hey mom 

well i think im going to keep this email really short because any questions about anything will be answered and anything you want to know i can tell you about next week in person. so ya i dont feel like typing a long email hah.

but things are doing good! i am dying strong! the baptism of brother joseph is still on and good but I dont know if nancy will be baptized, but we will see. she didnt come to church this week. i even told her that i would pay for her transport, so we have to check on her this week. and by the way joseph owns the school. we interveiw him kesho, so it will be good. but i havent met the new mission president. i will only meet him next week so i dont expect to know him very much. but that's cool that there are sister missionaries in our ward.

 

well love ya! have a good one 

elder maxwell

hey mom

 

our week was good....but elder balls is gone.... he got an emergency transfer because some missionary was an idiot and now we have a kid named bukenya from uganda. so im not really happy about it. and now that elder balls is gone things are going to get hard cause i really dont know his area very well. but i guess we will see what happens with this new guy. ya my other comp, elder rako is kool, he is a really good guy. 

well this week was good when balls was here. we went to teach a few good lessons. we have had a member named beatrice help us with a few of our lessons so they have been really good lately. we are teaching a younger girl in high school and she is responding really well. we met with nancy and had a good lesson with her. she will be baptized on the 20th so right before i come home. we will actually have two people baptized. the other one is named joseph and he is super powerful. he has already read the book of mormon and is reading it again the second time and he is already in mosiah. he has been investigating for about two months! crazy right. we walk to his house which is like 20 minutes out of town and teach him. he is really good. and he understands everything that we teach him. its super sweet.

 

anyways we are working really hard. but things are good. im enjoying it a lot. 

 

well i hope you are having a good week. love ya

elder maxwell

hey mom

well zone conference was nice. they got pizza for lunch because of the man who wrote this email hah. but it was about putting on the full armor of God. so that was pretty nice. we got coins from the mission president which had like the full armor on it. thats was pretty kool. well the new mission president will be pres. hicken or something like that. he was a police chief in cali for like 30 years or something. so i think he will be strict which will be good for this mission ha.

 

well nakuru is doing really well. they gave us all of nakuru instead of two areas so we have a lot of work which im happy about because i would like to die working hard. well nancy is progressing again so thats good but paul hasnt come yet so hes pretty much lied to us for awhile now. well we have a few baptisms set for my last saturday on mission so im pretty happy about that. my other people i have baptized, most of them are doing really well but some arent but i communicate with some of them every now and then.  but my other comp, elder rako for short is alright. he is a little quiet but he is good. ya elder rama was awesome. easily my favorite comp in my entire mission. wow i didnt know that pococks mom died. ya i know he is still here but that would be super hard. i dont think i could stay. well i havent gotten your package yet but i think i will get it soon.... hopefully hah.

we have had a bunch of lessons this week since we have to combine both the areas here. i think its been the most busy that i have ever been on my entire mission. anyways, we have a guy we are teaching who owns a college so he is kinda big people but he is super humble and stuff. he is going to be baptized on the 20th and hopefully his family too. he is super sweet. and he has to come from a pretty far place. i think that he will be a branch president one day ha. but then we have nancy who has had a terrible life but she is going to be baptized the same day and she even payed her tithing this week which was sweet. then we have susan who was taught by people in eldoret. so she is good and then we have a few other people  so this should be a good few weeks. but we have been really broke this week just cause it is the end of the month but we just got money again so i can now afford food hah.

well thats it pretty much for me. but i love you guys and i hope you are having a good week.

