Merry Christmas!

 Hey guys Merry Christmas!!!!

       Meree your coupon book was a perfect success! You openly embarrassed me in front of thirty muslims cause your cheesy humor which is sorely missed and you had me laughing really hard aloud at the computer screen. Salam leko! Ask Matthew what that one means i am sure he heard it in iraq. Well christmas is this week and sadly its still getting hotter. Its pretty bad when your sweat adds the needed salt to taste requirement for every meal as it drips, nay Flows of your face. I am loving every minute of it though. We are doing service on saturday and having the pot luck box car social shin dig get together type deal. During which i will be calling to set up the best time for tomorrow to call. Have your phones close. Its still funny to think that i have to call you at like midnight here to talk to yo guys. 

      To answer your Q about packages, the Scotts travelled to Nairobi and headed back tomorrow so i hope i will get a few before christmas arrives. I do have some pretty awesome tan lines though. I have a nice pasty white band around my wrist from the watch and i have giving an entirely new meaning to the the term "Red Neck." And Meree seriously for how much you eat you should be obese but thats a gift from Mungo(god) so live it up! Yes its still mango season and please please please send me the recipe for the mango sticky rice. It doesnt need baked right!? I cant really tell if i have an accent, but i have been told i do. You really get an accent when you serve in the bush rather than the city. As far as sending something for the kids its really hard to give them anything cause everytime they see you after that they expect more. We are asked not to give money or items. Its sad but it makes sense. We need to teach these people to fish rather than just giving them one. Oh and you are more than welcome to invite Amnodes for christmas. I already invited her, haha but i bet she will be with her fam. Pres. B is really chill about calling on christmas so i will have tons of time to talk so have those phones charged, Meree!!! Is that a shida(problem)? Well i love you guys so much and miss all the laughs and family time especially during this time of year. I will talk to you saturday so dont forget. I love all of you and hope everyone is doing good. I pray everyday for you guys to be safe and have success so i hope my prays are being answered. Well take care, Talk to you soon!

-Elder Haynes

P.S. Oh so your, well i guess our bishop now, sent me a hefty email. Seriously that guys is amazing. It seems like this is the ward you guys have always dreamed about. I hope it treating you well and if you see him let him know i really appreciate it and will reply soon.

I Got An Air Conditioning Unit PTL!

Hey Hadley/Haynes,
    Haha how are you doing? I was informed i have received three packages in Nairobi. Thank you so much, i didnt need all that, Nevertheless not my will but thine be done! hahaha Hey i am excited for christmas even though its just like any other day here. Sadly though i wish it was just cold for a day at least so i could drink some cocoa and actually enjoy it. We drink it all the time infact, everyone here drinks it even in the heat of day and it just makes you sweat more. So today our branch is having our christmas party!!! Haha its nothing like home. So peparing food is for that many people is hard enough, let alone cooking everything with charcoal. Sister Mwambere is the relief society press and i cooked dinner for their family yesterday so they could get a break. Man these people work hard. They were so impressed with my skills. Its no big deal! ha But we also have been up since 5 this morning helping them prepare for this thing. We bought two goats and slaughtered them for the meat. Wow that was an experience. Haha Only in Kenya. We are headed back soon for the food. 
      So we are doing really good. We have six baptisms on Jan 1. Two of them are newely weds and have a baby girl. Woot woot! My first family! They got so excited when i told them the date for their baptism. They said, "We will start the year fresh!" haha Man i love it here. I have just found love and have kinda just said you know my comp isnt gonna change my out look on my mission. Just cause he is having a bad time on mission doesnt mean i have to. Sure we are connected at the hip, and i have learned that if i can get along with this guy i can get along with anyone. Man things are really good right now. I have learned so much. My eyes have really been opened the sort time i have been out. I had to realize every mission is so different and you need to adapt to culture and different situations. "When in Rome" haha. 
      So I have been slacking in the picture department, but hopefully today with the ward party and I think we are going to another animal park so that will help me get some more. My comp is struggling a bit with homesickness but i think as time goes on it will get better for him. Also President B just gave us the greatest reward for our hard work. We have seen the fruits of our labors! We just got a sing Air Con AC unit in our flat. Oh my goodness i forgot how amazing that cold air is. Well Everything else going well.
Family I Love and hope all is going well. So i am sorry if you dont get the stuff i sent for a long long time cause the posta here is on strike. But it will come.. haha
-Love Elder Haynes

Ps So is Tish engaged or what? She hasnt emailed me back!

Christmas Is Coming!

Hey Fam,
   Its been an interesting week. We are still doing very well. I am very excited for christmas. We are doing a big service project and having a little shin dig at the Scotts. Man i love them. But our area is improving. There is a lot of work right now its just getting the comp motivated to take the bull by the horns. The Lord is teaching me a lot lately and really wants me to learn wisdom in my youth! haha i have learned patience way beyond i thought possible. Its true that you change on mission. You really develop character. The investigators are doing good. The work is really going to die down these next few weeks cause everyone here travels for christmas. We are already seeing people leaving and they wont be back till jan. Like sacrament numbers are really down and our investigators are way up country. I guess we will just be finding more and hope they are not just visiting for the holidays. 
     How is everything going? Sounds like the ward party was a real party. How is the fam getting along? As you probably saw last week we went to a croc farm and a place call for jesus. Man the Scotts really know how to have fun. We held snakes baby crocs it was so much fun. Well there isnt much else to report. I am sorry my emails have been short but we are very limited on time these days so please forgive me as it will get better in the future. Please tell everyone i am trying to write back but it might take a few weeks. I love you all and will continue to pray for all of you.
-Elder Haynes

Short & Sweet

Dear Fam,
   Sorry about the laptop. You know that thing was way over due. No worries on the letter. I know you guys are busy. Have you been using my laptop. I hope so or its just going to waste. Its good to hear you are all so successful and growing spiritually! You are all such great example to me! I am so excited for christmas and am so grateful for all the packages that are headed this side. I am so spoiled! Sorry i dont have much time today but i wrote the excitement of ths week in matts letter (See the Previous Post) . I love you all and am so grateful for all you do and keeping me out here. I love you so much.
Elder Haynes


P.S. Here are some P-Day pictures in Old Town Mombasa with a few of us Elders and the Scott's.

The Lord With Us

Matt & Fam, 
   Thanks for writing. I can always depend on your letters for a good laugh. Man reading about Loa really just made me home sick but now im good. As for my first week with him, We committed two familys to baptism and had 11 investigators this week at church. I will say though he is not the missionary i thought he was. He is probably the most feminine man i have every met. Its rather uncomfortable at times. We dont really have anything in common but a desire to work and thats all that matters. I am so happy every day here. I wake up with a smile knowing i will get to have an awesome experience with someone. We have met many new people this week. We really had to get a whole new teaching pool since Balyejusa left. It seems like the ones we contacted are all golden. If you get someone to come to church off of a contact on the street that is pretty good and we had three. So remember me telling you about the Wilson guy a while back. He is very religious and Protestant. This guys finished the book of mormon in like two weeks and didnt just read it he performed an otopsi and completely analyzed every inch of that thing. We met and discussed for an hour the jaredites and the 12 tribes and it was deep stuff and we proved the book of mormon through the bible then the bible through the book of mormon. He says it makes perfect sense but he cant go off his feelings as an answer. Mind you we have been praying for this guys night and day. We committed him again to pray and really open up for the answer. This guy hasnt been to church yet because he has responsibilities at his church but just decided to show up the next day at sacrament meeting. When he entered the chapel right after the opening hymn i saw him i felt the spirit so strong. He saw me and waved and quickly sat down at the very back. He stayed for sacrament, but right when after the closing pray he bolted. I dont think i have ever seen someone get out of there so fast. So late that night i received a text from him. It said, "The Lord has shown me the way. I know its true with all my heart. I love you and God bless" Talk about the coolest experience ever. So the next day i had to see him. So we get to his house and he and his wife were discussing how he was gonna have to start his own business cause the church he goes to invested in his business. This guy is giving up everything for the lord. Talk about amazing. He says once he leaves his church and figures how to get money for his new business he wants to be baptized. I know that the church is true with all my heart. And that the Lord is doing this work we are just his instruments. It seems every time i feel down the Lord proves he is with me every step of the way. I will keep you updated on this guy. I am out of time so i got to go. sorry i didnt say much i just had to share that with you. Thanks for all you do and matt i am so so happy so are so busy with work. I know the Lord is blessing you guys so much for your sacrifices. Thanks for all you do and the great example you are to me. 
-Elder Haynes

