WK 67 - What is the definition of fluent?

Goooooooood morning brothers and sisters in Christ. I hope you had a fantastic week and are ready for an even better one up ahead because I know it's coming your way.

This was one of those weeks where we did a lot but I look back and feel like we did nothing. I'm not sure whether that's a good thing or not but here's what happened.

The weather has been cool and rainy lately which has been a major blessing considering the last few weeks have been hot. And I mean HOT. When the Kenyans are saying it's unusually hot then you know it's really cooking. So, the rain has been nice because we've been teaching a lot at the chapel which keeps us out of it.

We taught some cool new people this week. There was a girl named Caroline who told missionaries that she wanted to come to church. We met with her and she told us she prayed about our message and had a good feeling! Another was an online referral named Glen and he brought his friend Terry. Glen met with missionaries three years ago. Last was a referral from the South Sudan Squad. His name is Jerich and I think he is one of their cousins. We invited him to come to church but he messaged us after saying he spent too long in the club so he couldn't come. There's a lot to work on with him.

The Nairobi East Stake had an activity this week that we were able to attend with our recent converts and investigators. It was a sports day so we got to play Basketball and Table Tennis with them as well as watch them play in a soccer tournament. I think a premier league team needs to sign me because my coaching was immaculate. Especially Manchester United - they need some help.

So... Ethiopia news! The return to Ethiopia has begun! President Dudfield is returning along with a few American missionaries! The US embassy is now allowing travel into the country and so I don't think it will be too long now before the EAAM is reunited.

Speaking of that something kind of cool, I finished the Book of Mormon in Amharic this week. I don't remember who, but an apostle or prophet once told missionaries that if they read the Book of Mormon in their mission language, by the end they'd be fluent. Now I don't know the definition of fluent, but I don't think I'm anywhere near that sadly. Amharic is just a different beast. But it was a cool accomplishment!

This Sunday Nephat was baptized! His Sister came to watch and she told me that ever since Nephat starting meeting with us, he has changed and she couldn't believe her eyes. So, she came to witness this church for herself. It was a sweet baptismal program and we are pumped for him!

That's about it. God bless you all!

Elder Miles

Making Mandazi with the boys

Sunday Baptisms

These kiddos

The sports day coaching staff

The church but at night

WK 66 - Easter Bappy

Hey everyone I realize I'm kind of late but that's ok we just haven't had power for two days so we had to go to the church to charge the phone so I'm gonna keep this brief to conserve precious battery.

I got to eat some Ethiopian food this week and speak Amharic to the owner! 

We had Zone Conference this week which was pretty sweet. We talked a lot about the Holy Ghost and its role in the lives of members, missionaries, and investigators. I learned that perhaps the best way to invite the Spirit is to bear simple, sweet, and sincere testimony. There's no need to get fancy.

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had a spiritually refreshing and uplifting time remembering the Savior Jesus Christ's resurrection. We saw the Easter bunny outside of a gas station this week so of course we had to get photos. We were eating lunch one day and a catholic congregation of probably 300 came by singing hymns. It was quite the sight.

I heard a funny slang word for baptism this week. An Elder came up to me (shout out to Elder Johnson) and said, "bro I just recorded my first bappy." Well, I guess I'm calling it that now. We were able to baptize Ajok! His whole family was there and his brother Bona was able to do the Baptism and Confirmation. It was powerful to see.

Sorry for the rushed update but I hope all is well. 

Elder Miles

Scary painting

Shiro ጊዜ

Ajok and Bona

The fam

Our chapel

Kayole ZOOOOONE

Easter Bunny and random clown

The bball squad

WK 65 - We Taught a Nephite

Well. Usually there's one main thing that happened each week that I like to focus on. But this week was just a bunch of little things. We've dropped a lot of people we were teaching because they were doing the thing that all missionaries fret: not coming to church. So, the week started out slow with not many people to teach but we were honestly blessed by the end with many new people to work with. 

-We played streetball again this week, but this time it was an organized game because a team scouted us out last week and wanted to play us. So, we set up a four-quarter game with a score keeper and went ham. We lost by one sadly, but for playing one of the best Streetball teams in Kenya, I would say that's not half bad considering we are all washed up high school players who haven't touched a ball consistently for a year and a half. 

-Bashed with Nicholas again. We went back to clear up some things about our church and he wouldn't let us speak. His biggest complaint was that our members didn't carry Bibles with them and he wouldn't accept that fact that we had them on our phones. 

