Mom,
you know by the time i get to writing you my fingers are sore from typing :)
haha but hakuna matata
so this week has been interesting, we had four baptisms on saturday. i was able to do two of them. then on sunday i confirmed one of the girls i baptized. it was cool to stand in a circle with other guys, i think that was my first time.
transfer news will come in tonight so i don't know for sure if i'll get a new comp, but i gots a feeling that i will.
we were going to go to a park/sanctuary today but we ended up not going. we were told that we could ride ostriches and horses. they have a few other animals but nothing too exciting, just a rhino, giraffee, and a few different antelope.
i sure am glad that Mason can kill something cuz it sounds like destrie and connor couldn't pull through, haha jk. i kinda want to be there but i think i've realized how important it is for me to be here. life ain't easy, thats for sure. but i'm loving it, i learn something new everyday.
i'm glad to hear that your going to the temple. i wish we had a temple here, but we don't.
Dad,
Sounds like you couldn't figure out how to hunt with out me hahaha jk
i sure do wish that i was there to be with ya, but i find comfort in knowing that i'll only miss one more hunting season. cuz this one is basically over. i'm glad you could get off work to hunt, i always loved hunting with you and the boyz. i know they love it to. I'll check out the pics for sure. as for my pics i accidentally erased all of them on my sim card so i lost a few to say the least. most of them are on the Watt's computer so i just need to get a cd or something to burn them onto. so i'm pretty lucky. but tonight i'll hear about transfer news. i'm pretty sure i'll get a new comp cuz there have been some rumors going around town about him. we had to call the mission pres. they weren't good. so he'll probably go. we already know that elder cele is leaving, he is our DL. I'm gonna miss that one. i forgot my cord or else i woulda sent a few pics today. sorry i'll try again next week.
scratch Ford's ears for me!!
i love you and miss you to.
elder larsen
ps so i want you to send my ipod when you decide to send me something, maybe for christmas. i think if you get a box of granola bars ( green apple ) and take out a few and put my ipod inside and then super glue it shut, then maybe they won't find it. thats the best idea i gots, so if you come up with something better then let me know.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
10.19.09
How was the hunt???????
everything here is good, i went golfing today so that was fun. the internet has been down so we had to find a new place to email. so its been fun exploring town. we have baptisms scheduled for saturday, so that will be fun.
tell the boys congrats for me. that is so cool that they are winning, i'm proud of em. :)
what gun is connor using?
sorry to hear about grandpa. that sucks, like really. :( he's a tough mzee thats for sure!
cuss destrie for me, he sent me an email with like 5 words in it.
last monday the internet crashed and then the power went out so sorry about the loss of communication, but it was fun while it lasted. i haven't checked the photobucket yet but if you loaded them then i'll try to label them for ya.
this last week was pretty rough, i was home sick, then katjotjo and i weren't getting along, but then we figured it out friday night and sat and sun was really good, we got a lot of work done. next monday is transfers so i might be getting a new comp. we shall see. i think we are going to try and go to a park that is nearby. we heard you can ride camels and horses. then there are critters like rhinos and giraffes. so that will be fun. i hope it works out.
i love you
Elder Larsen
everything here is good, i went golfing today so that was fun. the internet has been down so we had to find a new place to email. so its been fun exploring town. we have baptisms scheduled for saturday, so that will be fun.
tell the boys congrats for me. that is so cool that they are winning, i'm proud of em. :)
what gun is connor using?
sorry to hear about grandpa. that sucks, like really. :( he's a tough mzee thats for sure!
cuss destrie for me, he sent me an email with like 5 words in it.
last monday the internet crashed and then the power went out so sorry about the loss of communication, but it was fun while it lasted. i haven't checked the photobucket yet but if you loaded them then i'll try to label them for ya.
this last week was pretty rough, i was home sick, then katjotjo and i weren't getting along, but then we figured it out friday night and sat and sun was really good, we got a lot of work done. next monday is transfers so i might be getting a new comp. we shall see. i think we are going to try and go to a park that is nearby. we heard you can ride camels and horses. then there are critters like rhinos and giraffes. so that will be fun. i hope it works out.
i love you
Elder Larsen
Monday, October 12, 2009
10.12.09
i keep hearing about this hunt, and i don't know when it is. so when is it?
