Daniel's first week in Mombasa. Can you say culture shock?! What an adventure. I am hoping he doesn't get sick of it too soon. Then I got a letter that satisfies every hope, wish, prayer and need for my boy. From him to say, "Hey Mom, I'm okay!"
His letter to everyone:
hey!
so after a 10 hour bus ride with my new companion elder soita i finally made it to my first area is called mombasa, its a coastal city and a large city at that!when i first got here i was fairly certain i was the only white guy in a 500 mile radios! there are a couple other muzungu elders here. (muzungu is what they call white people.) everywhere we go we take these mini buses called matatus, they are crammed with about 15-20 people at a time and they always BLAST music. its crazy hot here. i swear im going to melt one of these days. there are a ton of monkeys and house cats running around AND i saw a weird rainbow colored lizard but other then that i haven't seen any crazy animals yet. the members here are phenomenal and i love the work. the MTC felt like an eternity but here the time just flies by! there are a lot of Muslim people here and about every 4 hours there is Muslim prayer music played from all the mosques so you can here it EVERYWHERE! its crazy weird. today for P-day we got to go to the beach and hangout! the water was crazy blue! i was dying of course because i love the ocean and we couldn't swim. swahili is super different but im slowly getting the hang of it. all the kids run up yelling "Muzungu! muzungu! paramende!!" which means "white guy! give us candy!" or they will just stand there and chant "how are you! how are you! how are you!" because that's all the English they know. its too funny! anyways, the gospel is true and i am excited for the weeks to come! love all you guys.
to Dad:
hey i was finally able to get over here and email. the cybercafes are actually really clean and nice! not to shabby if you ask me.
i am getting along well, the language is weird but i am getting it here and there (maybe just say BaBa and you will be fine! haha)
YEAH elder and sister Torrie are so nice! its crazy! they are great people. honestly i don't know what to say, there is so much that has happened and its all ridiculous. there are a ton of monkeys here but other then that i haven't seen many crazy animals. everywhere we go we take these mini buses called "matatus" they are all different and usually have some American celebrity poorly drawn on the sides and they blast super loud music all the time. its super hot here and i feel like i am going to melt all the time! on the good side of things we have one of the nicest flats in the mission! our power only goes out like once a day and we have running water when we can get it going! its awesome! we do everything by hand which is such a cool learning experience. the work is good we mainly work with less actives and new members but that's because my companion has been in this area for over a year so he is trying to maintain what he started! today we went to the beach for P-day (but we couldn't swim...) please share this with mom. i don't have time today to write two separate emails! i love you guys! i will have more to send later! Baba Asante!
to Moi:
so i thought i would be out of time but i have a little bit, i just want to share with you a story i heard while here, elder Holland came to the kenya nairobi mission when he was the GA over Africa, (he was removed from that and reassigned since this happened for another reason which is another awesome story that i can talk about later) during his time here he visited many areas but one of them called chullu he came and visited for a short time. after seeing the things the elders had to do everyday just to live (such as hand washing clothing, cooking over open fires beacuse they had no kitchens, fetching water from the stream for washing drinking and bathing, and many other challenges) he knelt down on the ground and wept, he cried to God and said "this is a mission for Men!". i am not sure how true this story is but this is now said throughout the mission. i want you to know that i have noticed no discomforts in my living since i have arrived here. ( mainly because i am not in chullu) but as i live off of rice, and wash my clothes in stream water by hand, or wash myself from a bin of water or what ever else may come, i know that i can survive this and thrive in this because of who my parents have made me to be, you raised me to be strong. and though i am a boy now, i will come home a man. and its because of you and dad. I LOVE YOU BOTH!
BYE!
BYE!
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| Elder Fuller in front of the Mombasa chapel |
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| Johannesburg Temple |
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| The Beach |
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| Outside his Window |
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| With the window closed? |
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