hey mom,

well i will tell you what i did for christmas in written form too i guess haha. so on friday we went to nairobi to meet with all the elders and stuff so that on saturday we could do a service project. so saturday we went to a part of nairobi called langata and we went to a hopital to just help around. they assigned us to different wards or parts of the hospital and me and my companion were assigned to the maternity ward. yea it was pretty nuts. ya i helped deliver a child. yup caught it right out of the air............. jk haha that would of been crazy tho ha. all we did was cut and fold gauze for like 2 hours and then talked and stuff. they made us wear these gowns and some weird white boots haha and i was wearing shorts and it kinda looks like i was naked haha. then we had like a white elephant gift party thing with all of the elders and sisters that were there.  i got a tie yay.... i dont like ties anymore haha.

on Christmas day we went to church for only one hour then it was finished. but after that we waited for all of the elders and sisters around nairobi to come to the upper hill chapel and we had lunch/dinner. most of the senior couple came too. esh, the food was soooo good!  we had like sloppy joes, tortilla chips and some bean dip, a potato and egg salad and pasta salad and lots of other food. its the first time that ive been full in awhile haha, since i went to kfc like 3 months ago! and the desert was bomb. sister hall made my new favorite cake ever its called banana cake and all it is, is banana bread with chocolate frosting on top. oh my gosh it was so good. then all the districts that were there presented a little thing for everyone. my district sang angels we have heard on high and then we danced around a tiny little christmas tree to the song rockin around the christmas tree. not gonna lie i think mine was the best haha. it was pretty dang funny. then we watched a slideshow for the year with just pictures of all the missionaries here. i was only in like 4 but next year ill be in a bunch of pictures. then we left and i called home. which was awesome! it was so good to hear everyones voices. you could easily say that i did have a perma grin on my face! but that was my christmas. make sure that you tell everyone MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEARS!! for me. 

love you guys,

reese

P.S last week i saw a wild rhino!! they a freakin huge! 

First Missionary Christmas

Here are a few pictures of our Christmas Dinner and devotional.  We love your sons.  They are great missionaries with positive attitudes and sweet spirits.  The Hall's

hey mom,
my week was pretty good. not to much happened but a couple things did. on wednesday we went to nairobi for our DDM. it was a pretty good meeting. then we went around with the zone leader, elder kazozo and his comp elder kazomba. i interviewed one of their investigators. then we went around and later that night and i interviewed another one of the investigators. this investigator was pretty kool she is getting married to someone from tennessee. so she could understand me perfectly which is something that i love. i cant explain how much i love when someone understands me because most people cant. it is so nice when you can speak to someone and not have to repeat yourself like 10 times every time. ugh i hate it haha. even with my companion i have to do that. its crazy but hopefully my accent will change and then they will understand me. anyway after the interview when we were leaving i went to pet the dog and after i was petting it i moved and all of a sudden it like attacked my arm right on my wrist. it kinda freaked me out a little bit because ive never been bit by a dog that liked me hah. but luckily its bite didnt pierce my wrist because of my tiger like reflexes. hah. it only gave me kind of a scratch. but i guess what happened is i stepped on its bone so it freaked out. and kenyan dogs are not as well fed as american dogs so it was scared that it wasnt going to be eating that night so it bit me. so ya that was fun.

anyways then on saturday we had our christmas party. we got there early like around 11 to help make food and get stuff together. it was pretty kool because some of our investigators came and they had a pretty good time. we watched the mormon tabernacle choir do a christmas special and each of the quorums had a little presentation. the missionary department we read something in the book of mormon about Jesus Christ, sang a song and bore our testimonies and stuff so it was pretty good. then we did, my favorite thing in the world, we ate. haha we had some choma or bbq and pilou really good rice stuff and some chapati (kenyan type tortillas) my favorite food here. and thats pretty much everything that was worthwhile to write about this week.

so on sunday i will be able to talk to you guys! yay! my first call im excited its going to be weird to hear you voice cause not gonna lie i cant really remember anyones voice. i mean if i hear it i will be able to know who it is but i cant recall exactly so forgive me if that offends anyone sorry... hah. but i will buy some credit and i will be able to talk to you and stuff so if i dont have enough just call back and we can talk again hah. well i hope everyone has an awesome week and MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Love Reese

ps- package ideas i know you love them haha. but burts bees is a must hah, craisins, candy, chocolate, trail mix, and i will think of some more later

pps- recipe ideas- taco mix again haha, stuff for chinese food, mexican food and italian food


********************just some questions I asked him! kinda random!***********************************


**hah ya the marriage proposal was pretty funny tho. because i didnt see her or even talk to her before she asked so it caught me totally off guard! but from what ive learned so far its pretty hard to be prepared for everything that is going to happen for the these 2 years.

**i guess you could say that the service project was like a concert but it was kinda scary cause people were going nuts in like getting crazy mad about the food and the tshirts. but it was a real eye opening experience.

**i would have to agree with you about not respecting the gospel. i did not respect it at all. i just thought you know that it was just a good thing to do. but now i see how important it really is.

**i think that you should sneak a picture of Kurt on the stage next to Bishop Dixon. it think that it would be pretty funny. im glad that you were able to see bro bulloch at the mission homecoming. i love that guy. make sure when ever you see that guy you tell him that i say hi and that hes freakin awesome. and im glad to hear that i will be getting another package!! yay! im glad that elder naylors talk was good. that one love thing is awesome.

**its awesome that dave and tiff had their fourth kid....right hah. make sure that you let them know that i say congrats.