love elder maxwell

hey mom

well it seems that jay hasnt really grown up very much yet.... but i think that instead of you looking at yourself. you should ask him "how would you judge yourself with the actions that you do?or how would you look on someone who is doing the same things you are??  cause thats what God is going to do..." or in other words made him be accountable for the things that he does. like either he is going to learn or he wont but one day he will but lets just hope he does before its too late. anyways, im glad that sammy had a good time at camp. and had a good birthday party. i hope that you told her happy birthday for me. well ive never heard of those people but i might soon maybe. well i think i might be scared of white people a little when i get there. cause i see black people every day. and when i do see white people i feel weird like what are these wazungu doing here haha. well i think you should just put me in a room where you think i will be best at. well people havent really been coming to church for us but we dont really have anyone coming regularly which kinda sucks. no  i didnt see pocock. and zone conference was sweet. i met a ton of people that ive never met before. i know like no one in this mission anymore but i guess it doesnt really matter anyways since ill be leaving soon.

anyways, this week was nice.  nairobi was great. we ate a ton of pizza!! so good. i miss pizza.... i miss awesome food. it was nice to have zone conference too since we havent had it since like january. it was the mission presidnets last zone conference too. every zone had to sing and as you could have guessed we were the worst haha. ya i was like the most musically inclined and thats really saying something cause i suck ha. zone conference took up most of the week so we were able to only do a little bit of work but we found a new part of our area that we didnt know about. so we will be working there more now soon. so we got transfer news!!! ................................................. so elder shutt is leaving to nairobi and my comp is going to TZ! lucky man. sanders is staying in the zone so thats sweet elder balls is getting a guy for madagascar , elder rokotomalala and me im getting elder balls and elder roko (nickname) so im dying in nax vegas!! so im pretty happy about that. it will be sweet. I love nakuru. its great. anyways, now i will have more time to get some sweet stuff and sanders and i are already planning to go to nakuru natl park. so thats pretty much my week.

hey i have a question. what size shoe do you wear and also sami? there are some sweet shoes i can get.

but i think that it love ya guys!!

Dear Family of Elder Maurice Marcel Maxwell,

Attached is a letter from President Broadbent and a flight itinerary for Elder Maxwell who will be leaving the Kenya Nairobi Mission on 24 July 2013.  We hope this will help you as you plan for his homecoming.  We are going to miss Elder Maxwell!

Sister Olsen

Mission Secretary

hey mom

 

things are going well here. we have some good investigators. one named nancy. she is an older lady who has been through a lot of stuff in her life. im surprised she is still alive cause of all that stuff. she was burned alive covering 75% of her body and has gone through a bomb blast. and she is pretty much normal besides things like burn marks. anyways, she is awesome. she even called us last night to see if we needed help with like money and stuff cause she still doesnt really understand how we survive here without getting paid. then paul hasnt come to church and we havent been able to see him for awhile its really making me mad because he was progressing so well. but we are still working with him. thats pretty much it for missionary work. we are still finding, looking, looking!  anyways, it looks like bro bulloch hooked you up at wet n wild! elder balls got a new game called bang. its like a mexican game and its awesome. i think im going to have russ and kori buy it hah. well thats pretty much it from me. hope you have a good week. love ya

elder maxwell

hey mom,

i will continue to use the B of A card until it says that i cant, and then i will use the chase card. but my question is when did you learn the word shida??? i think you used the wrong form of plural for the word too haha. jk.  i still have the same comp. elder omara. but it doesnt actually seem that i have had him for too long but i think that is because we get along alright and there is four of us in one house so its ok. oh and mom.... really? decorate? no, we don't decorate the church. we just clean and set up chairs hah.

tracting is really crappy here. we have better opportunities just street contacting cause we can talk to more people in less amount of time. usually we just get peoples housegirls (like maids). anyways paul is doing alright. he hasnt come to church for like 2 weeks now though. i think he is having some problems with work and stuff but we are still working with him. and the wife of the member is still kinda frustrating. we taught her about the restoration yesterday. they had some visitors (who were from her church) though so it was kinda hard to teach it just for her. i dont think she likes us very much but i think that since her husband is a member she will be a member eventually but hopefully soon. 