Clayton's a stud, i hope you cussed him for not emailing me very often. so did he take kenna to dinner or did he set her up with someone?
for some reason i knew kenna would be ok. she's awesome.
did dad get time off work to go hunting with connor? i'm kinda mad i ain't there to go. oh well.
Are you guys doing FHE, or do i need to encourage you from the other side of the world. if so, study the first vision together and then commit everybody to gain a testimony for themselves of its truthfulness. even if they already have one. everything we have today revolves around the restoration!
i'm gonna work on the pics tonight on the couple's computer so look for em.
As for me, i'm doing pretty good. other than all the bug bites that cover my body. i don't know what has been biting me but they itch like crazy. they aint mosquitoes. we had zone conferance on friday in eldoret. it was really good. but the ride there and back wasn't, it was a little uncomfortable with four guys in the back of a small truck. it was good to meet the other missionaries in our zone. elder whiting designed some shirts for us, they are sweet, cost us 300 KSH but it gave us the idea to design some for our district. so we are working on a design. president kinda hinted to me and katjotjo that he might transfer katjotjo so i might get a new comp in a couple weeks. we shall see. i seen a cool bird this week. katjotjo said it was the one on the flag of uganda i think. i'll send a pic. reminded me of a crane.
Anyway love ya tons.
Love Elder Larsen
ps tell dad to quit working so much and relax a little.
Clayton's a stud, i hope you cussed him for not emailing me very often. so did he take kenna to dinner or did he set her up with someone?
for some reason i knew kenna would be ok. she's awesome.
did dad get time off work to go hunting with connor? i'm kinda mad i ain't there to go. oh well.
Are you guys doing FHE, or do i need to encourage you from the other side of the world. if so, study the first vision together and then commit everybody to gain a testimony for themselves of its truthfulness. even if they already have one. everything we have today revolves around the restoration!
i'm gonna work on the pics tonight on the couple's computer so look for em.
As for me, i'm doing pretty good. other than all the bug bites that cover my body. i don't know what has been biting me but they itch like crazy. they aint mosquitoes. we had zone conferance on friday in eldoret. it was really good. but the ride there and back wasn't, it was a little uncomfortable with four guys in the back of a small truck. it was good to meet the other missionaries in our zone. elder whiting designed some shirts for us, they are sweet, cost us 300 KSH but it gave us the idea to design some for our district. so we are working on a design. president kinda hinted to me and katjotjo that he might transfer katjotjo so i might get a new comp in a couple weeks. we shall see. i seen a cool bird this week. katjotjo said it was the one on the flag of uganda i think. i'll send a pic. reminded me of a crane.
Anyway love ya tons.
Love Elder Larsen
ps tell dad to quit working so much and relax a little.
Monday, October 5, 2009
10.05.09
mom,
good luck with the pain, but i know that if anyone can bear a little pain its you! i'll remember you in my prayers. i like the bucket idea, to bad there aren't any five gallon buckets here. at least i havent seen any. i'll keep my eyes open. when i read about the snow, my heart sunk, i miss the snow. and then you mentioned the mountains, eesh what am i gonna do for two years with out them. hakuna matata, i'll be alright. when i get home i want to be able to translate the lion king, cuz it has swahili in it. and i want to make brownies. i made bananna cake this week, it was pretty good but i want brownies with some icing on top. it just sounds good. i can't believe connor's going hunting without me. i hope dad can get work off, it would be good if he can go with them. as for conferance, i didn't even know about it till sunday when sister watt told me about the temple in brigham. i was looking forward to listen to conferance but i found out that all i get is the magizine in about a month. i was a little disappointed when i heard that. oh well life goes on. i hope you guys watched and learned something. and as for bro. sitati, i went on splits with my district leader last week and we went to his families home and taught them about missionary work, his son is an RM. everybody is a missionary, even you, so find someone for the missionaries to teach, cuz they need members help. almost all of our investigators have come from members. so make sure you guys are doing your part.
i love you!