Transfers! Thank The Lord!

Hello family!!!
    I have some amazing news. My comp has gone home!!! Whoot whoot!!! I have been comps with Elder Kunz for the past week and will still be until this friday until my new comp gets here. His name is Elder Mbezema. He is from Zimbabwe and he is a stud. He has been out about six months and has the fire. I have heard he is the funniest kid around. I am so excited. It has been a blessing being with elder kunz. He is our district leader and is a great example. We get along so good and have had so much fun, and have worked hard! I had no idea mission could be this fun. I hope it continues. We have got all the dead weights moving out of the zone and have some really good ones coming in on monday. So i am not trying to harp on my last comp but while he was here we have never had more than four investigators at church. Yesterday we had 12. Thats right! Man i felt the spirit strong. The Lord just showered blessings down from heaven. It the happiest i have been in a long time. Anyway not much else to report. I know you guys are busy, but i hope all is well. I havent had a chance yet but i want to send you a few things for christmas and another SD card. Hey if you could, could you send that sd card back after you have made a cd, with the pictures still on it. There are a lot of africans who dont have cameras and want me to send them pictures from the mtc. Thanks for all you do. Happy thanksgiving!!!! I love you guys. Take care.
Elder Haynes

I've Been Craving Something Sweet

  I am so sick of Bronzen!!! That kid is the luckiest little... well he's lucky! (Bronzen won yet another gun at the youth Coyote Hunt this year and I have never won anything!). Sorry just had to get that out there. But yeah dont worry about sending things. They will get here. Its not as bad as i thought. As for wrapping i would love you to. Usually they will unwrap a couple of things and get lazy and just charge you a base price. Elders receive every package. Sometimes it takes a long time but it gets here. But i would appreciate a couple sticks of old spice please. That other stuff i bought wasnt meant for Africa! haha But no we dont go to the mission home for christmas. We are so spread out it would cost so much for transport. Sometimes i forget how big this mission is. Two countries is rather large! We are however having a little potluck box car social type deal at the Scotts! hahaha It should be really fun. One cause we will have all these dead weight guys out of the zone and two its with the Scotts. All these guys ask why i like them so much. They are like grandparents its awesome. Also if its with the Scotts it means dang good food! So i have been dying lately for something sweet. I got some recipes that can be made on stove top. Did you know you could make peach cobbler on on the stove top. Who knew! So i will try it this week. I have made rice pudding a few times which is nice and it makes me think of Mark and Sheila! Meree and Matt it is good alright! I think that is what i will take to the christmas dinner. But yeah this week has been really good. I got to go on exchanges with the district leader on wednesday then the zone leader on friday. Wow its a real change to work with people that want to work. My new comp better be ready to tear it up. It was also nice just to have a break from my comp. But PTL he is going home in two days. Meaning i will be bouncing around the zone with different companionships  until my new comp gets here next week some time. Just now that i am not going to be in my area for a few days it has really turned around. We are teaching a lot of new people who actually want to learn. Its turned from one golden day a week to two or three and its looking up. I think the Lord just didnt want me to receive a witness until the trial of my faith. But things are really looking up! The purpose of the exchanges  was to see if this new training program is taking root and being applied in my teaching. It was a big confidence builder to hear what they had to say after the exchange. The whole purpose of this new program is for the one being trained after the program is completed can directly train. Kind of a scary thought, but we will see what happens. I am so happy to read your letters and hear you guys are being blessed. You deserve it. I am so thankful for you and constantly think about how bogus i was at times. You guys have do so much for not only me but bronzen especially. I am sorry if there is anything i have done to offend you or anyone else in the whole family for that matter. I have seen what i want out of my mission and what i want to become.  And Bronzen wouldnt be where he is without you and i love and thank you and  the Lord constantly for that. I love you guys and hope all is well. Please remember to bring a scale for thanksgiving to weigh in before and after and send me the stats. Its now tradition. Tell everyone i love and appreciate them and all they do for me! 
-Love Elder Sephers

It's Not A Dress!

Well hello st. geezy Ut.
How i everything? Halloween sounded fun. We got ice cream so that was cool. haha but yeah zone conference was awesome. President B and I are so tight. Seriously i dont think i have ever loved and looked up to a leader before as much as this man. And Mama B is so awesome to. They are always so caring and concerned. They are building zion here in Kenya. The dress you saw in those pictures is actually very manly here and its not a dress its a Kanga. They are very comfortable and fashionable, so why dont you try opening up that mind of yours. haha But yeah it was a blast. The trainings were so good and i felt the spirit so strong. Disobedience is really big in the mission right now cause there are so many old missionaries that are just dead, including my companion. You would think that guys could go two years without facebook but its the biggest problem on the mission. You know its bad when the district leader and zone leader are on exchanges and watch the movie shooter on their dvd player that is supposed to be for training purposes. It really makes me mad. But luckily so many missionaries are going home soon including my comp. Wahooo!!!! Two weeks. Man im excited. I have never met someone who is more bugged by me than a dying missionary. 
      The work is moving. I was really getting down on myself earlier in the week. Its hard to see when you are being as obedient as you can and you arent seeing the fruits of your labors and a bogus companionship is getting referals and baptisms right and left. I know your not supposed to compare but its really hard. I just remember Utchdorfs talk about those guys in the airforce running faster than him and he didnt smoke or drink a day in his life and they did all the time. I just need to be humble and rely on the lord. I am learning early on in mission. I remember Holland saying that every elder is called on a mission for a different reason. Some are baptizing missionaries, some are there to help their comps, some are there to just love the people and strengthen the ward. I have read my patriarchal blessing like 5 times this week and looking for my true spot to shine. I think that this next transfer will be so different and the Lord will really open my eyes.
     So yeah i got to see a few guys from my group. Elder Pocock who is seriously now like my closest friend is serving in kilili. No power, no water, and no beds. They are as bush as bush can get. He loves it and the stories he told me were so flipping awesome. He is so positive about everything and is a great example to a lot of missionaries. I want so bad for that to be my next area. I want to serve in the bush. He sees animals right and left. I just am really excited to serve around someone who shares my same interests and likes to laugh and joke and even talk to me for that matter. You know your comp is bad when he is treating investigators like they are idiots.
     But yeah i have really lost my appetite and its showing. I am down 15lbs now. It is getting so much hotter everyday and the summer hasn't even hit yet. You wake up to a sweaty pillow and sweat all day. I dont want you to worry about me going to the doctor just know i am good now and it has nothing to do with my feet. So there is more and more fruit on the street. Oh thats one thing i havent told you yet. It is like a constant flea market wherever you go. Its kinda awesome. Orange country flea market is lousy compared to what you can find  on the street here. I am actually looking at buying a cheap blender so i can make some fruit smoothies in the morning but we will see. 
     Our investigators are doing well. All except bro Samwell. Last week he lost his job and someone broke into his house and stole everything he owns. Satan knows how powerful this guy  will be if he gets baptized so he is really working hard on him. He was at church the other day and asked me for a blessing. I was really humbled by this and panicked and just butchered the blessing. I hope the lord still accepts it cause this guy really needs help. Other than that people are doing good. Over 50% are muslim so its hard finding new people to teach. The ones we do contact are bible savy and wont listen. It was nice to fast yesterday and i hope the lord will grant us success. Pray for me please. I love you guys so much and see the result of a loving family in my life daily. 
-Love Elder Haynes 

Sweat, Sweat, & More Sweat!

