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