we taught a really nice older lady named nancy. she meet with some elders but she knows one of the names and we know it too but she says the other and then i have no idea who the other one is but she is awesome. she has come to church twice now. she really like the church because she had been thrown out of other churches because she asks questions that people cant answer them but for some reason we can. thats kinda weird..... i guess we must be true! we got bounced a lot this week which really sucked. i really hate getting bounced... and they dont tell us until we call and ask them.

wow! i can't believe you met someone from Kenya that's investigating the church . thats awesome. tell her, yes, i would love to baptize her. i would really love that. send her this message for me:

kwa hakika tutukutana. kwa hiyo nina maswali. wewe ni kabila gani? na unakuja kwa mji gani? nina furahi sana kwa sababu unajifunza kutoka kanisa hili. kwani ninajua kwamba ni kanisa la pekee la kweli hapa duniani. ukijua hii Baba wetu wa Mbinguni atakusaidia kwenye kila kitu ambacho unahitaji msaada. 

 (tutukutana indeed. So I have some questions. What tribe are you? and do you come to town? I'mvery happy because you learn from this church. because I know that is the only true church on earth.This knowing our Heavenly Father will help you in everything that you need help.)

and ya i would love to get her a dictionary. just know that you will be buying two then cause i need one too haha. and i will bring her a book of mormon in kiswahili. 

well i will look for a cheap drum and some more carvings. tell everyone to tell you what they want or email me  because i don't have much time left to find things for people. (Maurice.maxwell@myldsmail.com)

well i hope that you have a great week love ya

elder maxwell

We had a really fun talk and he was able to talk to Kurtis and Russell and Kori too and all the kids around here. These pics were taken at his last pday at Hell's Gate near Nakuru, Kenya. Hope you all had a Happy Mother's Day!!

hey mom,

im glad that jay is home. and im glad that sami is having a great time. im really proud that she is reading now, but she should have already been reading like before i left. haha. i got a camera from elder shutt because he bought a new one it is the older version of the nixon coolpix that i had before. transfer news happens on saturday so i will tell you on sunday night. but i will most likely be calling on mothers day at either 9 or 10 pm here so you can do the math for that hah. its like 11 hours difference.

anyways, this week was just there but we did some good stuff. we went to naivasha to do some baptismal interviews. it was fun. we played games and stuff after tracting and then on wednesday we had ddm. we were able to meet with a member and we are going to start teaching his wife and stuff. so hopefully she will accept and stuff but i think she has been really fighting the church for a long time but now that the branch is here i think she will accept the church. also the other guys had a baptism and we pretty much just went to a swimming pool. it was kinda fun. and kinda funny. it was really nice tho. but also we found out that we finally got a building!!!! now finally we can have people come to church from our area. it will be really nice. now we are going to start doing some tracting..... but i dont know if that is a really good thing or what haha. anyways, that was pretty much my week. paul didnt come to church so we are going to have to push his baptismal date to a little bit later and then we will have his baptism it will be good too because there will be a few more people being baptized then too. and today we went to a national park and hiked hell's gate it was sweet!

well love ya have a good week

elder maxwell

hey mom. 

paul is doing good. he came to church on sunday when we watched conference. we have a few investigators but just a few. we are trying to get people to teach but its pretty much what ive been doing the whole time ive been here ha. we saw conference on sunday. i think i liked pres. monson's talk the best. we only watched the sunday sessions tho. anyways, i will try my best to go see the pink flamingos. i might even go on splits to go see them ha.

 

well with james from arusha he was pretty kool. pretty much the people i have baptized are people who actually read their scriptures. he was truly prepared for the gospel because when he first came to church he said that he was very impressed with church because of the classes and stuff. but also he was a referral from a member. it was pretty weird cause the member really didnt come to church too often until james was so he was kind of like his jump start to activity. one thing also was when we taught him everything just made sense to him. which is my favorite part about the gospel is that it just makes sense. well with mission theres a few things i have learned. god helps people who help themselves or try to. study the gospel, dont be stupid. the only way out of poverty is to pay tithing. and that we need to read our scriptures. we only have two choices in life to live or to die, so why will ye die? anyways, i hope this helps with your talk.

