Wk 18 DTF Apr 24

Dan takes a minute and drops a line.  In this case, his Dad has been sick so he said, "I hope you feel better soon".  Always sending us his love.  But that's it for this week.  We figure he is holding the computer for his companion to type on it...Wrong!

Soo, right now he has a companion that is pretty amazing at sharing stories about the goings on in the mish.  I will post his letter here and got his mom's permission.

Elder Tucker also has a twin currently serving in South Africa - Capetown

Enjoy!

Apr 24

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


Apr 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.

Wk 18 RLF Apr 24

Okay it is happening guys!  Honeymoon phase is over and now reality sets in.  Please pray for Rachel.  She is realizing just how tough it is out there.  Think about it, setting goals high and continually having them dashed to bits will eventually wear on anyone.  Benjamin went through this around this same time.  I hope she keeps writing me. Also it is good Mother's Day is coming soon!  Her birthday is on Mother's Day this year so it will be extra meaningful for us talking worlds away.

Rachel is a super strong, positive person.  However, I know she may need your help and prayers now.

She would love to hear from you.

We're doing our best here. But I'm learning how to be a leader by example, and it's tough!

Lots of times I need to overcome my natural man moments.  We have transfers next week and I really don't know of I'm staying in Girona or going somewhere else. 

We could literally be a stake with how many people that have been baptized into this branch. But few are active.   And we keep losing our investigators because they don't see what's so incredible about this church, it's just like every other church here in Girona.   

We have a plan and we're trying to figure it all out, but 45 years of slow growth is a lot for 2 missionaries to handle.  

We are definitely getting a new elder in may so we will see we what happens.

And we are literally out of money, we have been living on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Learning to BUDGET is CRAZY. 

Wk 17A DTF Apr 17

Wk 17 DTF Apr 17

Meet Godfrey!  Daniel looks so happy in his "Dad sandals".

With Elder Estheimer in the local forest not far from their flat.

Climbing things as always!

Practicing his Tarzan moves close to the ground.

I don't think they grow 'em this big in US zoos.

He looks old but is very handsome indeed.

There are several more pics of him coming up to meet this elder, he knew there would be a treat to eat.

Wk 17 RLF Apr17

I'm gonna write a big email with some updates I think cause I have like no time left.  Ugh the two hours go by CRAZY fast.  I'm learning a lot this transfer.  And I'm grateful for my companion, she's teaching me how to be humble and take direction even if it doesn't sound like a good idea.  She's also teaching me thing I don't like about myself, so hopefully it will be easier to change those things.  It's all a miracle, the atonement of Jesus Christ and the opportunity we have to raise a voice of warning to the people here.  I loved Bens email so much about how sometimes you're there to open the way for other missionaries and I have definitely seen that in the time I have here.  There are so many people who have been investigating on and off for years.  And finally one day show up and say I'm ready,  show me the way.  The Lord prepares people at his pace and in his time. And he is always aware.  He knows us,  he loves us, and the least we can do is follow the path he set for us cause we literally are just here to be happy and learn to be like him.  PMG characteristics of Christ has literally changed my life.   

And holy cow all the information we have!  I never knew how little I actually knew about the gospel until I started studying an hour every day.  It's not enough time!  I just feel like it's going so fast an I just never have enough time!!! 

Ahhh :)  

23A BJF Apr 20

These German sheep look super healthy!!  Ewes not fat, ewes fluffy!

This is something that washes up under bridges occasionally in early Spring.  I think it is called a Golden Greenie!!  
Anyone up for a Dirt Angel??

Wk 23 BJF Apr 20

Elder Fuller got transferred to Bonn!  All I know is it's the birthplace of Beethoven.

So uhh fun stuff in the last couple weeks. I was working with Elder A.
In Offenbach buuuuttt through a series of particular decisions among
the higher-ups of the mission I am now serving in the city of Bonn
with Elder Warr. He's straight up awesome, we get along too well. I'm
hoping it'll stay that way.

Holy heck was it a change, first packing everything (already half done
because of the move in Offenbach) then we went out to Frankfurt and I
had to say auf weitersehen to my favorite district. Then after almost
hopping on the wrong train (which would have put me near Berlin) I
made the almost 3 hour Zug Fährt to Bonn.
The tracks went along the Rhein river through the greenest canyon I've
ever seen with small villages, farms and literal castles littered
along the rivers steep cliffs. Personally I think Texas is the better
place to live but no place I've seen in Texas comes close to how
beautiful the German country-side can be, meine Güte. Regrettably I
didn't have the thought to take pictures then as I was sitting in awe
but hopefully I can make up for that.

Once I arrived in Bonn I was surprised at how packed the Bahnhof was
and so I wandered around looking for the Elders....Then I saw all
three of them standing a head or two above the rest of the crowd.
Standing at 6ft, I am now the little guy.

From there we jumped right into working and today was the only rest
thus far but not really because we spent Pday running after trains,
hiking through forests, and climbing castle walls.
(Pictures

First thing I heard about Bonn was that it's a miracle city, from what
I've seen I agree and the missionaries here are achieving actual
missionary work nothing like back near Frankfurt. I'm excited to get
some stuff done and E. Warr is probably the best person to learn that
from.

WOOHOO LETS GOOOOOO.

-Elder Füller

Für Bildern
1: the church here in Bonn
2: view of a Dorf which sums up cliche Germany
3: Wald Schloss
4:My companion and I on a wall
5-6: Bonn district minus the Sisters
I don't have any explanation for the two videos

Enjoy
Yo

 

Wk 22 BJF Apr 13

 

As for teaching goes, we've been losing most of our investigators
slowly for awhile although most of them weren't that solid to start
with. So we're down to only one or two but that's just how the cookie
crumbles. I assume by "the one next door" you mean our friend Silva.
He is actually down the street from us. He's one of the most solid
guys we've got. He's out of Brazil and he's been involved off and on
with the church his whole life. He even had his own BoM when E. Davis
and I found him. We hadn't met with him since Davis left but we
finally did yesterday. He's ridiculous, he actually referred us to a
couple of his friends and then invited himself to church again. His
only thing is he's a self proclaimed 'lazy' person so he's not running
to the baptismal font but he certainly is headed in that direction.
Other than him we're out of luck in Offenbach, according to our ward
mission leader it's been like that for years so I'm not too worried
about it.

Although I got a call from a sister in the SLC Chinese ward about a
sister here who wants to start looking into he church but the problem
is she only speaks Mandarin and oddly enough...Russian. just another
person I could talk too if I had learned Russian. But we've got
connections so she'll get a Russian speaking friend soon.

And Dan is not a very consistent emailer so I haven't heard about any
of this aside from his few weekly emails. Cool about the twins and
especially the facebook connection.
Even more so about the brothers in Africa. There was a pair of twins
in the same situation in the MTC. Except it was a totally different
part of the world I had no idea what language either of them were
learning.

I know how her nephew feels. We actually have a lot of missionaries go
home. It's rare when an entire group finishes two years. That's just
how Germany is. People's faith here is dead, but we're not looking for
the dead ones anyway. We've got to sift through all the Muslims, JWs
and the faithless ones to find the elect, sifting through a trash heap
to find the pearls. That's how all missions are, Germany just happens
to have one of the densest piles.
I've heard many stories of Elders not having any baptisms but the
effect they had resulted in baptism without number after they had
left. So after starting in tough area in a tough mission in a tough
country I've just decided not to look for the instant gratification of
a baptism. If I get the opportunity, great but that would be after
other Elders had made the way before me. That's just how Germany is.