Oh my goodness this mommas heart!

November 24, 2018

"The first plane did actually take off, about 40 min into the flight an engine blew, they let the gas out because the wing was on fire and the other 3 engines carried them back to Nairobi safely. He has this layover in New York then to Salt Lake"Sister Jameson. 

Jeron is in the air as well. Hopefully he has nice uneventful flights. 

"The faster you run the sooner you are DONE!" My motto.

"The faster you run the sooner you are DONE!" My Motto

11-12-2018

This has been my motto the last few weeks.  Kind of a "time flies when your working hard" but it rhymes so I like it better.  Want to hear my last stories?

1:Haircuts

Getting hair cuts in this mission is a lot like a Mario party game, you never really know if you are gonna win or just get wrecked. For my last cut, my district leader and I had some fun.  Instead of having some dude cut our hair  we were gonna cut each others.  (We actually did pretty good I think).  But the problem was neither of us had a buzzer.  So we went to Kinyozis and just asked to use their stuff.  We made a very good friend named Steve and ended up getting really cheap nice hair cutz.  It was a good time.

2:  Just mission in general

Well I would just like to say that mission has definitely been an experience.  I have felt happy and sad, mad, and insane, lots of homesickness, lots of fun memories. I found a wife (don't worry you will meet her next week). But I would recommend a mission. I don't know if I can say it has been the best two years; but I don't regret serving my Lord. I look forward to even more service as Brother Tucker.

SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!!!

love

Elder Tucker

Mark sent back immediately: "Teron. I am begging you. This is for me.I cannot handle the worry that this will cause in your mother. I know it is all fun but this will not be funny"

Teron: Hahahahahaha

I don't think I sent one last week......pole.

I don't think I sent one last week.....pole.

Nov. 5, 2018

What's up? Sorry I didn't write a letter last week I totally spaced.  Luckily repentance is a thing.

So.... you guys want to hear some stories? thought so, LETS GO!!!

Story 1.  How far are you willing to go for thirty shillings? 

When it means the difference between walking home through the ghetto at night or taking a ride, pretty fetching far.  I have an issue with the Matatu conductors in Buru buru. (if you are a conductor in Buru, you have one more strike before I hire Liam Neeson, be warned)  Well when we were coming back from our zone conference, we had some stupid guy who wanted to be a thief.  My companion had no small money and so I was paying for him.  I had 100 shillings on me at the time. Under normal circumstances that would be fine, however not this week.  I give the man the money expecting my change to come.  Well this dude thought he coud pull a fast one and tried to take my money. ALL OF IT!! After 20 min. of trying polite- then lots of arguing. We got the whole bus on our side starting a bus chant.  Then force ably keeping this man out of his Matatu, by hanging on the door.  I got my money! So did my district leader.  They know not to mess with us now haha.  Made it home safely so that was a win!  Also we are banned from that dude's Matatu for life ha-ha.  I am going home in a couple weeks so I didn't really care.

Story 2:  Now why on earth would you think that.....

I don't know exactly why but people think that I am crazy, absurd idea I know. No clue why, but apparently I am not normal, who would of thought?  Here are a few situations in which I have been called crazy.  Apparently it is not appropriate to sing a victory song at the top of your lungs in a food court after winning four consecutive staring contests.  Also not appropriate to trying jumping over bushes at mall playgrounds.  Same goes for showing up after zone conference with a Masai warrior-Halloween costume... (Africans really don't like Halloween). The caretaker gave me his spear for the pictures. These all happened this week, so can't wait to find out how the rest of my mission goes haha.

Love you guys Elder Tucker

Jer- Here in Kenya we just take the sunburns like a real men!!!!

No Power??

October 29, 2018

As for me this last week was super normal, lots of running around and doing missionary stuff, helping people move.  Turns out couches in Kenya are really light, at one point me and another guy were moving one, and he let go to greet some dude, and said, "oh flip now Tucker knows I am not lifting anything!!"  Turns out I can move Kenyan couches all by myself, it was fun.  Things for me are going good. I am another week down, and am doing my best to keep the spirit.  We have zone conference on Wednesday and I get to bear my final testimony, that will be super interesting.

Love you Momma

*That's it-probably no power.

"GIVE ME MONEY" Conductor. "NO". me

GIVE ME MONEY" Conductor. "NO". me

October 23, 2018

This week was really funny.  I don't exactly know why but people around this time in my area are really really animated.  It is super funny sometimes and other times super annoying, luckily though the majority of the time is the first statement.

1: Subject

Like I have said before, if you cant bargain in Kenya, you will be screwed.  Here my friends is another example of the previous statement.  Well after my last interview with President Msane we were trying to get a bus home.  Well we got on the bus we needed knowing the price is twenty.  Well for some reason the dude who told us the price and the dude collecting money were not on the same page.  So this conductor doubles the price for us.  Now I was tired and didn't feel like playing. I just gave him twenty bob, and this dude FREAKS OUT! I honestly thought he was like 4 years old at one point, after yelling at us for a long time he gave up and took money from other customers for about ten minutes.  Then he comes back to try and get our money again, this time accusing us of never having paid.  Again I was tired and wasn't playing, so for some reason this dude so funny to me I couldn't help but bust a gut laughing at his temper tantrum over ten bob.  Well he then starts yelling at us that we will be kicked out of the bus and that "foreigners should not be telling the conductor the price of transport". I just kept laughing and it was hilarious.  Then the best part is he kicked us out of the bus.  But this man was whining so much and so long that he took us to where we wanted to go.  Moral of the story is when someone is whining, let em, because they lose sight of their goal and play themselves. You save ten bob!

