hey mom

well nakuru is a nice place. its really dusty and windy right now tho. i drove with the couples from arusha to nairobi and then i took a bus here with the other guys that live here. my new comp is elder omara from uganda. the couples are the dalleys from utah in highland. this week was kinda hectic. on monday after emailing we went to play some basketball. it was so much fun since i havent played for a long time. i miss it a lot. but then at night the mission pres called me and told me that tuesday i would be going to nairobi instead of thursday. so tuesday morning we left and before we got out of arusha we forgot that i didnt have my passport then we went to the couples and they didnt have it. it was in dar. so i got to stay an extra day. which was pretty sweet. then on wednesday we had to wait til like 3 pm and we got my passport. and we left for nairobi. it was a long drive too. it was like a 5 1/2 hour ride when its supposed to be like 4. then on friday i got to nakuru. and we went to see a few people. there are four of us here so its nice. on sunday we went to church but there is something kinda fishy with church. we meet in someones house. technically we are called a group. we arent even a branch here. so on sunday the mission pres. and some others came to make it a group. it was the first time that they had the sacrament in nakuru EVER. so that was kinda kool. also another thing that was pretty kool was that we met with the greenies or the new missionaries and they are so funny. like how scared they are of everything so that was really funny. so that was pretty much my week.

well i love you and i hope you have a great week.

love reese

***EVERYONE PLEASE KEEP THE KENYAN MISSIONARIES IN ALL YOUR PRAYERS!! THE ELECTIONS ARE MARCH 4TH AND WERE VERY VIOLENT IN 2008 AND ARE THREATENING TO BE THE SAME THIS YEAR!! They have to stay inside for 5 days. Before, during and after the elections. ***

hey mom

well first of all i cant really help it if the girls love me so much i think that might be more of you fault than mine ha. well my swahili is just there. im not very good at it. i have a hard time hearing people and remembering words and stuff. im really mad at myself tho for not studying harder at it and not having a really good attitude about it when i was in dar. but its ok. james baptism went really well. i baptized him and my comp confirmed him on sunday. well on sunday also we gave the couples our clothes to wash them and they gave them back to us this morning! they have a washing machine and its so nice! well i have another cousin and i will be an uncle here soon. btw i havent got any letters or anything like that for awhile now but i will be getting some here soon because.......................................

im being transferred back to kenya................ im not too happy about it but i guess i dont really have a say in it. im going to a place called nakuru. anyways thats some big news this week. also we had the baptism of james on saturday. it was really nice. people were pretty late but i guess thats a normal thing here. im really happy about him too cause from all the people i have baptized. i think he is definitely one of the ones who have had the most conversion i think. it was a good baptism tho. well this week also i ate a ton of good food. on monday my 18 months, i got some sizzling beef with rice. it was like chinese food then on thursday i got pizza that was really good and then on friday i got a burger. it was definitely a good eating week. one crazy thing that happen this week was on wednesday. after we had our district devotional meeting some ladies came to the church asking for a blessing. come to find out that they want us to cast out an evil spirit. it was really freaky. so we called the branch pres. and he tells us to do the blessing and my comp whips out his consecrated oil and anoints her and so that means i have to do the blessing and at first im really not comfortable with the situation so im really nervous and then when we put our hands on her head she starts freakin out like crying super loud. so i had like no idea what to say then when we finished they left but like nothing happened. she calmed down after a few minutes of us finishing and then they left. it was super weird and i didnt like it one bit. anyways that was pretty much my week.

i leave for nairobi on thrusday. my area is going to be really sketchy because of the elections and with the last ones a ton of people died there so try to keep me in your prayers a little more this coming month. anyways, i love you guys and i hope you have a great week.

love reese
ps will you try to figure out the stuff so i can register for school and stuff please??

To:  Parents, Families and Branch Presidents of Missionaries serving in the Kenya Nairobi Mission

As you may know, Kenya is preparing for a general presidential election on March 4, 2013.  In order to ensure the safety of missionaries serving in Kenya, we have implemented an Emergency Action Plan which will begin on Friday, March 1.

Missionaries serving in areas that potentially may have political disturbances will be moving to safe areas.  Those serving in Mombasa will transfer to Chyulu area for the election week and will be teaming up with missionaries serving there to continue missionary work.  Missionaries serving in Kisumu/Busia,  Naivasha and Nakuru will transport to Nairobi and stay with missionaries in safe flats on Friday or Saturday, March 1^st and 2^nd .  Missionaries serving in outlying areas in Kitale and Eldoret will stay with other missionaries in town and close to each other beginning March 1 or 2. After arriving in their assigned areas, all missionaries will be staying inside for 4-6 days beginning Sunday after church or before if needed.  Preparations have been made for extra food and water for each missionary.  During these 4-6 days, we will all have the opportunity to study the gospel in depth.

Because the election is on a Monday, missionaries will be unable to use internet to send emails for that week.  Instead, we will be sending out updates to you from the mission office as the election process progresses.   We will also notify you when missionaries will be returning to their areas.  We expect this to be about 5 days after the election.