**so the first question i have about secret santa....was there any presents in the package for me?? haha just kidding!

**im glad that jay is going to my dads for christmas. i really think that it will be good for him to spend so father son time with him alone without me. because when im there he usually doesnt say much and its just me talking to him and stuff. i think that it will be good for him. i guess that also a lecture or two cant hurt hahah

**so you didnt tell me how the lasagna at brio was. i want to get your perspective from it cause it think that it was the best lasagna ive ever had (thanks bro b) and why am i always talking about food? cuz im always hungry hah nothing new

** ive been giving those pictures or the passalong cards, with Jesus and the little girl and boy, to members of my branch and they love them! they think they are the koolest pictures ever. so if you can send more hah, (especially the one with Him carrying the little african boy)

**well with the byu boys choir you can send the cd or just send it on email. cause if you send the cd i will put it on the usb and if you email it i will put it on the usb so its all going to the same place so it doesnt matter how you send it. but with the recipes make sure its from scratch like with tomatoes tell me how to cut them and stuff like that cause like tomato paste is one thing i have NO IDEA how to make haha!

hey mom,

well it sounds like you have a pretty dang eventful week. but im happy that Heavenly Father is watching over you guys for me since you know im in freakin africa ha. i hope that when you went to Brio for your office Christmas party you got the lasagne (i dont think i spelt it right but in africa anything goes from what ive learned) cause when Kellie and i went there it was freakin good! but im glad people like getting my emails cause i like writing them so people know what im going through haha jk. and i cant wait to see how the blog is cause it would be kool to see all the things that i have written hah. kurt is in the bishopric?!?! no way that is awesome its probably better than the ward clerk hah. kurt is going places! it is so crazy everything there is changing!! its gonna be totally different when i get back too but i guess it will be for the better.

but to answer your questions. i probably wont be transferred until feburary. yes i have LOVED the music so far keep it coming cause people here have no christmas spirit except for some of the members. and ya the byu boys choir thing should be on youtube and im sure people at church have their cds and stuff. they are pretty popular and way good. and no theres not anything in particular just their songs cause my companion loves the gospel music from the states but the kind of gospel like christian rock crap. i dont like it cause i think its sometimes sacrilegious and i just plain dont like it haha. yes i will be able to call both you and my dad for christmas. its getting close hah. yes i can get you a kenyan nativity but it depends on how much it costs, how much you are willing to spend, if you want me to send it now or bring it home with me and what am i getting out of it haha. yes the reeses in the package made it perfect and im saving the other two for christmas. and yes i did love all the spices and yellow rice and the pictures and the recipe book even tho it cant really use most of the recipes hah but ya all the stuff i loved especially the burts bees cause i love that stuff so keep it coming hah (the weird kinds like the acai berry and mango that box was missing one hah im guessing jay swiped it ha but i guess it is pay back for me swiping the dixie sweatshirt hah) but i havent opened the wrapped present tho im waiting for christmas for that too. and no i dont have bro bulloch's email will you send it to me? smedley is doing good he is back in tanzania now he is doing good now but isnt walking too much lucky guy hah. hays is doing good too he says that you have been sending him emails too he says its funny but he likes it. and vilakati is alright too. we get along good not like me and hays tho but its ok. and ya we understand each other for the most part.

ok now i will tell you a little bit about my week. our investigators are doing pretty well but we have like 6 with a baptismal date so we should get some baptisms in the next two or three weeks. not much happened until the weekend tho. we had to do a lot of contacting and tracting. tracting by the way is knocking doors. but we talked to a ton of people but we got bounced from like all of our appointments this week. which is really annoying because im supposed to be leading by example and our lessons this week were the lowest in the district so hopefully next week will be better. but i did have a couple of very very new experiences. we had a big community service project in a place called slaughter (or slota as the kenyans would say it.) it is the slum of my area. its is called slaughter by the way because there is a camel slaughter house there. i guess the muslims or some other religion prays or worships them and then kills them. ya i know weird huh. anyways a senior couple named the Tuttles, who are in change of the LDS charities in kenya, were there. we were doing a big clean up project where the LDS charities donated 10 big dumpster things so the people there could throw their trash in dumpsters instead of right in front of their houses on the ground. so the Tuttles gave the community like 1000 free reusable bags to use as trash cans and were giving out 150 free shirts. so we went around for like 2 hours picking up garbage......yeah...... but the whole time people were asking for the free shirt and stuff so it was kind of chaotic. but when we finished we handed out the free shirts to the people who worked but not to the ones who didnt. then we started handing out some treats for the kids drinks and some rolls and thats when the craziness started. the leaders we gave to hand out the stuff just threw out the roll packages (there was like 8 in a pack) and the mothers and people that lived around were going crazy. its hard to explain but imagine like at a concert when they are throwing out free stuff but when people are like super desperate and times it by 10 hah and thats what it was. straight up craziness. and before all of this, the thing that i will never forget, i got my first marriage proposal. haha ya it was crazy. i was walking with a member who was there and some girl was yelling at him and he started laughing and then told me that she wants to know if you want to marry her. and i was like," WHAT!!!". and after all the craziness she came up to us again to see if i would say yes and take her to america. and thats was some thing funny about my week.

well i hope you guys have a good week and remember that i love you guys a ton. also remember to say your prayers and CTR hah

love Elder Maxwell


This is a letter from Elder Hays to his mother:

Hey mom

So this week was great. I am loving my new area. It is great. We
went from 1 shaky baptismal date to 8 strong with a couple of others
as well. So good. I love it. I have great stories this week.

