Week 50: 17 Nonmembers at Church + 10 Referrals This Week = Happy Missionaries!

Welllllll now I am able to send pictures so get ready for next week (baptism photos left and right about to come), but we gotta go so not much for this week since time was spent downloading Christmas music that is good for missionaries and messing with pictures. I read all my emails and thanks for them!!! Sorry nobody is getting emails back but I hope y'all understand and have a great week!

Had a great exchange with Elder Dick this week and he is a great guy. Turns out he is headed to Kyambeke - my old area! He is super pumped for it. Also we had the baptism for Francis and he really is a powerful guy and will be a great member. We had 17 nonmembers at church and 10 referrals this week! We will stay busyyyy.

And we aren't supposed to know until tonight but I am staying in the area! I am super excited and my next companion I already know kinda well - he is from AZ. We are going to be able to be super diligent which I am looking forward to. I have really enjoyed my time with Elder Kisekka.

And Elder Moline will also be staying in Naitiri so we will have a 1 year party together.. looking forward to this transfer!

Have a great week! 

Love, Elder Eveson

Much love from the KNM

Feeding the Monkeeeeeeeeys!

Spending time with the Flakes from Eagle Mtn, UT

Random Zebra along the Roadside

Yours Truly . . . Elder Eveson

Kings or Missionaries??!  New Flat for Us!

Some Pictures are Worth 1,000 Words!

Week 49: Baby Eveson! Whaaaaaat?!

Woah, what a week. Baby Eveson? Don't jump to conclusions, rather give me a second to explain: Showed up to the flat of a member- his wife just had a baby the week before last and we have not visited since. His wife is not a member and he wants us to start teaching her after she is back to normal from pregnancy. It is hard for her to understand Swahili completely but we will start teaching her in a few months. Anyways- all this is besides the fact that he told us the babies first name is Eveson. I cant remember the middle and last name but that was pretty unexpected. Also, he wants me to give the baby blessing next month. I hope I'm not transferred.

Got news that next week we will be going from the worst flat in the mission to the nicest, and biggest in the mission. It is right by the market where the church is located, and it is a mansion. Only one anywhere near that in all the areas around. I want to spend a year in this area. I love the area as well as the soon to be flat of ours. Yet again-- I reallllly hope I am not transferred next week- that would be a bummer. Either my bags will be packed for transfers or packed to move flats!

This week we had exchanges with the Naitiri Elders, beforehand I was thinking who might go where and I thought I had it pretty well easily figured out but I prayed quite a bit about it and got a different answer than what I had thought- and the answer was for Elder Odundo (been out 5 weeks) coming to Mautuma to be with me and work together and Elder Kisekka to be with Elder Moline in Naitiri. All in all it went well and we were able to go see a less active with a member which was nice to find out where they stay and it turns out to be a part member family so I am looking forward to working with them.

This upcoming week we have exchanges again and I will be with Elder Dick in Mautuma which should be super fun.

This week we will be having the baptism for Francis- he is a referral from a member and he was a pastor in his former church for many years. He is really another Kingdom Builder being added to the branch. He is excited to join the church and really has been welcomed warmly to the branch as with all our investigators and recent converts. He is a great guy and everything we teach him he really agrees with and says this is how churches should be. He knows this is the true church which is awesome. He is a really humble guy and relies on the Lord a lot. He has referred his cousin and mom for us to start teaching.
 

Elder Cook of the Quorum of the 70 said that worldwide, 3 in every 1000 contacts missionaries make are baptized, but 1 in every 3 referrals missionaries receive are baptized. True dat. (Except for our area it is about 3/3). Needless to say, member missionary work is the bessssst. I hope yall are doing your part!

Eldoret/Kitale is really close to becoming a stake which is super sweet- I would not be surprised if I am still on mission when it happens, along with the Nairobi stake that is going to split into 2 sometime soon. The Lord is hastening His work.

Crazy that the Westgate Mall attack was 1 year ago- I remember being in Kaysville Utah hearing about that right before I came on mission.

Since we spend the night in Naitiri on Sunday nights, this morning at 5:30 we left and biked to a hill where there is a cell tower and watched the sunrise. It was super cool and gave me a flashback to the hunting days in Eastern Oregon. Anyways- I will try to get back to a few of your guys' emails after I send this off. Sorry about that. Time is always the shida. And thanks for the emails and pictures ya'll send!!

Found out just now that there is and Elder in this mission, Elder Williams from Raymond, Alberta who knew Elder Ellingson from home.

If you want you can actually text my email from your phone then I will have that address so if I email it, it comes as a text message to your phone. So if anyone wants to try that, karibuni. (And no the google translator is not right with that word)

Well, just to leave you with my testimony, I know the church is true, and the true book is blue. :)

Love Elder Eveson

Much love from the KNM aka the mission for men

Kitale, Kenya Zone
Top Row left to right:
Elder Eveson (Portland, OR, USA),
Elder Ochieng (Eldoret, Kenya),
Elder Moline (Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada),
Elder Kisekka (Uganda - my companion),
Elder Elliott (Kentucky, USA),
Bottom Row:
Elder Dick (Swansboro, NC, USA),
Elder Odundo (Nairobi, Kenya),
Elder Warwood (Nevada, USA),
and Elder Mwashi (Nairobi, Kenya)

Week 48: Hastening the Work

Hahahahaha what a joke. Came to email and there has been power, but no internet. Waited for a while then went and found a new place to email from and it is suuuuper slow and won't let me do much at all. Sorry for the lack of replies today. Can't open pictures or anything.

