Sept. 26. 2011

                                                                                               
My week has been great!!!

 I love it here! And I'm sorry that you are all alone in the house, and thank you for telling grandma hi for me :) ya - if dad comes home and the lawns not mowed..... well you know how he is lol : just kidding.
That is really sad that you didn’t get the cd of photos. that was the main part of it. But oh well I will just make another one :) sorry it has taken so long to get pictures to you.

 So I do have a story for you :) it’s about one of our investigators. Hussain, he used to be Muslim but converted to Christianity. He said that he was growing up and being trained to become a leader in the Muslim religion when he became blind and paralyzed and for the 3 days that he was blind he said that Christ came to him and told him of the truth and he said he was paralyzed for 7 months, but when he was well he told his family who then tried to kill him so he had to flee for his life but not after he had been shot in the leg and persecuted by his family.  For safety he came to Kenya because he was living in Ethiopia, so he ran away from his family but not till after being shot and all that mostly by his uncle and father. He has been here for 8 years but he can’t work here because he doesn’t have a working permit, so he doesn’t have a job and he and his family are being kicked out of their house on Friday. But still in the mist of all of this hardship I have never seen so much faith. He has never stopped trusting in the Lord, and now we are teaching him the lessons. So I hope that everything will work out with him, if you could send some prayers his way I know that will help a lot!!

The work is going great! We have a lot of investigators coming to church and 6 have baptismal dates! :) One of them for next week. :) His name is Alan and I have to say he is our best investigator! He is going to be a STRONG member!!! So the work is going really good! :)

No I don’t spend my whole day emailing – ha ha :) we clean the flat we do our laundry. And we also do a lot of activities with other missionaries. Like last week we went and watched some tribal dancing that was cool. It was really neat to see how some of the dances looked like some of the Native American dances.

Don’t worry I am taking care of myself mom :)  we eat healthy things mostly its rice and beans. It makes be laugh because we would joke before how I would get sent to a place where all I would eat would be rice and beans, and in a way it came true :) it’s not all we eat but we have it A LOT!!!!!!

 I am looking forward to conference and I will love to read that talk from Pres.Uchtdorf that you are talking about. But for us we don’t watch it live. We watch the recording at the church like a week or two after it happens for real. So we all watch it there. We could watch it online if we wanted but we would have to stay up all night so that would not be a good idea. So I am looking forward to that and also I am looking forward to seeing Elder Nelson!!!!!!! He is coming here on the 29th of OCT. its going to be GREAT!!!!!

It’s great to hear from all of you. :) It is crazy this month has gone by so fast at least for me I don’t know about you. But it has been a good month for the work here:)

Libby: I am serving in a part of the city of Nairobi named Riruta. I have been in the same place for almost 3 months. and I have had only 1 companion but he is going home on Oct 6 so when he leaves I will get a new one. :)

Logan: what happens is that we get the recording of conference and then we all go to the church to watch it. so we watch it maybe a week or two after it really happens.

Parker: that is supper cool that you are going to be a teenager. Just don’t be a stupid one. :) And yes we get a lot of home work on a mission. We need to find things to help our investigators and plus we get to teach lessons in church all the time because the teacher doesn’t show up or something so we have to be ready. And plus every day we study the scriptures for two hours. :) so ya we have homework :)

KC: Yes, I will send you a post card. I am trying to find  you a really cool one :) and no I don’t have to learn Spanish :) I have to learn another language called Kiswahili :)

Jameson: So the coolest thing that has happened to me on my mission so far? Well I love spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, but I know that’s not what you want to hear. :) There are a lot of things that I could tell you but most of them are not really that cool they are more sad and scary. I can tell you one cool thing - I have eaten fish brain and eyes and the whole head. even the bones :) that was cool even if the bones were really really crunchy. :) and yes I have seen a lot of bows and arrows and spears. A lot of them. and it can get really hot but it can be cold to. But on the coast it can get REALLY REALLY HOT!!!!!!! like you have no idea. I do like my Ward here. They are very nice people!

You will find that where ever you go in the world you will always feel as if you are at home if you find a branch of the Church. And not really anyone has iPods or computers here. People don’t have cars. You need to know that the people here don’t live like you do. Their house is a one room tin shed. Most homes don’t have their own bath room. and they have to go outside to use the toilet. and it’s not like ours it’s a hole in the ground that you have to squat over. You need to know how blessed you are to live like you do.

I am in a part of Nairobi. And Nairobi is the biggest city in east Africa I am in a place called Riruta and that is just to the West of down town about as far out of town as you can get and still be in town if that makes sense. There is one other kind of big city but it’s on the coast called Mombasa. But it is not even close to as big as Nairobi. and those are really the only 2 city's here. The rest are towns, and yes they are like in the movies with the dirt roads, but that is not just out of the city. No, lol that is also in the city. Like where I am at I think we have 4 to 6 paved roads, the rest are dirt/mud/trash/other things that we don’t need to talk about, but when you get to town center it’s like a big city. It has tall buildings and everything. I hope that answered your questions. I love answering questions like that so keep them coming :)

Thank you again :) I love you all!!!! Don’t forget to read your scriptures!!!!!!!!! :)

September 12, 2011

I will look forward to getting the life history of Grandpa. That will
be nice to read.