Number one. Heinz. Yeah his name is Heinz like the ketchup but he is
so good. We asked him to pray and read the Book of Mormon. But he went
the extra mile and meditated. Eish, He is so good. He told us the next
day that he was completely sure that the Book was true he felt
something miraculous and he knows beyond a doubt. And that means a
baptismal date, he is just so good. He came to church and participated
more than all the other members combined. Funny how that works, he is
strong and he is a great. Every lesson is helping him grow stronger
and stronger. He is just golden, we just gave him the book and he did
the rest himself. I can’t wait to continue. Now no doubt there has to
be some kind of persecution to the church coming but I really believe
that he will pull through.

Now second we have Vera. She is a late 20’s bar owner
who is a great lady. We contacted her my first day in the area she
just ate it up. She will leave work anytime to come see us and she is
feeling the change in her life. We invited her to be baptized in the
first meeting and she accepted. We didn’t even teach her anything yet.
We just spent an hour building a relationship of trust and testifying
and then when she was feeling it we invited her to be baptized on the
22 of January. She accepted and came to church with three referrals. I
love the work. I feel like we just go out and all day we accomplish
great things. We thrust in our sickle and reap more than was there. I
love it. The work is moving.

Elder Maxwell is doing great I honestly won’t be
surprised if he is the next AP. I mean he is darn obedient; he works
and is humble. Plus every African will like him because he is black
and every American will love him because he is American. It is almost
too good to be true. He is already a district leader over sisters
(which is a sign that he is bound for great things) and he is training
in the hardest area in the whole mission. He is great. I love it.

I went on an exchange with Elder Haynes this week who came in the same
group as Maxwell, and he said that Elder Maxwell was the luckiest guy
in the mission. I mean he hates disobedience, and he was trained the
right way. Now I am not trying to take a pride moment, but Elder
Haynes gave me some amazing compliments this week. He has struggled
with his first two companions. When he came to my area, he was
excited to have a break. He said for the first time he has found a
missionary who is his role model. I mean we didn’t know what to teach
Vera in the morning, so I got down on my knees and asked the Lord. He
said after that if that is what a companion study is supposed to be,
he hasn’t had one yet. He loved it. (I am not sure how much you know
about missionaries, but they are usually disobedient and lazy.) He
felt that he knew how to handle the rest of his mission from then on
out. I just loved it that he felt that he was finally on his mission
when he went with me. He said that the way we did missionary work that
day was the way he always thought that it was supposed to go. I just
felt like a hero for a day.

In other news, yeah, I am a zone leader here, and we
are trying to get as much done as possible. We had the worst area the
last two weeks and now we are having almost the most fruitful one. I
mean we have to make our area a model for every other missionary in
the zone, and we were told to set the culture of the mission. I think
that it is working-- we are trying to lift everyone, which isn’t
exactly easy when you have two missionaries who go home the 20th mid
transfer. But we are doing our best.

Elder Harper and I get along perfect, and we are doing
our best to be celestial missionaries, which even means that we are
cleaning the flat just so that we can have more of the spirit. I mean
let’s be real, I of all people can live in a messy place, but we need
the spirit so we are cleaning.

Well mom I love you, and I am fighting the good fight. I am loving the
work here and I am on fire. I get tired every now and then especially
when I fast but I am alive and loving it.

Love you, I pray for you guys daily.

Elder Hays

hey mom,

well it sounds like it "snowed" in vegas and you will be having somewhat of a "white christmas" haha. my weather has been pretty nice but where i am at it is somewhat hot like 80's, so ive been sweating every now and then but ya it has been raining pretty often. last week wasnt very fun i fell and slipped in the mud trying to avoid a puddle but fell into it. its gets freakin muddy here. im in the dustiest areas in the whole mission so when it rains the mud gets saturated with water so it is really slippery. so i guess you could say that i am having an brown christmas? haha. anyways i cant believe you already got a different car... and its gutless!!! well i guess as long as its cheaper that is all that matters. but we might have some shidas (problems) when it i get back cause i am your and grandpa's child. i love me some power hah. make sure that you say thank you to aunt margaret and tell her that i appreciate it cabisa (alot)!!! and please tell everyone thank you that do things for me! and im not sure if i can skype on christmas? i will ask for sure cause that would be awesome if we can. well from what i hear about calling is that i call you the day before Christmas to see what time is good and then i call on Christmas and talk to you guys. but idk if i call you or if you call me cause for me to call you is /-3 a minute or 3 cents a minute for me but idk how much it would be for you.

but me and elder vilakati are doing pretty good. im training him but when people from africa go on a mission, the first three months they have to go out with the missionaries. but ya sometimes we cant understand each other for some words but for the most part its pretty easy. being a district leader isnt too bad. i am now in the upper hill district. in the district there are 8 missionaries. 4 elders and 4 sisters. one of the other two elders is the zone leader who is over two or 3 districts. so the 4 sisters call into me every night to tell me that they are home safe and if they have any concerns or anything like that. like last week, the sisters called me and said that they needed a baptismal interview so i went and interviewed one of their investigators. also i conduct a DDM or a district development meeting. there we have certain people to teach us about how we can be better missionaries or more Christ-like and stuff like that but that is pretty much all that i do. i still go to the same branch cause the other wards and branches are like an hour and a half away in a train and a matatu. and ya if the mission president really wanted me to be transfered i could every 6 weeks but im pretty sure that i will be in athi river for about 3 more months. if i could go anywhere i would like to go to Eldoret because it is nice and cool there.

