rarely ask any.
12/8
B. Benson was confirmed! That was all that happened today!
Well, that and another vicious round of Phase 10. I stayed out of it since there were already 7 players, but the game took forever.
12/5/2019 -- B. Benson was baptized today!
12/1
B. Benson was baptized today! I was honestly worried that he’d disappear and re-appear next week because it was raining, and the Kenyans don’t do well with the cold, but he did come!
We spent some time in the evening playing a game with a bunch of missionaries to celebrate my birthday and E. Macapella going home. It was my own version of DND.
12/2
Why do I even bother writing something for today?
Most interesting thing was that my comp didn’t come till almost 10pm.
12/3
Well, mostly wandering today. Elder Tolbert is way too powerful for me (even if he denies it) and we had 10 people contacted like *that*. No lessons or anything, but we did stop by to see some members.
12/4
We got lost today.
We started with DDM, then we started looking for the home of this Less Active Member that we had arranged with, but I got us lost since I couldn’t remember the first turn, and guessed wrong.
The member had to come pick us up at one point, an hour after the appointment was supposed to start. Loads of fun that.
12/5
We had a few visits today, the first was with Mama Cynthia’s family and we ended up sharing “The Christ Child” video the church put out for Light the World this year. The scene with the Wisemen got me as we were watching, I teared up a bit.
We then went to see S. Esther and ran into her son by chance, so we were able to talk to them both for a bit. He ended up promising that he’d come to church this week, which isn’t something we pushed him into, but his mother did.
He left in the middle of the lesson after that then we answered some of S. Esther’s questions since she keeps having more and more about life after death – the fortunate thing is that she’s asking questions we have doctrine about.
This evening was a bloodbath. We were playing Skip-Bo and it got heated. There were shouts of “I just play for fun” and a tsukkomi of “I don’t believe you!”
That was E. Madsen and I by the way, he is super competitive but has been trying to tame it recently, but I still don’t believe him when he says he doesn’t care anymore.
B. Benson was baptized today! I was honestly worried that he’d disappear and re-appear next week because it was raining, and the Kenyans don’t do well with the cold, but he did come!
We spent some time in the evening playing a game with a bunch of missionaries to celebrate my birthday and E. Macapella going home. It was my own version of DND.
12/2
Why do I even bother writing something for today?
Most interesting thing was that my comp didn’t come till almost 10pm.
12/3
Well, mostly wandering today. Elder Tolbert is way too powerful for me (even if he denies it) and we had 10 people contacted like *that*. No lessons or anything, but we did stop by to see some members.
12/4
We got lost today.
We started with DDM, then we started looking for the home of this Less Active Member that we had arranged with, but I got us lost since I couldn’t remember the first turn, and guessed wrong.
The member had to come pick us up at one point, an hour after the appointment was supposed to start. Loads of fun that.
12/5
We had a few visits today, the first was with Mama Cynthia’s family and we ended up sharing “The Christ Child” video the church put out for Light the World this year. The scene with the Wisemen got me as we were watching, I teared up a bit.
We then went to see S. Esther and ran into her son by chance, so we were able to talk to them both for a bit. He ended up promising that he’d come to church this week, which isn’t something we pushed him into, but his mother did.
He left in the middle of the lesson after that then we answered some of S. Esther’s questions since she keeps having more and more about life after death – the fortunate thing is that she’s asking questions we have doctrine about.
This evening was a bloodbath. We were playing Skip-Bo and it got heated. There were shouts of “I just play for fun” and a tsukkomi of “I don’t believe you!”
That was E. Madsen and I by the way, he is super competitive but has been trying to tame it recently, but I still don’t believe him when he says he doesn’t care anymore.
11/30/2019 -- we used the Bible to help her understand
11/27
We got lost. We went to the dentist today, but got lost for a long time. Fortunately, I planned for this, so we still got to the dentist an hour early.
11/28
So. Much. Wasted. Time.
We were supposed to see this guy today, but he decided not to come, so we were sitting at the church for three hours waiting for the baptismal font to fill (need to fill it days in advance since you can’t be sure when you’ll have water) which was supposed to be a good use of time, but then this guy bounced.
Aside from that, we were able to see S. Emmaqulate and S. Esther.
S. Esther’s visit was a very interesting one. She had some family attacking her over her new religion, and we used the Bible to help her understand the points that these family members were attacking. It was a fun visit.
11/29
We got transfer news today. I’ll be staying here and my new companion is Elder Tolbert from USA. E. Mukendi is going to Eldoret.
E. Madsen is getting E. Ikahihifo as a companion, that means there will be four Americans in one flat.
We rushed out first thing and saw some people, our morning was completely full, but the evening was completely empty. Kinda sucked, but what made it worse was that the member we texted to see if we could come over responded over an hour AFTER the appointment was supposed to begin – long after we’d given up on seeing them.
Felt like a bit of a waste.
11/30
Well, yet another busy morning. We visited three people in the space of a few hourse, the first was a visit to Benson and Georgina (Less Active Recent Converts) to drop off a Kiswahili Book of Mormon.
