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!