April 24,2017

So this week was absolutely fantastic.  We didn't get much time to do missionary work because we had zone conference and interviews and the Kyulu elders came It was super fun. Also I got to see Elder Le Chem. again!! 

(There you go buddy.)  A couple of the elders had only been in Kyulu which is like the bushiest bush of all the bushes.  So when they arrived here they were like oh my gosh! People, cars, this is amazing! There is a white guy! Who isn't a missionary! It was quite funny for me, who has yet to serve in the bush. 

Anyways  here are some fun stories for you.... enjoy!

Story mosi: "Oh frick this mzungu can speak"

This was said by a matatu driver who tried to charge us more money than the locals.  So unlike Eldoret in Mombasa the Matatu price is not fixed, and it takes a lot to get a good price if you are two white guys.  You should never pay over seventy but they sometimes charge us like 150.  That's ksh by the way not dollars.  So we tell this condu we are going to Mtwapa, and he is like 150 so we are like " psh nope we will pay fifty! He get's mad, we say sixty he's chill."  We get to city mall which still about thirty bob from our destination, and this dude stops the matatu and is telling us to get out unless we pay fifty more.  What he didn't know I understood what he was saying to the driver so I was prepared.  I guess it was kinda funny to see a white guy totally ranting at this man in kiswahili and we ended up still having to pay ten more, but it was fun.  He was very angry he couldn't scam us.

Story mpili: Pizza!

So pizza here is crazy expensive; you can only get it in the big cities like Nairobi,Eldoret and Mombasa.  So the Kyulu elders don't spend any money on transport and other city stuff so they brought some cash to spend whilst in the city.  Elder Car.'s only request is that we buy pizza and go see the beach. We went to the beach to watch the sunrise one morning and it was beautiful!  I will share some pictures with y'all.  Alafu tuliende ku pata pizza and it was super funny because he had no clue which one he wanted so he is like " I don't care if it has cheese it's fine just make it huge!" It was a great night.

Zone conference was cool learned some stuff. Got told to do better on things, you know the usual.

Anyways have an amazing week! love you all! don't forget that when life gives you rotten mangos try to throw them at monkeys across the street.

Tutoanana badhai

Elder Tucker

Pictures April 17

Few subjects phrased as movie quotes" I'm not dead yet". Junior Companion to District Leader!" "I 'm melting, meltiiinnggg!"

Sorry for no letter last week, let me give you sum of last p day-(Monday)and tuesday.  Leave the flat at eight, arrive at bus station at nine, ride a bus to Nairobi for eight hours, get in a car for another hour to get to the Assistants flat. Stay there for a while, it is about seven pm stayed there til there till ten ish. Went to the mission home and stayed up all night talking to Elders C. B. and Elder T. cause we all had long bus rides Tuesday and wanted to sleep on the bus. Left mission home at seven, sat on a bus for twelve hours and made it to MOMBASA!!!  Then we were going back and forth between Bamburi area and Changamwe because, one of the Cahngamwe elders had yet to arrive and so we had double duty for a bit but now we are good.

Okay so little about my new area.  I am in Bamburi which is essentially the Beverly Hills of Kenya.  It is absolutely beautiful here. It's only 2 feet from the sun, I swear it is VERY HOT.  Our house (that is right we have a whole house for one companionship, is nicknamed "The Palace" however still no oven or washing machine, we do have a staircase though which is cool) is about a ten minute walk from the beach which would be super sick if we could swim, but hey still cool. If you walk the other way you end up in the jungle which is full of monkeys. ( even more proof I am the real tarzan)  The branch is super cool. I felt really uncomfortable though cause we had like fourteen white people.  I haven't seen that many white people in four months so it was hard to speak english and be normal so instead I bore my testimony in Swahili and all the africans were like "What the frick this white guy speaks swahili?!?!?" It was great. I was made district leader which was cool.  I got the subject quote from Elder C. ( it is in the "Best two years" and promised him I would put it in my email, but honestly it doesn't mean a whole lot. The only difference between a DL and a normal missionary is people report their Key indicators to me, vs me reporting to them. My comp's name is Elder F. he is from Texas, and he is super dope.  He has been here for three months so I mostly follow him around and talk to people. I am super excited to be here and work in Mombasa.