Then we went to see a Brother named Steven who is a Recent Convert, but he’s well on his way to being less active now – he hasn’t been to church for a while.
After we saw Steven we went to see a pair of sisters named Kate and Serena. They’re doing well and they have a lot of questions, but his is only our second visit with them, so we’ll see if they’ll actually start progressing.
I tried to video call home, but the mic wasn’t working, so that sucked.
We got lost. We went to the dentist today, but got lost for a long time. Fortunately, I planned for this, so we still got to the dentist an hour early.
11/28
So. Much. Wasted. Time.
We were supposed to see this guy today, but he decided not to come, so we were sitting at the church for three hours waiting for the baptismal font to fill (need to fill it days in advance since you can’t be sure when you’ll have water) which was supposed to be a good use of time, but then this guy bounced.
Aside from that, we were able to see S. Emmaqulate and S. Esther.
S. Esther’s visit was a very interesting one. She had some family attacking her over her new religion, and we used the Bible to help her understand the points that these family members were attacking. It was a fun visit.
11/29
We got transfer news today. I’ll be staying here and my new companion is Elder Tolbert from USA. E. Mukendi is going to Eldoret.
E. Madsen is getting E. Ikahihifo as a companion, that means there will be four Americans in one flat.
We rushed out first thing and saw some people, our morning was completely full, but the evening was completely empty. Kinda sucked, but what made it worse was that the member we texted to see if we could come over responded over an hour AFTER the appointment was supposed to begin – long after we’d given up on seeing them.
Felt like a bit of a waste.
11/30
Well, yet another busy morning. We visited three people in the space of a few hourse, the first was a visit to Benson and Georgina (Less Active Recent Converts) to drop off a Kiswahili Book of Mormon.
Then we went to see a Brother named Steven who is a Recent Convert, but he’s well on his way to being less active now – he hasn’t been to church for a while.
After we saw Steven we went to see a pair of sisters named Kate and Serena. They’re doing well and they have a lot of questions, but his is only our second visit with them, so we’ll see if they’ll actually start progressing.
I tried to video call home, but the mic wasn’t working, so that sucked.
11/26/2019 -- Benson passed is interview! He'll be baptized next week! Dec. 1!
11/23
We met with B. Benson's parents today and got permission without any issue. Though, there is something I take issue with: they don't really care about the differences from one church to another since "we all worship the same God."
It really annoys me that people don't see something wrong with this. I had one guy in my last area say, "When I'm at home I attend AIC (African Inland Church) and when I'm here I attend PEFA (Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa)." Those churches teach VERY different doctrine, yet you believe in them both? How can you see nothing wrong with that?
*sigh*
After we saw Benson's parents we went to see that new family from Tuesday. The husband wasn't around, but the wife's sister was there so we still taught, but we'll have to review with the husband there next time. We'll see how this family does.
We got bounced and finished the day after that.
11/24
10 Months on mission.
I had to give a talk in church today. I was supposed to give it on missionary work, but I decided that doing the "army recruiter" speech is boring, so I talked about "WHY" we do missionary work.
"Missionary work is to desire that your fellow man partake in the joy and the blessings that the Lord has to offer us."
I spent 10 minutes rambling using different examples from the Bible and the Book of Mormon and the bishop thanked me for talking that long when I sat down because he didn't have to speak as long for the talk he was writing while I and the other speakers were talking.
After church we hung around waiting and eventually E. McGee and E. Ilanda showed up (their chapel is far from ours). Benson passed is interview! He'll be baptized next week! Dec. 1!
Nothing else for the rest of the day, but plans are being made for next Sunday...fun ones.
11/25
Called home, cybered.
11/26
We had Zone Conference today, it was a bit of a let down, but better than the last one.
Elder Sitati of the seventy came by to speak to us, his thought started good, but then everyone got confused as he did an exercise that made no sense to anyone but himself. Even the zone leaders who experienced this twice were still confused. If it had made sense it might have been a good thought, but made absolutely no sense to me, so I got nothing out of it.
President Mdletshe had a really interesting thought about Soloman that lead to an interesting discussion. I had quite a bit of fun during this because I got to define a concubine for everyone.
I actually ended up answering a lot of questions during Zone Conference, “What does it mean to deny the Holy Ghost?” is one example. Fun one, I did a lot of research on the Sons of Perdition early in my mission, so it was easy to answer.
It was definitely better than the previous zone conference, but I still want them to improve so that I can get more invested in them. I love a really good zone conference – it relights the fire in me for missionary work.
We met with B. Benson's parents today and got permission without any issue. Though, there is something I take issue with: they don't really care about the differences from one church to another since "we all worship the same God."
It really annoys me that people don't see something wrong with this. I had one guy in my last area say, "When I'm at home I attend AIC (African Inland Church) and when I'm here I attend PEFA (Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa)." Those churches teach VERY different doctrine, yet you believe in them both? How can you see nothing wrong with that?
*sigh*
After we saw Benson's parents we went to see that new family from Tuesday. The husband wasn't around, but the wife's sister was there so we still taught, but we'll have to review with the husband there next time. We'll see how this family does.
We got bounced and finished the day after that.