well this week was pretty good. paul is doing really well. we gave him a baptismal date this week. for the 18th of may. so that will be really nice. also he is trying really hard to live the law of chastity. he is in a relationship that he doesnt want to be in and the girl says she is going to kill herself if he leaves her but from now he is wanting really badly to live the law so he isnt doing the "nini" with her. one day he told us that she asked him why arent they doing that stuff anymore and she blames his new religion and he replied to her saying "its because my salvation is more important than you.." it was pretty sweet. i think that he will be a very strong member of the church. other than that. one night this week. we taped elder balls to a chair so that he couldnt move. it was so much fun. i dont think he liked it very much but we did get some good laughs. also at church we were there from 11am to 6pmwatching confernce. we took like an hour and 1/2 break for lunch which was provided. it was sweet. but i can pretty much eat anything that comes in front of my face now.... haha but other than that that was my week.

by the way elder shutt let me use his camera for awhile until i can get one. oh ya and by the way the mission president just called me and told me that i will be coming home on the 25th of july.... so i will get home that next afternoon.

anywyas, i love you guys have a good week.

elder maxwell

hey mom,

well this week was pretty good but there were a few bad things that happened but ill tell you about it a little bit later. anyways, on pdays we usually just wash clothes and email and stuff pretty basic stuff. we will try to do find some more things to do. ill have to ask about the going to see the flamingos and stuff. see how much it is and some other things.

well this week was good but i have a question. do want the bad news first or the good news?  bad news? sawa. well the thing which gives you so much joy, your favorite thing ever.... broke!! thats right my camera is now broken. for some reason the lens wont come out of the camera. so i dont know what to do so any advice would be great...... anyways, this week we spent like half of our time in naivasha with elder sanders and elder kiggundu. because on tuesday we had to go up there so that elder omara could interview someone so that they could be baptized. then on wednesday we had our ddm there so elder balls and shutt came up. we had a lot of fun playing monopoly deal. great game you should get it. it makes monopoly so much funner. anyways, we do have one guy who is progressing. his name is paul. he is awesome because when we teach him he is always like hey that makes a lot of sense. its great. he actually reads the things we give him and he reads the bible which isnt very common i have come to understand. also we are teaching member how to read... its kinda tough because i have like no patience but he is starting to learn. he is like 30. im teaching him how to read swahili cause i know it kinda but im trying to get him to be able to put sounds together. that is definitely rough hah. sunday was nice. we had president and sister broadbent come to church. we had like 33 people meeting in like a 15 by 15 sized room. it was super hot and stuffy. but it was really good. my comp does the conducting and puts the program together so its kinda funny. i help him a lot with it aha. i had a little talk with the mission pres. too it was pretty good. other than that. that was pretty much my week. 

also i wanted to let you know that i think you should start telling everyone that if they want some stuff from Africa i can get them some good things cause here in nakuru there is a really good place to get stuff. so they can send like $10 and up and i can get them some good stuff. so just let people  know to email me with their requests. (maurice.mailto:maurice.maxwell@myldsmail.net) i know you wanted a nativity so i will look out for that.

well i love you guys and i hope everything is going well.

elder Maxwell

hey mom

well the burrito was like 700 ksh so thats like 8 bucks and i got a chocolate banana milk shake which is like 400 ksh which is less than 5 bucks. well  africa has small little places that are like regular kenyan food and  then there is places for "big" people or people who have money. you would be surprised how many cars people actually have here and there are a lot of malls and stuff. 

