Week 46 - IT'S FEEDIN' TIME

Hey happy Thanksgiving everyone! I am grateful for all of you! Thank you for taking time and keeping up with my mission experience! It's always good to hear from you. 

This week involved a lot of eating as any good Thanksgiving week should. Not all of it was done by me though. Only one person out-ate me, and it wasn't even a person it was a giraffe! Those things can MUNCH let me tell you. For p-day we went to a giraffe center and fed giraffes. I even got to pet them which was insane I didn't even think that was possible anywhere in the world. 

On Thanksgiving we had Mission Conference! We did some trainings and then had a makeshift Thanksgiving feast as a mission. Sadly, we didn't have turkey and mashed potatoes, but to supplement we had KFC and biscuits and gravy (which Elder Kearl and I made). 

One night we got invited over to the Dudfield's apartment for dinner. That is always a highly anticipated invitation and it did not disappoint. Sister Dudfield made Asian barbecue wings (it gave me flashbacks of bdubs iykyk) and because I was sad we didn't get any for Thanksgiving, she also made mashed potatoes and gravy. I was a happy Elder for sure. Then we spent some time asking them questions. 

We've had some pretty good phone lessons this week! We met with a member named Temesgen and taught him about bringing others to Christ. It's always fun working with him because he's super motivated to do missionary work. He reached out to a less active family and is going to visit them with the District President! We taught Patrick again this week over Messenger along with the Ethiopian missionaries still in the country. 

We had a tender mercy and were able to get in contact with Tesfaye, our most progressing investigator. He asked us to teach him every day that he can! We're hoping that we will be able to help him in this uncertain time. I started messaging a random guy and social media and we started talking about Temples and their origin, and I spent some time researching the Tabernacle.

One evening we had a devotional with the whole Area Presidency! That included Elder Mutumbo, Elder Sitati, and Elder Carpenter. They talked about our situation and took questions as they could. Elder Mutumbo shared an awesome scripture: Alma 38:10-12. It talks a lot about how we should act. My favorite part: "Use boldness, but not overbearance..." He explained how we should be ourselves! Don't hold back your abilities and gifts! And if you do things so that others feel your love, you will not be overbearing. 

That's it for this week! 

Hope you had a good Thanksgiving! 

See you in December! 

እግዚአብሔር ይመስገን 

Galata Waqqayyoo

Elder Miles

 

The household from left to right: Elder Marble, Elder Jensen, Elder Ferrin, Elder Kearl, Me, and Elder Heiner

Hey look I found the Illuminati

Elder Kearl and I

What? A supermarket?

Petting Stacy the giraffe

Doing the same pose

I'm about to get licked

WK 45 - Every 60 Seconds in Africa, a Minute Passes

Emergency Broadcast:

I am still in Kenya. Word on the street is that we'll be here until January. But still, nobody has any idea what the time line is looking like.  

Thank you for paying attention to this special emergency broadcast. 

Compared to last week, and excluding p-day, this week was very slow. I thought I dodged the wave of COVID lockdown missionary work but that's basically all we can do without work permits here. So, our work consists of studies, meetings, Facebook and Telegram finding, as well as trying to get in contact with anybody back in Addis on any app we can possibly use. 

I am trying my best to have eyes to see and ears to hear but we are seeing next to no success. Despite that there are little miracles everywhere as there always are. We taught a new person on WhatsApp named Yonathan and he liked the Book of Mormon and the fact that we don't pray to Mary. We are also working remotely to help Patrick and Tariku receive the Aaronic Priesthood. 

Thankfully the mission is still providing extra activities to help keep us productive. We live near the Upper Hill Chapel here in Nairobi so we walk there pretty much every day for things like District Council, Amharic classes, and institute put on by the senior couples. One day we did a service project by cleaning out some cubicles in the offices underneath the Chapel because we're hijacking it and turning it into our headquarters. On Sunday we got to attend the Stake Conference here and got to hear from Elder Rasband. 

Last p-day we went on an African Safari as a mission! We hopped on buses that drove us to Nairobi National Park and through it for a couple of hours. We saw Zebras, Gazelles, Rhinos, Giraffes, Hippos, Crocodiles, and Ostriches. I didn't see a lion with my naked eye.  I sadly I forgot my glasses and had to use my camera lens to see it. 

It was an amazing opportunity to go on that safari. The whole time I was humbled and in awe at God's creations. The fact that animals like that exist in the wild is just crazy to me. I had a scripture running through my head the whole time, Alma 30:44. It talks about how nature is evidence on its own that God exists. The sheer complexity of it is too much to be a coincidence. I felt that the whole time admiring the Water Buffalos. 

I really appreciate and am grateful for all the support I get from you guys! Have a good week and keep relying on the Lord. Enjoy all the pics. 