Elder Larsen
good luck with the pain, but i know that if anyone can bear a little pain its you! i'll remember you in my prayers. i like the bucket idea, to bad there aren't any five gallon buckets here. at least i havent seen any. i'll keep my eyes open. when i read about the snow, my heart sunk, i miss the snow. and then you mentioned the mountains, eesh what am i gonna do for two years with out them. hakuna matata, i'll be alright. when i get home i want to be able to translate the lion king, cuz it has swahili in it. and i want to make brownies. i made bananna cake this week, it was pretty good but i want brownies with some icing on top. it just sounds good. i can't believe connor's going hunting without me. i hope dad can get work off, it would be good if he can go with them. as for conferance, i didn't even know about it till sunday when sister watt told me about the temple in brigham. i was looking forward to listen to conferance but i found out that all i get is the magizine in about a month. i was a little disappointed when i heard that. oh well life goes on. i hope you guys watched and learned something. and as for bro. sitati, i went on splits with my district leader last week and we went to his families home and taught them about missionary work, his son is an RM. everybody is a missionary, even you, so find someone for the missionaries to teach, cuz they need members help. almost all of our investigators have come from members. so make sure you guys are doing your part.
i love you!
Elder Larsen
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Letter written on 09.16.09. Letter recieved on 10.01.09
I'm sitting on the plane right now and I was thinkin that this would be a great time to write a letter or two...here goes.
My MTC experience is over. I can't believe it, I feel like I just got off the plane from America. Time has really flown. I am gonna miss some of the Elders that I met there. We all got to be pretty good friends in the short time there. I don't think I"ll ever forget playing soccer (football), volleyball and especially kickball. Haha, all the africans didn't have a clue what kickball was. But they still played with us. I'm happy to report that my district won almost everything when it came to sports. The other day we played football on the basketball court. I played barefoot for the first half, until I could feel my feet starting to blister...(10 minutes later) Sorry for the interuption, I had to eat my disgusting airplane food. Ok so it wasn't that bad, but as I was saying, my feet were starting to blister. So I put my shoes on and finished playing. It was sweet. The goal was the post for the hoop. A lot of Jo-Burg missionaries started playing with us, cuz it was their P-day. I swear every african on this continent has some sick soccer skills. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up with them.
There are only seven of us going to Kenya from the MTC. It sucked saying goodbye to everyone. Elders, Bakker, Dalling, Mangenela, Waiswa and Mbad are on the plane with me. I'm excited to get to Kenya and meet the Taylor's and my companion {TAYLOR'S ARE THE MISSION PRESIDENTS}. I still can't believe that I'm on a mission. It always seemed like a mission was in the future. But now that it's here, I'm living a dream. I can't wait to start teaching people. Elder Harris and I taught this one guy in the airport. It was sweet. He said he would pray and call the local missionaries to teach him more. I really hope he does, he was a really nice guy. It seems like all the blacks are so nice and will listen to you. All the africans are stuck up and ornery. When we were tracking on saturday, Elder Nelson said he would give 100 Rand to anyone who got an interested white person...It didn't happen. But we did make a few contacts. It was sweet. I got that letter from Kim and Cindy. Emails are good, but letters are golden. I'll try to write every week....but no promises...but no promises. Hopefully I get into a groove with my schedule and I'll have time to write more when i get to the mission home.
A few hours and a new pen later, uh...um...wow? Nairobi is interesting. Traffic here is crazy, no wonder only the AP's drive. There are no lanes, speed limits, and everything is backwards. We went to President and Sister Taylor's flat. It was really nice. The food was normal (samiches). The Taylor's are really nice people. All the elders are pretty cool. Five of them picked us up. Elders Bakker, Manganela, and Kakiare are staying at the Taylor's. The rest of us are staying at the AP's flat. All I can say is that...it's a bachelor pad, with no hope of women coming over to visit. So I'm sure you can imagine what it looks like. I took a shower! Haha ants were coming out of the walls. We have an orientation meeting tomorrow. I don't know when I'll send this so I'll probably keep adding to it. Lala Salama. Talk about an information overload. I'm sure you'll get an email long before you get this but I'm going to an area called Kitale and my trainer is
Elder Katjotso(just sound it out and say it fast). I'll be riding a bus for more than 7 hours by myself, with no phone, in a foreign country...I'm terrified.
I'll be the only white guy in the area. If you send any packages then I have to pay for it. and explain each item, then I have to pay for it. The price depends on the mood they are in that day the mail is pretty reliable, it just takes time. Send everything to the mission office and make sure the P.O. Box number is on it. Dear Elder.com works as well. But the pouch doesn't work, they canceled it. I guess Kitale is a pretty green area, its close to uganda and is in the mountains. There is four branches up there. Everyone thats been there has really enjoyed it. A couple elders made some food, gotta admit, it was pretty good.