    Man it is so good to hear Matt is staying busy with work. Man i was just a curse! No i think that the Lord was testing you guys saying if you get seth out on a mission then the blessings will come! It makes me happy that you guys are finally getting what you have been praying for, for so long. Oh and happy Halloween i guess. haha not much of a holiday here. Im glad you are doing missionary work and the lord is providing opportunities for you to share what you know to be true. We havent gotten any info on a stop smoking thing which is something that could really come in handy with this investigator. if you come across the program let me know. So zone conference is this friday and i am really excited to see pres. That man should be an apostle. It will also be nice to see some guys from my mtc group. Two weeks till transfers!!! My comp goes home very soon which is a good thing for both of us!!! haha So i had an interesting week. I dont want you to worry but i had to go to the doctor last tuesday. But he got me the goods to get me better and im okay now. Last week was kinda slow on the working side which makes me kinda mad but i had to take it easy. Im good now though. One thing that has been really hard is kenya power co. is on strike so we havent had electricity in a while so yeah its hot. We only have a fan to keep cool when we are home and when that doesnt work we sweat sweat sweat. Showering by candle light is quite an experience as well. haha all our food in the fridge went bad to. Luckily its back on now. Aunt Teresa has written me a couple of time though. Please tell bronzen too send me all the pictures his heart desires. I love seeing whats going on back there. Tell porter if he prays really hard he will get a new bracelet for christmas. hopefully i can find one his size. 

     So sundays seem like the fruits of our labors for the week. If we were successful they will attend church. Last week we had 7 commit to come and even call sunday morning to make sure and only one showed up. I am really down in the dumps on sundays. I feel like we arent getting through to some people. The lord does things in his own time i know but man it would be nice if it could be a little faster. So for our progressing investigators we have Nicholas, Samwell, Leonard, Jackson, Caroline, Henry, Lukas, Wilson, John. They will be baptized i promise you that, it will just take time. We had a investigator last week say they felt in their heart it was true but they cant go off their feelings as their answer! Are you joking what else do you need. I am learning a lot of patience out here. Hopefully our baptisms for the 19th of november will go through, but if they dont attend church consistently we have to push it again. Each person we teach though is so awesome and they read the bom everyday. I just know what elder holland said about the book of mormon and converting yourself. so i hope this will take affect  with these people. We are doing good things are moving. Tell matt no bells palsy. And yes i will be able to watch a home video if you send it. Have you seen my ipod or video camera by chance? I really never thought the cards would take the series this year. Im not even mad though, thats impressive good for them. Have you guys got a chance to talk with the scotts? How is sheila doing? Tell her i would love to hear from her. If each of you could have something from africa what would it be?

-love elder haynes

Mango Season and I 'm Lovin' It

  So thanks for continuing to write me! I know how busy you guys are with school and work and everything in betwixt. Its been a good week. We have been teaching a guy referred to us by a muzungu from Sandy, Ut. She is here teaching school and has been sharing the gospel with her security guard. He is very knowledgeable of the bible and received a book of mormon in 1999. So we have taught him the first two lessons and he just understands! He has come to church twice and we got to watch conference in sacrament meeting this week and he loved the talks. He is a diligent scripture reader and the other day and had a question. We forgot to answer it in our lesson so he decided "well i have the same scriptures they do, why dont i see if i can find the answer." so yeah he found like ten scriptures in the book of mormon that answered his question. Yeah he was teaching us. So he accepted the baptismal challenge but said there is one problem, he is a chain smoker. So we are praying our buts off that he will have the spirit enough to stop this addictive habit. He said if i can kick the habit i will be baptized the Lord God has never given me reason to Doubt. Pretty powerful. The Maasai missed church again after our joy was full when he came last week. You have read of our spiritual lessons but people arent following through with what they have come to know. I think we need to continue to plead with the Lord and teach the law of sacrifice. They are doing everything else but coming to church. They are reading more than we ask of them they know its true but they wont come to church!!!!! Please if you have any advice or suggestions i am in need. They know what they must do and they can. The smoker in ukunda (Samwell) which is a 45 minute drive comes without fail. but someone just a 20 minute walk doesnt show. So we have three investigators with baptisms on Nov 19th but if they are missing church we have to push the dates back again. Another thing we have been really working on is strengthening  the branch. Gordan B Hinkley said new converts need three things to be retained in the chruch, A calling, Friends they can go to with Q's, and to be nourished by the good word. We have visited many inactives and they love the missionaries, but they say what we teach and what goes on at the church are two very different things. This is heart breaking. We pray man we pray for the work here. It is very tough when everyone in the branch is a convert. We are holding a missionary fireside in the next few weeks that hopefully help people to see the importance of fellow-shipping. Its kinda point less to keep baptizing unless the branch can retain who we bring in. So thats kinda where we are at. The investigators we have are learning so much and teach me, but the church factor is holding them from true progression. Russel M. Neilson is coming this week to Nairobi to do a leadership training so hopefully our branch pres will be ready to kick butt. Oh did i mention... its MANGO season!!! Oh man 5 mangos for a dollar, you cant beat that with a stick. Oh so we have a member family who feeds us every sunday night and heard i could bake. So they said "I have heard of this thing called cake that is so sweet( anything good they call sweet), could you make for us?" hahaha they are the coolest people ever. So yes i baked a chocolate cake. Our chapel has a oven, but not a cake pan. So i hope God will forgive me cause i actually baked it in one of the metal sacrament trays. Oh and it turned out good to. hahaha it was awesome i will have to send pictures of it. Their name is the Mwamberes and if every family was like theres the chruch would be zion! Man i love it here! There is a lot of work to do but the Lord is doing it in time. 
      Oh so we found a B-ball court!!! Oh it was so nice to play soccer. Man these Africans can school you in soccer but b-ball they look like special. Hahaha you should see them dribble. Im glad you guys talked in church. I best that was a good experience. And oh man you better send me pictures of Owen if he is going to be Gpa mendal for halloween, gap and all. But yeah we dont celebrate anything here besides their independence and christmas. Its pretty sad so i hope us elders can be creative and do something fun! My favorite discussion is Lesson 1 the restoration. It just makes sense to these bible readers. They understand that there are so many churches teaching form the same book but they are all so different. I love the first vision cause the spirit is so strong when you recite in joe smiths own words. I am not getting sick of beans surprisingly. I actually crave them every meal. I am losing weight on this diet though. I have lost ten pounds now since i've been here.(i bought a scale) Tell porter i like both black and white people the same. Did i tell you i met a little boy named obama the other day. hahaha these people mock the US cause they say a kenyan is ruling our country. They all say he was born here. Kisumu actually. Keaton and jordan are doing well we write just about every week. Keaton hasnt had much success yet in his area but he is loving it. Jordan just got transferred to the hardest area in the mish so we will see how that goes. I do not have an oven but there is one at our chapel a few miles away. we have a fridge a toaster and a two burner cook top. I actually havent worn my suit yet. It is so hot and humid your not required to. Plus if you did wear it you would have to get it dry cleaned every week for how much we sweat. You wear it in nairobi though. I havent seen the callahans again since the mtc. i hear they are coming to our mission soon though. Well i love you guys and im doing well. Everyone is really writing me well. I actually am having a really hard time replying to all of them. Welp pray for me!
-Elder Haynes

I Got My First Packages!!!

