Merry Christmas

12/24/13 Hey mom! Everything was good this week and like you hoped, it was pretty uneventful. There isnt really anything you can do for the boy. Just pray for him. The mission has asked that missionaries families don't send money for anything of that sort. His burial was yesterday. We weren't able to go, but I was told it was good. So we have a protable DVD player, that we are given when we train to watch the District, but he was using it for other things. After I discovered the problem I prayed for a way to come that we could resolve it without making him angry and lose his desire to work. The next day the Mission President said that all missionaries needed to return the DVD players unless they were training. We returned ours, so I am grateful that problem was able to kind of resolve itself. Most people where I am don't have TV's or computers though. To email we go to a cyber somewhere. We usually take a matatu about 30 minutes to a town called Ninguni, and email there, but that one has been closed the past couple weeks. Last week the other cyber in Ninguni wasnt working, so we went back to Kalongo and used the cyber there. But right when I got on the power went out, so by the time we actually emailed it had been quite a long time. Today we are in Nairobi for Christmas though so there aren't any problems with it today. So like I said we are in Nairobi until Thursday for Christmas which is good. Tomorrow there is a Christmas Party with all of the Elders from our Zone group. We will be calling from the AP's flat. I think I will call around 9 o-clock at night here, so it will be about 11 oclock there. The mission provides money for it though so you don't need to worry. It's actually extremely cheap to call from Kenya to America. I think it is like 5 cents a minute. But for you to call here it is super expensive. It's kind of funny how it works. I guess it's up to you if you want to invite Dalee over. It is Christmas so I am thinking her mom might not be up for that. And I only have 40 minutes so it might be kind of tough. I would definitely love to talk to her though, and President Hicken said if our girlfriends came to our families we could talk to them, we just cant call them directly. I received your package today actually. Thank you so much for everything you sent me and thank the Rogers and Mark Lisa family for their letters. Walking is definitely becoming easier to the old areas, but the new areas are a lot further and harder, so I feel kind of like I did when I first got here haha. Most people are super welcoming. There were some areas with Elder H where we weren't welcomed, but now we are welcomed again so all is well. I kind of laughed when you asked if we would spend Christmas at one of the members houses. I guess I haven't told you but most member have very small houses made of bricks and cement, or sticks and mud, and the sitting areas in them are about the size of our laundry room. :P We almost always meet outside, except for a few houses. You might have meant that though, but I wanted to let you know. :) I hope you and everyone else are doing well! Love Elder Janda Hey everyone! This week has been pretty good! Christmas is somewhat different here. It doesn't feel as much like Christmas because there aren't decorations or Christmas music or anything, but it is still good. We were on exchanges this past week so I was with Elder Banda. He came to interview six of our ivestigators who will be baptized on Saturday. He is from Malawi, and struggles with English, but he is super funny and he makes me laugh. Now we are in Nairobi for Christmas. Tomorrow there is a Christmas party with all of the Elders and Sisters in our Zone Group. I think tonight we are going to the Mission Presidents home for Christmas Eve dinner but we will see. As for Kalongo everything is going well. On Sunday I actually started the Mitini Branch choir! It is somewhat difficult being in charge of a choir, but it is fun. The members dont really know how to sing in parts, so they just all sing the melody. There were only three Elders there. The rest were mamas and young women. They sound super good already though! I hope the Branch president calls a branch chorister though, so I can just play the piano. I also started playing the piano in Sacrament. It is kind of tough because the members sing the songs differently sometimes, so when I play it as written it sounds like I am making mistakes haha. This sunday the piano lost power as well in the middle of the songs so everyone got confused. It was kind of funny. Yesterday was our branch Christmas Party. It was nothing like the parties in other places. We had a lesson from our branch president, and because people stole food last year, they didnt make any food. Instead, after the lesson every member received 1 kg of flour, which they use to make chapattis, which may be the manna that Moses ate haha. It is way good, but it is pretty much just a thick flour tortilla. Anyways, every member got a kg of flour. The funny thing was that they were even giving them to like newborns, so it was like a reward for having kids. The more kids they have the more flour they get. There was one member though who called me very angry. He has a big family I guess, but he is the only member so he only got 1 kg. He saw all these people getting like 6 kgs of flour and he only got one. After the party we went to his home and I shared the story of Simons Ryder. We told him not to let something small, or the mistakes of members ruin his faith in the church. I was also able to give him another 2 kgs of flour that the president had given us to cook, and that made him much happier. Well I hope everyone has a merry merry Christmas! I wanted to send pictures today but this computer doesnt have USB plugs, so I guess I will do that next week. Speaking of next week its my birthday! It might be kind of lame to ask for a birthday present, but it would be the best birthday present to receive emails from anyone who has the time to send them! Merry Christmas Again! Elder Janda