 

anyways, it will be weird to be in the same grade as jay now cause i have always been in the higher grade so it will be kinda weird. but it will be fun. he can introduce me to all of the cute girls haha. well how was your visiting teaching appt? now try to imagine doing that every single day and thats pretty much what i do hah.

well this week we had some good things and some bad things happen. well we have this one investigator who actually reads!! its amazing. like my companion and i have come up with the reason why so many people are confused and stuff. its because no one actually reads the bible and other things. all they do is hear the word of god. like through retarded pastors and stuff. but this guy named paul reads and when we teach him he asks a lot of questions and when we answer them he says oh that makes so much sense. and the thing is the gospel is supposed to make sense so its fun to teach him. but we had a really good member get robbed this week. and since the branch is really small we really need him but his bike got stolen and he cant get to church without his bike because he cant afford to get transport and then he doesnt want to leave his place. we went to his house and we talked to him and he was crying and stuff. it really sucked a lot. but we are trying to help him to find another place to stay and other stuff. in good news i meet a kid who was like the same color as me and his name is maxwell..... it was really weird. but kinda kool at the same time. the couples came to nakuruon saturday and we took them the see a bunch of the people who are members. ok not a bunch but like two. it was nice to travel in a car. i miss that a lot. but i guess i will have to miss if for a long time more too. anyways, that was pretty much my week.

well i love you guys and i hope everything goes the way you want them to or the way God wants them to go ha. have a good week.

love reese

hey mom


well this week was alright. we did some good work this week. we had some referrals that were kinda sketchy. it was four girls like from 19 to 22. so let just say that i was kinda nervous to be around them. it was weird to be around girls my age. i think im definitely going to have that weird returned missionary attitude when i get back concerning girls and stuff. anyways, we also had some few lessons. we are teaching this member how to read. i dont know how he was baptized but we are trying to teach him so that he can read the book of mormon and to sing the hymns because he cant and he gets embarrassed when he is in church and cant do that stuff. also elder b came and he is funny. he is just super green and it just reminds me of when i was that way. he came way more prepared then i was tho. he came with some really nice stuff. one funny thing he did was that on saturday night he started drinking some juice. now in kenya the juice that we usually buy you have to dilute it with water in order to drink it. now elder b filled up a whole cup of it and just started drinking it slowly. and we asked him if he liked it and he said ya but its really sweet and we started dying laughing!!!! just cause he didnt know but also cause he has been drinking it like that for like three days, and he was going to finish it without asking us about it. we were dying... its just really funny. he's gonna do great. but we had almost thirty people who came to church which was really awesome. we had a less active who came and an investigator so we were happy. other than that, that was my week.

well i love yall and i hope you have a good week.

love reese

hey mom

the pic with rama was when i met with him a few weeks ago. imagine he leaves tomorrow. im gonna miss that guy a ton. easily my most favorite comp. well transfers happen this week and elder nxumalo is leaving to dar. it really sucks cause he is awesome. but elder shutt is training some kid named elder dick from utah! hahaha. i cant believe that thats his name. he is going to get made so fun of all the time. well my comp is alright he is just quiet. which means i have to do all of the contacting. but he likes to talk when we are in lessons but people kinda fall asleep when he starts going for a long time. its kinda funy. and i will try to go to the flamingo place. and try to send more pics. heres a pic of my sweet brasil jersey.

well this week we had a good week. we did a lot of exploring. we kinda found out more about our area. mainly that there is way more than what we thought there was to it. we found a really awesome investigator who lives there. he read the joseph smith pamphlet and he wanted the book of mormon and really wants to read it so we are excited to teach him. we also had exchanges. i was with elder shutt and we went to his area. we met a bunch of drunk people, like ten. it was nuts. they have people all the time walking all the time but i guess also it was on saturday so people werent really working. well we found out the transfer news on saturday night that elder nxumalo is leaving. i think he might be my favorite person that i have lived with in a 4 man flat. so it will suck for him to leave. anyways we didnt really have very many people at church. i think people went to party. but that was pretty much my week. we are starting to find more investigators so things are starting to get better.