2: They wasn't ready for us....

Today we got to go to a really big mall.  it was awesome I  got Arizona lemonade, and Dr. Pepper (no root beer) and had Carl's Junior, it was really nice!  Also there was this thing where you can ride scooters and skate boards and hoverboards. Naturally as the show off I am; I had to show off.  It was hilarious cause at one point we would lay down on two hover boards and snake around and drive through peoples legs, man it was hilarious.  You could tell that the dudes running the show were thinking "oh fetch it was a bad idea to give these to these kids". It was super fun though.

Anywho Love you guys. Elder Tucker

"Kasabuni, ndio place nimegrow, kasabuni ndio place inaniroar" Kaligraph Jones

"Kasabuni, ndio place nimegrow, Kasabuni ndio place inaniroar" Kaligraph Jones

October 16,2018

So this is a quote from a song by a Kenyan rapper named Kaligraph Jones (look it up, he has got some nice songs).  I include it cause Kasabuni is in my new area, so that is why I included it. Here are some stories

1: Follow that bus!!!

So here in Kenya your flat will run out of water at least two or three times a transfer, usually you can just make it through the day, and it will come back later.  We had General Conference on the day we didn't have water and kinda needed to not smell like dusty sweaty missionaries.  We ended up just going to the neighboring areas flat and showering there.  But we accidentally dropped the only key to our flat on the bus ( we realized after getting of the bus) and ended up just chasing this bus all the way to the stage to retrieve the key, it was an exciting morning!  We did get to shower and go to conference and get the key though.

2: "I can get it for ten give me thirty seconds" *goes to conductor, Swahili screaming, returns thirty seconds later* "ITS TEN GET IN!

So when it comes to transport in Kenya it is all about bargaining.  If you can't bargain and you are white you will be ripped off, but luckily I am really good at it when I need to.  On our way back from conference we needed to pay for the ride home, but I only had ten bop for the last Matatu.  So my comp was saying that it was impossible to get for ten, and that we would have to just walk, ( I was super tired and we were far so I wasn't down for that) So I said the above, and went and had a nice discussion about stealing with the conductor and made a friend who said he would take me for ten just cause of the fact that he has never seen a white guy as bold and savage as I was.  I went home for ten bop.  Moral of the story is,  be bold, use what you got, and you will get where your going.

I am good, I am working in like the slums of Nairobi, it is really fun! Street food is super cheep here, so I don't go hungry haha. I have cool people here too, like super happy fun people. I am still trying to teach the kids how to treat me like a person though.  They are learning slowly,  They don't all freak out when I walk by anymore and we are becoming friends. My companion is super cool,I love him. He is from the Congo and loves Ugali like it is the bread of the celestial kingdom.  I am with Elder P. a lot cause he is the other companionship in the area.  

Have a great week guys ! Elder Tucker

Just when you think you have got it all figured out.........

Just when you think you have got it all figured out.....Me

Oct. 8,2018

You know one of the biggest lessons that I have learned on my mission is that God loves just to mess with people.  Imagine after almost twenty three months you would think that "yeah, I have got this down." Then God is like "Angel Dave, " shoot him with the humble gun." "yes, sir" BAM and then you just end up laying on the couch at midnight staring at the ceiling like "what the heck??"  Here are a few examples.

1: Transfers 16: Elder Tucker 0

So one of the most exciting times as a missionary is transfer news night.  For us that happens saturday of week six, usually around 11:30pm.  Well we always try to guess what is going to happen.  I have never been right once.  Every time I am like "yeah it has been a while I think I am leaving" I stay.  When I say nah man I am staying my comp is leaving, I go.  This was no different.  Due to the fact that I only have one transfer left, and my companion has only been in the area for one transfer I felt pretty safe that I was going to stay and finish here .( Which I would have loved to do).  God has other plans though so I will be finishing my mission in the Lucky Summer ward now.  But I am excited I know a few people over there and we will have a wonderful time together.

2: Baptism

So here in Kenya, baptisms sometimes are as common as a trip to the local swimming pool.  SO teaching people that they need to be baptized again is always difficult.  You teach priesthood, and the great apostasy and how the priesthood is only found in the church, but the only response you get is still "no, my pastor had the authority, he was a pastor I have already been baptized." Now the reason they are included in the email, is cause I was about to just call it, say "you know we have tried everything i know how to do, and they will learn in time. Now isn't the time though."  Luckily my comp said "no".  We went with one last final show, tried everything we could think of and then some,  and guess what?  THEY GOT IT!!! It was so powerful, when they finally said "yeah okay I see what you are saying and it makes sense."  We were so excited, I mean not just a baptismal commitment but much progress was made and it truly humbled me.  I thank the lord for my companion and his patience.

welp, that is about it for today guys.  Love y'all

Elder Tucker