11/17/2019 -- Why would you want to get baptized if you don't have faith???

11/11:
Cybered, Called home. Have a headache.

11/12
Well, today was just chock full of rain. We didn't really get rained on, but I made sure to walk out in it when it started coming down hard. Even after Dar I find that I still like the rain.

We ended up having a few really good lessons today.

We met with a B. named John who might be moving to Buruburu next month so we probably won't see him get baptized if he makes it, but he seems to be doing very well in the gospel for now. He just randomly showed up to church "for himself."

After we taught him we finished the last lesson with S. Emmaqulate then we saw B. Benson and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ which went well. He still feels good about his Baptism, so I'm feeling pretty excited for him.

11/13
DDM today, and A LOT more rain.

E. Clegg's trainee also got an ET today, he has asthma and the pollution here is just killing him, so they sent him out to Kisumu. We now have E. Sharp in the district as our Canadian representative.

After DDM the day was slow, we went to see a sister who hasn't been coming to church because the transition to this one has been hard on her, so her response was to hide in the house.

Her kid is also complaining, that doesn't help anything at all, and her very active husband isn't really doing anything, so we're scratching our heads trying to figure out how to help her.

Still have got nada.

11/14
Well, we went to see B. Steven today. Since his wife and children are finally back from Ushago (people here measure vacation on a scale of months, not weeks) he introduced us to his children, but his wife wasn't around for us to meet her. Regardless, B. Steven wants us to teach her and his elder son.

After that we did some contacting then met with B. Benson.

He's doing well and feels ready to be baptized. We blasted through Tithing today and we'll be teaching the Word of Wisdom next. I'm a little leery about that one since most people here had trouble with Tea. After that we went with the Dandora Elders to teach a lesson. Since we now know where the boundaries are we passed one of our investigators over to them, then we took them with us to a DA.

For the Spiritual Thought we watched Elder Renlund's talk from the last general conference: Unwavering Commitment to Christ is what I think its called. It was good.

11/15
We started the day off with a Zone Meeting that went way too long. I didn't speak much, but for some reason people kept quoting something I'd said at the beginning of the meeting. They had asked us what lessons we'd learned on mission, and my response was: "Letting go of what you can't control" which some people really picked up on for some reason. I heard people quote it at least twice, if not more.

After the meeting we went and hit up KFC, then E. Mukendi and I had to rush ALLLLLL the way out to Chokaa to visit a Less Active member.

It pretty much killed our day since the travel time is intense.

11/16
I don't understand, I don't understand, I DON'T UNDERSTAND!!! Why would you want to get baptized if you don't have faith???

This guy wants really bad to get baptized, but as is he won't be able to keep his covenants. We explained that to him and it seemed to shock him a little. He just...I don't get this guy.

Saw Benson after that, yup. Tea is an issue. Parental Permission is also an issue, so we'll be pushing back his date.

We also met with a sister named Mary and just shared some verses from Alma 7 with her as a kind of encouragement.

11/17
I wasn't expecting to go for a 15 mile hike today, good to know! It was over an hour long walk there, and over an hour back, this doesn't count the three mile or so walk to the church. My legs are dead...

And yes, it was a hike. I was overlooking a few small cliffs at one point, and we were walking up and down a hill. It was a hike.

11/10/2019 -- He is heading to the washroom, STOP HIM!

11/9
Today was supposed to be busy, but then we got bounced twice.

We ended up seeing S. Emmaqulate and had a pretty good lesson talking about the Temple. She seems determined to go, which is only a good sign and a great blessing, both to us who get to help her, and to herself since this desire will keep her strong in the gospel.

The rest of the day was empty.

11/10
"My Personal Hell; A True Test of Patience"

Church was normal, I was frustrated when one of the investigators showed up late giving excuses that just didn't hold water. All I could think of was Elder Holland saying: "Get rid of the Ox or fill the mire."

Well, the real thing that sucked was what happened after church ended.

E. Mukendi and I had to run out before closing prayer (at 11:20, church is supposed to end at 11:00) to pick up a Recent Convert who used to attend Buruburu, then found out that there was a church closer to her from the other Elders. She thought we started at 10:30 since that's what time Buruburu 2nd starts, but she knows now.

That's still not the bad thing. The bad thing was that I was mobbed by children the second I got back. I'm not using figurative language here.

