Trying to catch up.....

3/10/16 Hey everyone! So not really an exciting week this week. All the days just blended together. The best day was probably Saturday for me though. We went with the Elders Quorum president and he showed us where he lives and introduced us to a lot of less active members. The good part of the day was that evening though. We went back to visit Michael who is the one with the orphanage. He had a bunch of questions about the church that we were able to answer, and afterwards we were able to have FHE with the kids. We played some games, and sang some songs and I was so happy! It was great! They had a lot of fun and so did we! He says he won't be ready to be baptized until the end of this year, but the way things are going I can see it happening a lot sooner! Besides that I really can't think of anything too exciting. On Thursday we met our new sister, Sister N. She is really cool, and hasn't caused any real problems yet so that is good. On Friday we felt like we should go visit a member at her shop. When we did, she wasn't there, but we felt like we needed to wait for her to get back. While we were sitting there I was talking to her daughter. Her daughter is only like 10, but man she is smart! She was doing stuff I don't even know how to do haha. When the mama got there she said wait again, and she went and got one of her friends. We ended up teaching and he came to church on Sunday and says he loves the church. He seems to be a powerful investigator so that is good. I have been having a lot of fun talking to the kids in Swahili here. I will see them coming from school and ask them if they know English. Usually they say yes. Then I will ask them to teach me English because I don't know and they will just laugh. It is a lot of fun. Besides that nothing too exciting going on here. I am really enjoying the area. I look forward to when I can speak Swahili more fluently, but for now it is good. I love you all. Elder Janda Everything is going good this week. The days are blending together so they all just seem like one-day haha. That is awesome that your Sunday school lesson went the way it did. We walk about 15 minutes to church. Our area is supposed to use bikes but the couples took them to a different area when the last elders left and the area was closed, so now we are waiting to get them back. It is definitely a big area. We take a 30 min. bus ride plus 30 minutes walking to get to some places but it is real good. Sorry if I can't end up sending pics today. We are at a different cyber because the usual one wasn't working. We will go back later though. The Masaii are a tribe here. They are pretty much what you think of when you think of Africa. I am sure if you looked them up you could get a better explanation than I can give though. Those white folks didn't show up to church yesterday, but it is kind of strange. I didn't talk to them much, because I am scared of white people now haha. They are students from BYU. It will be great to be able to come back here. Hope everything is going well there! I love you! Love, Elder Janda 3/3/14 An AP is an assistant to the Mission President, so they pretty much just do whatever it is that the Mission President needs them to do. It is just super stressful because they deal with all the big problems on the mission and don't get a lot of stress. Yeah it is just me and my companion and then Sister P and now Sister N. I am hoping the spices will come this week, because the Sisters are going to Nairobi, and might bring them back. Do you mean the letters with the tootsie rolls? Yeah I got those. Tell Aunt Lisa thanks for me. A lot of people know English, but they just refuse to speak because the national language is Swahili. They are just stubborn. Elder and Sister Mathers are kind of from everywhere. Elder Mathers was born in Uganda, but he is white. And Sister Mathers was born in England. They lived in Tanzania for 11 years, and then they went to Australia, and that's where they lived the longest. Yes Tanzania was part of the original mission. Elder and Sister Mathers came out the same time as me. The Branch President teaches the Swahili class. He does really well. It is pretty cool to say that I pretty much am teaching myself Swahili. This area covers only 1 branch, but it is the entire city, and we have some members who drive an hour to get to church. Thanks for everything you said, and everything you do for me. I love you! Elder Janda2/24/14 Hey Everyone! Yet another exciting week in the life of a missionary in Arusha has gone! This week was pretty good though. Nothing too exciting, but it was a lot of fun. It went by really fast though. So the other sisters in my zone are Sister H from Swaziland, and Sister P from Malawi. They are hilarious. They are always just saying the weirdest things that make me and my companion laugh. It is a lot of fun. Then we are with Elder and Sister Mathers. They are awesome! They have a lot of good ideas, and love helping the people. They are also really nice to the missionaries. They have a few grandchildren out themselves, so I think they know that missionaries need it sometimes. Our schedule here is pretty