እግዚአብሔር ይባርካችኋል

Galata Waqqayyoo

Hakuna Matata

Elder Miles

Giraffe

Water Buffalo

My best picture

Enjoying the African Savannah

Some sign I guess

Our apartment complex restaurant

Ethiopian food in Kenya!

Nairobi at dusk

Kenya Fried Chicken

Alex da lion

WK 44 - Frosted Flakes

I don't know if I ever talked about it much before but I strongly believe that Frosted Flakes are one of the greatest foods to ever be cooked up by mankind. The way the vanilla coated flakes mix with the milk....woof it's too nice. And I can say this whole Kenya trip has been worth it because I was reunited with my favorite cereal because here they have all the foods I know and love.

We stayed in the hotel and did all of our activities from there until Saturday. To bide our time, we did many different things. We got to play some sports in the hotel courtyard so I was back at it with Spikeball and Ultimate Frisbee. We had enough time to really dig into the Amharic language and I can say I learned more about it in three days than ever before. On top of that, we dabbled a little bit in the Afaan Oromo language which is also widely spoken in Ethiopia. We kept enjoying the nice food, and we often saw monkeys sneaking around to get in on some of the food action.

To cap off the evenings, after dinner we usually had nightly devotionals, one with Elder Carpenter of the Seventy, one with the area's mental health specialists, and one with the movie "One Man's Treasure." Please tell me if you've ever seen that movie because I have never heard of it in my life. Saturday morning was the highlight though when our mission got a special Zoom devotional from Elder Rasband himself, along with some of the other officers of the church. He shared some really cool information about our evacuation because he's the quorum member over this area of Africa.

On Saturday we moved to a more permanent location because sadly we will not be staying in a nice hotel the whole stay sadly. Our apartments are still in Nairobi, near the chapel here. Just before coming here, we had transfers, and my new companion is none other than the man Elder Kearl himself, the MTC group homie. We came here and are just trying our best to contact our friends back in Ethiopia. But currently we can only contact about 25% of them but we'll keep trying. In Nairobi, there is a restriction on the amount of people that can meet together, so we couldn't join an existing ward for Sacrament Meeting. Instead, we held our own Addis Ababa Ethiopia Mission ward meeting.

The devotional with Elder Rasband might have been the highlight of the whole week. The Apostles are so powerful during General Conference, but it's just different when they speak to you more specifically. He encouraged us to "remember, remember" the things we face now, because they will shape us now and maybe have more of a bigger impact on our future. When we strive to remember our experiences, whether spiritual or temporal, it can be a strength to our testimonies and help keep us mindful.

Have a good one week everyone! The lord is our captain. I'm boutta go on a Safari. 

እግዚአብሔር ይባርካችኋል

Galata Waqaayyoo

Elder Miles

 

Pre-safari photo

Big ole snail

Mosquito net princess bed

Our room has legit barricade doors

The new apartment complex

Christmas in Kenya already

The hotel room

Photoshoot of a photoshoot

WK 43 - Mission Stories...

Just about a week ago I was telling one of the other Elders that I wish I had more cool mission stories. Well that wish was granted in a crazier way than I anticipated. Hey I ended up on Church News and KSL though so that's a plus.

Here's a little bit of background. Ethiopia has been in a civil war for about a year now. The federal government is fighting a state to the north called Tigray. Well, very recently, Tigray made some ground from the north towards Addis Ababa in the south and captured some strategic villages. Looking at where I was in eastern Addis, I was probably one, if not THE closest missionary in the world to an active war zone! Because of that, the Church made the inspired decision to relocate us to another country as a precaution. 

So... hey! I send you all my greetings from Nairobi, Kenya! We arrived here Saturday afternoon. Kenya is a lot more tropical than Ethiopia. It's a lot like what I usually imagine the African Savannah would look like. On the bus ride from the airport, our bus driver started blasting some Michael Jackson and not even kidding just along the freeway next to Nairobi we saw Zebras, Ostriches, Gazelles, a Water Buffalo, and GIRAFFES. Just right there. Next to the road. The other Elders and I were losing our minds it was so cool. 

When we arrived to where we are staying, we had a devotional with Elder Sitati of the Seventy, the area authority here, and he shared some thoughts about our situation. One thing to note, we are still the Ethiopia Addis Ababa Mission; we won't be proselyting in Kenya (we can't anyways lol we don't have the paperwork), so we are going to try to do our best to continue our work in Ethiopia remotely from here in Nairobi. For now we are staying in a pretty nice hotel with all the food you can eat. Compared to the Ethiopian food we've been living on, I feel like I'm in heaven. Yesterday I had lobster tail and roast chicken: literally more meat than I've had in months. But this arrangement is only temporary so I'm making the most of it.

