hey mom

first of all sorry about emailing late. we went to a historical site and beach but it was really far away so we got back at 8 and the internet was down. also i wont be able to send any pics today either but hopefully next week. well for the beaches they are really nice. very kool. its weird though to be by the beach and there not be a lot of traffic and stuff. i really like it. we didnt see any camels on the beach yet but if they are there i will ride it for sure. tell grandma we are allowed to go into the water but not above our knees haha. so not very far haha. but its nice. i hope you told grandma happy birthday for me. i think you should send me the dates for everyones birthday so that i can send them an email saying happy birthday at least.

this week was nice. on monday everyone in the zone or all the missionaries in dar came to our house to make tacos. it was really fun and everyone enjoyed themselves. i like making tacos for the people who have never tried them because then they get to see what its like to try different food. the people that like it i call "converts" haha and i always get a couple everytime. then other than that nothing really exciting happened. i mean we worked and stuff. we have swahili class but we learn so slow. so it will take a long time for me to understand all the grammar for swahili. its hard cause i dont really talk to very many people during the day because they cant really understand me and my comp is a man of very little words so i can say im bored a lot hah. but we did have a couple of dinner appointments this week. it has been the first time to have one here in tanzania. but hopefully there will be more soon. tracting here is hard because the people with houses here have house girls (like maids) that answer the door so we are not able to teach the family very much.

 

also if you are sending a package anytime soon, i would kindly request lemon heads and any other type of them and trail mix. i really love that stuff. well thats pretty much it for me so i love you guys and i hope you are having a good one. and also tell sami i love her and give her a hug for me!!

love reese

hey mom

 

it is supposed to be the coolest part of the year here in dar but its still hot for me ha but im hoping that i get used to it pretty soon now. well for now i will apologize because today i have even a shorter time to email so i wasnt able to bring my camera and stuff. so next week for sure haha.  the couples that are here are the nolls and the worthens. they are both pretty weird but they are ok. they are really uptight so i call them nazis but its just a joke haha. im glad that you guys had a good 4th of july and i am happy you had a good birthday. and im also glad that you guys didnt go to six flags cause then i would have been home sick haha. but but im glad that jay did some good things for you on your birthday. that was nice of him. and i think that you can only show him that wickedness never was happiness by your example. and thats it. but tell grandma and tina thanks for giving me some money. i really appreciate it cause i really enjoy food and its expensive here haha.

well for me this week was good. we had zone conference. it was nice. this year we are all reading the triple combination. we will be reading it to help it help us to understand the atonement better. i am going to start when i finish the book or mormon here soon. but im excited for it. we had burgers and fries which was nice but like usual it didnt fill me up but then we had some cake and i took a good amount and then i was pretty good. haha but the next day we came to be interviewed by the mission president. my interview was good. on sunday also we had a baptism of a guy name sylvester. he has been taught by missionaries for awhile but he has been moving so he hasnt been able to be baptized but we did it haha. a guy from the branch baptized him and on this sunday he will be confirmed. but other than that just been sweating here doing missionary work. its been good but a little tough with things i cant control but i guess thats what happens here.

 

so i have a request...will you find out for me when football camp starts for next year? i talked to pres broadbent and he said that i can adjust some things with coming home and stuff like that. so i would really appreciate if you can do that for me. well i love you and i hope everything is going well there.

