September 23/2013
So we've been a little worried about our missionary this week...
We started hearing about this late Friday night. By Saturday and Sunday it has been the headlining story in all the news. The latest news this morning is that 68 are dead and 175 are wounded. We know that Carson was in Nairobi on Monday, but don't know whether he has left for Dar es Salaam yet.
Before Carson left, I signed up with an online group known as LDS missionary moms. This weekend, they have been emailing like crazy!!! Apparently it is transfer week in the mission and all the moms are abuzz about where their missionary will go. These are some of the comments made after I mentioned that Carson will be going to Dar es Salaam as his first assignment:
"I think it's amazing that Elder Williams is going straight to Tanzania. In Tanzania, church meetings are held in Swahili. With no language training at all. That's like throwing him into the deep end. What an awesome son you must have! He'll learn to swim fast! He will have a tutor help him learn the language for a few hours twice a week is what I've heard. Mark went to Busia first which is very tribal, and he felt like everyone spoke everything but English--they heavily used tribal languages instead. He learned Swahili quickly in order to survive. Mark had members translate the mission pamphlets into Swahili and he learned a LOT that way."
My heart kind of dropped at this one. I figured he would have to learn a few things in swahili but not that much and that fast!!!
"My son has said many times that you have to be African when you are there. There are some big cultural differences between African and American Elders. I highly suggest that your son go out of his way to socialize with the African Elders at District or Zone meetings. They feel that Americans are stand-offish, don't include them, and think they are better than the African Elders (broad stereotypes here.) Mark said that at his first Zone Mtg. that it was heavenly to be around people who wanted to play basketball, and who knew about stuff from the States. But he quickly realized that it alienated the African missionaries, and he reached out to them instead of being where it was comfortable for him. And then little things--like the fact that he doesn't put handlotion on every morning like they tend to do--are different too. By the time your son comes home, he will be African. Mark says he's amazed that his skin is white."
This one kind of made me chuckle a bit...
"For All the Kenya Moms waiting on pins and needles about transfers. My son told me that the reason they don't find out until Monday Nights is because evidently two zones decided to take a Saturday off after finding out about transfers. They all went out to eat at a stake house - must have been in Nairobi because guess who else was going out to dinner with his wife? You guessed it - Pres. Hicken. Thus, they don't find out about transfers until Monday evenings. Which does not give them time to take a night off. Kind of funny, but good to know that Pres Hicken is on top of things. I think he is a very good mission President in more ways than one. I am glad he is there with our boys!"
So this morning, I woke up at 3 am and started staring at the email account. When will he write to me...? And finally, at 4:36 am, this pops up...
Hey mom. well here i am writing to you, and i will answer your questions. we arrived at the airport at 3 and then drove to the Mission Pres home at 8. because of the traffic. I really didn't see much of the mission home but it kinda of was like a big apartment. i was their for three days. Then flew to Dar es saleem Friday. i'm staying in a 4 missionary flat with my Comp, Elder Sibanda and I. My comp is from Zimbabwae and is leaving Nov 4. So all that mines is i will be half way through training and they will take him away and i will be pared up with someone else. And yes in Church all it was is Swahili so all i did was sit their just chilling out. i was very weird. and i just prayed that they didn't call on me to bear my testimony. some of them understand English but not many. Yes i got your packages. I really appreciate the one. it is so good to see my family once and a while. Thanks i Love you guys alot. oh and i just want to say thanks for George and the Plan of Salvation diagram. I ve used it alot thus far in the field and everybody loves it. Thank you Thank you... And Kaylee it is good to hear from you. but no i'm is Tanzinia right now and trying my hardest to learn Swahili. and i am eating some wierd food. i will let u guess what this is. Chips Mayia.
Give up yet...
It is French Fries pressed together by eggs. it actually was really good. However if i keep this up i'm going to come home looking like Dad. Which of course there is nothing wrong with that.
Anyway thanks for the Email really enjoyed them all. it has been a lot of fun over here. i have PD on monday's now so start expecting replies on Monday. Thanks again love you guys alot.