To be completely honest, nobody knows when we will be able to return to Ethiopia. We could be here for a week or for months. We just have to wait and see how the situation in Ethiopia is addressed. I hope we can return soon. We were just getting Summit rolling and then got snatched out of there. Even though it’s nice here I don't like it very much right now because I feel like I can't do the work that I was called to do. Please keep the country, people, and especially the saints of Ethiopia in your prayers!

Despite not being there, we got word that Tariku and Patrick were confirmed on Sunday, so some good news there!

I am learning three lessons through this experience that I want to share. Number one: don't take things for granted, because your circumstances can change in an instant. For you missionaries, don't let a single day in the field slide by you. Last p-day, I would have died laughing if you told me I would be in Kenya in a week, and now here I am sitting in a hotel room there. Work hard and make the most of any situation you have been given.

Number two: God has a plan that we don't always understand. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing, but right now, it kinda seems like it has. Well, I know that is not true. This is not God's backup plan. We may not know the reason now, but I know this situation is a part of his plan for people of Ethiopia, because he loves them dearly and wants the best for them. But it's also a part of what he needs for the sixty of us who were relocated. In the same way, I also know he has a specific plan for every one of you and puts you where he needs you to be. If you make the most of the situation like I said before, follow the Spirit, look to serve, and you seek his counsel in prayer, God will help you see his purposes. 

Number three: the challenges we face refine and change us. I can't shake the feeling that there's something I need to learn here in Kenya. I've found a lot of comfort in asking God: "what do you need me to learn from this experience." If you face difficult circumstances, I would implore you to ask God that same question. 

Sorry. Another long email. You guys are the best! I'm so grateful for the support I've gotten from friends and family. I appreciate the emails and messages that I get, and I promise I will respond...eventually. Things are kind of crazy now. Being a missionary is quite the experience. I love it.

እግዚአብሔር ይባርካችኋል 

Mungu akubariki (Swahili too now baby) 

Elder Miles

 

A burgerizza

Bye-bye Summit!

Welcome to Kenya

Apparently this is what passion fruit looks like

Church News article

WK 42 - What even is Halloween?

WHAAAAAATS UP! WE. ARE. BACK from Eastern Africa. I realized my last email was a little slow and a bit TOO much to the point so I promise to do better to include more spiritual excitement and missionary shenanigans. 

Last P-day we hit up the Shiro Meda market to get our hands on some traditional Ethiopian clothing. Elder Jensen, an Elder now living with us, promised to show us how to make Ethiopian fabric ties if we bought scarves there, so we made the purchase and after a few hours of mediocre hand-stitching I have an Ethiopian fabric tie! Picture attached. I also got a fresh cut from an Ethiopian barber down the street and let me just say a bowl cut never looked so good. 

We did a ton of teaching this week. On Friday I think I spoke the most Amharic I have ever attempted. We taught two guys named Dawit. They asked us about the Book of Mormon so we taught about the Restoration while one Dawit translated to the other Dawit in what I think was Tigrayan. We taught a man named Adinew who works at the One Planet school we toured a while back. And more on top of that. 

We've been teaching someone named Tesfaye recently and he might be the most powerful investigator I've taught so far on my mission. He is separated from his family right now because of the war and is going through a difficult time, but he loves the Gospel. A lot of churches here prefer to keep people in the dark and don't let them ask questions, so he loves how we encourage him to learn and ask. We give him invitations and he goes the extra mile. My man has developed an impressive love for the Gospel Library App. 

Happy Halloween! Psych. Nobody knows what Halloween is here. The most Halloweeny thing that happened this week was we found a rats' nest in our oven. Somehow they even got a tie in there. The way we celebrate holidays here is pretty much just by eating good food so we treated ourselves to burgers and noodles, but of course we had to celebrate on Saturday (what did you think?) 

We celebrated for real by baptizing Patrick and Tariku. I was able to baptize Tariku. They are awesome! So excited for them and their future. We are at a point now where recent converts of a few months are helping welcome the brand new converts and it's an amazing sight. The Church really is the Kingdom of God here on Earth. 

I read President Nelson's most recent talk on spiritual foundations more in depth tonight, and I love how he says that as we keep our covenants, we will be able to access Christ's power. Not only that, as we pray and study to better understand Temple Covenants, "Spiritual doors will open. You will learn how to part the veil between heaven and earth, how to ask for God's angels to attend you, and how better to receive direction from heaven." Those are some pretty powerful promises. Follow the prophet folks. 

Sorry for the long email! I hope something in here can make ya smile. Love you guys. 

እግዚአብሔር ይባርካችኋል

Elder Miles

Getting lined up

The Ethiopian fabric ties

Chilling after Baptismal Interviews

Decorating the house

pre-Halloween lunch featuring Elder Heiner

Tariku

All the Halloween baptisms

Companionship baptisms

Rats' nest