Well PTL(praise the Lord) you wrote. haha well it felt like you wrote anyway with that package. It is so glad to hear work is picking up for matt and is actually steady! Thanks for everything in the package! Thank the Johnsons times a million! A huge bag of FROOTIES and Charelston chews which are in the freezer of course. :) They also sent me another sd card. I think this was a hint to take more snaps. The blog is looking good. My comp says thanks for the letter and i thank you to. I think it has humbled him a bit and things are slowly going better. He only has 5 more weeks on mission so i will kill him this transfer. We got two new elders in the area. Elder Kunz from sandy and Elder harper from blackfoot idaho. Its nice to have some whiteys around that i can really relate to. It seems that the only africans that i really like are the zimbabweans. They are so fun and love to laugh and joke. 

     It has been raining here all week long! The thing about africa is there are no civil engineering even in the city so when it rains it floods. There are seriously lakes in the slum that we work in. my feet havent been dry for awhile. 

     So like i said in our previous letter we are struggling getting peeps to church. We are working really hard on this guy named John. He is probably my favorite guy we teach. He is from the maasia trib. The lions run away when they see these guys. So they are a pretty  intense people. They are the ones that drink blood. Do we have to include blood in the Word of Wisdom? haha but yeah he tells us some insane stories. Like how they become men when they turn 18. Their ceremony is circumcision. Did i mention he was 18 when this happen? They cant show any emotion during the procedure or they wont pass and forget about finding a wife. Wow i am glad i am not a maasia. So anyway he has promised every week for a month that he will come. Man i dont think i have ever prayed for someone that hard. So this sunday we are just finishing the sacrament and i was so bugged that he wasnt there. Then, wait for it..... He was in the foyier( bear with me its french) he comes in and i was so excited I said way loud John my friend and stood up. I forgot i was in sacrament meeting. haha like five people glared and shushed me but whatev my buddy came to church! The Lord works in his time frame. 

      So i was reading in Alma 26 this week and it has set the tone for everything. ammon said i do not boast in myself for i am nothing, but i do boast in my god for in him i can do all things. Wow! talk about powerful. I will brag of my god all day long!

      Please thank aunt billie for me! I got some Halloween cards this week. It was really nice to hear from them. 

      Thank you all Family for the support. I would not be here if it werent for you!

but yeah me and my comp are getting along better. I just had to tulia bwana (relax a bit). i know that missionaries wont be obedient all the time and i just need to work with it. I have learned that it is better to do a little work and be getting along with your comp than be frustrated to the max and not get any done. 

      Oh so this week there was this drunk guy walking next to me in town and he just all the sudden sees fit to take a pee right then and there. Freak he almost peed on me. He just whipped out his nini (.....) and went. T.I.K. but yes i have compiled a list of things that would be nice to have in the next few packages or for christmas cause a lot of family has been asking.

-Deoderant

-listerine

-Mac and cheese

-Manguich sloppy joe

-Hamburger helper (dont be hatin, these were gourmet for me growing up)

-music (enya, tab choir ect.)

-Taco seasoning

-conference on cd

-zapzit( humidity is the devil)

-Montreal chicken and steak seasoning

-Stubbs marinade(christmas dinner)

-Pennut butter

-Small back pack. (one of those smaller ones thats just big enough for scriptures and pamphlets)

-Dr. Scholls inserts 

-multi-vitamins 

-Frooties

-Phase 10 (and any other good game you can think of)

-Oil vile that hooks on belt

-White cheddar cheezits!!! ( manna )

-American easy cheese

-My ipod full of good stuff w/ cord

-Jalapeno chips

-Mnt Dew (special occasions) 

-Panda express ( oh i wish)

-Facewash

-Bright colored ties are always appresh!

-2 white shirts

-seed to plant. (squash) you can grow anything here!!!

So i have herd flat rate boxes are the best to use cause you can pack them so tight. It only costed me 150 shillings to get your last package but there wasnt much of value. Every package is different depending on contents.

Now to answer some Q's

The scotts came out in april so 18 months from there. This is actaully their third time to Kenya. Two missions and one humanitarian thing.

The protestant guy we are teaching says he just cant go off his feelings as enough proof to get him to join. We continue to teach him though and plead with the lord to soften his heart.

Letters are hit and miss. Amy has sent me a few letters since i have been out and i just got one last week that was sent in Aug.

I have seen like 4 kinds of monkey. They are just walking around. haha its so crazy. I have seen elephant, giraffe, zebra, camel, lizards, buffalo,  goats, chickens and one ass. hahaha

We have had two baptisms. Three have dates and we are challenging a few more this week.

I have eatin lots of fruit. Pineapple, popo(papaya), coconut, oranges(that are actually green here) but in december starts Mango season. I am so stoked! They say they are the size of cantaloupe. 

Well i love you all it so good to hear you are doing well and that your getting to have some fun as well. Keep on Keepin!

Oh so some thing to tell matt and quinn, its true the water drains the opposite way below the equator, "It actually freaks you out the first time you see it" hahaha

love elder Haynes

The Scotts

Dear Parents of Elder Haynes,

    We are Elder & Sister Scott & serve in Mombasa Kenya as the Senior Couple.   We just wanted you to know what a great job your son
is doing here.  He is a delight to have in Mombasa Zone.  He is a very hard worker & the people love him because of his spirit.

  We had a common thread to begin with as we had heard of his coming here from Sheila Hadley.   The Hadley family are neighbors & life long friends of ours.  So we were so happy to have him come to Mombasa as his first area.

  Today he is traveling to Nairobi for fingerprints as we all have to do for the Immigration/Visa requirements, but he will be back on Saturday.  We sent him with the Employment Couple who had been staying with us for a few days.  They were heading back to Nairobi
today & Elder Haynes traveled with them & will ride the bus back on Saturday.

  You must be a great family as your son is a great person & is doing a wonderful job serving his Father in Heaven.  Thank you for your
sacrifice in trusting the Lord & allowing him to come to Africa.  The people teach us so much about gratitude & life itself that we all will
never be the same.  Hope to meet you all in person in the coming years.

  We are sending a picture of Elder Haynes before he ate the Chapati.  The Mwebere Family have the missionaries over for dinner
every Sunday.  We happened to be invited last Sunday, so we took this picture.  Thanks again for raising such a good son.
Love, The Scott's  Elder Clair & Sister Verlene Scott

I Had KFC, Bless the Lord!