Hopefully this email comes through. Every week it is a different story.

Only 2 more weeks left in the transfer and I really hope Elder Moline and I both stay in this zone so we can be together on our 1 year mark. He was just saying how at home in Grand Prairie, Alberta the last 2 weeks they have gotten sooo much snow already, meanwhile the sun is in full shine where we're at.

Some realllly good news is the visas for a lot of the Elders and Sisters waiting to come to this mission are close to coming through! That would be sweet if they all came to this mission within the next 2 transfers.

Went and did a baptism interview for Elder Moline and Elder Odundo this week and he was baptized on Sunday and they said it went really well. For us, part member families and referrals have been very helpful and that is what is keeping us very busy.

Friday we had scripture class at the church as we do every week but we have been focusing on getting all the Priesthood and Auxiliary leaders there and the attendance was pretty good.

Sunday was great, Simon who was just baptized the previous week volunteered to teach Gospel Principles class and he did a great job, it seemed as if he has been a member since he was born.
Sunday afternoon we biked to Naitiri and then went to a dinner appointment with Elder Moline and Elder Odundo which was super sweet then flew back to their flat in the dark on our bikes on dirt paths. We all have a good time together.

Overall this week we received 5 referrals and had 7 new investigators which was super sweet. We have been asked as a district to have at least 10 contacts a day- just talking more with everyone we see so we'll see how that goes.

Somehow I was able to figure out that sometime Oct/Nov we will be moving from the worst flat in the mission to the best...a realllly big house. We aren't supposed to know but when we were in Nairobi I got the inside scoop. Really looking forward to that and I hope I am still in the are when the time comes to move.

It seems the heavy rains are slowing down...finally...like this past week it rained once really short so here comes the dust. And mango season is just about here which is sweet.

How is the food and climate? Pretty good and quite hot

You still staying skinny? Ha, growing

How long have you been gone?I feel like you should be coming home soon!  Haha yeah I've been gone a few weeks or so

There have been some problems in the branch due to various members- It has been a little tough to strengthen the branch when there are different problems affecting the branch but a  miracle has been how the work continues to increase for us rather than slowing down. The Lord is really hastening His work and nobody can stop it. 

Love you all have a great weeeeek, Let er buck.
Elder Eveson

Much love from the KNM

Week 47: The Power to Connect and the Power to Serve - Electricity & the Priesthood . . . Grateful for both!

Well I hope the beach/boating/whatever ya'll did for Labor Day Weekend was fun and looks like everyone will be getting back into the school routine soon.

Yesterday there was no power so once we got to Kitale there wasn't much to do. Kenya Power company shuts power off every now and then just because. So me, my companion Elder Kisekka, Elder Moline and his companion Elder Odundo all went to a super nice restaurant and all had a cheeseburger with fries then we got 1KG of top sirloin steak with mashed potatoes and split it between us 4. Wow it was super nice, somewhat like the food from home but not quite.

Anyways today the power has been on and off so just a few things- 

We had a super nice youth activity that me and my companion hosted because it was last minute and none of the leaders planned to when we got there we found out it was all up to us. Went really well. It was sweet because we had it on Saturday and now this week all the youth are headed back to their boarding schools to finish the last term of the year and will be back in November.  

Friday we had a sweet PEC meeting and all of them committed to bring a number of people to church and introduce to us in the month of September so we will see how that goes. The member missionary work is awesome in the branch.

Sunday I was asked to confirm the Priesthood again to a recent convert who is 12 years old. It is really neat that now to pass the sacrament the young men do it because there is enough of them compared to when I got to the area it was just the adults with a Priest who is preparing for mission because there was nobody else.

Today we had a superrr powerful breakfast with the senior couple Elder and Sister Flake and the 1st counselor in the district presidency- President Barasa then District meeting now we are at the cyber for a bit then heading back to our areas.

We have a part member family and the son who is the only nonmember will be baptized this Saturday which has been super cool from him not wanting to meet with us when I came to the area to now him about to step into the waters is really neat. The Lord really does prepare people in His own due time.

Just so everyone knows, with Christmas being 3ish months away- the best things to get in packages (by the way, bubble mailer envelopes are way cheaper to send than packages, about the same price as a pringles can) are ties, Old Spice Fiji deodorant, USB flash drives, and lemonade mix..in that order haha.

By the way- the 3 packages that were sent to me I was notified that the mission office now has them and I will get them at my next interview with President Hicken in a few weeks.

Due to the power issues, I could not reply to emails again this week.  I read them all.  Thank you Very Much for sending them.  I will reply as soon as I can.  

Also next week I might try to send some pictures to ya'll but we'll see.

Have a faaaaaaantastic week

Love Elder Eveson

Much love from the KNM