We have worked with Church Security in Salt Lake City, Africa Southeast Area Security, local embassies and others to prepare for this election time in Kenya.    Certainly the safety of each missionary is paramount and we have taken all necessary precautions.  We also know the Lord is guiding His work in this part of His vineyard and that it will continue to go forward with the blessing of vibrant and powerful missionaries.

We invite you to join with us in prayer and fasting on March 3, Fast Sunday, for a peaceful and positive results of the Kenya election and the safety of all members and missionaries. 

We are grateful for the wonderful service of your missionary in the Kenya Nairobi Mission.

Sincerely,

President Steven H. Broadbent

Kenya Nairobi Mission

hey mom

ive been on mission for 18 months yeah!!! if i were a sister missionary i would be home right now. hah. i will find out transfer news on saturday but i dont think anything will happen. but one thing that will be nice is that james will be baptized on saturday afternoon. it will be awesome. well thanks for the advice. i am trying really hard to stay that way for sure. its kinda tough sometimes but i can do it. 

anyways this week was just there. we had a good amount of lessons. we had kind of a zone activity. we went to the park and did some contacting. it was nice but the park wasnt really crowded so we werent able to get too many contacts. but it was nice. i think we are going to start to do it more often. also we taught james twice this week to prepare him for all the stuff for baptism. it was good and he is awesome. he asks good questions and he seems to love the church now. he comes to institute and he wants to go on mission. he is 22 so he could go if he continues to do everything. but thats pretty much what happened this week. one kool thing is.. do you remember that ointment stuff i got for my excema? well i found some more and its only like 15000 which is like $10 so i got some and im planning to buy some more because its good and it works well and its super cheap!

well i hope that everything is going well. i love you and i hope you have a good week.

love reese

hey mom

im glad to hear that the super bowl was pretty kool. im glad the ravens won and ray lewis got his first and last super bowl win. i miss watching football but at least by the time that it starts again i will be able to watch and play. the audrey snacks there were probably awesome. i dont even think i can imagine it. anyways, im glad that you got my christmas cards. they took me some time to write. i actually wrote and sent them after christmas haha . well the reason why they were sent from slc is because if i send it through the office i can get them sent for free. but im glad that you like them. anyways, im glad that so many people are helping me to be on my mission. im really grateful that i was able to come and to learn so much here. it is a great experience. but make sure that you tell everyone thanks or ahsante sana! well i did say thanks to my dad for putting money in my account. he told me about it a few weeks ago. ya james is progressing well. we taught him about the word of wisdom and the law of chastity so hopefully soon if everything goes well he can be baptized on the 16th.

well last pday it was freakin awesome. period. we went to mt meru pretty much. the couples drove us up there and then we hiked for a while. it was nice. but the best part was the waterfall. at the end of the hike part we got to the waterfall. well the couple missionaries let us play in the water cause it wasnt very deep. only about mid thigh height, well for me hah. but it was awesome. i felt like i was in the tarzan movie. it was really awesome. we took a ton of pictures. i had pretty much 200 new pictures from that day alone. anyways, after that the couples gave us lunch which was sandwiches. they were good too. i had both kinds, tuna and ham and cheese. i miss tuna hah. they were good. on our way home we sat and stood in the back of the pickup and they took us home. we were all soaked and everyone was looking at us like we were crazy.  it also rained really hard when we were having lunch so we were wet and cold but it didnt rain in the valley part where we live. anyways, the other thing that is note worthy is on saturday we had a fireside. Member Basics. we decided to do this because a lot of people in the branch dont really know how to make/give a talk or make/give a lesson. so we did that it and it was good but only like 12 people showed up which is better than none. but that was pretty much my week. we are trying to find people to teach here because we dont really have a big teaching pool. i feel like thats all ive been doing here. anyways, im also learning swahili pretty well tho. its nice.

well that was my week i hope that everything is going well. i love you guys and hope you have a good week.

hey mom

 

well ya i know you wouldnt forget about me, but its weird here it kinda feels like everyone kinda forgets about you but thats just mission life and im used to it now. we havent been able to really plan james' baptism but hopefully it can be before i leave because transfers are coming soon. we only have 5 weeks this transfer. plus i hope i can do his baptism all in swahili.

 

the bus ride to dar was alright, long but alright. we had some fun because it was all six of the missionaries here from arusha. anyways, some funny stuff happened on the bus. it happened at the place that we went to eat. we had one stop where we were able to get off and get some food and a drink. we had to take our food on the bus because we only stopped for like 15 mins, but when we were walking to the bus some hawks stole two of the missionaries fried chicken. it was hilarious! we were all dying. so on the way there it was really nice, we had air conditioning and i had some good snacks- like the type of doritos that they have here from South Africa. but on the way back we didnt have AC so it sucked.  they had some movies on the bus and there was a good amount of us so in between we were able to have some great conversations. and i studied swahili a little bit. no it wasn't very crowded and it didnt smell bad. it was the nicest bus you can get, at least here.