I got the Package!!! Thank you for the letters and the little treats and the sd card and the 20 bones! I heard president broadbent had something else to give me but he wasnt around. So its been an interesting week. It was proof of how much the Lord loves me. My comp and i were really not getting along and we are just not working hard enough. So i have been praying really hard for patience to get along and build a relationship but i dont know if its gonna happen. The Lord is teaching me a great lesson early on of the importance of your companion and your love and relationship toward them. So this week i got a call on wednesday night and the APs said you need to be on the next bus to Nairobi. So with eagerness I packed my stuff. So the elders ride a bus called Coast Air which is a nice bus and its a nice ride. Just to show you how my comp really is he tried to book my ride on the POA bus line which is the worst experience in the world. No AC, no personal space, animals running around on the ground, and there are no shocks on this thing. It is the hottest, smelliest 9 hours of your life. He does this kinda stuff all the time. Anyway luckily we had a senior couple doing a career workshop in our branch and they were driving back like right when i got the call. So i got to ride with them. Their names are Elder and Sister Byrd. They are from blanding and the nicest people ever! They actually asked if i had been to KFC since i have been in Africa. I said Nay. They said okay we are taking you when we get to Nairobi! Bless the Byrds! But anyway the reason for the trip was i had to get finger printing done for my visa so i didnt get deported!!! haha scary, kinda. But it was really nice to get away from my comp for three days and have some fun in Nairobi. We actually played basketball! It was so fun! But yeah thats how i got the package cause i went to the mission home. Sadly when i got back on saturday i got some really bad news one of the new converts that we have been visiting has been reading anti mormon crap and says he is done with the church. We told him he is just drinking poison when he reads that crap. Man he was such a powerful guy to. I think the major problem is he is after money and really wants to start his own church and have them pay tithing but he gets it. Uh some people make me so mad. Anyway so i get back to our apartment and there is leftover food all over the counter tops. Like molding and there were bugs everywhere!!! It was such a drag. Thats my comp. "Im going home so i dont care." Sorry i know i shouldnt be negative but its really hard. I am so excited for a new comp and hope he has the fire. Luckily we are getting some new missionaries in mombasa this week. One is from sandy and the other is from arizona and a huge baseball fan i hear. So it will be nice to have some more white in the area. But we are doing good. We taught a lesson yesterday to a guy who met some missionaries in town and they referred him to us. He is a strong member of the Protestant church but doesnt like it anymore because he isnt protesting anything. Haha He is very knowledgeable guy and knows his bible. We taught him the first lesson and last week and gave him a book of mormon. This week we answered some questions and asked if he prayed about the things we taught him and the BOM. He says he did but he cant just go off his feelings. He says he needs evidence. The spirit just talked through me, there i said things that were so powerful but that i had no idea. I bore my testimony the strongest i ever have and he knows what he must to and feel if he truly wants to know. We read moroni 10 3-5 and i think it really hit him hard. I emphasized that by the power of the holy ghost HE WILL answer your question. Not maybe or possibly or kinda. He will. I think he was really taken back by that and really left with some stuff to ponder and digest. He is a powerful guy and would be such a strong member. Brother Wilson is his name and we hope he will progress. but thats really all i have to report this week i hope to hear from you guys next week and hope all is well I love you so much and pray for your success everyday!
Elder Haynes

Pinky Promise

           First off that cadbury chocolate slab was supposed to be for marilyn, but it good to share. Oh i have been informed that i got a package in Nairobi on wednesday. They should bring it with the new missionaries during transfers next week. Man the mail system is bogus. Thats a new word i have picked up thanks to the Kenyans. Im glad you got my package! So I felt so bad about not putting any candy in there that porter could eat. Tell him i owe him big time. Its good to here you all are doing well. Matt, Talk about jealous. Wings, Players, ball game. Uh and washed down with a coke i presume. My self i havent had a coke in two and a half weeks. I have called it quits.(for now). I promised Amy I would stop and i am a man of my word. Things are going okay... I really dont know how im gonna last another transfer with this guy. I dont get it i serve him like crazy just like the apostles say to do and he is still a stick in the mud. We really could be working so much harder. He has no sense of time and this is killing me. You all know i have to be early to everything. He will call and set up an appointment and say a time and no joke we will be 45 minutes late. The lord is really teaching me patience. 

          The guy who didnt get baptized, his name is Leonard. We arent supposed to ask family to pray or fast for our investigators but you asked me, so by all means. :) We wont give up on him. He has been taught everything we have for him. He attends church every single week. We are just focus on his book of mormon study. We study with him everytime we go hoping he will feel of the strength he gets from it hoping that will be what he needs to get him through a few months of school. He has a powerful testimony, but knows he is making a big decision so he is taking time. I respect this so much. He will be such a strong member when he joins cause we know its just a matter of time.

           We are teaching 4 new families that have been totally prepared by god. My favorite is a newly we couple Jackson and Caroline. Carolines friend who is a member introduced us on a saturday. We taught her the first lesson and didnt think much of it. The next day her and her husband who has now idea about us came to church. They now have attended church three times and love it. Jackson is a very poor man. We had a lesson this last sunday in the new converts class on talents. We read the parable of the talents in Mark and he loved it and loves how encouraging our church is. Can you say..... well lets say it together... GOLDEN!!! I have really high hopes for this family. I am so much happier teaching a family. 
          One thing that we are struggling with with the other investigators is getting  them to church. I never though i would feel so sad that i didnt see a face at church. Man i love these people so much, but i want to strangle them when they look me in the eye and tell me they will be there and they dont show. I understand its far and its a major sacrifice but i know what they will feel if they come they just gotta have that faith. I even have a new thing when i pinky promise with them. It doesnt work but its still fun to see their faces when my little pinky is protruding in their direction. Well I miss you guys, I love you much.

-Elder Haynes

Thanks For Everything

Its good to hear the ward is good! I want to hear about the shooting activity! It makes me wish we were in this ward sooner. The one week i went i laughed harder than i have in a long time in church. That elders Q is awesome. Matt congrats you finally got your side piece! Do you feel like more of a man now? now you just got to move to texas to get the full effect. Also matt PTL. I Really needed to laugh today! These people in the cyber shop prob think im crazy cause i am laughing out loud pretty hard! My comp has been real frustrating. Talk about trunky. He is just burned out. I am dragging him along.
         So to my surprise today i havent been paying much attention to my feet and it shows. I had some massive foot fungus that was eating away at my feet. it doesnt hurt and i would have never notice if i didnt look the other day. lets just say im missing some flesh. haha nothing a little anti fungal between the toes wont fix. its good now i just walk so much and my feet are so all the time so i didnt think anything of it. they are doing much better now though.
        I had a few good experiences this week, one was exchanges. It was nice to work with someone who has the fire. So there are thousands of matatus (van taxis) here and we were coming back from the other area and our van broke down. So we quickly had to change vans and of course my scripts get unclipped from my bag and the matatu is gone. I dont think i have ever prayed so much to find those things. Luckily i had my contact info on a pass along and i received a call two days later from a guy in changamwe. Area that i was serving in earlier in the week. He told me he tried to sell them but for once it was good that some one didnt want the book of mormon. haha As we finally got to him after a 30 minute drive the other elders tracted into him just after he called us and were waiting for us with that guy. Was it just by chance, I say nay! The lord loves me and is with us all the time. Also we had our two baptisms. We had three lined up but the right before one guy backed out. He was fearful..... Oh dang we have to go!!! I will finish the rest next week.