About the charger, its ok, I went and bought one, it’s all good now.
and I met the Walderan’s :) they are wonderful people!!!! I was very
lucky to meet them :)

Ok, so about this sister that is going to Provo. Her name is Sister
Lilian. She is WONDERFUL!!! She is very nice and talkative. She is a
VERY GOOD singer as well. Her calling is Stake music director. but I
know you will like her a lot. I gave her the home phone number and the
address and told her to call and if she needed a ride you or dad could pick
her up if that’s ok. I plan on sending some things with her, nothing
much just some pics. She leaves on Thursday so I don’t know when she is
going to get there. But I really hope that you will be able to meet
with her and talk.  I don’t know what to have you send back with her, you know you don’t really have to send anything (but a washing machine would be nice :)
just kidding :) but come to think of it some more Alfredo packets
would be nice :)  :) :) :) :) :) :) they didn’t last as long as I would
have liked.

So I did go and look at the pics on the Byrds blog and your right that
is me :) we had a Mormon helping hands day, didn’t I tell you about that?
If not I’m sorry, we went to this place and did a lot of stuff like
paint, move rocks, plant trees, rake rocks, more & more rocks, and burn
trash. :) so that was fun in that pic with me looking at the BIG rock.
What was going on is that we needed to brake it up, so some of us were
taking turns at hitting it with this big mettle rod, and because I am
really big, especially compared to these Kenyans, I got picked to help
brake the rocks, but that was fun :) and it wasn't just Nairobi it was
the whole of Africa :) all of the Stakes and wards were asked to do
service on one day it was supper cool!!!!

Oh and before forget. I love getting sister Blackburn’s letters!!!!!
Can you tell her thank you for me and that I will be sending her a
letter soon. Also can you tell her to put my full name on the letter
like Elder Tyler Treasure Hodges, because for some reason Salt Lake
keeps telling me that she needs to do that, so if that is ok.

And I can’t wait for the letters from the primary!!!!! That is going to
be soooooo cool to get!!!!!!!! And it is even cooler that Caleb was
one of them that got to write to me!!!!!! :) I will be looking forward
to getting those letters! :)

As for me this week has been really good :) we worked really really
hard! We taught a lot of people, and we are getting more and more
people to teach!! My area is great!, but before I came it was dead I
don’t know why because the people here are ready for the gospel. In
fact we have so many people that we can’t see them all in one week. One
of the things that I am scared about is losing investigators just because
we don’t have time to see them. So the work here in Riruta Kenya is
going very very well. The only down fall is the members, like 80% of
them are inactive and we don’t know where they live or their phone
numbers or anything. So I don’t know how we are going to find them. But
we are praying and working. Also we had Stake conference on Sunday.
That was really cool! It was also the first time that I got to wear my
suit on my mission!!! :) but it did make me think of stake conference
back home and in the Provo Tabernacle and how sad it is that it burned
down. Do you know if they are going to rebuild it? ( I asked the same
question to dad but I am guessing that he will forget to answer it :)
so I am trusting you ) so it has been a good week for me :) but I am
kind of thinking that I want to get out of the city of Nairobi. I just
want to go out and experience more of Kenya see more people and
things. But then another part of me wants to stay here because I LOVE
going to the office and seeing president so much! that is wonderful
also I get mail really fast :) so I am kinda torn, but I know that
right now at this point in my mission this is where I need to be. So I
am doing my best.

So it sounds like you have been really really busy back at the home,

And all around that part of the country. I mean working hard in Provo

then going to Idaho then right after going to Vagas. I mean that’s a lot of running around.

I really wish I could have been at the funeral of Grandpa but I know

the best thing that I can do is be here. I hope it all went well.

That’s also cool that you are going to go back east again. I know you

and mom will have fun time like you always do. :) And I was kind of

wondering if the exchange club did anything cool for the 10 year

anniversary of 9-11? If so what did you do? I tried to explain to my

comp what 9-11 was like in the US he never thought that it had such a

big impact.

And I am super bummed that BYU lost to Texas! They need to kick it in

to gear. It doesn’t sound like you are yelling at the TV loud enough :)

And you were right I heard about Grandpa's death when I

read your email. And then the day after I was on splits with the Zone

Leaders and we got a call from President but we were in a lesson so I

just had to hang up on him before he said anything. But then we called

back and asked if I knew and I said that I did. So that is what

happened. But then the day after I went to the office for our weekly

DDM and he was there and he gave me a hug and said that it was from

Grandpa so that was nice.

It also sounds like you are working hard on the house :) that’s super

cool! And I am happy to hear that it wasn't me that took the fence out

this time :) although I might have helped it along. :) I bet it looks

great! I hope you have Jordan helping you or something. :)

That is super sad that the Westover’s are selling their part in the

Cabin. Did they say why? Did you tell them that I would by it in like

20 years? :)

I love hearing about you and the temple! And how long have you been

working there now? Like 8 months? And they made you an assistant

Coordinator? How does that change what you do? If you keep moving

like this they are going to ask you to be Temple President in like 4

Or 5 years :) lol, keep up the good work dad :) it blesses all of us :)

 We found out that Elder Nelson is going to be here on the 29th of

October!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait to see him. I

hope he comes and has a talk with just the missionaries!!!!! That would be so cool!!!!!!

So life is good here :)

Elder T. T. Hodges