Phone call from Reese

I'm so excited!!! I got to talk to Maurice on the phone today! He arrived in Nairobi, Kenya at around 3:30 this afternoon (5:30 am Las Vegas time! I know because I was commenting to my friend Charolette that it was 3:30 in Kenya on our way to the gym this morning! Funny how that works! ;)) We got to talk for almost 20 minutes! Sami got to talk to him for a second too. Jay was at school..... He told me that he tracted in Sowetto, an urban area with over a million blacks that was historically involved in apartheid in South Africa Something like that??? I googled it, pretty interesting.... school children fighting against apartheid and starting the road to democracy in the late 1970's.
He also told me that his first area was going to be Athi River, somewhat close to Nairobi. He says his companion is Elder Hayes- crazy that he didn't know his first name, but anyways....he is 6'7" tall so now Maurice is the shorty! HAHA! He wants to go to Tanzania because they are now able to learn and teach Swahili there. His friend Seth from St George is going to Mombasa (coastal)!
Letters are 98 cents to send from the Post Office and take around 10 days to get there. You can also go to dearelder.com and send letters through the church pouch system for free- it takes about 20 days for those to get there. He doesn't have a lot of time to read/send emails and may or may not have a computer in some areas, but I don't think it is against the rules to email him at his maurice.maxwell@myldsmail.net account. I will know more later... He wanted me to let you know that if you do send him a package, make sure that you put pictures all over it of Christian images (Jesus, temples, churches, etc) and that say "missionary supplies" because he says Kenyans are extremely into keeping their "juju" good and if they mess with God's people their "juju" will be bad! Also, every package that comes in has to pay customs fees that Maurice has to pay in order to get them. I attached a letter from the mission referring to that... Some requests: candy, sd cards for his camera (taped to the inside of a jello or mac and cheese box and sealed back up- be creative)
Elder Maurice Maxwell
Kenya Nairobi Mission
PO Box 46162-00100Upper Hill Road Next to Citigroup
Nairobi, Kenya
+254-20-4985-220

e-mail from Kellie

Jill,
We got this e-mail from my neighbor who is a Mission Training Center President who just happened to bi in South Africa when Reese was still there! Here is what he had to say about him to me...
"I was visiting the South Africa MTC two weeks ago and met an impressive young man. He is tall and handsome and focused. He is a natural leader and a good teacher. I was sincerely impressed. He will be a good missionary.
THEN we made the connection. It was so fun to realize our connection through your family.
I thought I would pass this along with a few pictures"
Sincerely, President Kelen Mills"
Pretty cool eh? Small world! just thought you would enjoy these just as much as i did! looks like he's having a good time and working hard!
Talk to you soon! -Kellie-

Missionary trip to the Johannesburg LDS Temple

Life in the Johannesburg MTC

Week 1

hey mom

just wanted to let you know how i was doing. this week was pretty fun and it flew by. ive been learning a lot and having a lot of fun. l cant really talk to much because i only have like 20 mins to write to all the peole that i want to so ill keep it short. but im really happy cause they have basketball here so i have something to do every day ha. i had a really awesome experience yesterday i taught my first real investigators. it was so kool. they were really curious about the book of mormon and were asking a lot of questions. they were excited to learn. there was a girl and a guy. the girl was a little bit more talkative which was nice cause ive been doing role plays and when the investigator doesnt talk very much it sucks. anyways she was asking us a question and she said something like i want to know about this (i cant remember what it was) because i can feel something weird it feels like someone is pulling at my heartstrings. and i told her that that was the spirit. it was amazing! it made me feel like i can actually do this for the first time. and we had a time limit but i didnt want to stop teaching them it was awesome. anyways thats the only exciting thing that really happened but im having fun here. tell cameron that im sorry about his arm and i hope he feels better and that i wish i could of been there for him. tell sam that i love her and i love everyone else too.

love reese

ps i would like it if you would send me a email too. i would like to know how its going ok

Arriving in Johannesburg

hey mom

i just wanted to let you know that i made it to the MTC safely. i had an awesome time in Londonbut i wasnt able to go on the tour because i only had a 6 hr layover. but it was still fun to be there. south africa is really weird but its kool. i met a ton of missionaries in the airport that were going to the MTC with me. i met seth there just before we were about to board the plane to south africa. im having a great time here so far. i just want you to know that i love you and i will send a email to you on sat too.

love reese