good. Every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we have Swahili class, and Tuesday and Thursday we teach English. Those days flew by. We went to the classes, and then pretty much did a lot of contacting, which is interesting without knowing much Swahili. I actually am able to say more then I thought I would be able to so that is good. Also this weekend the AP's came down to work with Elder J and I. One of them has served here before so he was able to help us a lot with the area, and with things like that. Both of them are way funny, but also amazing missionaries. They definitely set a great example for us. Besides that there are just some little things that I can tell you. One, my companion and I found Doritos this past week at some Muslim shop and we were so happy! It was kind of funny actually. Also, Fanta is really popular here, but the flavors are different. They have orange, but then they have Black Currant and Passion Fruit. They are amazing! I hope one day they decide to sell them in America so you could experience them. The couples gave me some Malt to drink and it was nasty! I will not be drinking that again. Well that’s about it. Next week is transfers again, so that should be exciting. Chances are nothing will happen to me, but you never know! I love you all! Elder Janda Hey mom! The week was pretty good. Not as stressful as the first week, but still a little bit. I am definitely learning and growing a lot. Time is flying by for sure though! I like it a lot though. Right now because my Zone is small it has mostly meant dealing with money, and talking to the APs every night to give them a report of the zone. If the sisters we are with ever have a problem we are supposed to help them, but they are good so there haven't been any worries yet. We might get a new one next week though with transfers, which could be interesting. I didn't get the spices yet, but maybe this week the sisters will bring it back from Nairobi, if it is there. Our apartment is nice. It is bigger then we need, but it is good. It was really dirty when we got there, but we cleaned it. I haven't really seen any wildlife, but I see a lot of white people going on safaris, so this might be the place to go if we want to go on a safari. No weird food. Chips mayai is really popular here. They make French fries, and then like cooking it with eggs. It is hard to explain, but it is good. Anyways, it sounds like you had a pretty crazy week! But sounds like a lot of fun. I am so excited for the temple to open. I have been looking up pictures, because my companion emails for so long, and I only have a few people to email. It looks so beautiful. I love you too mom! Thanks for everything that you do for me, and the help you have given me in becoming the person that I am today. It means so much. Even when I miss you and everyone else so much, I am so happy being here and doing the things I know I am supposed to be doing. I love you! Elder Janda 2/17/14 Hey there everyone! So this past week has been a super exciting, stressful, and interesting week. So on Monday, I went to the cyber and saw an email that said myself and 5 other elders were being deported, because of some immigration issues. I didn't know where or anything, so I was super confused. Well then we went to a store called Tuskys, and while we were there I received a call from the Mission President. He explained what was going on. So I have been transferred to Arusha, Tanzania, to serve with Elder J. He is from Kanab, Utah, and is a super cool guy. I get along super well with him. Elder J has been here for one transfer longer then I have. Neither of us knows much Swahili, and in Tanzania everything is done in Swahili, because no one knows English. It is weird, because I am learning Swahili, but I am in an English mission. Also I was called to serve as a Zone Leader with Elder J There are only two other missionaries in Arusha, and they are sisters, so it doesn't really mean anything, but I do have a little bit more responsibility now, which is good. On Tuesday I had my quarterly interview with the Mission President. It was amazing. I am so grateful for him, and I know that he is called of God. After that, one of the mission drivers, Victor, drove me back to Kilungu to get my stuff, and then back to Nairobi that same night. It was not fun sitting in a car for that long, but oh well. That night there were a lot of Elders in the AP's flat because of the emergency transfers. It was a lot of fun. On Wednesday I went to the doctor with my companion because he had some things he needed to get checked. The other four elders getting deported were supposed to fly out on Wednesday, but when they got to the airport they were told they couldn't fly anywhere but there home country. We thought for a while that we were going to have to go back to the U.S. but they decided to send us all to Arusha by bus, and then the other four would take a bus to Dar Es Salaam, but they wanted to send two Elders first to see if it would work. On Thursday my companion had some more doctor appointments, so we stayed in Kenya. But myself, and two of the other elders that were being deported were sent to an