-We went on surprise exchanges this week. I went with the District Leader Elder Mafunga who is from Zimbabwe. His area covers the slums so we headed to Nakuru Kwa Njenga and my goodness it was an experience. It was just a village of little houses built out of those tin sheets. It was a humbling experience but I had a good time and met some amazingly powerful people. One of the boys they are teaching taught me some Shang which is Swahili slang. 

-Sometimes we still have communication with President and Sister Dudfield and they've been roasting Elders for getting buzz cuts and telling us that we can't return to Ethiopia if we have buzzed hair. 

-Ian, our friend who was baptized last week, brought a friend to church named Nephat which is pronounced suspiciously like "Nephite". We had to double check in the spelling but I still think it was meant to be. He enjoyed church and will hopefully progress fast. 

-OK other people we are teaching: we met with a man named Moses who played for the Kenyan National Basketball team for 13 years. He's high up in another church but genuinely wants to read the Book of Mormon. A man named Fred showed up to church and has a lot of life problems that we are helping to address. We are teaching a man named Ayoo who is progressing well and will probably be baptized soon. He saw General Conference and really enjoyed it. Another young man named Davis from the Congo came to church and he barely speaks English but told us that he wants to get Baptized. So good things are in the works! I love the work we have been able to do in this area! 

-Sadly, our baptism with Ajok fell through again this week due to some poor communication from the ward. They told us that they weren't showing conference this week, but when we arrived to church, they told us that they actually were and that church was starting at 10 instead of 9. Well, that was inconvenient for the Sudanese family and we had to reschedule. We found out more about Ajok this week and if you want to hear his story shoot me an email or a message and I'll tell you more about it.

God's work continues! I have definitely seen his hand this week. In this mission we quote the Standard of Truth which starts with, "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing" and I'm starting to see that! Whenever we are working hard things just seem to work out and we find success even though we are inexperienced, way out of place 20-year-olds. That's a big testimony builder to me that it's God's work not ours.

Have a fantastic week! Give me updates about your lives! I would love to hear from you.

Elder Miles

The inside of a bus that looked cool

Me and the homies watching conference on Sunday

From left to right: Elder Ferguson, Abraham, Me, and Ajok

Ballin'

WK 64 - Witchcraft, Wizardry, and Prophethood

I have come to the conclusion that Kenya is the funniest country on the planet. Walking the streets all day everyday leads you to see some pretty funny and strange things. We laughed hard this week. 

One such occasion was when we were walking early in the morning to teach a friend. The previous day we were casually talking about witchcraft and asked a member if they practice it here. She said yes but not really. Well, this particular morning was after a long night of rain so there were huge puddles in the muddy road. But that's all they were. Just puddles. There’re tons of them. Well along the way we saw a dude squatted by one of the puddles and at the spot just in front of him the water was bubbling and flowing like a fountain, but literally nowhere else was it doing that. Was it witchcraft? Did we meet a real-life water bender? That's up to you to decide. 

We had a really positive experience and a really negative experience this week that I'll share. First the negative. A dude that we have been teaching for a while finally came to church. He's always been very kind and positive towards us and even told us that he enjoyed the service. Well, a couple hours later he called and just started ripping into us and the church because we "didn't use the Bible enough." Well funnily enough if he would have stayed for second hour, he would've seen that our discussion was ENTIRELY about the Bible. That's why you go to all of your church meetings kids. 

Positive experience: Ian was baptized. Ian was a member referral...kind of. The person that introduced us to him said he just wandered into the chapel. Come to find out a week before his baptism that his mom is a recent convert. Ian is powerful! He always kept commitments and was always one step ahead of us by reading the pamphlets. He was always willing to do what we invited him to do. I was able to stand in the circle and it was an awesome experience to hear such a powerful and willing kid become a member of God's kingdom. He says he wants to be a missionary and he's definitely in the age range so hopefully we can help him!

Ajock didn't get baptized this week because of some health issues but we are hoping to reschedule for next week. 

I have never been so excited for General Conference as I was for this month's and boy, I was not disappointed. A bunch of talks about missionary work as a missionary? That's what I like to hear. I hope you all had a chance to watch and receive revelation, inspiration, and some hope in your life. My favorite talk came from Elder D. Todd Christofferson! He taught that our faith shouldn't be based on the blessings we feel like we should receive, but rather from our relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. That is the ultimate blessing we could have anyways. 

Please! Enjoy this week! Take some time to slow down and not be so hard on yourself. Gain some spiritual momentum. If I hear that you aren't then we're gonna have some problems, ok? 😁

Elder Miles

This is pretty much what most of our area looks like

A gecko in the baptismal font

Ian

Elder Nelson's April Fool’s Day prank. Tricked us into thinking we got permanently reassigned