         so i got some more time to email. but the shift key is missing from this key board so sorry for not capitalizing anything. so yeah what i was saying is this guy was fearful because he was going away to college and it was going to be really hard for him to stay strong because there isnt a branch within a three hour drive. i respect him for really wanting the power to be a solid member. he knows its true. he is a very powerful kid he just knows with out the support system he might fall. we are continuing to teach him though in hopes that the lord will pour out his spirit upon him and give him that strength to stay strong.but the service was very powerful. the speaker just got off his mission and really put it into perspective for these men. it was very spiritual and was really awesome to see this member baptized them. he had never performed and ordnance before so it was really cool. so after the spiritual high we climb into a matatu headed back to our chapel and "aint nothing but a g thang'' by snoop dogg comes on. hahaha we have a saying as missionaries here in kenya. we say T.I.K., this is kenya.
         its good to hear that the phillies are doing so well. all you need is good pitching. please keep me up dated on sports, college football, baseball etc.
         sorry about the professor, he sounds like a genuine ronny.
         oh so its like totally normal for guys here to hold hands which is just not cool. they are just good friends and hold hands. so the other day this member was walking with us and pulled me out of the way of a piki piki (motor bike) and just kept holding my hand. Awful!!! after walking with his sweaty hand clinching mine the phone rang in my pocket. so luckily i said i had to answer and pulled my hand away. and then so he wouldnt try again i put my hands in my pockets. haha wierd.
        but im doing really well. today the scotts are taking us bowling which is so awesome. i really hope i bowl well.
        i have not received any mail at all. first of all it takes forever plus its sent to the mission home and they only bring it down maybe once a transfer if we are lucky. and im really worried about that package i sent you because the scotts said packages take about two weeks and i sent that on the 5th of sept. so i am really praying it gets to you. that sd card had sooooo many awesome pictures. i would email all the pictures but the computers we have access to are super slow and it takes 20 minutes to just up load one photo.
but i am doing well. i love you all so much. thanks for everything. matt and meree i honestly wouldnt be out here experiencing these wonderful things if it wasnt for all the things you taught. i dont think i would be on a mission if we hadnt come to live with you. so thank you so so much for helping me get to this point. i love you all so much and please thank everyone for me for all the help love and support.

Love Elder Haynes

This Is How We Roll

Hey Family,
      Wow you guys are busy! But think about it, the best memories we have had is when we are the busiest. Yeah just so you know it says this letter was sent an hour ago! haha so if i would have come earlier to email i would have missed it. I hate how long mail takes. It actually could take only two weeks but because i am in mombasa it is all sent to the mission home and brought to us just when the APs come which is only like once a transfer if we are lucky. So yeah i havent got any mail yet. Just a letter from AMY in the MTC. Bless her heart!!! Tell Bronzen way to go in school! Thats awesome. Thats also cool that he just wants to focus on baseball. For him to even think about playing up these days he has to eat sleep and drink baseball. What classes are you guys taking? Where has Matt been working? The camel in the picture was just chilling on the beach. No owner, just chillin. Thats how we roll in africa. Our investigators are doing well and progressing. The baptisms are this week. We found three awesome amazing families this week and they are very open to the church. People here are so humble though and just listen and believe everything you say. Its good to a point but annoying cause you never know if they really understand cause they dont ask questions and are pretty shy reserved people. I have to pull their personalities out cause my comp is the same way. He has been pretty frustrating lately. He only has a transfer left and it shows. He is just short with people and isnt really sincere. When he bears his testimony he just rattles it off and you dont feel anything. I am doing my best to be a PMG missionary but i am still human and i have a personality. Many guys out here forget that and just teach a lesson and not people.
       We ate pizza inn the other night! So good to taste american food! It still doesnt even compare but just to have a break from beans, rice and chapatis its heaven. I have eaten some pretty sketchy food and am doing okay with it.
       So sister scott is like my mom/grandma! We had DDM at their house this week and we had french toast, bacon and hash browns. Then cake and ice cream. I love the USA. I tried to explain to some members what an appetizers and desserts were. The just looked at me like i was crazy.
       As far as stuff in packages, just hide valuable stuff. Oh and right before i left i left my ipod on the ping pong table and told matt to put stuff on it. I hop he knows where it is.
       I write keaton and jordan every week. We always stay in contact. But it would be nice to hear from our family members. If they get some time out of their busy lives maybe they could email me. I saw the blog. Its looking good. Hopefully you can get my package soon so you can up load lots of pictures.
      Its good to hear you are being blessed! I hope the missionary work with the grumpy old man goes well.
      I have not bitten my nails since i have been in Africa! I feel goofy every time i cut them though cause i feel uncoordinated. Its just to sketchy to put your hands near your mouth let alone in. We play games as we are walking cause its pretty boring. We point out how many people are publicly urinating. Who ever sees the most at the end of the day wins. I saw twelve the other day. Its ridiculous. Also I feel like its quiggly down under, or national geographic here for all the body parts ive seen. Women got to feed the babies in our lessons and thats what they are for so why cover. Uh it bugs but this is africa.
     Its to dangerous to ride bikes here because of all the crazy drivers. We take a van taxi called a matatu if it is a really far distance. We really could be much more productive if we didnt have an hour walk between visits. Its frustrating but o well. Transfers are in two weeks but im pretty certain i will stay with my comp till he dies in november. Tell bronzen he cant touch my scoot! haha Maybe when he has his permit.
     I am doing good other than that. We are pressing on in the work of the lord. I dont think i will ever get used to cold showers though. We are so spoiled in the US. I look forward to p day like its my birthday. haha we say p day is our sabbath. But yeah i really hope you get that package this week. I want you guys to see my pictures from all my adventures!
I love you all! Thanks for being dilligent in the emails!