but this week nothing too exciting happened. on wednesday i conducted my first DDM. it was on Christ-like attributes. luckily elder smedley was there since he broke his foot so we had enough for every missionary there to give like a 3 to 5 minute talk on each one. i think it was pretty good except for some of the sister missionaries. we start with a song and end with one and one sister will not sing the entire time. you have to kinda ask yourself, " what kinda missionary doesnt sing?" haha Bogus! after the DDM, my companion and i went with sister Kabamba and sister Chilumba, to their area Riruta to interview a guy named Bonface. ( dont ask me where he got his name, people here like to name their kids from the bible- like a lot of girls here are named Dorcus haha) but the interview went well but it was way weird that i was the one who had to interview him in order for him to be baptized.

we meet people in weird ways here. when we were on our way out for church the gate guard told us that a member came early and gave him her number for us to call her. so we called her and met her a little bit later. and fun fact.... she was not a member ha. she wanted to know what our church does for orphans and im not gonna lie i had no idea what to say to that. but i just told her to talk to the bishop and told her that she had to come to church to talk to him and then she said that she would come after she went some where. which usually means that she wasnt coming to church. but she did. then we had a really kool lesson. not because the person cried or something like that but..........(dramatic pause to add emphasis haha) it was the first time i bible bashed a little bit haha. i did pretty good too haha not gonna boast that i know the scriptures that well cuz i dont, but the guy is a J-dub or a Jehovah's witness which is a church that started after ours. but they believe that once we die, we dont exist and then we are resurrected. so we had to show him what happens in both the bible and the Book of Mormon. but its seems like he wants to know the truth and has been reading the book of mormon but he is kind of fighting against it. but it was a good lesson. one kool thing that i saw or hilarious thing i saw was some guy on a piki piki ( motorcycle ) towing another piki piki so ill send you a pic hah. but that was my week.

i hope you guys all have a great week and if you can find any more christmas songs feel free to send them cause christmas is my favorite time of season hah. i love and miss you!

love elder maxwell

ps you dont need to send sweats unless you have already bought them. i guess in reality its expensive and i would rather you just send like some more spice packets especially yellow rice. also i wanted to ask you if you could make me like a recipe book with the calendar. with mainly things that are made from scratch like refried beans, good salsa without a blender, fired rice, garlic potatoes and spaghetti sauce like with tomatoes and without tomato sauce cans cause anything in a can here like like 500/- and up which is like $5. but i wish i could send big stuff from here because the dresses here sammy would love and they are probably be like 6 bucks!

pps if you can send me some of the music from the byu boys choir thing that would be awesome too.

A Missionary Christmas (author unknown)

I skipped the sales after Thanksgiving. The thrill just wasn't there.

No pictures taken with Santa Claus, My decorating has no flair.
His presents are shoes, shirts, and ties, two suits and socks...no fun.

I've bought him all white clothes because... This year I'm giving Christ my son.

I've spent more time in the temple, my testimony stirred.
I've reread November's Ensign, Felt strength come from His words.
Our family prays more frequently. My tears are quick to run.
Abraham seems closer because, This year I'm giving Christ my son.
I wonder how those Lamanite mothers, gave their sons to war?
Or how the pioneers chose Zion , their sacrifice was so much more.
My loss will be his presence, I'll miss his smile a ton
For two years we will pray for him, I'm giving Christ my son.

I stare at his face when he's not looking. I memorize his eyes, their shine.
He's always hungered for the part of him, that makes his soul divine.
The stories and lessons he always heard, His choice and mine are one.
I'll put my faith in God's hand, This year, I'm giving Him my son.

Past gifts have lost their glitter; I think I finally understand
Christ's birth should be celebrated by giving Him a hand.
It's because I know Christ lives and reigns that all his packing's done
My gift has taken years to make, This year... I'm giving Christ my son.

I know there's One who understands, the sacrifice I'm making.
Who knows the gift I willingly give, The toll it will be taking.
For He has done it all before Greater love - there could be none.
For years ago God gave to me, His only begotten son.
The hands I washed, the hands I held, The hands I taught to pray;
Now knock on doors to find the ones Who will listen to what he'll say.
Because I know Christ needs him, Until all the gathering's done,
My gift has taken years to make. This year...I'm giving Christ my son.

hey mom,

ya i already got my thanksgiving package now im just waiting for my christmas package hah. ya its awesome thanks so much!! but im not eating all of it for awhile i gotta make it last for at least a couple weeks. but ya elder hays is no longer my trainer/companion. i tried to send another message to you last week but the internet went down where we were at so i wasnt able to send it. but i am now training elder vilakati. he is from Swaziland and hes 21 years old, so my son is older than me and his grandfather (elder hays) by the way when you train someone they are called your son so elder hays is my father and elder vilakati is my son. i have also been made a district leader over athi river and the upperhill missionaries (upperhill is an hour away). which means that the missionaries in my area have to call in to me every night to tell me that they are home safe and if they have any concerns, then i report that everyone is safe and the concerns to the zone leaders who then call the Assistants who call the president. i also have to conduct DDM or district development meeting every week. which is just a meeting for missionaries every week and for that we also have to go to Nairobi or Upperhill to do.

well im glad that everyone came to vegas for thanksgiving. sounds like you guys had an awesome time besides seeing the dumb twilight movie. and im glad that you guys were able to stuff your faces with delicious food and were able to play my favorite sport that i love. but i miss the thanksgiving spirit a lot people here dont even know what that even is here so i kinda feel like it didnt happen haha. im glad that you did the traditional going around the table to say what your thankful for so here is mine.