I had one child standing in front of me trying to keep me from moving forward by pushing on my chest, I had three or four hanging on my arms, and several others that were jockeying for a position. Almost nothing could get them to leave me alone, not my companion, not anyone else (everyone else probably thought I was just playing with the kids...).

Eventually, I realize that all the kids are girls, so I head over to the washroom fighting for every step, and they all peel off the second I get close enough, but they increased their efforts the second they realized where I was going.  [One of the girls said, "He is heading to the washroom, STOP HIM!!]

Overall, horrible. Completely disrespectful to the church. Also, just horrible on a personal level. Too many children...too loud...too much touching.

Oh yeah, here's something funny. I have a flash drive I've loaded with talks and Mormon Messages. It's what I used to show that family on Friday talks. Well, they ended up borrowing it from me, and the eldest daughter ended up watching everything on it before returning it today. I have about five or so hours of talks on there, so I was impressed to say the least.

She asked me to put more talks on it and lend it to her again this Friday.

Last thing: I was asked to give a talk next week.

Last, last thing: Elder Madsen beat us in Phase 10 again. I took third place.

11/8/2019 -- the world has ceased to make sense

11/7
Well, I got a phone call at 7 this morning: "Elder Benson, you have an interview with President Mdletshe in 2 hours."

I was spitting mad to say the least. If the guy I'd planned for at 11 hadn't cancelled I would have just said that it would need to be done at another time. I literally called the assistants to tell them I couldn't make it, but after a quick review of events I discovered that my morning was wide open, so it became a matter of wether I'd be on time or not.

E. McGee and I hustled our little selves over to his flat where I picked up my companion. We then caught a Matatu to Buruburu where we were just *barely* in time for our interviews.

The rest of the day was empty, just a few bounces and a lack of response from the member we were trying to visit today, so that's a no go.

11/8
Well, whadayaknow? Apparently that member wanted us to show up! We totally knew from the fact that we never received a response from them. No text, no call, nothing!

*sigh*...the world has ceased to make sense. Usually, the easiest form of bounce is never to respond to us, but it's the reverse this time. Just...waht? (yes, the misspelling is intentional)

Anyway, today was pretty good. We met with B. Emm (Emmanuel, but I've decided that it's sacrilegious, so I'm calling him Emm) and had a decent lesson, but it looks like we'll be passing him over to the Dandora Elders since he's actually in their area.

After that we did some contacting, followed up on a guy we contacted, I tried some chapate from a new guy and discovered that they were really good, had lunch, then we taught B. Benson the rest of the Plan of Salvation.

I actually thought B. Benson wasn't going to come since his phone was off -since that's usually the sign of a bounce- but it turns out that his phone died.

After B. Benson we went to visit S. Cynthia and her family. We ate, were accused of disliking the food when we didn't take seconds, then watched E. Bednar's talk from the last conference. My teaching flash comes in handy sometimes!

We also watched the talk about the converting power of the Book of Mormon. In that talk it mentions a moment when the speaker's mother conducts a baptismal interview on him and asks the question: "Will you come to church absolutely every Sunday?" to which he responded "Yes, of course!"

The reason why I mention that detail was the reactions in the room to that moment: shock.

All I can feel is a sense of malicious satisfaction in that this family (despite being active) now has a better understanding of the kind of commitment you need for church. Kenyans as a whole don't have a good understanding of church attendance. Some come when they feel like it, some come when it's convenient, and some come just because they think they need to, not because they understand "Why."

I really do take a lot of satisfaction from that moment, not to be mean to this family, but because I keep saying this and nobody gets it. They just did.

11/6/2019 -- went to teach a pair of lessons which turned into one

11/4
Cybered, Called home, complained about the work here.

11/5
[Day's events Redacted]

Elder Madsen, Elder Macapella, and I have been playing Phase 10 every now and then in the flat. Currently, we're at two games with me winning the first one and Elder Madsen winning the second one.

I have learned that Phase 10 is a vicious and cutthroat game meant only for those callous enough to use a skip on the guy who was just helped you finish your run. All in all, fun!

11/6
Well, exchanges today. Elder McGee and I were together after we finished DDM. We had lunch as a district, then we went to teach a pair of lessons which turned into one lesson.

We had planned on a lesson at 2, and one at 3, but that didn't happen. They both showed up within seconds of each other just a few minutes after the member we asked to help showed up.

Since the member we had there was the one who referred these two to us, we taught with his help and did a good job with the Plan of Salvation - even if it wasn't planned on.