area called Mountain View to proselyte for a day, so we weren't just sitting around. It was weird to serve in the city when I have been in the bush for so long but it was a lot of fun. On Friday, the AP's drove us to the border and finally got us into Tanzania. We got to our flat super late Friday night. It was a huge mess and there was no power, but we just went to sleep, and decided to clean it the next day. On Saturday, we were supposed to meet the Branch president to give him a plane ticket. Because neither of us had been to Arusha or the building, we figured it would take a while to find it, but luckily we found a map in our flat, and as we were walking, we ran into a member who showed us the way. Unfortunately, we got there like 2 hours early so we just fell asleep on the chairs there because we were both exhausted. That day we also had a baptism for one of the members who had turned 8. It was good. After that we went home, and just cleaned for a long time, ate dinner, and went to sleep. On our way home we did get stopped by a man who knows a little English who lives near us. He showed us where he lives, and said he wanted us to come and visit his family some time. Yesterday was a pretty good day. Church was entirely in Swahili so both my companion and I had no idea what was going on. The hymns in Swahili are beautiful by the way. Anyways, after church, we went to the member who had showed us the way to the church to see where he lived, and to visit with his family. His wife made us some super good ugali and soup. After that we went back to our flat to grab some pamphlets. Then we went to see the man who we saw on Saturday, who showed us where he lives. He seems pretty interested, but his English is somewhat poor, so we will be taking a member with us to teach him on Saturday. Then we went and contacted some people, and I was actually impressed with my Swahili. I made a lot of mistakes but at the same time I did better then I thought I could. Oh yeah, funny story about Sunday. The Second Counselor Moses asked my companion and I to bear our testimonies in Sacrament. I went up and said, "Asante Dada Moses..." Which means Thank you Sister Moses. I meant to say Kaka which means brother, but I always get the two confused because dada sounds like it should be the male one haha. Well even though this week has been a rough one, I have seen the Lord's hand in it strengthening me and comforting me when I need it most. I am so grateful for him and the knowledge I have of this gospel. Elder Janda Hey mom, So this past week was a super stressful week, but I know the Lord is just giving me challenges to make me stronger. I am in Tanzania now and the language is a super rough struggle. I just keep remembering the blessing I received when I was set apart and how I was blessed with the gift of tongues and not to get frustrated because of the language. I am so thankful for that now, especially because my companion knows pretty much zero Swahili at all. I feel bad for him because I can tell he is stressing a lot, We are actually both knew to this area, so we are just trying to figure out where things are and where we are supposed to be teaching I guess. We feel like we aren't as effective as we should be, because we can't really teach in English, and we don't know where to find anyone’s home. We have actually been blessed a lot though with the help of the Lord. There is no doubt in my mind that he has been helping us. We have been blessed to have a few people come up to us who actually know English and we are teaching one of them now. They are trying to reapply for our visas and work permits and I feel like as soon as we are allowed back in Kenya they will be bringing us back which will be good. My companion is Elder J. He was raised in Manti but he lives in Kanab now, so I am sure we have driven by his house before haha. He is in the same situation as I am in right now. He actually had the same situation as me before the mission, except he decided to go to the Provo MTC, and then come here, so he was the week before me. I get along with him really well though, which I am super grateful for because in the past I haven't had the best time with companions. One of the AP's Elder Lyons, actually came up to me the other night and said that he was super impressed with the work I have been doing, and that he knows that I definitely have not had easy companions but him and the Mission President have been very impressed. That was definitely a good boost to get me through this past week. I still haven't gotten those pictures or seasoning packets but hopefully they will come soon. We will have to see. I don't really know how long it takes for mail to get from Kenya to here, or how often it comes. Hopefully soon though, cause I haven't really gotten mail for a little while. Well I actually got it like two weeks ago, but it still seems like it’s been a long time haha. I am glad that everyone seems to doing well there. Please tell anyone and everyone to email me because my companion likes to email for like 5 hours, so I will need something to do haha. Also it is great for lifting my spirits. : P I love you so much mom! Elder Janda