Letter from Josh 7 June 2010

dear family,

this week was really good. we had 2 zone conferences, one in Nairobi and one in Eldoret (western Kenya). both of them went really well. this is President Taylor's last round of zone conferences. He is sad to be going, for the most part anyways. Sis Taylor seems pretty excited to go home. but both of them are working very hard. i have been very impressed by the way that they both make plans and schedule and take long hours discussing with branch leaders and so on about things that they wont even be here for, about things they will be long gone for. things in December and next year a bit. it would be much easier to just say "well the new mission president is going to have to have this same talk with you later and will probably change some things so you can just wait and talk to him." they are a great example of finishing strong and working their hardest to the end.
I am sure Greg was much the same during his last weeks. i cant believe he is home now. it was weird to see the pictures of him in his house and in the back yard. and it was also weird to see a big hole in the back yard. things have changed sooooo much!!!
Eldoret was a really cool place. it was my first time to western Kenya and it is a lot more green there. it was also a lot cooler. it got down to the 50's, and while they may not be too low for you, i havent been that cold since i came. so it was a bit of a shock. but it was fun. the missionaries that side are awesome. i wish we could have stayed longer and got to know them better. the zone conference in eldoret was more powerfull then the one in nairobi. there were a lot of young missionaries there. it made it much easier to train because they would listen and ask good questions. but the spirit was also much stronger. My companion and i have been training on effective study and specifically the importance of their investigators having effective studies. its something that all Kenyans struggle with. the attitude here is that you do the assignments given as if it were school or something but no more than that. which is partially because the schools go for 12 hours and then give large amounts of homework so they dont really have time for much else. its also a bit of a pride thing because they all want to be the smart one and the better grade you get without studying the smarter you are. and then its also because of laziness. but the biggest problem throughout the mission is people going less active after a short amount of time. but if they have effective studies then their desires to come for the right reasons in the first place as well as remaining after-wards will greatly increase. and i know that effective studies will greatly increase our (all of you back at home and myself) desires and motivations to be obedient and to come closer to Jesus Christ as well.
this week will be busy again. we have another zone conference here in Nairobi tomorrow and then Thursday we head to Mombasa for the zone conference there on Friday and then saturday and sunday we will do exchanges there and then we will come back on monday again. it should be a good week but it will definitely be a busy one. we also have to stop by the kilungu hills to deliver some wardrobes and other things they have been going without and then in chyulu as well to take care of some stuff so it will be packed.
i love you guys!!! have fun at home. i hope you are all doing great.
love,
Elder Harris