love reese

hey mom

im glad that there is money on there! tell tina thanks a ton for me. ya i probably wont need all of it for shoes so i will definitely be using a good amount of it for food because life is expensive here. ya so im glad that you were able to meet elder smedley and were able to get a bunch of those pics. so was there about 1000 pics or what cause if not i think i will just send my sd card so that you can have all of them and ill just buy another one. but i still have a good amount of space on it. like i think it says that i can still take like a couple more thousand pics haha. wow he had an accent cause i didnt think that he really had one but i guess he does so we will find out if i have one bad or not. i think it would be kool anyways. smedley asked me for your number because he knew that they would be going through LV. but i think that president broadbent is an awesome mission president. i can say that he is a very powerful man. but he is super nice. he is awkward sometimes just because he will ask you a question and youll answer it but then thats like the end of the conversation and he is still just looking at you haha like he wants it to continue so just sometimes he a little awkward. so with the pics i am glad that you enjoyed them. so will you send a copy to kellie for me cause i know that she would love it. im glad that jay will be going to dixie to work out and stuff cause he is going to need it if his shoulder is doing ok. ya i think that college will be a big thing for him but i know that he will be able to make good choices. after all most of the people he will come in contact with will be good kids. well im glad that you were able to have like a girls night out. im sure throughout sami's life you guys will be having a ton of those. so im glad that i will be getting a package soon cause it kinda been awhile since i have gotten one.  but with the package i dont think that i will be getting it anytime soon. because our zone conference will be this week. dar is pretty nice it has a bunch of beaches which is were we are all going today. but the people here are very nice and kind like way more than the people in kenya. people are very chirstlike i could say, well most people hah. what i like the best is fanta passion!! it is so dang good. i wish they had it in the US because i like have to drink one like every single day haha. and they sell chips myeye. it is actually really good. i can say that it is a lot like florida. a lot haha.

well for me this week was alright. on monday we went to the beach in our area and it was pretty fun. i was able to take a couple of good pics too. we saw a music video being made which was kinda weird but kool. theres no way that it was as kool as a music video of a kool artists tho haha. this week i had my first 2 swahili classes. the second one was really kool. i actually learned a bunch from it too and i think that i will be able to learn the language now well maybe haha. we learned about the tenses of verbs in swahili. it was kool like i will read is nitasoma. so i think i can learn it now haha. on saturday we had a kool day we went to a wedding. it was nice but it was weird i mean i havent been to too many weddings but i know that this one was pretty weird. we only went because of the food but it wasnt too good either. i know that at least at my wedding it is going to be fun for everyone and there will be nice food cause i wouldnt want to eat bad food haha. i dont know if you knew this but the church service is in swahili so pretty much during church i just read my scriptures the whole time because if not i would fall asleep haha. the members are really nice but i havent been to anyones home yet. but hopefully soon. with our investigators they are good but i dont really get to talk to anyone because they mostly dont know english that well or not at all. so i hope that i learn the language fast so that i can teach. but so far it sucks cause i have to just listen in the lessons while my comp teaches. but im still having fun.

well thats pretty much it from my end but i am doing well. i hope that you guys have a good week. and i hope you have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! go do something fun but not six flags cause then i will really be sad haha jk. but do something fun and exciting. well i love you

love reese

hey mom,

so im sorry that you had to text your whole letter but i think its kinda funny hah. i think that its awesome about kurtis and the carpet. its awesome to hear that tinas mom is going to live right next to them. jays graduation sounds like it was a lot of fun. thats cool how many people came to support him. sami's b day sounds like it was really fun too. its kinda weird that she had a birthday again because it doesnt seem as if that long ago i was there when we celebrated her last birthday. but its kool that you guys got to go to the red rock pool cause i havent even been there yet, but it sounds pretty exciting. im really glad that dontre was baptized. its kool that work is happening there also. i think that for keylan it was a good exprience being able to baptize his friend.

well for me it was kind of a crazy week. last monday i said goodbye to elder smedley. he has finished and now is at home enjoying life ha. elder patten is in my zone too. i have been able to hang out with him a bunch and hes a kool guy. on tuesday and wednesday during the day i did a lot of packing. packing sucks so bad because you pack to unpack pretty much. so i do not like packing. i also had to say goodbye to a bunch of families that were awesome. but i guess that is missionary work. i was able to say good bye to pauls family. it was nice but it sucked. on wednesday night we had kind of a missionary party. 7 elders came to the flat in rongai and we played games all night long. it was way fun. its like tradition, its what we do when a missionary leaves an area or goes home. so that was a bunch of fun. then on thursday night the APs picked me up and we had kfc. then on friday around noon i flew to tanzania. on the flight we past mount kilimanjaro but i wasnt able to get my camera in time to take a pic of it cause i was sleeping because on staying up all night wednesday. so when i come back to kenya i will most definitely not stay up all night the night before haha. but i did get to see the ocean and we will be going to the beach later today. ya i didnt go because i had visa problems. it was just because thats where i needed to go i guess.

