Mount Elgon

Habari!

What a day! Well, I am here in Mbale with our whole zone. We rode up last night and got up early this morning and went on a sweet hike!! Such a cool view! It was fun getting to see Elder Haines and Elder Long again (in the MTC together). Before we came one of the Recent Converts asked us to get a bunch of Matookie for her and they are cheaper at the top of the mountain... so we had to carry it down, and I will tell you what, they were not light. I even did it African style most of the way on my head. It probably weighs like 40 pounds maybe. It was not easy, but a really cool story.

The rest of the week was really nice! We have been super busy. We have so many people to teach right now it is hard to make appointments with them. But they are all progressing very well. Nora, Rona, and Thomas are still preparing for next week to be baptized so I hope everything will work out with that. George was able to come to church this week!! He is super powerful. He just accepts what we are teaching as truth. As we teach from the scriptures he said, "i have been reading the Bible for over 40 years (he is 68) and I have never understood it like the way you have explained." But he is humble enough to accept it. Super awesome!

Well, I love you guys. Hope all is well at home!

Love, Elder Hawk


You know you were supposed to be an African when you can carry a whole bunch of Matookie bananas on your head.

 cool lantern

 Me and JJ

  mountain/waterfall

 Meditating on top of the mountain

 Mbale Zone

 MTC Brothers

 Me and Elder Mufurati

Pure African

Success.

Habari!

Well, another week has flown by. I can't believe I have been here for three weeks already. Life is swell here in Busia. The work is moving along super nice.

Monica and her family are doing well. Her and one of her daughters weren't able to make it to church this week because they were sick, but the rest of them came! They are progressing very nicely. They have a baptism date for the 4th of September. But we might push it back by a week, just to make sure they are ready. Thomas has a baptismal date for the same day. I am not sure if I have talked about him much, but he is Baba Wafula's son. He is actually a Muslim, but he is ready to join the rest of his family in the church. He has come to church for like 4 weeks now. Really excited for him. We also have Rona and Nora. They also have a baptismal date for the 4th. They have been coming to church as well. Like I said things are going really well here. I can truly see the Lord's hand in this work.

Not much else happened. Just a basic week. We made doughnuts today! That was nice. Well, I love you all! Keep on smiling!

Love, Elder Hawk


You know you've been in Africa for awhile when you can cut an African's hair well.

 Giant Pancake

 Exchanges

 Dinner appointment

 Doughnuts!

"I was lead by the spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do."

Habari!

Well, this week flew by! It was a good one. Some cool things that
happened this week. We were finding and we didn't have much time,
about an hour, until our next appointment. We were walking around,
found these two different ladies. First, we were walking and I felt
prompted to talk to this lady we were passing. So I greeted her and we
started talking. Well, tried to. She didn't speak very good English,
but she understood it pretty well. So she shows us her house and gets
out that she has already attended the church twice awhile back. So we
get a return appointment and go back the next day with a member,
because she only stays with her daughters. It was a great lesson and
they all came to church! Super awesome! Then, that same finding
session we were walking and all of a sudden, my comp says that we
should go talk to an old man we had just passed. I actually didn't
even see him, but we go and we have a wonderful lesson with George. He
is a journalist and he stays with his two young grand children. Super
humble guy that is totally prepared for the gospel. He was not able to
make it to church this Sunday, but says he will come this next week. I
hope so. I know that the spirit led us to these people. I am thankful
for the Lords guiding hand in this work, and know that this work in
impossible without it.

Today we went to a place near by called Majanji beach! It was pretty
cool! Not much besides a really cool view. It was fun to go and see it
though. It is the shore of Lake Victoria. It was really nice. Not much
else for this week! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Hawk


You know you're in Africa when you use a mop to hold a switch in place
for hot water.

You also know you're in Africa when you think the crappy computer you
are emailing on ate all your pictures and it takes you 20 minutes to
recover them.

 Service

  I thought I was in Uganda?

 My best bud JJ

 On the shore of Lake Victoria

 Busia District

Busia!

Habari!

What a awesome week. I love Busia!! The branch is awesome and the people are very friendly. I am actually learning Swahilli pretty fast. I mean, I am not trying to be fluent, but I know quite a bit already. And My new companion, Elder Mufurati from Zimbabwe, is the man!

Let me tell you a little bit about my area. We are literally opn the border of Kenya. I have seen customs. It is actually pretty cool to think about that. It makes me think about how weird it is that I am in Africa again.. haha. But the area is doing really well. It reminds me a lot of my first area in Gulu. It is the bush. It has rained everyday that I have been here so far. It is time for the second rain. People are really happy because they just planted again, but it can make missionary work a little challenging sometimes. Something that is new is pilau. Pilau is like flavored brown rice, with veggies and beef cooked in. It is sooo good! Also some good news is that this transfer we have a truck and we got a washing machine! Right in time for me to get here!

Two words: Wafula Family... The coolest family in Uganda!! I love them so much already. Baba (father) Wafula is super funny! He knows english, but not super well. He just walks up and shakes your had for a long time (which everyone does in Uganda) and speaks Swahilli and you just say, "Sowa sowa" Which means good. Haha so cool. His family have been mambers for a long time. His last born is JJ who is probably the cutest kid ever.

One interesting person we are teaching right now is actually a mazungo (white person) named Alex. He grew up in Kenya and has lived in Uganda for a long time. He is a very interesting guy. He is stuggling to accept a baptisimal date right now, but we hope we can turn that around.

Well, not much else to report. Thanks for all the support and love! I love you all!

Love, Elder Hawk


You know you're in Africa when your phone says "welcome to Kenya".

, , , .

 My new house

 The second rain

 The church

My new companion Elder Mufurati

 Busia District:  Elders Mufurati, Hawk, Khoriyo, and Foster.

The Bush Hopper...

Jebale, or I guess I should now say Habari!

Yes, I am getting transferred to a place called Busia. It is right on the border of Kenya, so most people speak Swahili. And as you can tell by the subject it is the bush.. But I am proud to be a bush hopper. haha

Well Herbert got baptized! It was such an awesome day. He really was so prepared. This also comes with a crazy/cool story: Saturday, we go with the Zone Leaders to do the baptismal interview. He is 17 so he has to get his parents permission, and we talked to him about telling his parents before and he said that his dad was hesitant, but was going to let him do it. When we get there his dad is there. We were actually teaching him before Herbert, but he got really busy, so we switched our focus. So I greet him and ask of he is going to come to the service on Sunday to see his son be baptized. He responded, "No, we are Catholic, our parents we're Catholic and we are not going to change." Huge Surprise. So we ask if we can talk about it. We go inside and I ask him some questions, and then ask Herbert to tell him why he wants to be Baptized. He bare one of the most powerful Testimonies/conversion story I have heard. It was so awesome. His dad then agreed to let him go through with it. Such a cool experience. I hope that it made sense. I'm not a great writer..

I also got to teach Primary on Sunday! It was really fun to teach them about temples and to sing all the fun songs. The CD player went out so they asked me to lead singing time since I know the songs really well. It was so much fun to be with all these sweet little kids!

Well, I will have some very knew interesting things to tell you next week about my new area. I love you all and hope all is well at home. Make this week a good one.

Love, Elder Hawk


You know you're in Africa when you start speaking Swahili.

 Old School vs. New school

  Some sweet fog after it poured

  Little kids

Herbert's Baptism