1. i am thankful for my family and all my loved ones. without them in my life i would be a mess. and i would feel very unloved and life would suck ha

2. i am thankful for the gospel in my life. i know that it has blessed my life in ways that i cant even explain. and i know that it will continue to do so. i also know that without it i would be lost in this life and i probably wouldnt be the best person.

3. i am also thankful that i live in the US because things are a lot different here in the kenya. mostly because the food is great haha. no a lot of it is because of the opportunities that we have because we live there. those are the things that i am thankful for.

anyway we werent able to eat at KFC for thanksgiving because of transfers. so i think on wednesday ill celebrate it by going there. but man i love black friday!! but i guess every day here is pretty much black friday since the dollar here is like 95 kenyan shillings so everything is pretty cheap. that picture of sammy is freakin hilarious!!! i dont think that she'll be up for black friday for like ten more years haha. the phone that we have is just some crappy nokia phone that they have here. but they dont have plans like in the states all the phone are the ones that you pay for service and you can use it but when the credit runs out you have to buy more so pretty much pay as you go phones. and ya we use it pretty often. oh and the guys that we played basketball with are the ones that took him to the police station.

well the baptism went really well. the confirmation was definitely scary like all blessings are but it went pretty well i guess. this week went by pretty slow. we got the news that hays would be transferred and i would be training on saturday night. i was SUPER nervous! so on wednesday we got on a matatu with all of hays stuff to go to nairobi. and when we got there we had to hike up to the mission office with all of it. and we hung out in nairobi for all of wednesday and thursday and i met my new companion elder vilakati. hes a pretty kool kid. i miss hays tho he was so much fun cause we liked a lot of the same things and he was an awesome teacher. on thursday we stayed with the AP elder willis and then went to all of the missionary flats that were being transferred. we got to see all the really nice flats and all the ones that were just there. i want to go to the longata area cause they live in a really nice flat. but then me and my new companion took the hour and a half drive back to athi river. he only came with a big suitcase and a backpack which was a lot different than me haha. but we had a good week.

friday tho was not my day. after lunch it rained so it was really muddy and guess what? i slipped big time and fell in the mud. the whole left side of my pants was covered in mud and this was our first day out together. so we had to go back to our flat and i had to change and wash all the mud off of my pants. then after we went and taught someone we went to the chapel. the doors here suck so you have to make sure that they are shut all the way so that you can unlock them and stuff. so i was pushing against the door, and its made of glass with bars and stuff on the inside, and i broke one of the windows of the door and cut my hand up and stuff. and i mean im strong and stuff by i barely pushed against it and it broke. cause before i would like kick it and throw my shoulder at it and stuff and nothing would happen but the one time i use my hand it brakes so ya haha.

on saturday i baptized a little girl named evelyn. shes the first one that i myself have baptized on my mission and she picked me to baptize her so that was pretty kool. also one of the members who went on his mission to durban south africa we found out baptized my companion so that was really kool to find out. but thats pretty much the most exciting things that happened this week.

well i hope that you guys have an awesome week and i hope that it is filled with christmas joy!! i love you guys

love elder maxwell

From Maurice's mission president:

"You have the spirit of service and vision as a priesthood missionary. Enjoy the blessings that come as you continue to increase your faith in all things. Be good and enjoy the trust of this new assignment. Love and trust you much. Pres B"

Thanksgiving is this week huh? wow. i love thanksgiving. well i guess it would be more appropriate if you could say that i love food
so i love thanksgiving hah. but i want to hear about what you eat. but i think that i will go to KFC on wednesday for thanksgiving. i
think thats a bomb idea ha. chicken and turkey is pretty much the same thing sindo (right in swahili)?

talking to people is getting easier now i think that i am getting some kind of accent i guess. most people speak in english and swahili
and their mother tongue (the language that their tribe speaks and theres 47tribes in kenya). im learning a bunch so hopefully ill be
able to speak sheng or a mix of english and swahili.

this week was pretty good. on monday we got our phone stolen. we were playing basketball and we left it on a bench at some church
we played at by our flat and when we got done it wasnt there and we asked all the guys playing with us and they said no but a guy
that was there that had left early has been known to steal things. so they took us to his house but he wasnt there so they took us to
where he hangs out and we found him and these guys grabbed him and found our phone and then they took him to the police station
and he went to jail so that was pretty nuts. so people are pretty nice here too and i learned a pretty good lesson too. dont steal. haha.

tuesday we had a zone conference. it was so awesome to meet all the missionaries in my area and stuff. we had to staythat night there
cause on wed i had to get fingerprinted so i could get my working permit so i dont get kicked out of the country.

on saturday i had my FIRST BAPTISM!!!!!! YAY!!! his name is martin. hes a really kool guy. he was introduced to the gospel by his friend
who went on his mission. so he was a good example to him so he was interested. and now hes baptized and he wants to go on a mission.
so it will be pretty kool if he goes by the time i leave that would be awesome. ill send some pictures of it. i was able to confirm him and
hays baptized him.

oh and to answer your questions, we used ground beef or as its called here minced beef. i didnt really care if i got sick from it cause it tasted
so good haha. but ya im feeling a lot better i just had diarrhea and a shida(problem) with my stomach. well im glad thatsammy is learning to
be competitive maybe she can be a soccer or volleyball player. and im glad that you guys were able to give service to people at opportunity village.
i hope that it was fun. Also, i got my Christmas package last week!! the one with reeses, starbursts, yellow rice, bandanas, and stuff hah so
im just going to call it my Thanksgiving package so you can send me another package and it will get here by christmas and i can call it my real
christmas package and maybe you can include just a hundred taco, guacamole and yellow rice seasoning packs and more hard candy and maybe
some sweatpants and wrapped stuff haha. but do you think you can start sending me some christmas music stuff too with all the other music also?

wow. jays senior season is over man even for me it went quick. its too bad that he didnt play very much. when i played them it was the
hardest i have ever played my entire life and im glad that my dad was able to be there. but i dont know what that coach is talking about with jay
being the best punter hes coached. i bet you i could out punt jay right now when i havent even touched a football in like 4 months. he is
terrible. i mean he good but no where even close to me hahhahhope that you guys have a good week. love ya guys.