11/24
10 Months on mission.
I had to give a talk in church today. I was supposed to give it on missionary work, but I decided that doing the "army recruiter" speech is boring, so I talked about "WHY" we do missionary work.
"Missionary work is to desire that your fellow man partake in the joy and the blessings that the Lord has to offer us."
I spent 10 minutes rambling using different examples from the Bible and the Book of Mormon and the bishop thanked me for talking that long when I sat down because he didn't have to speak as long for the talk he was writing while I and the other speakers were talking.
After church we hung around waiting and eventually E. McGee and E. Ilanda showed up (their chapel is far from ours). Benson passed is interview! He'll be baptized next week! Dec. 1!
Nothing else for the rest of the day, but plans are being made for next Sunday...fun ones.
11/25
Called home, cybered.
11/26
We had Zone Conference today, it was a bit of a let down, but better than the last one.
Elder Sitati of the seventy came by to speak to us, his thought started good, but then everyone got confused as he did an exercise that made no sense to anyone but himself. Even the zone leaders who experienced this twice were still confused. If it had made sense it might have been a good thought, but made absolutely no sense to me, so I got nothing out of it.
President Mdletshe had a really interesting thought about Soloman that lead to an interesting discussion. I had quite a bit of fun during this because I got to define a concubine for everyone.
I actually ended up answering a lot of questions during Zone Conference, “What does it mean to deny the Holy Ghost?” is one example. Fun one, I did a lot of research on the Sons of Perdition early in my mission, so it was easy to answer.
It was definitely better than the previous zone conference, but I still want them to improve so that I can get more invested in them. I love a really good zone conference – it relights the fire in me for missionary work.
11/22/2019 -- they also responded positively when we mentioned tithing.
11/18
Do I bother writing anything?
11/19
We met with a new family today. We contacted the wife on Saturday (she called us over) and the lesson seemed to go pretty well.
Apparently, this woman and her husband stopped going to church because she hated all the demands for money she was getting.
"You, donate 200, the Pastor wants to go on vacation." kind of thing.
So they responded well when we told them that we didn't do that, they also responded positively when we mentioned tithing.
After visiting them we went and met with Benson to teach the last lesson. Since he's all done we just need to meet with his parents and have him meet with the District Leader then we'll be good to go, but because of the timing of things he'll have to be baptized next week instead of this one.
11/20
I did the training for DDM today - it went well.
After DDM we were bounced then visited a member family. We watched a few talks while we were there and called it good for the day after that.
11/21
We met with Sister Emmaqulate first thing today. She's doing well, but we're staring at the future with some level of concern: she's moving to Eldoret soon.
We're already making plans for her to meet the missionaries there, but we'll see how the future turns out - we don't want to lose this lady.
Later that day we also met with S. Esther to talk about life after death and the resurrection since her family was giving her beef for believing in "false doctrine" because she couldn't use the bible to prove anything. We turned to 1 Cor 15 and helped clear some stuff up, and she was very happy.
11/22
I am furious. Well, I can't say I didn't see it as a possibility, but I had hoped this guy would be more considerate than that.
We walked about 1 hr and 20 min to an appointment only for this guy to bounce. We did a stinking 13 mile or so hike to see this guy, and he wasn't there. Not happy.
The only other person we saw today also annoyed me because the guy just likes to make constant excuses. You'll ask why he hasn't done the reading or why he can't even remember simple things and he'll spent 5-10 minutes making excuses and wasting time. It's not fun.
Do I bother writing anything?
11/19
We met with a new family today. We contacted the wife on Saturday (she called us over) and the lesson seemed to go pretty well.
Apparently, this woman and her husband stopped going to church because she hated all the demands for money she was getting.
"You, donate 200, the Pastor wants to go on vacation." kind of thing.
So they responded well when we told them that we didn't do that, they also responded positively when we mentioned tithing.
After visiting them we went and met with Benson to teach the last lesson. Since he's all done we just need to meet with his parents and have him meet with the District Leader then we'll be good to go, but because of the timing of things he'll have to be baptized next week instead of this one.
11/20
I did the training for DDM today - it went well.
After DDM we were bounced then visited a member family. We watched a few talks while we were there and called it good for the day after that.
11/21
We met with Sister Emmaqulate first thing today. She's doing well, but we're staring at the future with some level of concern: she's moving to Eldoret soon.
We're already making plans for her to meet the missionaries there, but we'll see how the future turns out - we don't want to lose this lady.
Later that day we also met with S. Esther to talk about life after death and the resurrection since her family was giving her beef for believing in "false doctrine" because she couldn't use the bible to prove anything. We turned to 1 Cor 15 and helped clear some stuff up, and she was very happy.
11/22
I am furious. Well, I can't say I didn't see it as a possibility, but I had hoped this guy would be more considerate than that.
We walked about 1 hr and 20 min to an appointment only for this guy to bounce. We did a stinking 13 mile or so hike to see this guy, and he wasn't there. Not happy.
The only other person we saw today also annoyed me because the guy just likes to make constant excuses. You'll ask why he hasn't done the reading or why he can't even remember simple things and he'll spent 5-10 minutes making excuses and wasting time. It's not fun.
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