 

so the reason we went to dar again was that we had another zone conference. i was conducting. so i guess that was pretty kool. it was an alright zone conference but it was super long. also i do not miss dar es salaam weather at all. it sucks super bad. i was always sweaty and i had a bad mood because of it. but during the conference i talked with the mission president and i found out that i will probably be coming home like two weeks early because of all the new missionaries and they will only be in the mtc for two weeks now. so it changed all the schedules for the missions, so we changed a little so that will be kool. but that was pretty much what we did this week. it was nice but we didnt really get to do very much missionary work because we got back so late on saturday night.

oh ya, i just found out that i just got a package but i wont get it until maybe the end of next month because the aps and stuff just came from nairobi and it wasnt there. but it was a good thing it wasnt because i wouldnt have been able to buy it cause i didnt have any money with me.  well im pretty sad to hear about the t bird. i loved that car but hopefully i will be able to get another one. but maybe not........ anyways, for my first restuarants that i want to go to when i get home is: in n out, then 7-11 then McD's then cafe rio and then baskin robbins and then to finish it off pei wei. i dont know if i will be able to eat all of but i want to. oh ya! and costco pizza. and then dominos. haha!

well that was pretty much my week i hope you guys have a good week too. next week i will be sending a ton of great pictures!! yay! i know you will be excited hah. love you!!

love reese

hey mom,

im glad that sami was the student of the week. i remember when i was student of the week in first grade. but one question.... why is it that im in like one of her pictures and jay is in like all of them??? its like people are forgetting about me haah jk......well thats too bad about milee's son but hopefully everything will be alright. also im glad that helen cruz got married and came back to vegas. maybe you can get some tips from her haha. well i will pray and stuff so that you can find a different job. its really too bad that people really suck.

anyways, for me this week was just there but we had some pretty kool things happen. so we sent my companion and elder sarlo's companion to nairobi and to dar. so we had a sweet day just the two of us. we went to get some things done for our house and to get ready for our next comps. then we picked up my new companion elder chimkuzi from zimbabwe. he is a good guy but i kinda wish i would have gotten someone who knows less swahili. but i guess its all God's plan right, hopefully. wellon thursday elder sarlo's companion, elder jimu from zimbabwe came and we picked him up. but then the sisters who are here in arusha with us told us that some one who was from mbezi beach in my last branch was here in arusha and wanted us to come and meet her. so all six of us went to her hotel and met with her. she bought us drinks and dinner at an expensive restaurant (well expensive for us missionaries). it was nice. i had chinese food. it was awesome. i got sizzling beef. and it came on a plate that was sizzling. it was sweet. then she bought us all dessert. she like no joke spent like 200000 shillings on us for this meal. which is like $60 for all of us. it was great. we had a few people show up to church which was really nice. we had 2 investigators there. it was pretty sweet. one was james and the other was a new guy. we might be teaching him with the couples in like two weeks. but other than that, thats what i did this week. next week will be nice we are going to dar for zone conference on wednesday.

well i love you and i hope you have a great week.

 

love reese

hey mom

well this week has been pretty good. im really sad that i didnt get to do anything with the halls before they left the mission. i really loved them. and she made banana cake which is freakin genius! man..... 9 am church! that sucks. thats like the worst time. i like going at 11. but i think that it will be easy for me to adjust to. well im glad that people said that they were going to write me. that will be nice i guess. i mean i havent had a letter for like 2 months. so it would be pretty kool. ((maurice.maxwell@myldsmail.net ))

anyways, this week was pretty good. on wednesday we had this new thing called ZTM or zone training meeting. so my comp and i trained and stuff. we went to teach one of our investigators but he wasnt there so we met with his wife. so we talked to her and we found out that they arent married but have kids and live together but she really wants to get married like right now but he doesnt really want to. so i think we might be having a wedding. haha. anyways that night my comp made chili because the couple here gave us like a kg or like 1.5 lbs of minced meat or ground beef. it was sooooooo good but it gave me diarrhea or runny stomach as they call it here. then on thursday we went to a Masai wedding. it was pretty kool but we had to wait for forever because the couples wanted to be there early but they are new and dont really know about african time yet. haha it was pretty kool. we had to get up an introduce ourselves in front of a crowd of like 200 people. so i have pretty much gotten over my stage fright, but its a totally different thing when its in a different language. so i pretty much said who i was and where i come from hah. then on friday my comp and i went to this pizza place that was freakin awesome. it was so GOOD! it looked small but it was dang good. i got chicken, beef, ham, cheese and olives ya thats right i said olives for only like 10500 which is like $6.50 i was so happy and after that for dinner we went to the couples and they made cheese burgers so its pretty much been an awesome eating week. then saturday we got transfer news.... pretty much the worst part of the week. im getting a new comp another zimbabwean but he has been in tanzania longer than me and knows more swahili. so i was super mad about it. its just maddening because when you have to struggle with swahili then thats how you learn but if someone is next to you who knows what the people are saying then you dont struggle. so im not happy. but one things that was nice as on sunday. we had 3 people show up at church and the couples washed our clothes with there washing machine so that was kool. first time we've ever had use of a washing machine!

anyways i hope you have a great week love ya. 

love reese