Busia is Blossoming

Us, Elders Tuttle, Ariho, Tyler, Pakati, and Kagame

On June 11th we made another trip to Busia to teach the group of people then numbering 40, only this time we were there to introduce the first missionaries to be assigned to their town (other than the couple missionaries). Terry and I reviewed with them what we had been teaching up to that day including some hymns, the apostasy, restoration, coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the Plan of Salvation and the commandments such as the Word of Wisdom, law of chastity, keeping the Sabbath day holy, etc....when the four missionaries, the zone leader from Mbale and an elder of the church arrived. It was a fantastic moment in our missionary experience. Each elder came into the home, shook everyone's hand and sat down, it was like the army of the Lord arriving. Each elder stood and introduced himself, bore testimony and said how happy he was to be in Busia. The zone and district leaders decided what to do from that point on. They divided the people up into three groups depending on how long they have been coming to the meetings with us. So we left them...happily and a bit reluctantly....one group was on the porch, another, under the mango tree and the long-timers in the home. It was a wonderful moment but I forgot to take pictures.
Since that time the Busia elders have been diligently teaching and preparing them for baptism. The big day came on July 17th...we traveled the two hours to join up with the group as they loaded into taxi vans to travel another 45 minutes to get to Lake Victoria for the 31 baptisms.

Picture of all 31 to be baptized.

First group to be baptized

We only had 13 sets of clothes so the next group had to put on wet clothes...nobody complained!!

Elder Tyler had organized the records so well that my job of recording who baptized who was not difficult at all. It was so fun to see the joy each person felt as they came out of the water.
Some men from Majanji saw us drive through their little town on our way to the lake and walked down to see what was happening. They witnessed many of the baptisms (a couple of them had been taught by the missionaries in Busia) and wanted to have an opportunity to hear more of the gospel and receive baptism too. Terry took some time with them explaining about the Book of Mormon and gave them copies of their own, along with some pamphlets but couldn't promise when missionaries will be sent to their area. Heavenly Father's children in this land are hungry to know Him.

On our way out of Busia Terry was commenting that the car was pulling heavily towards the left and wondered why. It was only a minute later when there was a thump, thump...and we knew we had a flat tire. We pulled over off the road and within minutes we had help from three young men who were just passing by and offered to help. What could have been a very bad experience turned into a very positive one. There were so many spectators around us by the time the tire was changed I decided it was a good opportunity to give out some booklets on the doctrine of Christ and as a distraction while Terry paid the helpers a tip for helping.
We got home just before dark, tired and a bit hungry, but very happy and spiritually full.
The next day we took Terry's suit pants and all the baptismal clothes to be laundered.
We are grateful to be here and involved in such a wonderful work.

Mbale Branch Organized

I know that most of the entries on this blog are way over-due but our internet service and electrical power has really given us a fit for months on end. A couple days ago we had our IT guy from Kampala here and he has worked wonders.

Anyway, on June 5th after such diligent work of all the Mbale missionaries (to the right), our church group was organized into a Branch with a new Branch Presidency (the President being a new member of only three months), an Elders Quorum Presidency, Relief Society, Primary and Sunday School Presidents and Sunday School teacher. President Jackson, the mission President, came and did all the interviewing, calling and setting-aparts and where needed, ordinations. It was an awesome day and the Branch has been growing ever since.

Pastor Friends

It has been a privilege and blessing for us to get to know a number of pastors in Uganda. We have enjoyed our visits with them which in Mbale are usually on Mondays. We call our P-days such not as a Preparation Day but as a Pastor Day. We first met Simon and Ambrose when we stopped at Faith Radio to see about getting the Mormon Tab Choir program on their station. It turned out that they don't have good enough equipment to down load the program but we have a great friendship developing.

Ambrose, Elder Rix and Simon

The next pastor we met in Mbale actually stopped us in town as we were going into Bam to do a little shopping. He had noticed our name and he made a comment that his name was almost the same...REX. So he gave us his card and invited us to his church for the Wednesday fellowship.

Rex in the rain.

The reason we were assigned to Mbale was to befriend and teach William, the pastor of the Restored Church,....he broke off from the Reorganized Church when they started to change their doctrines and more or less discarded the Book of Mormon. It's been a slow process but he has now said he wants to be baptized and will work with his members to bring them along also.

Brother William with his granddaughter.

Then last but not least, is our friend in Busia, Silas. He is the head pastor in that area and is getting close to retiring. We met him on our first visit to Busia and have seen him almost every time we have been there. On one visit he asked us for a Book of Mormon and has been reading it...the last time we heard, he was already in the book of Helaman and was really enjoying it. You will see in the pictures his love of the scriptures by the look of his scriptures.

To Market, To Market to buy.....

There are times when we wish there was a Costco or Walmart down the street from us. Shopping would be so much easier. As it is, we travel over pot-holed roads to town and shop at a "Super market" called Bam. They have much of what we need but are low on much of what we want. They don't carry much fresh produce because the open market is located down the block and over a few more blocks. We have to tread lightly around the garbage and don't breath too deeply because of the smell to buy such items as: carrots, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, green peppers and pineapples.
All of our vegetables, fruits and eggs have to be soaked in a clorox solution before we can think of eating them or we might end up with what they call 'runny tummy'.

Willie

In a previous blog it was mentioned that Willie, our gardener and part-time guard, cut the lawn on the two acre lot with a machete which would take him days and days of back breaking work. Some people from the mission office stopped by one day when he was hard at it and decided that they would make sure he got a push mower.
The day Terry put the lawnmower together and gave it to him to use, he spent the next four hours and mowed all but the bottom terrace. He has since figured out to leave the catcher for the clippings off...it slows him down.