 

well so far with swahili i know pretty much nothing haha. but we do get a swahili tutor and we get taught every wednesday. so we will find out how much i learn after like 6 weeks. the area i am in, there are a good amount of rich people so a good amount of people speak english. my new area is called mbezi beach, so we are pretty close to the ocean. but one thing that really sucks here is the humidity. it is so freakin sweaty. i sweat a bunch every day and it is not fun at all. i can say it is like florida in the states but with no ac. we only get to use ac at night when we sleep but it is really nice because it gets cold. and another thing that is tough is that i dont know swahili and everyone here knows swahili and the pure swahili. in kenya they speak sheng. which is english and swahili, and i could understand that better. so its kinda tough. my new companion is elder mulima from uganda. he is alright. but i think he might be my toughest companion to get along with but hopefully everything will be alright. the church services are in swahili too which is good for people but isnt too good for me because i dont know it hah and its funny too because even the hymns are in swahili so its sounds really funny when they sing haha. one kool thing that they have here is that they have fanta passion fruit and it is amazing. it is my new favorite soda. they also have pepsi products in glass bottles here too so thats pretty kool. and we dont stay in an apartment we have a big house. like 4 room house with a living room and a dining room and a kitchen. i dont know why we have it because when we get home i dont really see my comp haha. i like it but it is relatively empty. but that is pretty much the new stuff for me.

now with the bank stuff i think that you should do that asap cause it looks like things here are very expensive and this month and next month i will be struggling because i will be getting used to the money here. instead of hundreds and thousands like in kenya they used hundreds, thousands and hundred thousands. its freakin crazy. like we will be shopping and they will say that will be 15000 and im like WHAT! so its crazy hah. and when you get the dvd with all the pictures from smedley please send a copy to kellie for me. thanks i love you guys

 

love reese

hey mom

 

  im glad that brother kings talk was good. he was awesome. i loved having him in my priest quorum. i hope i can be a good father, but i will for sure do my best when that happens in like 8 years haha. wow you taught a lesson. thats awesome! do you have a new calling or what? the ARP fireside sounded good. we unfortuately do not have that here. i think that it would be great if we could help people to do that cause people here could really use some help with that kind of stuff.

 

  tell jay happy graduation and good job for graduating. im glad he did because graduating from high school is like the easiest thing ever. i hope a good amount of people turn up. tell gracie happy birthday and since aunt tina asked, in the package it would be cool to have some kool aid/lemonade stuff and candy and whatever else. perhaps an american leather colliegate sized football haha. pretty much anything that you think i would like. cause anything from home is amazing. with the weather things are good. i like it because i like working in the cool weather instead of hot. also for my cards im going to need you to tell the bank that i will be going to tanzania like asap. probably tomorrow tho. with money im struggling a little. its kinda tough here because unlike other missions and missionaries, here we have to pay for food, transport, phone bills and other things but in other missions they just have to pay for food.
i will be getting 4000/- out of bank of america tomorrow afternoon so i can get some new shoes because i really need them. i have a hole in each of my shoes. and they get dirt/mud and rocks in them so i will get new shoes that i can have clean socks because i hate washing haha.

  well for me this week went well. we played sports at a place called buruburu. it was really fun. we played both kinds of football. but one thing that sucked is i think that i am losing my ability to play football cause i could not catch a ball to save my life! but hopefully things will get better later. this week we did a lot of contacting. we used a board on the street and just talked to people walking past. it was good and i think it was pretty successful. but the highlight of this week is that............i am leaving kenya. i am being transferred to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania! i will be leaving this friday. and my new companion is from Uganda. im pretty excited to leave nairobi but im kinda sad too. its gonna be weird to be in a different country again hah. but there i will have to learn swahili. the people there dont know any english so everything will be in swahili even the church services. and it is really hot there so im going to sweat my butt off and im not really excited about that. i think i will have fun tho. so that is everything new with me pretty much.