Photos of the Athi River/Nairobi area

hey mom

well im glad that everything is going well. ya it was a coffee place in a middle of a mall and i ate cake not coffee and anyways i went to starbucks all the time and got that strawberry lemonade blend.

but not gonna lie i think that palo will lose against gorman for sure, but hopefully jay will be able to play and get some looks but all i can say is i hope ha. but i think that im kinda scared for him in college too because it is no joke you have to work hard even in the easy classes. im glad sami is growing up good. she better be reading by the time i get back cause i know some of the people teach thier kids how to read by the time they are 3 or 4 here but then after that not much haha. im sure she is loving primary a lot since she can remember any song that she hears once hah.

this week was kinda slow, but it started off really good. on tuesday it was elder hays birthday (i think you should tell him happy birthday in a quick email) and his mom sent him a package and he got some guacamole seasoning, dehydrated refried beans and taco seasoning, so we went to a members house and made tacos!!! and it was freakin good!!! i had like 6 of them i was so happy haha! we made the meat, refried beans, guacamole and salsa or kachembarri and they made the chapati or the things that are like tortillas. but then on thursday hays was throwing up so we didnt go out and on friday i had diaharrea and i was so sick that we were only out for half of the day so it sucked. on saturday our zone leader came to athi so we could interview people who are ready to be baptized. we went out on splits. also the church here was giving out free flu shots for kids 1 and under and they gave us and the members free shirts to advertise it. so we were giving the handouts out to people but they didnt even want the paper that was giving the free shots! all they would ask is "are there free shirts??" and i had to tell them no free shirts, free shots so your kids dont get sick! but then they didnt really care about it then, it was crazy. but then on sunday our investigator who got interviewed was at church so next week we are having a baptism!! im excited! so my next email will be about that .

well if theres anything that would be nice is in the next package you would add the items including to, but not limited to crainsins, trail mix, taco seasoning, dehydrated refried beans, yellow rice seasoning, gatorade, lemonade, chips and other goodies hahah. and maybe a classical cd. anyways i hope that you guys have an awesome week. love ya guys.

love Reese

ps - the dehydrated refried beans that hays got from his mom were from the lds cannery! so its probably cheap hah

November 3rd email

hey mom,

yes i did take the train to Nairobi. we get up really early to go and come here so that we can email back and forth. we dont see the missionary couples too often because we are still considered to be in Nairobi. anyways, i am so happy that you got that job tho i have praying every night that you would get it. now you can send me $$$! haha!! YAY!! i found an awesome pair of jeans they are levis 505's and i bought them for 100/- or $1!! they probably cost like $50 so tell jay that if he wants any kind of clothes ill look for them here and theyll be cheap hah. well im glad that jay was able to play. i hope his shoulder is doing well. make sure you tell him that if it hurts that he needs to come out because if he hurts it too bad it will take a long time to heal and maybe interfere with scholarships and stuff. also make sure that you send some of his film out or have him talk to our dad about helping him with some stuff.

well im glad that you guys had a good halloween. mine was pretty good..... i guess. africa doesn't celebrate halloween. we went to this mall that is in a very rich part of town and we found a candy booth with american candy. so i bought sprees, sweet tarts and starburts for halloween and it cost me like like $7 but i was happy. we also had some really good cake. i had some chocolate cake and hays got some cheesecake and it was good.

for me this week was pretty good. on tuesday we met a ton of americans that were doing a study abroad thing. it was so kool to talk to them because it felt like i was at home just hanging out and talking to people and stuff. it was awesome. it was kinda funny because i would ask, "where are you from?" and some would say "america" really slowly like they couldnt tell i was american and thought i was kenyan (i do not look kenyan, do i?) then i was like "ok but where from?" then they would say some east coast state. and i would say "kool im from vegas" and then they would laugh and im sure that they felt pretty dumb but it was funny. it made me miss home a lot though.

the next day was funny. we were filling up some 40 liter jerry cans after our mama came and did our laundry. (a mama is a lady with kids, anyway we have them do it when we have a lot and will take us forever. we pay her 250/- (shilings) which is $2.50 which is awesome...) but we kinda forgot about it and flooded our flat! hah but luckily we dont have carpet or anything like that so we just had to mop it up and fan off the place for the rest of the day. i thought that it was kinda funny. i dont think elder hays thought that it was though. later that day we met with this lady who has the cutest little girl. i gave her my tag and she got it and put it up to her head and started talking to it hah. it was so funny so i will send you a pic of her.