Well I hope this letter gets to you. I love you all so much. I hope everything is going good for ya. Go scratch Ford's ears for me. Tell him I miss him too. I know the church is true and I know that I'm here for a reason. This is the time for Africa to grow and I'm gonna be apart of it! The Lord will always be there for us, we just need to turn to him. I love you guys more than you will ever know, please take care and know that I'm on the other side of the world, praying for you.
Elder Larsen
My MTC experience is over. I can't believe it, I feel like I just got off the plane from America. Time has really flown. I am gonna miss some of the Elders that I met there. We all got to be pretty good friends in the short time there. I don't think I"ll ever forget playing soccer (football), volleyball and especially kickball. Haha, all the africans didn't have a clue what kickball was. But they still played with us. I'm happy to report that my district won almost everything when it came to sports. The other day we played football on the basketball court. I played barefoot for the first half, until I could feel my feet starting to blister...(10 minutes later) Sorry for the interuption, I had to eat my disgusting airplane food. Ok so it wasn't that bad, but as I was saying, my feet were starting to blister. So I put my shoes on and finished playing. It was sweet. The goal was the post for the hoop. A lot of Jo-Burg missionaries started playing with us, cuz it was their P-day. I swear every african on this continent has some sick soccer skills. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up with them.
There are only seven of us going to Kenya from the MTC. It sucked saying goodbye to everyone. Elders, Bakker, Dalling, Mangenela, Waiswa and Mbad are on the plane with me. I'm excited to get to Kenya and meet the Taylor's and my companion {TAYLOR'S ARE THE MISSION PRESIDENTS}. I still can't believe that I'm on a mission. It always seemed like a mission was in the future. But now that it's here, I'm living a dream. I can't wait to start teaching people. Elder Harris and I taught this one guy in the airport. It was sweet. He said he would pray and call the local missionaries to teach him more. I really hope he does, he was a really nice guy. It seems like all the blacks are so nice and will listen to you. All the africans are stuck up and ornery. When we were tracking on saturday, Elder Nelson said he would give 100 Rand to anyone who got an interested white person...It didn't happen. But we did make a few contacts. It was sweet. I got that letter from Kim and Cindy. Emails are good, but letters are golden. I'll try to write every week....but no promises...but no promises. Hopefully I get into a groove with my schedule and I'll have time to write more when i get to the mission home.
A few hours and a new pen later, uh...um...wow? Nairobi is interesting. Traffic here is crazy, no wonder only the AP's drive. There are no lanes, speed limits, and everything is backwards. We went to President and Sister Taylor's flat. It was really nice. The food was normal (samiches). The Taylor's are really nice people. All the elders are pretty cool. Five of them picked us up. Elders Bakker, Manganela, and Kakiare are staying at the Taylor's. The rest of us are staying at the AP's flat. All I can say is that...it's a bachelor pad, with no hope of women coming over to visit. So I'm sure you can imagine what it looks like. I took a shower! Haha ants were coming out of the walls. We have an orientation meeting tomorrow. I don't know when I'll send this so I'll probably keep adding to it. Lala Salama. Talk about an information overload. I'm sure you'll get an email long before you get this but I'm going to an area called Kitale and my trainer is
Elder Katjotso(just sound it out and say it fast). I'll be riding a bus for more than 7 hours by myself, with no phone, in a foreign country...I'm terrified.
I'll be the only white guy in the area. If you send any packages then I have to pay for it. and explain each item, then I have to pay for it. The price depends on the mood they are in that day the mail is pretty reliable, it just takes time. Send everything to the mission office and make sure the P.O. Box number is on it. Dear Elder.com works as well. But the pouch doesn't work, they canceled it. I guess Kitale is a pretty green area, its close to uganda and is in the mountains. There is four branches up there. Everyone thats been there has really enjoyed it. A couple elders made some food, gotta admit, it was pretty good.
Well I hope this letter gets to you. I love you all so much. I hope everything is going good for ya. Go scratch Ford's ears for me. Tell him I miss him too. I know the church is true and I know that I'm here for a reason. This is the time for Africa to grow and I'm gonna be apart of it! The Lord will always be there for us, we just need to turn to him. I love you guys more than you will ever know, please take care and know that I'm on the other side of the world, praying for you.
