10/1/13

Hi everyone! It has been a great week here in Kilungu Hills! Definitely better than the first, and the time is literally flying by! Every day I am getting along better with my companions and I am getting less tired as I climb the hills. Anyways, I will start on Wednesday of last week. On Wednesdays we go into Mitini where the branch building is located. There we are supposed to hold Priesthood class, English class, and piano class. I am supposed to teach the piano class, but no one showed up. Only one person showed up to the English class, which is frustrating because almost everyone here needs it. Anyways after the classes we have our District Development meeting. There are six elders in our district and that is just where we talk about how we can do better as missionaries. After that we went to a hotel, or a restaurant as you wazungu call it. and had some soup and chapatis. The soup is just broth and mystery meat, probably goat or donkey, and chapatis is like a thick tortilla made from oil and flour. It is really good and I hope to learn how to make it soon. After that we went to New Zion which is a very steep hike down into a canyon. The sad thing was our investigator wasn’t even there! We were able to teach one of the members though. On Thursday we got a call from a man who wanted a Book of Mormon, so he came to Kalongo where we live and gave him a book of Mormon. He was leaving town for a while so we will meet with him when he gets back. About an hour after we gave him the Book of Mormon he called us and had a ton of questions and said he wanted a copy of the doctrine and covenants as well. It turns out he is a pastor for one of the other churches so we are not sure if he just wants to argue with us or learn but I really hope he is serious about learning. We also went to our second area for the first time. It is about a five mile walk there and once we get there we hike up and down some steep hills! I was worn out! And once again our investigator wasn’t home, so we met with all the members who were home. On Friday we were back in Matua and were able to teach three investigators. The first investigator runs a health clinic in Kalongo and she actually speaks really good English so it was good to be able to meet with her and understand what was going on. In Matua we met with members, and one of them fed us some gideri. It is very uncommon to be fed here so that was exciting. Gideri is maize and beans. It doesn’t really have much flavor but it is filling so that is good. We met with a lady who owns a hotel and she was in a hurry so we were only able to share a short message, as well as the other investigator. That investigator speaks zero English though so that is difficult. Luckily one of my companions speaks Swahili so he just took over for us. On Saturday we were in Kikoko. There was a wedding going on so very few people were home but one of the members fed us! She gave us ugali and sukuma wiki and avocado. Avocados are very common here. They are about ten cents each and are huge! It makes me happy because I love avocados. We also met with a lady who just started breast feeding as we were sitting there. I guess that is common here as well. It is surprising at first but you just keep teaching and look away! Sunday we were back in Mitini for church! There were so many people that we had to sit outside which is awesome! And this time I didn’t have to give the lesson in elder’s quorum so that was good. They tried to get me to teach again next week but we told them one of the members needs to teach. After church everyone runs to the market or the hotel so we need to work on that. On Sunday I was studying my scriptures and I realized something interesting. The Lord has commanded men to love two people with all their hearts. The Lord and their wives. There is no one else that we are commanded to love with all our hearts. Obviously I do not have a wife right now, but my companions are kind of preparing me for that so I feel like I need to love them with all my heart. That is probably one of my biggest struggles because I am so proud and easily annoyed. I am working on it though. The second great commandment given to us is to love our neighbors as ourselves. I was thinking about this and this means there is literally no one on this earth that I should love less than myself. That is definitely something I need to work on, but I know that as we all do that we will soon see the good in others and our lives will be much better! Yesterday we were in Matua again doing service. Not very many people were home, but we were able to carry water again. This week I took a wrong turn and ended up half way up the hill and looked over and realized I was on the wrong hill. I looked for a way to just cross to the other hill but there wasn’t one, so I had to hike down and back up. It makes me think of our own journeys in life. We often take a wrong turn and eventually realize we are on the wrong path. There is no shortcut back to the path. We have to backtrack through repentance and undo the wrongs that we have done. When all is said and done we realize we made a lot more work for ourselves then necessary so it is just better not to sin! We also chopped some wood, but the only ax they had for me was tiny so it was like I was chopping wood with a tomahawk. And that leads us to today! I woke up this morning and travelled to town to email. After this I will go and buy some bread and then we will go back home and I will do laundry. That takes a while because we have to do it by hand. Then I will write letters, study Swahili, read the book of Mormon and go to bed! The weeks go by so fast so I will be emailing again soon! I love you all! Elder Janda