Friday we painted a members house that was making part of her house a salon and kinyozi (barber shop). we had a good time with that except here in kenya they dont use paint the same way as we do. the guy that was helping us put a ton of paint thinner in the paint so that it was no longer thick it was like water. so it dripped a lot. i think that we painted mostly the ground hah. sunday sucked though.... we had 3 people that were supposed to be baptized next week and none of them came to church so we have to put their dates back a week or two but we will be having some soon....hopefully.

well i hope you have a good week and you have a good time. i will remember to keep you guys in my prayers. Love you guys, Reese

our P day is still on monday, just last week the power to the whole town went out so we werent able to finish on monday so we were allowed to finish on tuesday. ya we pay like 50 cents to 1 shilling a minute at the cyber... anyways people do ask me about my family every now and then mostly cause im white and black or just white cause they dont think that im black. they also think that i look exactly like obama. we'll be walking around and ill hear someone say una fanna coma obama which means he looks like obama. its actually kinda funny cause they just say it cause im light skinneded haha.
anyways this week was pretty good. on monday we played basketball at a church that is across the street from us. and we played with some guys that come and play there everyday and theyre still not that good hah. then we went and got haircuts. not gonna lie it was probably the best haircut that i have ever had not in how it looks but how it felt. after they cut my hair and stuff they pretty much gave me a head massage and washed my hair and stuff it was awesome!! it was kinda like when girls go to the salon to get their hair cut and colored and they shampooed. then this week we were trying to help this guy stop smoking so we decided to fast with him and his wife. so on friday we fasted and went over to talk with him and he was drunk out of his mind. so we fasted and it got worse. i dont know how that happened. but the next day we talked to him and we had a pretty good lesson. we taught another guy whos from congo and all he knows is french and swahili and a tiny bit of english. so we got a french book of mormon and taught him using it. it was tough but it was kinda kool. people are still amazed that they don't have to pay to go to our church. in mosiah 18 like 22 thru the end talks about how priest and pastors should be first ordained and should labor for their own support. the book of mormon is legit. its awesome how it talks about our day. and im glad that you went visiting teaching cause we are trying hard to get the members of our branch to go home and visiting teaching too. so elder hays and i hate washing clothes so bad. you have to put water and detergent in a big bucket and soak the clothes for a while then grab the clothes while they are in the bucket and rub them together with your knuckles then wring them out and after you finish washing all of them you have to rinse them just by putting them in water then wring them out like 5 times then hang them up. it sucks. sorry i just told you the whole process haha i just felt like i needed to vent a little ha. sunday was probably the best part of the week! the Apostle Russell M Nelson came and talked to our stake. it was awesome. he gave the congregation a really awesome promise and he said that if you do not pay your tithing you will stay in poverty and if you do i promise you that you will have what pres. hinkley promised you, that you will have food in your bowls, a roof over your head and clothes on your backs. it was awesome. so that was pretty much my week. well im glad that jays mri was not too bad. i think that he should play i mean its his senior year. he should get the surgery after the season and if he doesnt get a scholarship he can always go to dixie haha. and with william tell him that he NEEDS baptismal clothes. cause im going to have to get some from south africa sometime if i can. it wasn't on the list just like the extra pair of shoes. the other elders say that you have to have two pairs of shoes and you have to switch them everyday or something like that.
i really am so glad that i was able to meet drew buckmiller and his dad. they were awesome. i think that we should have a family reunion with them and our family that would be legit, as elder smedley would say. so can you send me some music like fantasia and fantasia 2000 and email it to me so i can put it on my usb. its mostly just classical good music. i would love that. oh, and more recipes even if its one a week. you can try and find good recipes for potatoes cause there are a ton. and thanks for sending stuff to grandma stine im sure she will love it. well i love you guys and hope you have a fantastically awesome week hah
love Reese

A letter from Elder Hays to his Mother

Hey mom,

So the week was okay, we got to see Elder Nelson of the twelve
yesterday which was nice. But none of our investigators could come to
church because it was in Nairobi--which was a downside. Other
downsides this week: Well our investigators bounced us to death. I
don't know how this always happens but it does. The members bounced us
a ton; it is funny how this just happens. But some people are coming
up. Many have fallen through the cracks. I really don't know what has
happened. I have had about 6 that should have been baptized, but they
weren't. I mean some that even had their baptismal interview. I don't
know how this happens. But whatever-- Another hard one to take. Well
we have this investigator who is trying to stop smoking, and we are
kicking him along because he wants so bad to be baptized, but he
won't stop smoking. We scheduled with him and his wife to fast on
Friday but by the time that we got to him on that day he was not only
smoking but drinking, so somehow our fasting didn't have the effect
that we wanted, and he forgot to fast. You can't make them do it.

Not to worry though things happen so much that you just get used to
them. I and my companion though are getting along too good. We are
just tearing it up. And we are so nerds. And sure enough this 235lb tight

end from Dixie state is a nerd as well. Man we get along so much.

It is great. I am loving it out here.Even when it is hard we still are going

to have a good time. We can talk about Star Wars
or Harry Potter for hours. I didn't say that we were anti social, but
we are nerds . I mean two missionaries that can tell jokes and quote
lines from Star Wars nearly all day. I mean laugh it up fuzz ball.
HAHAHA. I mean I have a belief that most all interesting people have
some kind of nerd in them. I mean if you don't, you are incredibly
boring to talk to. If we didn't have the work to do we probably would
get nothing done. I mean the work is hard we had 6 of our progressing
investigators go up country this week, and we have no idea when they
will be back. But we had a blast just talking.

About the French-speaking investigator: I am actually speaking a mix
of Swahili, French and English. We got a French copy of The Book of
Mormon, and I am having to kind of go with the flow. If you ask me
afterwards to say what we said in the lesson I have no idea, but in
the lesson we are there, and things sort of seem to work out. I don't
know it is something like the gift of tongues but something more like
the gift of somehow him understand three broken languages put
together. But he now understands things like the fall of Adam and Eve
and spiritual and physical death, the purpose of our life, and the
plan of God made in the pre earth life. I don't know exactly how we do
it but somehow it comes together.