Elder Larsen
Monday, September 28, 2009
09.28.09
wow thanks for the questions... i didn't know you had so many.
this week the water was turned off for some reason so we were taking bucket showers for a few days. there isn't any water pressure and the only hot water we have is from a little water heater that is fixed on the shower head. i'm looking forward to the day when i can choose the water temp of my showers cuz if we have water, then our showers are either scalding hot or freezing cold. we have electricity but it sometimes like to go off. yes we have light bulbs. the flat we live in is pretty modern, especially for the town where we live. most people live in mud homes with only one room. the flat that we elders stay in i think use to be a garage that was converted into a flat, or apartment. each companionship has a room and their own bathroom, we share a kitchen and then there is a living room. i'm told that we are the only elders that have a microwave too, so that is really nice. the mosquitoes here aren't very bad so we don't use our nets. every once in a while i'll see one but i'm still taking my pills, i don't want malaria. the members here like to feed us. we eat a lot of beans, rice, ugali, chapati's, and maize. i'm not a fan of the ugali, its maize meal that is mixed with water and eaten with food ( with your fingers). we email at a local coffee shop, we also teach a lot of lessons here. it's probably one of the nicest places in town. there are a few other white people kickin around here. the teaching is going good we are kept really busy. we have a few investigators with a baptism date for later this month. and there will most likely be more next month if they keep progressing. most people around here walk or ride bikes if they can afford them. there are people everywhere. a lot of people sit on the side of the road and fix bikes for a living, others have a motorcycle and they take people places for money, thats one way we travel, three people on a gutless piki... kinda scary. Because of safety reasons we have to be back to our flat about dark every night, which is about 6 30 or 7. but everything is pretty good here, i'm loving it!
honestly i don't need anything that i can't get here. if you send a package then the ap's have to go pick it up, and explain every item in the package. but if you send anything then i want my camelback, quicksilver hoodie, and then send some deodorant... and possibly some red vines :)
if you could will you send me some recipes of simple but good things to make?
my retainer broke earlier this week and i had to find a dentist to fix it. amazingly there was one here who knew what he was doing. he did a good job but it cost me 2000ksh and now i'm broke till wed. but my comp is lending me some money so everything will be fine.
thanks for all the e-mails, i love reading them and hearing about all the excitement back home. tell dad to write me back! i hope he hasn't forgotten me so soon :)
I love you all so much and i pray for you every night, tell everyone hi for me.
love elder larsen
this week the water was turned off for some reason so we were taking bucket showers for a few days. there isn't any water pressure and the only hot water we have is from a little water heater that is fixed on the shower head. i'm looking forward to the day when i can choose the water temp of my showers cuz if we have water, then our showers are either scalding hot or freezing cold. we have electricity but it sometimes like to go off. yes we have light bulbs. the flat we live in is pretty modern, especially for the town where we live. most people live in mud homes with only one room. the flat that we elders stay in i think use to be a garage that was converted into a flat, or apartment. each companionship has a room and their own bathroom, we share a kitchen and then there is a living room. i'm told that we are the only elders that have a microwave too, so that is really nice. the mosquitoes here aren't very bad so we don't use our nets. every once in a while i'll see one but i'm still taking my pills, i don't want malaria. the members here like to feed us. we eat a lot of beans, rice, ugali, chapati's, and maize. i'm not a fan of the ugali, its maize meal that is mixed with water and eaten with food ( with your fingers). we email at a local coffee shop, we also teach a lot of lessons here. it's probably one of the nicest places in town. there are a few other white people kickin around here. the teaching is going good we are kept really busy. we have a few investigators with a baptism date for later this month. and there will most likely be more next month if they keep progressing. most people around here walk or ride bikes if they can afford them. there are people everywhere. a lot of people sit on the side of the road and fix bikes for a living, others have a motorcycle and they take people places for money, thats one way we travel, three people on a gutless piki... kinda scary. Because of safety reasons we have to be back to our flat about dark every night, which is about 6 30 or 7. but everything is pretty good here, i'm loving it!
honestly i don't need anything that i can't get here. if you send a package then the ap's have to go pick it up, and explain every item in the package. but if you send anything then i want my camelback, quicksilver hoodie, and then send some deodorant... and possibly some red vines :)
if you could will you send me some recipes of simple but good things to make?
my retainer broke earlier this week and i had to find a dentist to fix it. amazingly there was one here who knew what he was doing. he did a good job but it cost me 2000ksh and now i'm broke till wed. but my comp is lending me some money so everything will be fine.