Together Again

We are loving our mission in Uganda. The country is beautiful and the people have been so kind to us and are eager to learn of the Savior's restored church which we are happy to teach!!
One of the best highlights of our time here was when our children and grandson came for a (too) short visit. Families are meant to be together forever and we felt blessed to have them with us and to see the delight they felt as we traveled through Uganda. The sights and sounds were always interesting and even the long trips seemed shorter because there was always something to see.

Seeing each other for the first time in many months.

Here's the first of many wild beasts they saw in country. We have lots of these guys at the church building in Mbale.

On the hill overlooking the "source of the Nile".
We took a short boat ride to see the natural spring bubbling up into the outlet of Lake Victoria which 'they' say is the source of the Nile river. Then we hurried back to our friends home where Ben was ordained by his father to the office of a High Priest. It was an amazing and humbling experience and the main reason Ben came to Uganda.

Happy travelers on the way to Murchison Falls game park.

Equally happy travelers coming home from Murchison Falls!!

Red Letter Day in Busia

1 March 2011

Well, let’s see…where do I start? Ok, today was a red-letter day for us! We had been assigned
by the Mission President to go to Busia and look around for a place to meet and for a place for
the missionaries to live, when Busia is opened. On the way we stopped in Tororo to visit a
member of the church and drop off some Church magazines which had not yet been delivered
from Church Distribution, in Kampala.

Tororo is about 1 hour south from Mbale, over some pretty rough pot holed roads! But we
made it. Anyway Kris called him yesterday, and made arrangements to meet in Tororo. We
met and walked to his home, close to the clock-tower in town. His name is Jadwong, John. He
was baptized in July (?), 1998, and is an Elder. He is married to Jadwong, Mary Magdalene,
and they have 5 children. I asked him for his marriage date, and he said that was something
that needed to be done, so they could go to the temple. I assume that they were tribally married,
but am not sure. He does want to be married in the Church, so we are going to email him the
needed information so the process can begin. We will also send an announcement form to his
ward in Kampala, so it can be posted for 3 weeks; after which they can be properly married,
and then prepare for the temple! Anyway our visit was delightful, and a wonderful spirit was in
the home. We had prayer and administered the sacrament to his family. He gave us his tithing
to turn in to his ward, and to Bishop Babejo in Kololo. I think his records are there. I think he
used to be the Ward clerk. We gave him 4 copies of the Book of Mormon, some copies of the
21 question pamphlet, and some pass-along cards, so he could invite his friends to learn about
the Church. He said there was a man, who came to his insurance business who noticed his Book
of Mormon, and said that he had one also. John invited him over for a scripture study session,
but the man hasn’t yet come. It seems like John is not ashamed to talk about the church. He was
very very pleased that the first full-time missionaries had come into Tororo! He spoke as a man
of faith. He invited us back. He and his wife would be a good source in establishing the Church
in Tororo. We had some very good feelings about this man, this family and this city! Perhaps
the time is right to send missionaries to this location.

Busia is about 40 minutes past Tororo. There are bicycles everywhere!! We learned of, and
called Godfrey Ogutu, a member of the Jinja Mpumudde Branch. He was hard to understand,
but he sent us a text message that we should contact a Bwire, John, a non-member. So we called
him yesterday. Then we called him again today when we got to Busia. We met on the main
street. He was very excited to meet us. He has been taught a little bit of the gospel by Godfrey.
Two of Godrey’s children (who live in Busia, and are members of the church) walk two hours
each way to Kenya to attend church. Pretty faithful for being only age 15 and 14!!! John’s son,
Ronnie, is taking missionary lessons when he goes to church on Sunday in Kenya. John took us
to his home. Within 30 minutes there were 14 people (and us) in attendance!! Two members
of the Church, and 12 investigators! Four were school-aged children who temporarily got out
of school to attend this meeting, and the rest were adults. We taught the group for around an
hour. We covered subjects we felt needed to be covered, from the apostasy to the restoration; the resurrection; our love of Jesus Christ; the Book of Mormon, and living prophets. As we taught, the people would nod their heads in total agreement. There was not one negative comment! It was almost as if they had thought of these doctrines before! Next time, we will teach them the Doctrine of Christ. We gave out 7 copies of the Book of Mormon along with the 21-question

pamphlet. One of Godfrey’s sons, Stephen, who is 15 years old, is a Deacon, and would be the
presiding local leader until people are baptized and ordained. There was a beautiful, sweet spirit
there!! It was like the people were hungering for the truth! After the meeting, we were driving
home, when we decided to stop at a local Pentecostal church (which was close to John’s home),
and ask if he might know of the Pastor in Mukono, and his brother in Busia. The Pastor, Silas
Kenyi, a very wonderful and sweet man, who had his scriptures open on the table when we went
in to visit him, greeted us in his warm manner. We had a nice visit, and finally asked him about
his large church, and when they met on Sunday. He said they met from 8 am to 1:30. We then
asked if we could rent the facility from 2-5 or so. He said he will need to talk to the council of
Pastors of which he is the president, and find out the cost, etc. We did not promise anything yet,
but were investigating the possibilities. We exchanged emails and telephone numbers.
This city may be well prepared for the missionaries. John agreed to look for a place for the
missionaries to live, and also for a place to hold church. He even agreed to dig a hole for a
baptismal font in his yard!!