well for a zone activity we went to this place called nairobi java house and we got burritos and a chocolate banana shake. they were so bomb too. we are going to have like a 6 to 6 party since people are leaving. playing cards and other games and stuff. its gonna be sweet. well love you so much. have a good one

love reese

hey mom 

anyways, well you and my dad pretty much said the same thing about school so i guess school it is. but i need you to find out for me all the things for it. like the stuff that i have to do to register for classes and to get enrolled and stuff. so that would help me out a lot cause i really dont know what to do about all that stuff. oh and also i cant send pics this week because the computer im using isnt letting me put it on the comp for some reason. but in case it works here soon just forget that i said that. anyways, i almost forgot that easter is pretty much here now. im glad that you were able go and do some easter egg hunting with Sammy. be sure to save me some candy because i still think it would be good by the time i get home. haha. and she learned how to ride a bike? well thats pretty awesome. im pretty dang impressed.

well not much really happened this week. we just did missionary work. we found a place that sells minced meet or ground beef really cheap so we can pretty much eat that every day for dinner. its nice. also we had a meeting in a place called naivasha. where the couples and the other missionaries stay. it was really nice. we had the meeting in the couples house because the church building is really far from their place. but it was really nice. they have the best couches in the entire mission. they were like nice soft leather recliner couches. they were super nice. i really like them a lot. i wish we had nice couches. we get crappy stuff in this mission big time. anyways, we had some a good amount of people at church this sunday. only one of our investigators came but she is kind of a regular coming to church. but she is good. we had a tough lesson with her this week because she isnt too sure about the Book of Mormon. but we are trying to help her. well we are still waiting to get the new church building. but when it comes we will actually be able to do a lot of work here. but thats pretty much it. oh and also its raining season so we can wear warm clothes again but i dont know if thats very interesting to you at all. 

love reese

hey mom

well i miss tanzania, period. its just so much better than kenya. i kinda like being a leader because it gives me more of an incentive to work harder because im supposed to be an example. my comp is alright. he is a good missionary. lastly, im not sure about the leaving stuff. in like 3 months i will get my exact plane info and stuff so i will know then. not sure if i will red shirt or not. no i wont leave when the mission pres leaves. ya the new pres will come like one day before the other one leaves. well i got to see rama and vilkati awhile ago at transfers and sanders is the zone leader so i get to see him every now and then.

well this week was just there. nothing really exciting to report about besides on sunday we we had a good amount of people come to church. we met in a room like the size of my room. maybe a tiny bit bigger but we had seventeen people there. so that was pretty much the only exciting thing. we should be getting a church building in like two weeks but we arent really sure when. im excited to start teaching again.

anyways, i hope everything goes well on monday for you. my monday is almost over ha. well i love you and i hope that you have a good stressless week ha love ya

love reese

 hey mom

well this week was just there. easily like the longest week of my
entire mission maybe even my entire life. it reminded me of when i was
waiting to leave to come and all i did was watch tv use my phone, play
games work out read and stuff but it was a lot better then haha. we
stayed in a place in nairobi called kasarani. it was nice. not the
best but it was nice. i was just reading, eating, and other stuff
which is pretty boring ha. but no i wasnt scared. nothing really even
happened. i was expecting like gunshots and stuff and people yelling
and stuff. i mean i didnt want anyone to die but it didnt live up to
the expectations hah. im glad that jay was able to come down for
spring break. i bet its nce to have more than like one other person at
the house. crutches eh? thats sucks. im sure he will heal up well.
everything should be good. well this will be a short email just cause i really

didnt do anything. we just sat at the other guys flat played cards and stuff.

 it was pretty lame. we stayed with elder lytle- hes from the vegas area and elder

 ngwenya. it kinda felt like it was my house because we were pretty much there

as long as we have been here in nakuru. we are back in nakuru right now.

we might have to stay in another day for some more election stuff but maybe not.

we wil be working this week for sure tho. they arent really sure about the
elections yet because the guy who supposedly got elected pretty much
cheated so they are going to the courts and stuff to figure it out.

well thats pretty much all that happened this week. oh ya i got lucianne's package

last week. tell her thank you. the jersey was so awesome.

well love ya
reese

 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