Couples stories from this week:

Number One 

Elder Tucker, do you like hills? This was a quote from an Elder in Changamwe, another area in Mombasa.  We were working over there for the day, and my response was.  Been a while since I have seen one but yeah man I like them.  Wrong answer.  The whole day Elder F and I are chasing this other elder while he walks with what he calls "gears" which essentially is walking like road runner.  He is hauling butt up and down and all around these hills in Changamwe, Elder F and I are lost, and sweating,and freaking out like there is no tomorrow cause if we can't see this guy, we don't get home tonight, cause Mombasa doesn't have roads.  We went up and down like five valleys and such all day, then tried to teach lessons in the middle of panting trying to catch our breath.  It was fun.  Sometimes missionary work is hard, sometimes scary, sometimes fun, and sometimes it is just plain HOT!

Number two

This morning I convinced Elder F. to go running with me * insert maniacal laugh* ( I will convert him to the ways of an endurance athlete) anyways, so I was like "hey man where should we run?" and he said "lets go to the beach!" So we ran to the beach then we ran like intervals from one side of the beach to another. When leaving I talked to a man who wanted me to buy a ebony key chain from him, at first he tried to screw me over but he quickly found out I was not a tourist and knew swahili, so he lowered his price quickly.  I will probably go back and get one some other day cause they were actually super sick. Morning run on the beach; Bucket list Check!

Anyways hope y'all have had a good couple weeks, shoot me an email if you want sometime, have fun! I will try to get a picture of some of the monkeys, but they are frickin fast. To explain the pictures I  shared they are

1. Me in front of the church last day in eldoret

2. Me and muthiani featuring Elder W.'s bag

3. Jungle near our house

4. Me eating the first homemade cookie I have had in four months, it was beautiful, and delicious.

Sincerely 

Elder Tarzan

Koodos to Mom who didn't freak out too bad. I know they have power issues in Kenya. I also thought about a possible transfer and having to catch a train.  Did however check Kenyan news because I didn't have a letter from Teron. I also posted a querry on Kenyan mission mommas whom I love! All of them! My friend responded her son is getting a Elder Tucker!! Teron is going to be in Mombasa with Elder F. Hoorah! Teron told me he wanted to experience all of Kenya.  The Lord must have known his heart!

SO FREAKIN PUMPED TEMPLE IN KENYA!!!

So as you can see I am very excited for the temple in Kenya Nairobi.  We are pumped man, all of KNM has been going nuts man, its fantastic! More on that story in a little.

Oh we have a crowd.... great!

So most p days we play football as a zone.  This week we went to Huruma, in a little place called King'ong'o. A place that has many Breweries and lots of trash. King'ong'o has some members that invited us to come play, so hey why not right? Turns out its like a tiny football arena, surrounded by drunkards, so the whole time we are playing and we hear this ( keep in mind only mzungu playing) " YEAH MZUNGU!! CHEZA BWANA!!! PASS TO THE CHINESE!!' it was fun, I still don't think they have seen any chinese people though.  One elder got hurt pretty bad though, so that wasn't fun.

TEMPLE!!!

So to give some background for the day, every day in kenya we have to take a malaria pill.  If you take it on an empty stomach you are going to have a bad day.  Which makes fast sunday all the more fun.  So in the middle of Priesthood Executive Council yesterday morning; I kept leaving to throw up, not fun. I made it through church and went home and got some food.  Luckily our appointment bounced cause I was not feeling great at all.  So I ended up sleeping and trying to get better ( doing great now btw).  Anyways so after a couple of naps and cooking I get a call from the other elders in our zone. The Elder is like DUDE GUESS WHAT! I am still very tired and I was like "okay what", very sleepily.  Then he tells me that the office couple are watching conference live.  We won't get the broadcast till next week. They just announced that a temple will be built in Kenya Nairobi!!  I woke up pretty quick, and rushed to tell my companion ( who is from Kenya) and he thinks I am lying. So he calls a member with a smart phone to look it up.  Then we get a text from the couples about the temple and right now the whole KNM is going absolutely nuts!! We tell the whole branch about it and every person is so happy!  There were a lot of prayers of gratitude yesterday!

Take the temple seriously! To have one so close is such a blessing, right now the closest one here is a six hour flight. It usually takes a year or two of planning to get a trip!  Now woah, the church is true.  God really does answer our prayers.  I am so grateful for the restored priesthood and a living prophet, so that we can obtain all the blessings of exaltation. 

Love you all! Barikiwe

Elder Tucker 

From my letter: I asked why they would need a steel gate with barbed wire surrounding the church? One of the Senior couples in Nairobi published a picture of a church. Teron said.

     

"Ha, Ha the gate is mostly to keep out the Goats, Sheep and cows. Actually on Sunday we open the gate up for the few people with cars. Then the Primary kids take turns scaring away the animals, it is super funny." 

Jeron his twin answered "We have to have a church guard because the people steal the barbed wire and sell it."