I Love the USA

Hello family, thanks for the package! I might get it in the next month. I also sent you a package on the 5th with a few things and my sd card with over 500 pictures so i am really praying it arrives safely. So i first will answer questions so i dont forget. Matt, we are currently teaching 10 investigators that are progressing. 3 are getting baptized on the 24th and 7 have committed to baptism and are very excited. There is a problem with 3 of them getting to church though cause they live so far. Nichorus, Nielson, and Steven. They are very poor young men who live on the furthest part of our area. If they were to walk they would have to start at midnight to get there by ten to start church. We are really praying that god will provide a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he comandeth them. The others are doing well another young man named samuel and two sisters patricia and carol. Patricia was a referral from a sister in the ward that is amazing. She was invited over and we taught her the first lesson. She told us she was a muslim and a year ago she became christian. She attends a reformed christian church. She seemed kinda wierded out by the restoration at first but then started to understand. she committed to read the book of mormon and ask if it and what we were teaching her is true. I felt prompted to invite her to give the closing prayer and asked her to ask right now. She accepted. I have never heard a better worded or sincere prayer. The spirit hit her so hard she could hardly finish the prayer. We sat in silence watching her cry and watching the spirit teach. She said she had never felt like this before. Wow hey did i mention the church is true. Porter my mission is so awesome and i am loving every minute of it. The ice cold shower every morning is the only bad thing. But yes i do think about you buddy. You and owen constantly bring a smile to my face throughout the day. Bronzen, i havent met that sister yet cause she lives in Nairobi, but i asked sister broadbent and she said she knows her and she will be home this month some time. Dude how is football? You have a family name to up hold so you better hit hard and go balls out every play. Body size doesnt matter in football. The coaches look are hard work and heart. Bronz you out hustle everyone! Lift, lift, lift. That is all.(send pictures please via email or mail) Matt, i have not heard about any sacrifice challenge but i know they have study goals each transfer. Meree, I would love my ipod with tons of uplifting stuff. Tab choir, conference talks, the bible etc. Oh phase ten :) i miss that game. Any treats really cause you cant find american products here. OH OH OH cereal. I didnt think i would miss anything, but cereal is sorely missed. They have it  here but it is bad quality stuff and is super expensive. Meree, i havent heard anything about general conference but im sure we get to watch it. Matt, I dont have to wear shower sandals cause the first thing i did was detail my bathroom and shower but other guys do. My toilet is broken like half the stuff in my flat. That is what they call apartments btw. So i had to fix it and jimmy rig it to be able to flush. I woke up today and cleaned for like 5 hours solid. My comp is one dirty african. I made him clean his bathroom today! You remember the tv show hoarders, yeah its like one of their bathrooms. Our tap water in the flat is salt water so we cant drink it. Brushing my teeth is kinda nasty. I am teaching my comp to be cleaner. Cause we have nasty bugs in our flat. I jixed (chlorox) the whole place today. My comp really stinks and i found out why. He buys anti-perspirant with out deodorant. Dont worry, tu nagi funza! (He is learning). Meree thanks for teaching me the importance of cleanliness! The hadley way isnt the only way but its pretty damn good! Heck my comp didnt have dish soap when i got there and washing a bowl that had raw meat juice with cold water and his hands. Crazy! He thinks im a clean freak. Matt, im getting used to the sweat. I carry a hankercheif and use it like crazy. I have not eatin anything besides rice, beans, chapatis, and beef. Every DA we have is the same food. Oh and ugali. Which is a cake made out of maze meal and water(seriously just those two ingredients). Kinda like grits but thicker. Like no joke you can make a boucey ball out of it. Pretty bland. My taste buds are adapting though. As far as recipes go, we are able to get most everything, just not as good. Cheese is the so expensive which is really sad. It is ten us dollars for a block. So we just go to the same place and fill up on cheese every time we shop. Last p day after we emailed we went and played soccer on the beach. Sadly that is the only sport i will be playing for the next two years. But it was fun. Our zone leader is a white guy from SA and was playing dirty and it was making me mad. He was also bragging about how tough he was cause he was training with the army before he came out. So the ball came to me and we were kinda going back and forth with it and he decides it would be a good idea to hit me in the groin. Big mistake! I bull rushed him and slammed him on the sand and pinned him in 3 seconds. I would have broken my high schools fastest pin record. I wouldnt let him up until he apologized. I bent his glasses pretty bad but all the elders say man dont mess with haynes. I kinda felt bad after mostly cause i had massive stomach ache, but he deserved it. He played fair the rest of the time.Oh so we had DDM on wednesday and the senior couple was there. Hmmm... just guess where they are from... Taylor. Brother and sister scott. They know Sheila so well and talked a lot about mark. They are actually cooking for us this week. Finally american food. Oh so i told you we take a ferry to the mainland everday, so there is this preacher on there shouting everyday. And the other day he sees me and says Hey muzungu! Welcome to kenya. Over 1000 people on the boat and there eyes go directly to me. Like i said i turn some heads. This man is full of it. One of the members friends has a problem and asked him to pray for her. He said if she sacrificed 3000 shillings(which is a ton of money for these people) to him he would pray on her behalf. but she also had to fast three days and he promised god would answer her question. People pay this guy and it makes me mad! Tell the ward thanks for the support and tell our siblings to email me! OH tell tish the watch has been a so nice  to have! And Oh My Gosh!!! Dont even talk about panda! Talk about major craving for the past month. And wasting it is oh so sad! Have you been to the wash lately? Tell ryan to email me and tell me whats new there! Oddly i miss the wash. After working there for 3 1/2 years it kinda becomes part of you. Please send me pictures! i would love to see what you guys are up to. We go every thursday to an orphan home and do service. We also travel out to this guy from northing utahs home. He owns a coconut oil company here and his house is insane!!! He makes some cheese! The investigators that live very far are this guys employees.Anyways i dont have much more to report. I love you all and i am loving every minute of this priceless experience. Love Elder Haynes

ps please let me know as soon as you get that package!!!

Be Grateful

Be grateful! If nothing else be grateful. Hello family! Its good to hear life is busy and blessings are coming. You should see this place! It has its beauty but man it has ugly. The area im in is called Lakoni. So we actually live on Mombasa island. everyday we take the ferri across the channel to our proselyting area. Its pretty cool. We see giant oil tankers coming in everyday. Oh did i mention its the Indian ocean? Well it is. I honestly never thought i would see it before i got this call. So Elder Baylejusa and I have three baptisms on the 24th. George, Mark, and Leonard. They are young humble men looking for a better life. Everyone here knows the bible so well. Its humbling cause i dont know what i should yet. There are so many Muslims here!!! Which is kinda hard because even if they accept what we are teaching and want to convert it is a huge process. They have to have a meeting with the mission pres on top of the baptismal interview. It is also very difficult because of how serious their religion is. They can be killed for forsaking their previous beliefs. So its rather intense. We are discouraged from teaching them but if it works out they are the strongest members. Oh tell the metcalfs i met the callahans. they are the doctors of africa. So driving to mombasa from nairobi we saw elephants, baboons, and zebras just off the road. There is a tribal people here called the messiah. They are the most fearsome people in africa. Lions are said to even stay clear of them cause they kill anything that stands against them. To keep their strength they go a week on just a drink mixture of blood and milk. Yuck! That doesnt even sound half good cause the milk here is disgusting. They put so many preservatives in it it just tastes nasty. I would rather drink skim. Crazy right! So most of the people have a really hard time saying haynes for some reason its always hayness or aynes. Everyday all the little kids yell muzungu which means light skinned. I turn some heads here. I have never been stared at so much. All the kids love me though. Their parents send them out to touch me because it brings good luck to their family to touch a white person. I am learning a lot of the language. The members are teaching me alot. The branch here is kinda struggling cause the branch pres isnt very serious about his calling. Only a few people have callings and lack of planning on their part means when in doubt have the missionaries speak, teach, bless, uh frustrating. We will steer them in the right direction though. So kenya is the lowest baptizing mission in africa, but we have a 99% retention rate. This is good for me because i am a firm believer that true conversion takes time. We never push of harp for baptism. it is always their choice. in uganda they are baptizing thousands but most never come back and some never get confirmed so i think we are doing just fine. I have lost a few pounds but nothing big. It is only like 80 degrees here everyday but the humidity is awful. I sweat and sweat and sweat. This mission only calls men to serve because boys wont last. We walk like soliders. we easily walk 15-20 miles a day. These shoes are going down fast! I washed my first batch of laundry today by hand. Once again be grateful. My forearms will be massive when i get home. I am sleeping better but i am afraid i will be tired for two years but thats okay. My feet are fine. A nice member in SA cut my hair and its just how i like it, but i need to really find someone here with some really talent. Soda here is so cheap and every where you go there is coke. Which makes it hard not to drink. Not to mention its only 25 cents for a bottle so i dink a lot. Water is just so sketching and must be filtered for us americans to even consider it and even it can give you diarrhea. My mission pres is probably the coolest man in the church im my opinion next to holland. His theory is work hard play hard which is just so nice. You need fun times to stay sane here. I hope everyone is doing good. Im getting so addicted to the spirit in our lessons. The joy i feel makes me want to have more and more. Lets just say if it was in liquid form i would shoot it up. They have cyber shops all over so i will always have internet access. Tell everyone to send mail too cause its better that christmas! I love it here. This new training program is hard but good. We study two hours of comp study every morning so we dont get to start proselyting till 11 everyday. We also have a portable dvd play as part of training to watch PMG videos. I cant believe they trust us to have these things. The lord has really been raising the bar for missionaries. I love this work and my testimony is reaffirmed daily. So something thats pretty cool is crime isnt very high here and its not cause there is a lot of law enforcement cause i haven't even seen a cop since Ive been here. Its called mob justice.Theft is taken very seriously and if you are seen stealing someone will yell theif! Then everyone around beats him down bad. I have seen it twice already. Its kinda cool but scary at the same time. Anyway i love all of you and hope all is well. I am sending some stuff today so look for it in the next few weeks.
love elder sephers