After we taught that lesson we ended up coming back to the flat since E. McGee wasn't feeling well - he is currently recovering from illness, so I can't blame him - it's mostly just low energy for now.

The evening was really fun, I cut E. McGee's hair and he cut mine, we got some shirtless pics together, then we played Phase 10 with Elder Madsen and Elder Macapella.

It was a vicious and cruel game, it only took a good turn when E. Madsen and I teamed up against E. McGee who was in the final Phase with both of us on Phase 8. We were able to hold him off with skips and prayers, then E. Madsen was able to make a huge come back.

E. Madsen walked away with first place and I walked away with second, it was loads of fun!

11/2/2019 -- Usually E. Mukendi has to pull me back when I get excited and start sharing too much information

11/1
Well, today was fairly busy, but not as much as we wanted.

We started the morning off by visiting B. Steven who have a very interesting question about blessings and curses "unto the third and fourth generation." I'm personally not too sure in regards to blessings, I see the good things your parents left behind for you as blessings, the relationships, items, memories, and teachings received from them are all things I perceived as blessings passed down. I don't really know if blessings in the usual "mystical" understanding of them apply in this sense, I don't know of any doctrine regarding it.

As far as curses that was easy, I just (either perfectly or paraphrased, not sure which) quoted a scripture from the Book of Mormon: "I the Lord am a jealous God, visiting the curses of the fathers unto the third and fourth generation of THOSE THAT HATE ME." (Emphasis added) In the temporal sense, our forefathers can definitely pass down curses very easily to the children: debt, feuds, mistakes, and decisions will haunt their children, not always cursing them, but sometimes making them a victim. As far as other curses from the Lord I'm not too specific, but if you repent you don't need to worry about it.

Anyway, I thought it was an interesting question, so I just wanted to share what we talked about there.

We tried to go see a brother named Mutua after that, the Fundi wa Viatoo (Fixer of Shoes) we met a few weeks ago, but we took one look at his work load and walked away after a quick greeting.

Did a bit of contacting.

Then we spent a while at the church waiting for Benson and the member who referred him to us named Mike. We had a pretty good lesson with them and answered a lot of questions.

Usually E. Mukendi has to pull me back when I get excited and start sharing too much information, but this time we reversed roles with me being "yes, that is all very true, but there's too much information there for you to understand it all at once, we'll talk about it all more later."

After that we visited the Kasanga family and watched some of "Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration" while we ate, then I shared the Mormon Message "Continue in Patience" and we discussed it for the spiritual thought.

If ya'll are wondering, I have a flash drive specifically for teaching. I don't have much on it for now, but I'm staring at Monday like a villain while rubbing my hands together greedily waiting to increase my collection. Fun.

11/2
Weekly Planning, bounce, visited a Recent Convert named brother Benson, and met a guy named Emmanuel (is this sacrilegious?). He seems to be doing well, but he made me mad a few times during the lesson because I could practically see the Adversary putting words into his mouth to undermine the teachings.

He asked questions like "How did Joseph Smith come up with this church?" and the were all like that, all implying that this church was a church of man and not the church of God. Every time I noticed I would straight up call it out and cut it down. I'm not going to have a repeat of what happened to Moses.

"Moses, thou son of man, worship me!"

blah, blah, blah. If you don't know the full story I'm referring to ask someone who does, it's a pretty well known one after all.

Anyway, for the funny moment of the day. E. Mukendi needed to get his hair cut and since we were bounced again we had time, so we went to a kinyozi that E. Macapella recommended.

The second E. Mukendi's butt hits the chair this guy starts guilt tripping him to try and make him a repeat customer, then swaps strategies and baits E. Mukendi into contacting him. Of course, we being missionaries, he bites the hook and leaves a book. This guy is just trying to get us to come back, it's something I find hilarious.

10/31/2019 -- he wants to know more than he's ready for

10/28
Cybered, Called home.

I also found a rather interesting bookmark in Articles of Faith by Elder Talmage. It has the DC temple on it, and the names "Sisters Davenport and Wilkinson." Cool find.

10/29
Well, today was a bit slow. The morning was a huge burst of activity, then the afternoon was empty. In the morning, we got 10 people contacted, handed out an additional 6 pamphlets, and got three new investigators, then we taught a lesson with a brother named Mutua.

