Letter from Josh 7 Sept 2009 Labor Day

dear Family,

so, Chyulu was pretty sweet. its the kind of place you would think of when you first think Kenya. out in the bush, mud huts, everybody grows their own food and raises their own animals and such. it was cool to visit, but i am glad i am not serving there full time. they are super far away from everything! i didnt see any wild animals, unless you count stray dogs and cats. they use bikes in chyulu and they have to go far!!!!!!! their closest area is a half hour away and their farthest is over two. the place i went took us an hour and a half to get their. my butt hurt for a few days. they have a small flat though and there are already four missionarys in there, so when we got there it felt like they were just packing rats into a pringles can, but it was only a few nights. And i got to do some baptismal interviews while i was there. i love seeing how happy people are and how much they love Christ and want to follow him. and then to see how excited they get when i tell them that they have passed. its kinda funny actually, they hear interview and start freaking out, even though the missionarys that taught them have gone over the questions with them beforehand. but they are ood people, they just need to relax about some things.
The rest of the week was pretty cool too. the assistants came to do exchanges with us here, which was fun, but we stayed up too late last night and so it was super hard to get up today. thank goodness it was p-day. I just felt bad that they had to come on exchanges on a sunday. people here dont like to be visited on sundays. they feel that they already have to come to church, so they would raher you talk to them about the gospel again later in the week. We have a few baptisms coming up next week. our goal is five, but we may have to postpone two of them because they need a polygamy interview and president taylor isnt exactly fast about getting those done, but hopefully it will work. i actually feel like i am a part of these ones though. the ones earlier in the transfer i just felt like i hadnt really even taught anything to them at all, which for some of them was true and others i had taught once or maybe twice. it should be a good week though.
I am scared for transfer news on saturday cause i dont know the area still. when we went on exhanges with the assistants i went the completely wrong way twice and made us late for three apointments and we had to pay for matatus back to the right place. good news is i think i will remember how to get to those peoples houses now. bad news is, i dont know if i can get to the rest of them. this place is super confusing.
i got the package this week. the assistants brought it when they came. they got here saturday night, and one of the bags of m&ms is already gone. it was the four of us eating it and not just myself, but still, three and a half pounds of them gone in one day, i am so not use to that much sugar, i kinda fel sick today, but it was worth it. thanks for all the other stuff too! i love getting mail and packages.
i love you guys so much! i miss you too. i hope all goes well and that people stop getting sck and dying at home, it seems like that has happened a lot more since i got here. STAY HEALTHY!
Love you with all of my heart,
Josh