Headed to the Mssion Home

Seth was able to call us on Wednesday, August 31st to let us know that he made it safely to the mission home where he met President and Sister Broadbent. It only took 7 hours by bus to get there! He has been assigned to serve in Mombasa as his first area and he just happened to be praying that he would be sent there. He sounds exhausted and is loving every minute of it!

 

Heading To The Field

So I know today is Friday but we are so busy tomorrow. I hope everything is going well. I am loving it. Man it is hard though. They expect so much from us. We aren't pros yet. They want that learning curve to not happen anymore. So tell bronzen to get cracking. So the best meal i have had is fish! They have a fish here called butter fish! And it is so so good! We have the worst gas in the world though! The elders are melting the paint off the walls. Oh so on my way back from the temple we hit some traffic and people just walk through and sell stuff. Its so cool! you just sit in the van and the bring all the stuff too you! I bought a huge bag of fruit and a box of strawberries which was 25 rand which is only like 3 dollars. Oh so on tuesday or monday night for you with the time difference i want to call when i am at the airport. Hopefully i will have time to do so. If its in the middle of the night and you dont answer i will just leave a message. But oh my new spiritual hero is brother Thabo spelman. He is my district teacher and a spiritual giant. He just got back last year from his mission in Zim. He speaks 7 languages fluently! Seven! (what about bob) One of them is zulu click which is probably the coolest thing you have ever heard. Brother spelman just lost his mom in a fire in his home. We really connected and had a heart to heart the other day. This guy is so amazing! I want to be half the missionary he is! Wow the Church is True! I learn so much everyday and i am so happy. I miss you guys. I looked at that pic of owen yesterday and got a really good laugh. So meree you asked me what i miss most and it is music! The other day we were at the store and a guy had his music blaring in his car and i started dancing right there. Which reminds me we have a rave dance party every night @ ten. One of the african missionaries has a mag light that has a strobe setting and it is legit. We make our own beats cause no one has real music. We cirlce up and have dance battles!!! hahaha its a blast. Elder Thabete is from SA and he is a professional crumper (a kind of freestyle dancing) He is so good and i filmed some stuff so you will see it when i send my card. Also if you wanted to send me another sd card that would be so nice! They are only 8 bucks at big lots. I have made the coolest friends here. No one really is a big Ronny here. Okay maybe 2. And i dont know why but everyone comes to me to talk and confide in. Its kinda getting annoying. One elder came to me sobbing cause he was overwhelmed and says its to hard. Why me!? Of course im bold but nice. But my real tight bros are all from utah and idaho. Elder neilson from blanding and elder pocock and call from ashton id. And of course big max from vegas. But yeah only a few days left here in spirit prision and the real fun begins! I love you all so much and thank you for everything you have taught me. Everything i have learned has come into play so i am indebted for that. Much love

- Sephers

Spiritual Highs and Jet Lag

Thanks for writting me! :) It is like christmas day to see an email there when i get on. It is really frustrating cause i am so limited on time. We have 31 Missionaries here and only three computers. And only three hours for all of us to get a chance to email so im sorry if this is short. As far as the questions go i will get back to you on the mission address. Nicoles drive should be in my billabong back pack. My P-day is saturday but it will be monday in the field. The food is good but just plain. Oh the Apple juice here is so good!!! Like the taste is stupendous. It definetly cleans you out though. As far as matts measuring tape i have no idea. The only place that came to mind was on the kitchen counter because i used it to measure the bags there. I went to the temple on tuesday and got to see many african missionaries go through for the first time. We also did sealings which was awesome. Sister christensen says it takes a week or two for mail. So if you want to send anything send it to the mission cause i would be gone before it got here. I just hope that there is at least 300 in that acount at all times just in case. but everything else in the money market account to build interest. I still have plenty of cash though. I will send my memory card when im leaving the mtc. I am not allowed to do anything on the computers with my cameras. Many elders were so mad they were ronnies and didnt go. Oh it was such an amazing experience. Fish and chips are better than they sad. Mmmmmm... so good! Oh the kenya address is (Kenya Mission Upper hill Rd.  next to city group p.o. box 46162-00100 Nairobi Kenya). My favorite part of africa is how real people are. They are so blunt and just say it how it is. This new mtc program we are doing is brand new and we are the first to do it. Kelly Mills the President of all Mtcs was here all this week. It is really intense and a lot of elders are breaking down because they are pushing us so hard and the feelings of inadequacy are always on our mind. There are investigators coming in everyday to learn and we are feeling the pressure. Well i am out of time. I love you guys and thank you for all you have taught me. Everything i have learned has come into play.

Hit The Ground Running

So we have very limited time to really do anything here! We work way hard and are constantly going. President called me in the first day and say the lord has chosen me to be a district leader of the Ammon district. I accepted. Man we are working. We have to plan sacrament meetings and give out assignments for everything. It has been hard getting used to the time change! I just dont feel like im getting refreshed just closing my eyes and up at it again. My companion is Elder Mazura from Zimbabwe He is an amazing missionary and a great example to me! He is 25 years old and it shows in his wisdom and teaching. There are 31 elders here half are from somewhere in africa. They are all great examples to me because despite their hard lives they are the happiest people. The president is from st. george. His name is pres Christensen. We havent really seen much of him, only in our district meetings really. We are the first group on the new mtc program that the church came out with. It is much more challenging and a lot more teaching. We get to go out and teach with the Joburg missionaries once a week which is reallly awesome! I find my self already talking like them because everyone here has an accent. Also almost all the african elders havent been to the temple so we get to go to the joburg temple twice while we are here, and get to see all those elders experience something so cool for the first time. We really dont have free time. We are  scheduled every second of the day. Oh but london was so good. All riots were far north so it wasnt near us. I will have to send my sd card. i have so many awesome pictures. I sat next to Mrs. Price on one of my flights. She just happened to be LDS and be headed back home to Dubai! Amazing how the works. Anyway im out of time. Love all of you and thanks for all the support! 

He Made It!

Hey, Im here and safe! I dont have much time to talk now but i will email again on saturday. Man i have had so many awesome experiences alread, dont worry i have probably already taken 250 pictures. London is amazing! South Africa is so awesome! There is a whole new world out here that needs explored! Im safe i will talk to you later!

- Elder Haynes

Elder Seth Ryan Haynes is leaving on the 6:15am flight out of Saint George, Utah on Tuesday August 9th. He reports to the Johannesburg MTC on Thursday August 11th. We hope to use this blog as an easy update of Seth while he is on his mission and we truly appreciate all of your love and support for him. In the words of Seth, "See ya in two years!"