We then had lunch and then............
.....
.....
Nothing. We spend hours waiting for the guy we were supposed to meet to even decide whether or not he was going to come - which he didn't. So that sucked.

The number for Pizza Inn was having issues too, so that also added to my annoyance for today. Just peachy.

10/30
I'm not sure whether to call this a slow or busy day. For our area, it was slow. We didn't do anything to help our area, but we did help E. Clegg and E. Tarry out with their area. After DDM we went to do some contacting in their area and I spent quite a bit of time chatting with E. Tarry since he's new, and I'm willing to answer questions since I remember what it was like having people tell you "you'll see hohohoh" when you asked questions.

Anyway, as for E. Tarry he's a good kid, still fresh outta the MTC so he powerful, hopefully he's able to keep it longer than I was able to, getting sick really killed the fire for me when I first started.

10/31
Today was interesting, we got rained on on our way to the church first thing this morning, then our appointment for 10 and the one for 11 both showed up at 11:15, so we had S. Emmaqulate help us teach B. Elijah, then we taught her.

It was a bit frustrating with B. Elijah because he wants to know more than he's ready for, he just wants to rush full steam ahead. He even sat in on our lesson with S. Emmaqulate as we talked about temples.

It was a bit frustrating, but whatever.

We saw another recent convert after that, then I called home.  [He called home because Halloween is a national holiday]

10/27/2019 -- How the heck-fire do you put the wrong person on a baptizmal form?

10/26
Well, today was busy.

We were kinda stuck in the flat for a while because of the rain, but not really. We were doing weekly planning, and just kinda stayed in the flat for a few minutes after finishing to see when it'd stop, which it did not too long later.

We went to teach a Brother named Benson (I've run into three or four other Bensons in the past week or so) and his wife Georgina.

Then we went to see a Brother named Julius and his son Emmanuel (I'm still trying to figure out if naming a kid this is sacrilegious, but they don't see an issue here). It was a good visit, but something interesting came up: ushago.

Ushago is the nickname for their home towns, it can apply to pretty much any county and the actual location changes from person to person, so when I ask about this I ask: "Where is your Ushago?" "Oh, it's in Busia" or "Oh, it's in Machakos" etcetera.

Well, the annoying thing is that we don't actually have missionaries in many places out side of Nairobi. We have two entire zones for Nairobi, and they are the biggest ones. Second place is Dar es Salaam, Mombasa is third. The point being that all the missionaries are clumped together, so we aren't in many "Ushago."

So a question I've been getting is: "How can we get the church in my Ushago?"

My response is to gather a list of names for people who are interested in the gospel. If we have an actual list then President Mdletshe might justify checking it out or even sending missionaries out there.

He's pretty eager about the gospel growing (Isn't everyone? He just wears it on his sleeve), so I can see him jumping on an opportunity if there is actually people to teach out there.

Here's hoping.

10/27
Well, there was an apparent lack of spirit during church today, but I'm not sure if it can be helped.

Here's what happened, sacrament was normal -E. Mukendi had to give a talk on a five minute notice - but after sacrament the Bishop of the Lucky Summer Ward steps up to the front of the room, whips out some laptops, and tries to get people to come do their family history.

It didn't work, I got to do an hour+ of indexing because I was bored and literally no one else was using the computers.

So a congregation just kinda sat there while a high counselor got up and started teaching about random things, I gave up on trying to follow his train of thought - it wandered quite a bit, but the biggest issue was that his teaching was like a pastor, so there was no spirit there.

What time I had that I didn't use for indexing, I used to try and fix people's Baptizmal forms. Missionaries here suck at paperwork, so Sister Sorenson and I are scratching our heads trying to get everything figured out and having minimal success.

I'm just left with a question: "How the heck-fire do you put the wrong person on a baptizmal form? Not even a simple mistake, but a completely different other person?"

Still trying to get that one fixed.

Here's a good piece of info for today, S. Emmaqulate got Baptized.

This makes my third Convert! (I'm counting Ernest, I taught him everything even if I wasn't there for his baptism)

On the way back to the flat, we had to deal with a pair of mzungu lovers, which was a huge pain. We ended the conversation and walked away, but still kept shouting at me for some reason, so I just ignored them. At one point -when I was more than 100 feet away- they shouted "are you deaf?" which just amused me. I'm more than a little bitter about the racism there, even if it is friendly. I can't wait for the day when I no longer have to deal with this.