Elder Williams
Now...don't get me wrong...I was elated to hear from him. But that's an awfully short letter for the amount of questions I had asked him in my last letter. I had told him that I expected an extra long letter because I hadn't heard from him in a while. So...not sure if this is legal or not...I wrote him right back and we were able to chat a bit between emails for the next hour. It took a lot of coaxing...but I was able to drag some other info out of him!!!
This is what chips mayia look like: (I'm in love with the music...it's so ZEN!!!)
I asked him about the heat and humidity of Tanzania:
Well Das es Saleem is very big, their is alot of Africans and not to many white people. but other than that it is VERY VERY HOT... like Humid hot. but it is very sweet and alot of fun.
"Is it as hot as Nauvoo was?"
Well not as hot. but it is just as humid. you walk out side and it instant water.
Then he tells me this:
and also there is lot of wildlife here. salamanders and... Bats.
I had to ask him if there were any snakes (I hate snakes and bats!!!) (Connie...do NOT send me more pictures of freaky fast aggressive mambo snakes!!!)
well i haven't seen any but we got a book about reptiles and apparently there is alot of snakes here. and some of them can fly too. ;)
Love how he's mocking me with the winky smiley face at the end there!
I did ask him about missionary stuff too...like teaching investigators etc...
The kidoni Branch is where we went to church yesterday.
Yes i bought a Swahili B of M in the Mission Office Distrabution center. and for the rest of the day we will be having FHE with a RC and then go home. (I had to ask him what RC meant...'recent convert')
I asked him about the Johannesburg MTC and the temple.
It was ok. the food was good, and as a district it was a party all the time. but i'm kind of wishing they would have taught me some swahili before coming out. The Temple trip was so much fun. went to the temple took some pictures and went for a session. it was alot of fun but we had some mechanical errors. The veil in our room wouldn't go up so he had to go to a different room and continue. but other than that it was a lot of fun.
Then I asked him how the swahili language thing was going:
Nzuri- ok
Baba- Father
Mama is Mom
kisu is Knife
KaKa is Brother
Shikamoo is hello to an Elderly person, then reply is Malahaba, WuJambo.
Then my reply is SiJambo.
Don't ask me what they mean all i know they are greeting.
He was very sweet and actually remembered my birthday and our wedding anniversary. (After reading Ken's letter I think.)
Happy late Birthday and happy late anniversary. i would have bought you a card but being on the other side of the world and all makes it kind of difficult.
I did ask him about his food situation after watching the video about french fries and eggs:
Well the first day we went and ate out but for the other days he has basically made food for me. we had Noodles one night and some rice and some kind of sauce the next. it was very good. um just this morning i did some laundry. and um it was a new experience.
"Are your white shirts still white?"
um as from the last time i saw them they still where.
"Did you just wash them in a bucket or do you have something more modern to use?"
Nope it is in a Bucket. ;)
I did ask him if he had heard anything about the shootings in Nairobi...
Nope i haven't heard anything about that. Possible because i haven't seen anything of technology until today. well it looks like my time is just about up so talk to you later. Love you guys a lot. say hi to the sisters for me.
And that was that! Sooooo grateful that he's safe and happy! It was such a blessing to hear from him this morning! I think I might make it one more week! (Unfortunately, there's still 101 more weeks to go!)
I did have to look up some more videos about how to speak swahili. As much as I'm worried about him being overwhelmed with being thrown into learning this new language...I'm kind of excited that he has this opportunity to learn something so completely new!!
As for the other missionary moms...they are starting to write in about all the transfers. As much as one of the last comments about the missionaries taking the day off after hearing about transfer made me chuckle...this one sobered me up fast. So grateful Heavenly Father is in control and knows what is truly happening...
"I chatted about this new policy with my parents, and they had a good chuckle
because they knew exactly why President Hicken had made it. They served in
Uganda and got home about two years ago, and confirmed what Jeana had
written earlier: there is a tendency for missionaries to take Saturday off
and have a "holiday" if they know they're getting transferred. They visit
people, go out to eat, they *go shopping.* My heart skipped a beat when my
Mom mentioned that. That mall in Nairobi is upscale because it caters to
ex-pats ie. It has stores that sell Western food and treats.
So yeah, very, VERY grateful and humbled today that all the missionaries are
safe."
So as much as I worry about Carson, I know Heavenly Father is taking care of him and all will be well.
No comments:
Post a Comment