hey mom

my week was pretty good. on monday a bunch of us missionaries came to langata chapel and we played basketball. it was a ton of fun.  then we went back to the langata flat and we made some freakin awesome tacos! oh my gosh they were so dang good. i cant wait until we eat them again today, i am so excited. tell grandma thanks for the taco seasoning!!!

 

on tuesday we went to town and we had a leadership training meeting and since im a zone leader i had to be there. it was a really good meeting. we talked about stuff that we need to do as leaders. the longata branch is doing pretty good. except that they have a chapel and only like 20 people come every week. its kinda sad but hopefully we will get some more people there soon.  we also talked about what kind of things that we need to be doing to prepare for the upcoming elections here in town, which consisted of us mostly getting our food storage together. if things go bad and we have to stay inside we wont die of starvation or have to go out to get food. we also talked about some of the problems that we are facing in our area and the things that are giving us some success. but the best part was that they fed us after haha. jk. it wasnt the best food but they gave us cake too so i was happy cause i had like 5 pieces hah.

 

on thursday rama showed me some of the other areas in our area. it was the first time that i walked a big hill. i was sweating bad cause it was way hot. that day we walked for like 5 hours. it was terrible. if you know me at all the only time i can walk for that long is if im at the mall buying stuff hah.

 

on sunday we had stake conference. it was nice but the speaker system wasnt working too well so i could barely hear anything the whole time. so pretty much i just sat listening for 2 hours, but the things that i did hear were good ha. then we got to meet with everyone which was way fun. we took some good pics too. and thats where i met the squires who sent you the pic of me and rama. they go to a bunch of missions in africa and talk about humanitarian aid and stuff and they came to our stake conference this week. branch president peterson isnt back from america yet but next weekend we are having the taco party so im excited.

 

well i hope that you guys are having a great time. and i hope that everything is going well. mom i hope you enjoy the pics love you guys!

love reese

hey mom

my area has like the largest slum in africa called kibera just 3 miles outside of nairobi. with us going to the slum ultimately we decide if we go there or not. for me i dont really like going there cause the people there are some times sketchy and if we do convert someone they sometimes come for alternate reasons, like to get money and stuff. one of our biggest plans that we want to do is to bring in people who will be good members who will be able to hold callings and lift the branch and stuff. so thats kind of who we focus on if that makes sense. the church in kenya is not very big they only have one stake and a district with about 5000 members and of the members only like 2000 are active and like 800 of those hold a temple recommend. so we are in the building stages of the gospel here. kinda like joseph smith and the missionaries in his day, they converted those who would lift the church like brigham young and stuff. we kind of have two areas that havent been worked on in awhile so we are doing work!

we taught a couple of lessons this week that went well but one that we taught was really weird. when we were at her house, which she stayed with her parents, she said that we could stay the night. and that her bed was really big so we could all fit in it. she also asked if i had a girlfriend (yes) and what happens if she leaves (idk) then she said its ok i will be here for you so i can be your girlfriend. then we were leaving her mom and dad told us that we could stay the night if we wanted to also which was way weird. she walked us out and she like interlocked her arms with mine omg it was creepy like a spider was crawling on me. she stopped and said goodbye and tried to give rama a hug and he started to give her one and then said sorry we cant hug girls. it was nuts! it was definitely a weird part of my mission that i wont forget. haha. 

last week was a pretty good week. on monday we went to a place called momba village which is kind of in our area. it was so kool! momba means crocodile. so they had real crocs there not like my shoes hah. i actually got to hold a baby one too! not gonna lie i was kinda nervous to hold it cause it was growling at me haha. i also got to hold a tortise that was 50 years old ha. i got to pet giraffe too! it was pretty kool too. giraffes are way nice. there was kind of a guide there and he told us that even in the wild you can go up to a giraffe and feed it leaves off branches and stuff. so we got to feed it. it was funny cause there was a sign that said do not feed the animals and the guy working there started to feed it and let us do it too. we also ate at kfc which was amazing. i miss good food so dang much.

well i hope that you guys have a good week and i made sure that i included pictures for you today. i cant believe that sammy is getting ready for school already! its like she not my baby sister anymore just a sister. not really but its getting closer to that ha.

i love you and i miss you a ton!

love reese

hey mom,

 

well this week wasnt too special. we finally found a family to teach here in rongai. they are pretty kool. one experience i had this week made me really mad. i was talking to this girl because she thought that we were a cult and stuff which is really dumb. but i asked her if God changes and she said no and then i said then he will always call prophets and she said no they are all gone ( she pretty much is saying that God changes) but then i said something about how moses was a prophet and she stopped and told me wait moses wasnt a prophet. and she was like elijah and jeremiah were prophets but moses wasnt. and i was like this lady is a freakin retard cause she said that prophets dont lead the people and stuff so i got annoyed and stuff so i sat down and didnt talk to her anymore. but she was dumb. but this week we met a ton of people who already knew about us and stuff which was nice cause we dont really have very many investigators. on wednesday we went to ddm and it was good but after we all went to eat some lunch but on our way back to our area it took like 4 hours because we hit traffic and we got home at like 7 30 it was nuts. traffic here is terrible every one wants to pass and they drive on the sidewalk and on the median so it was crazy. pretty much this week we just did work. i did finish reading the book that roger bulloch had me get and it was really good. one other thing, since we have pretty much two areas we have two apartments to stay in. its pretty kool. we stay in the one that is not as nice because i dont think my companion wants to move very much but hopefully this week we will be moving into the nicer one. ill take a picture of both of them so dont worry haha.

ya the giraffe center is in my area. we havent gone yet but in the next two weeks we will be going. i think it will be kool. theres also a crocodile center i think so we will be going to that soon too. mom dont worry i will get you pictures. i promise i swear its like all you want is pictures and you dont care about how or what im doing.... hahah just kidding!  

 

elder rama is the one who is light skinneded like me. i guess people from madagascar arent really dark like here in kenya. and yes, ive acutally tried passion fruit and it was good but someone told me that when i ate it, it wasnt in season so i will have to try it again when i see one.  ill get it and let you know how amazing it is ha. ya ive heard of carnivore and i want to go try it way bad but ill have to use my card or get money to eat there cause since its a tourist attraction itll probably be expensive. but i will try and eat there before i leave this area cause it sounds dang good and carnivore means theres meat so it has to be good. ya langata has the national park right there my comp and i want to go there but we'll see. and it is right next to the slum but i dont go there cause the church is very new in kenya and it needs strong and smart people in it first. we had a conference all about it. the people in langata are good. one of the churches first branches in kenya was langata. its not as bad as athi river with the devil worshipping crap but its been there a long time so a good amount of people know about the church. but idk they still dont like us too much. the people are nice and yes i feel safe and if i didnt im sure i could protect myself haha.

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

love reese

Sister Maxwell,

This is the Squires who are visiting Kenya for some training of church leaders and senior missionaries.  We attended the Nairobi Stake Conference today and as we were there we saw your missionary.  He looks healthy and happy and wants you to know he loves you.  Thank you for sending a righteous young man to serve the people of Kenya.

Elder and Sister Squires