Oh well, I don't know what else to say this week was just there but we
had fun, just a slow week. I can feel myself getting tired I mean I
have been tired for a long time and I just get more and more tired.
Whatever. Well love you mom. Tell them all that I love them over
there.

Elder Hays

this week was a pretty dang good week. this week we were working with a guy named peterson who is having problems with the word of wisdom. he smokes tobacco so we are helping him to stop smoking. then later this week we caught him lighting up and we had to re commit him to stop. so we are trying to him polle polle (little by little in swahili) something that was kinda kool that happened this week was the relief society was having a party this week because of the national holiday called Mashujaa (Hero's day). and they made food and had a little get together. they made the best chapati/chapos that i have ever had. they are the tortilla like food but a little bit different. they had all the kids there and we played with them a little. then a bunch of the kids from around the church came in and we started playing with them. they found a hose and were playing tug of war with it so i told all of the kids to pull on one side and i would pull on the other. there was like 20 kids too and i was still beating them hah. it was so funny i will send you a pic of it. we also had like 7 investigators come to church so it was really surprising. it was the first time that, that many new people have been at church. so i kinda felt kool.
well im glad that you and sammy are having a good time getting ready for halloween.i kinda wish they had halloween here so i could get some free candy. cause i miss american candy and reeses hah. im also gald that you are having fun with milee. make sure you say hi to her for me and that i say thank you for all the stuff it has helped a lot. im excited to hear about how trick or treating goes. i miss good candy really bad. all the chocolate here is mostly wafers and stuff. anyways tell jay that im mad at him for hurting himself. he should have gotten that looked at awhile ago so he could have gotten it taken care of. and tell him to email me about football. also im glad that my dad made it to jays senior night too. i remember when he came to mine. i was so happy that he was there. im jealous that aunt margret and uncle moe were there. i hope they will come see one of my games when i get back.
the pics should be there by hopefully wednesday if they sent them as soon as they got home and hopefully by friday. dont worry i wont erase the card because i can take almost 7000 more pictures until it is full so i probably will never send it. so you can tell people to send me candy, burts bees and seasoning packets (taco, zatarans, etc) they do have american type food but nothing really like america. and unlike at home canned food is the most expensive food and boxed food. like mac and cheese is like 300/- which is like $3. so i have been eating a lot of ramen noodles but we do get to eat at members houses often so its alright. but i hope that i will have a ton more experiences like that. will you tell will lewis that when he gets to the MTC to buy me like 10 tempo candy bars and tell him that i will pay him back when he gets to kenya hah. im hoping that i will have an accent by then.
love Reese

Week 9

well this week we were not able to have the baptism. she was fired the week before so this weekend she found another job and worked for 3 days - sat thru tues. so we might not be able to baptize her for awhile because she broke the sabbath day. anyway, thats what elder hays says but shes been coming to church for 20 weeks now so i think that we should just baptize her next week. but we'll see what happens and i will let you know. this week was pretty fun. on monday we went to this shopping place it was awesome. it was just a bunch of little dukas or shops it was kool. i bought three ties. i was gonna buy shoes because the soles by the balls of my feet are really soft so everytime i step on a rock it hurts big time but my feet are getting used to it so im starting to get used to it. im starting to always carry a bandana around in my backpack to wipe off sweat, but its been a little cooler lately. on thursday we had a crazy lesson. we were teaching this girl and her family that we were not devil worshippers. it was kinda funny because the people in Athi River are really nice but they all believe that we are devil worshippers because we wear a white shirt and tie everyday. its crazy some people are so scared of us hah mostly because they get told dumb stuff like we sacrifice kids for money and as soon as they join the church they get rich. its weird too cause the persecution is different every where we go. like the other town that we have is called Kitengela and they just look at us weird cause we look different. they will be walking and they will totally stop and stare at us and i stare at them back. i think its funny hah. but they dont think that we are devil worshippers so its easier to talk to people there. after the lesson one of the elders (Elder Tricket) was going home so we went to nairobi to meet with some more missionaries. we ate at this place called Spur, its a pretty high end place, and on thursdays they have unlimited ribs. i ate 10 racks of ribs it was so good but not as good as american ribs. its weird that people here think that our fast food places are nice restaurants. even at kfc only people who had big time money were eating there. this is the end of my first transfer and there are 16-17 tranfers in one mission which is 6 weeks. well im glad that jay is playing defence now. is he starting on D?? im glad that he is doing some work on defense. im glad that hes dating someone who is lds they really are the best girls anyways hah. im not envious that he has to take the ACT. i hated that test it sucks so bad. and its like 20 hours long too but tell him i said good luck. i love seeing pictures of sammy. she is so dang cute ha. good luck on tuesday with the interview i hope that its for a good one. that would be awesome to get a package for christmas i would love it. yes i have gotten a package. kellie sent me one for my birthday last week it was awesome! she sent me a journal with my name engraved on it with sour patch kids and some other stuff. i loved it she is amazing!! ya the one next to me is elder woolard. he is a good guy. he looks like he plays football but he doesn't. there is elder pocock, haynes, call, neilson, sanders, sarlo, huskinsen, morris, horstman, raymon, lictenburg, and theres a couple more but i dont remember. mom i think you are going crazy with the missionary blogs thing. i think youre loving it a little too much hah. well im glad that you are going to start mine soon. the kid who is going home next week is going to send you a cd with all of my pictures on it so as soon as my pictures get there im sure you and kori will have a blast hah. anyways that was the highlite of my week. i love you guys and miss you a ton.
love reese