 

 elder sanders is doing well. he is really fun. i was glad that i was able to be in the same zone as him for awhile. elder madubanya is a really kool kid. he is pretty smart. he just came from tanzania so he knows swahili very well so it was kool to be with him. he would talk to people in swahili perfectly. it was pretty amazing. elder smedley will be home on tuesday or wednesday. so hopefully by the end of the week you will have all the pics that i have in your hands. so i hope you get my pics soon and i hope you love them and i hope that you dont ask me for pics very often anymore and i love you haha.

 

 well i love ya lots . have a good week


love maurice

hey mom

well i guess i will start out by telling you about Carnivore. so first of all it was FREAKIN AWESOME!!!!!! elder sanders and i pretty much hung out on monday. we went to the nairobi national museum which was really kool and very insightful. then we went to carnivore. it opens after 6 so we kinda hung out for a minute before we went, but it was amazing! so the food that they had there was:chicken, steak, lamb, pork ribs, chicken gizzards, wings and breasts, then they had some exotic stuff. we had ostrich, ostrich meat balls, ox balls, and crocodile. no zebras or wildebeests because i heard a rumor that they got in trouble for killing too many. but it was awesome. they had three courses. the first was just soup and bread then it was all the meat and then they had dessert. it was a lot like rodizio grill but different. they brought the meat the same way some what. then the dessert was awesome. i had sorbet ice cream. it was mango and another one was passion fruit which was the best. so good. i love it. i was so full tho. but it felt amazing cause i havent been that full of awesome amazing food in like forever haha.

 

then during the week sanders and i had exchanges so we stayed in his area and his and my comps went to my area. it was really kool. he has a really nice area they get nice da's all the time cause they have rich white people in their area. they work for the US embassy and the UN so they get a pretty penny. elder pocock brought me fanta passion fruit flavor from tanzania so sanders and i had it with dinner and it was freakin awesome. best fanta flavor by far! it would be kool if they would sell it in the US.

 

now on saturday....it was amazing. we had paul's familys baptism. it was really good i baptized four of them and my comp baptized two of them. we also had a 9 year old girl get baptized too but her uncle baptized her. it was awesome. there was almost 40 people there and it was amazing. i finally got baptismal pants that i ordered like 7 months ago so i looked like a pro at the baptism. thanks for putting money on the card so i could get them. oh btw i took a bunch of pics so i hope you love them. i will be sending smedley with a cd of them cause he goes home on monday. so you will get all the pics i have in a week or so. but that was my week pretty much.

 

 i love and miss you guys a ton and i hope you have a great week.

love maurice

Hey mom

ya, there was a bomb but luckily for me im in the suburb like 50 mins away from town. we go into town, but i wasnt because it was during the week and no one in my zone proselytes in town.

 

anyway, my week was pretty good. we had some good lessons and we taught pauls family about the baptismal interview. so this week we will be having a baptism of 7 people, so im super excited! also we went to this place called pizza inn. its the popular pizza place in kenya. we got these things called pizza pies and they were super bomb. and last week on monday we went to this place called nairobit java house and i bought a burrito and it was really good no joke.

 

on friday it was a national holiday called madaraka day. it is the day that kenya got independence. so we went to a members house and had lunch and dinner. she wouldnt let us leave so we had to stay for dinner also and we had to cancel all of our other appointments. but it was really good. while they were cooking we played with little kids. we taught them red rover and duck duck goose. it was pretty fun not gonna lie. then we play some soccer with some of the guys around and then we ate. it was a good day. on sunday we had a good amount of people show up to church and over all it was a good day. then we had some chapati and minced meat / ground beef and i made tacos for me and my comp, it was really nice.

as for today elder sanders and i are going to carnivore in like 30 mins so i hope there is $ in my account or its not gonna be too good. but i have faith that there is. well i hope you have a good week and im glad that sami is ok and that you bore your testimony. i read something recently that said that the more parents bear their testimonies the better it will be for their kids. i think it was neal a maxwell or some one like that.

love reese