12/3/13

Hey everyone! This week was super good! I think I told you in my last email, but this past week we were in Nairobi from Monday to Wednesday for Zone conference! At Zone conference the Mission President and his assistants talked to us. They talked to us a lot about obedience, which is good cause that is a common struggle in this mission. The spirit was soo strong it was amazing! It was nice to be in Nairobi and fill up on all of the foods that I have not eaten for a long time! The ride back from Nairobi took like 4 hours and before that we had to wait like 3 hours in the bus just for it to leave. I almost kissed the ground when we got off haha. Just to the side of the road I saw about 30 giraffes eating some leaves though, so that was super awesome! I have one seen giraffes and I think wildabeasts, but I hope to see some more in my time here. This weekend we went to the other area in our district, because they had baptisms. They had 35 baptisms to do! Most of them were 9-12, which is always funny. The water in the font was freezing cold, so right when the kids came up from the water most of them had a hilarious reaction. Some of them would just start freaking out and trying to climb up the sides of the font. I felt bad because it was like they were in shock, but they were OK. There was one super small girl I felt awful for. She came out just crying because it was so cold, so the Elder in the fond handed her to me and I wrapped a towel around her and tried to get her warm but she was way cold! I cant blame her though; I got the water all over myself and it was freezing! This weekend we stayed in that area the whole weekend because Elder U, my companion, was sick. On Sunday we went to church there, and I went to primary. It was hilarious! They were doing songs like Once there was a snow man, and head, shoulders, knees, and toes. I always do all the actions and everything with them, and they all cracked up! The best one was when they did, do as I'm doing. The leader was dancing, so I started dancing. They laughed a little at first, but then at the part where you do it super fast all the kids and even the Primary President lost control! They were laughing so hard! I wish I had my camera because I would have taken a video, but I left it in Kalong, because it is rain season. Well thats about it for my week! I hope everyone is doing well, and had a good thanksgiving! Elder Janda Hey mom! Sounds like this week has gone well! This week was a whole lot better then previous weeks. Thanksgiving was weird without feasting, but I still had a pretty good meal. We killed a rabbit and I made some mashed potatoes and gravy, so that was our Thanksgiving meal. Next Monday is when I will find out what is happening regarding transfers, so I will let you know. It seems as if both of my companions will be leaving and I will be getting one or three new missionaries in my area. We will see. Thanks for the words on being a good leader. I have tried very hard since I got here to have serving and loving the people as my number one priority, and it seems to be helping more then anything else. That is awesome that you are going to be an usher at the temple! I so wish I could be there for the dedication and everything, but I will be happy to go in 2 years! I love you mom! Thank you so much for everything you do for me! I hope you have a great week! Love, Elder Janda Our Mission President gave all the missionaries the following 12 day Christmas challenge, so I thought I would do the same to you and to anyone else who wanted to do it. Go ahead and post it on my facebook for anyone who wants to participate. “ON THE FIRST DAY OF CHRISTMAS…” “Do you want to be happy? Forget yourself and get lost in this great cause. Lend your efforts to helping people…Stand higher, lift those with feeble knees, hold up the arms of those that hang down. Live the gospel of Jesus Christ.” Gordon B. Hinckley Christmas is a wonderful time to look for opportunities to perform acts of meaningful service. I challenge everyone who wants to to choose a family to do the activity “The twelve Days of Christmas” with. The family could be one you are close with, you dont know, or that you want to know better. This is how you do the Twelve Days of Christmas: The activity begins on December 13th. You deliver 12 items the first night (December 13th), 11 items the second night, 10 items the third night, etc., and work your way down to 1 item on Christmas Eve. You can just deliver something each night- a poem, a decoration, a food item, or whatever your creativity can figure out. Giving a certain number of items seems to work the best, if possible. Leave a note or poem every night with each item, explaining what you are doing. It could be something like: Twelve Days before Christmas, You find right by your door, 12 yummy cookies, That weren't bought from a store! If you are not delivering a certain number of items, your note should still include something about the day you are on, such as: Eleven days before Christmas, Look, and you will see- A funny Christmas Story, Sent to you, by me! These items should be delivered anonymously, until Christmas Eve, when you reveal who you are. Save the best gift for last, like a Book of Mormon for a non-member, etc.