thanks for all the e-mails, i love reading them and hearing about all the excitement back home. tell dad to write me back! i hope he hasn't forgotten me so soon :)
I love you all so much and i pray for you every night, tell everyone hi for me.
love elder larsen
Monday, September 21, 2009
09.21.09
Hey everyone,
I'm doing great! I''m in Kitale it's one of the most northern areas. it rains almost everyday, but its really green, the rest of kenya is in a drought. my comp is elder katjotjo, he is from nambia and he has been out for 21 months. he is a great guy. two other elders live with us. elders cele and chimimba. i'm the only white guy. a missionary couple lives next door they are from blackfoot,id. elder and sister watt. i'm quite the spectacle here in kitale, there are very few white people, so i stick out like a sore thumb. my p-day is mondays so thats when i'll be able to e-mail. i did my laundry today.... that was interesting. dad, thanks for buying a washing machine. i did it all by hand, in a bucket. but at least we have showers, i'm told that all the missionaries flats have showers and flushing toilets, so thats a good thing. but there isn't any water pressure and all the water we drink has to go through a filter first.
friday was probably the scariest day of my life. i was dropped off at a bus stop in the middle of nairobi by the ap's and told to get on the bus going to kitale. i could barely understand anyone but some how i got on the right bus and i made it here. it was an eight hour trip. i saw zebras, babboons, and two warthogs. and about ten thousand sheep, goats, and cows. kitale is quite the place, there are the slums and the houses. we visited a few people who lived in a little 10 X 10 mud hut with tin on top, it was pretty sad to see people living like that. we ride bikes, but the bikes are horrible. they are the most uncomfortable thing i have ever been on. you feel every bump cuz there ain't no suspension and there aren't any smooth roads. yesterday we attended church in sikhendu. the building there looks like its about to fall over, but the members like to sing loud so thats good. right before sacrament started i found out that i was the first speaker. haha that was interesting. it was funny to look at the crowd (about 50 people) and see only blacks. i was the only white person there.
the roads here are crazy, there are no laws and even if there were, there isn't anyone to inforce them. the cops here aren't exactly your friends. we took a matatu to sikhendu, that was a little scary. i've been told that because i'm white that people will charge me more money for things. we get about 10,000 shillings a month to live on. thats equal to $140 US we don't have to pay rent, water, or electricity all off that is taken care of by the mission office. we just have to pay for food and transportation. there is a golf course here in kitale and elder watt said that we could go with him one day haha that will be awesome, but i think it costs about 1500 ksh (kenyan shillings) one US dollar is about 70 ksh. myldsmail doesn't work very good so we can use gmail. so e-mail me at this address and if you mail anything send it to the mission office and make sure that it has the PO box number on it.
i love you guys a ton, let me know when you get my letter, i have now sent two. i hope everything is good at home, keep me updated i like to hear what is going on back in the valley.
Love Elder Larsen
ps let me know what you what to know about, i feel like i'm just rambling on.
I'm doing great! I''m in Kitale it's one of the most northern areas. it rains almost everyday, but its really green, the rest of kenya is in a drought. my comp is elder katjotjo, he is from nambia and he has been out for 21 months. he is a great guy. two other elders live with us. elders cele and chimimba. i'm the only white guy. a missionary couple lives next door they are from blackfoot,id. elder and sister watt. i'm quite the spectacle here in kitale, there are very few white people, so i stick out like a sore thumb. my p-day is mondays so thats when i'll be able to e-mail. i did my laundry today.... that was interesting. dad, thanks for buying a washing machine. i did it all by hand, in a bucket. but at least we have showers, i'm told that all the missionaries flats have showers and flushing toilets, so thats a good thing. but there isn't any water pressure and all the water we drink has to go through a filter first.
friday was probably the scariest day of my life. i was dropped off at a bus stop in the middle of nairobi by the ap's and told to get on the bus going to kitale. i could barely understand anyone but some how i got on the right bus and i made it here. it was an eight hour trip. i saw zebras, babboons, and two warthogs. and about ten thousand sheep, goats, and cows. kitale is quite the place, there are the slums and the houses. we visited a few people who lived in a little 10 X 10 mud hut with tin on top, it was pretty sad to see people living like that. we ride bikes, but the bikes are horrible. they are the most uncomfortable thing i have ever been on. you feel every bump cuz there ain't no suspension and there aren't any smooth roads. yesterday we attended church in sikhendu. the building there looks like its about to fall over, but the members like to sing loud so thats good. right before sacrament started i found out that i was the first speaker. haha that was interesting. it was funny to look at the crowd (about 50 people) and see only blacks. i was the only white person there.
