Well, here's the rundown. Wednesday we went to an area called Chyulu. Chyulu is one of the very rural areas. Many famous national parks are located in Chyulu, and the wild animals were definitely there. Just on the drive there we saw camels, zebras, monkeys, and cows. Camels always look like they're smiling, by the way :) Chyulu is a cool place and we stayed there for the night. The next morning we went to Mombasa.
Mombasa... the humidity is unlike anything i've ever felt. The heat was pretty bad, but not the worst i've felt in Kenya. But the humidity - wow. I don't know if i have ever constantly sweated for a longer period before. It was like, my body was sweating and i didn't even feel that hot! SWEAT!!!!!!!!! Good ole' Mombasa. The zone conference went even better than the first ZC in Eldoret. It was spiritual and powerful, and sad just like the last one. The only time i almost cried was when President was hugging everybody goodbye one by one. I can't imagine how it will be during the last one in Nairobi here :( i'm sad thinking about it. The Lord really helped us in our training though, it went well. After zone conference, my companion and i and some other elders we trust went with us and we crossed the famous Mombasa ferry and went to the beach and WOW it was SO COOL!!!!!!! The beach felt great and it was beautiful. Do you know how terribly tempting it was to jump in that clear blue warm ocean water? The Indian Ocean has alot of sharks apparently. But sharks put aside we didn't get in. I put my hand in though :) Can't wait to go swimming again, that's for sure. I got some cool things, but i ain't gonna tell you what :) HA! :D
The next day, Saturday, we went on exchanges. I went with two elders named Elder Lyons and Elder Dimingu. We went and met a man named Maxwell, and we had planned to teach him about the BOM. Well as we started he revealed that he had been having a week filled with trials and problems. We explained that that is what happens as one moves towards the path to eternal life. I felt prompted to share with him about tithing when he mentioned some financial issues. Well turns out he had been talking with a friend earlier in the week about paying tithing and decided that if he paid tithing he probably could have some of the things in life that he needs. He didn't know how or if it was right and was basically distressed about everything wrong that was happening in his life. Well, after we taught him about tithing he said that he knows now that we are sent from God, because otherwise we never could have known about that. He says he knows that we are messengers from God to tell him what he needs to do, and he knows it will be hard still, but he must do it. He even said that he was thinking that the bad things that happened the previous week were because he was exploring this new religion. But, he told us, when he saw us he felt a warm and good feeling inside him. The Spirit works wonders for us, huh? :) After that lesson, his youngest child was sick also. We offered to give him a blessing of healing. They accepted. The child was crying constantly from the start of the lesson, but when we laid hands on him, the crying stopped. When the blessing ended, he was sound asleep :) AH! Church is true :)
So after all the other lessons, we took the ferry home again. I noticed, as we were walking in the giant crowd to the ferry, a blind man walking next to me. I'm thinking, "This guy is going to try to walk down on the ferry, across the ferry, up the hill on the next side, and then to his destination alone?" I felt bad, but didn't really know what to do, so i just felt a feeling to tap his shoulder. I did, and the man reached down and grabbed my hand and said something in hard Swahili, but i could pick out that he was going to a part of Mombasa called Bamburi. So Elder Lyons and Elder Dimingu started talking to him, and i led the man down the stairs and walkway until we got on the ferry. People were looking and i felt a wee bit awkward, but once on the ferry amid the people, it started to move and i looked at the blind man next to me. I had a realization at that moment that he was literally my brother, just as Benjamin and Daniel are. He was crippled and had a rough life, knew no English, and in mortality i had never met him. But finally i had met another of my brothers from the pre-mortal existence and found a way to connect with him. He told Elder Dimingu and Lyons (who speak Swahili) that he wants to sing a song for me for helping. He sang something in Arabic, it was a Muslim song of blessing haha! When the ferry stopped, i led him up the hill-side, avoiding rocks and stuff and into a matatu that was going to Bamburi, and left him from there. I'll probably meet him again in the Spirit world. And i doubt that he will receive the Gospel in mortality, but i hope that when he gets to the Spirit world, he will see how the missionaries helped him and he will accept the Gospel there.
Sunday and today we drove back, back into the relative cold :) I like Nairobi alot, it feels alot like home now haha. But overall, a pretty darn exciting weekend. Lots to write in the the journal about. I love my mission. It will take adjusting to be in the office, but even so i love doing what i do and i will just do my best to serve the Lord with the little time i have left. I love you all and hope to hear from you :)
Love forever and ever, Conrad
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