the roads here are crazy, there are no laws and even if there were, there isn't anyone to inforce them. the cops here aren't exactly your friends. we took a matatu to sikhendu, that was a little scary. i've been told that because i'm white that people will charge me more money for things. we get about 10,000 shillings a month to live on. thats equal to $140 US we don't have to pay rent, water, or electricity all off that is taken care of by the mission office. we just have to pay for food and transportation. there is a golf course here in kitale and elder watt said that we could go with him one day haha that will be awesome, but i think it costs about 1500 ksh (kenyan shillings) one US dollar is about 70 ksh. myldsmail doesn't work very good so we can use gmail. so e-mail me at this address and if you mail anything send it to the mission office and make sure that it has the PO box number on it.
i love you guys a ton, let me know when you get my letter, i have now sent two. i hope everything is good at home, keep me updated i like to hear what is going on back in the valley.
Love Elder Larsen
ps let me know what you what to know about, i feel like i'm just rambling on.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
09.12.09
hey everybody,
All is well here in africa. I'm headed to nairobi on wednesday. so i'll only be here for a few more days. I've learned a ton about teaching and about getting a long with a companion 24/7. We had a little chat yesterday and got a lot off our chests. today i'm going on splits with the jo-burg missionaries. i'm going to an area called florida, i think its a suburb of jo-burg. it should be pretty cool. district 2 went last week and they all had a blast. we played bro. mocke and a few of his friends in volleyball on thursday. that was a blast. the sand here is the softest sand i've ever played in. a few of the elders here played volleyball in college and they are pretty good. i'm happy to report i'm the weakest link when it comes to volley ball. but soccer is another story! district one didn't have a player that could get by me and elder dalling. these africans have some tough feet! we play soccer all the time. so far district 1 kicks butt every time!
i sent you a letter in the mail this week i hope you get it. i haven't recieved anything yet. the mail is still a little messed up. the postal workers were on strike when i got here, so the mail was pretty backed up when they went off strike. hopefully i'll get something. if you want to send something now then send it to my mission home. by the time it gets here i'll be in kenya anyway. All this class time is kicking my butt, they feed me tons of food and then expect me to stay awake and pay attention... i guess they don't know me very well. i'm glad we only have a few more days here. i think i would go crazy if i was here for two months. i'm excited to get to kenya. these kenyan elders tell us all kinds of things about nairobi. a few of them are teaching me swahili. i have a little note book with a ton of words wriiten down. it's like my own dictionay, but it's far from incomplete.i love you guys more than you know. take care and be good. i'll try to send some pics. i hope you get them.
love elder larsen
All is well here in africa. I'm headed to nairobi on wednesday. so i'll only be here for a few more days. I've learned a ton about teaching and about getting a long with a companion 24/7. We had a little chat yesterday and got a lot off our chests. today i'm going on splits with the jo-burg missionaries. i'm going to an area called florida, i think its a suburb of jo-burg. it should be pretty cool. district 2 went last week and they all had a blast. we played bro. mocke and a few of his friends in volleyball on thursday. that was a blast. the sand here is the softest sand i've ever played in. a few of the elders here played volleyball in college and they are pretty good. i'm happy to report i'm the weakest link when it comes to volley ball. but soccer is another story! district one didn't have a player that could get by me and elder dalling. these africans have some tough feet! we play soccer all the time. so far district 1 kicks butt every time!
i sent you a letter in the mail this week i hope you get it. i haven't recieved anything yet. the mail is still a little messed up. the postal workers were on strike when i got here, so the mail was pretty backed up when they went off strike. hopefully i'll get something. if you want to send something now then send it to my mission home. by the time it gets here i'll be in kenya anyway. All this class time is kicking my butt, they feed me tons of food and then expect me to stay awake and pay attention... i guess they don't know me very well. i'm glad we only have a few more days here. i think i would go crazy if i was here for two months. i'm excited to get to kenya. these kenyan elders tell us all kinds of things about nairobi. a few of them are teaching me swahili. i have a little note book with a ton of words wriiten down. it's like my own dictionay, but it's far from incomplete.i love you guys more than you know. take care and be good. i'll try to send some pics. i hope you get them.
love elder larsen
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