Certificates

Wilson, Joseph, Tyrel, Elly, Rebecca and Paul in the back.

Ugandans love certificates. In this picture they just received a certificate for completing a Book of Mormon class. After the Doctrine and Covenants institute class ended we decided to use the intervening weeks to teach all of the Book of Mormon. Eleven weeks later they received their certificates with their heads full of doctrines, events and personalities from that great and most correct book. Terry and I were extremely happy we survived it all. Have you ever tried to teach all of the book of Alma in one and a half hours??

President and Sister Jackson

President Eric Jackson is the mission president for the Uganda Kampala Mission and the initial reason we are serving here. The Spirit was the moving force behind our acceptance. We have known him and his wife since our last mission in South Africa so when we heard he had been called to be the mission president we wrote an email to congratulate him. It didn't take him long to write us back and in his email he wrote, "I have been thinking of you two since I got this call and was wondering if you would consider joining us in Uganda for another mission"??? It took the Spirit only a few minutes to confirm to us that we should go and here we are, serving under this great man.





The Jackson's are phenomenal people as they travel to all the areas in this huge mission which covers all of Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Southern Sudan and Rwanda. The equivalent area would be all of the US east of the Mississippi River. Millions of people, numerous tribes and many languages would be a daunting challenge for most people but the Jackson's take it in stride. We love them for their example and loving kindness to all. We are amazed at their energy, dedication and optimism.

Apart for Now

Sometimes we feel a world a part from our friends and family...maybe because we are on the other side of the world...but we feel your love and prayers and that has sustained us. Thanks and much love back to you.

Fellow Citizens

Since the last blog entry the work has been going on!!

Emmanuel and his father, John, before his baptism. He was previously baptized two years ago but was never confirmed because his family had to move to a new location. He is now a full member of the Church. All things in order in our Father's kingdom. John and his family are preparing to go to the temple this year but it takes a lot of money to acquire passports and yellow fever shots for seven people. They have great faith that the Lord will help them.

Five baptized on December 31st have begun their new year with new life in the gospel. Sarah, third from the left, was a pastor of another church. She heard the message of the restored gospel and knew it was true, resigned her position and with two of her children entered the waters of baptism. Joseph and Pius were also happy to join the church.

Mama Florence, holding her baby, was baptized along with three of her children a couple months ago. In this picture, her older daughter is preparing to do the same. Florence has six children and when she was pregnant with the baby her husband walked out on them...hasn't been seen since. Their life is difficult but they have joy because they have found the true church of Jesus Christ.

We are so blessed in getting to know these good people.

Christmas in Uganda

Christmas in Uganda is certainly a different experience with green grass and trees, birds singing and lizards running around the place. We have avocados and papaya hanging on our trees for decorations. No white Christmas for us this year!!
On Christmas Eve day we hosted our eight elders for a big breakfast and then enjoyed a spiritual program of scripture reading, carol singing and topped it off with a viewing of "It's a Wonderful Life", the best Christmas movie of all time.











Elder Bailey, Elder Winters and Elder McChesney finding goodies in their stockings.











Elders Kaseve, Ngqoyiya, Lyman, Maumbe and Ogollah are making sure they have as many treasures as the others!! The chocolate santas didn't last long...
We hope the elders felt a little bit of home with us and that their parents are comforted to know that they are well cared for.

Thanksgiving with Good Friends

Instead of a quiet day by ourselves with no incentive to cook creatively, we were blessed to have two of our favorite couples join us in Mbale for a few days over Thanksgiving. What a treat it was for us!!
The Thayns and Frosts are so nice to have around providing us with good conversation, accounts of exciting experiences like almost sliding off the mountain-side in their car and inspiring missionary encounters. These two couples may be the best missionaries in the whole mission!! They will even share the gospel with the police men that pull them over to the side of the road. Their technique is to keep the upper hand on the situation by saying, "Do you like to read? Can you read English?" and then they hand them a church pamphlet on the gospel. Distraction works well especially if the people have a love for their Savior...and most do.










Elder Frost spent the first few hours in Mbale training the Branch clerks on the use of MLS and he impressed them so much they wanted him to come back the next day (Thanksgiving), not that they had any more questions, but they just liked being around him!! The day after Thanksgiving Elder and Sister Thayn taught five of our members a 'Planning for Success' lesson and then taught the leaders their role in the PEF program. So the vacation was really a working one (not just a lot of fun and goofing off...just in case there are any out there that think missions are snap).






Here are the missionaries hard
at work, studying, working on
the computers and generally much engaged in doing good works!! Me, I was goofing off taking the pictures.

Another Wedding

On November 18th, 19th and 20th we were in Jinja for Zone Conference and the Jinja District Conference. Elder Renlund of the Seventy and our Africa Southeast Area President was the visiting authority with his dynamic wife. They both spoke to the missionaries on Friday and then to the members of the church from Jinja, Mbale and Busia. There were more than 500 people in attendance at the Sunday meeting. Elder Renlund was impressed with the faithfulness and quality of the people he met over this weekend and is inclined towards organizing another Stake in Uganda because of his impressions. How exciting that is!!

After the Sunday conference session we had another wedding of an Mbale couple. Mbale is still not registered with the government for us to conduct our weddings there so we have to do it where they are approved!!

Isaac and Josophine are now married and she is progressing towards baptism.

Elder R supervised the signing of the certificates while Pres. Mubbala looked on. The President did such a great job in giving counsel to the couple before he performed the ordinance. He has such a cute way of sayings things.

Couple's Retreat

Last week we were on the road again, only this time we were off to join with all the other couples in the Uganda Kampala Mission. President Jackson asked us, along with three other couples who serve in the outlying areas over branches, to come a day before the others so we could report on our stewardships. We all found that we were facing very similar problems so we felt a real kinship with each other.
It was a treat to stay in such a beautiful, well constructed hotel on the Nile River. Here are some pictures of the Chobe Lodge, the view, our room and dining area in the open air.

Our room with its very firm bed...but we slept well.

The view from our balcony overlooking the many tiered swimming pools and the Victoria Nile.

The happy group of missionaries; next to me are the Jackson's, (our fearless leaders), then the Grundys, Crayks and Woods.

In this picture I'm checking out the giraffe that doubled as a place to post letters while the couples were paying their bills and preparing to leave for the next adventure at Murchison Falls, Paraa Lodge.





We left the lovely Chobe Lodge to eat the President' dust down the long dirt road. He is a speedy man with places to go! We didn't see many animals due to the high grasses and bushes but they were probably seeing us.





It was great fun joining the other couples at the Paraa Lodge, eating lunch with them and then going on our first game drive which turned out to be more of a four-wheeling experience because of the bad roads we encountered.

Sisters Crayk and Grundy knew how to get the most out of the experience. Don't know if their husbands were hanging onto their ankles or not??

Some highlights to share from our boat ride up the Victoria Nile,
crocodiles and a lone bull elephant in the rushes.

On the afternoon after the boat ride we co-rented a game drive vehicle with our very own guide, Ammon. We saw many more animals by standing up with our heads out the top. We probably got more bruises on our ribs and arms but it was really fun!!









And our favorite sight was the giraffe nursery as we were leaving the park on our last day! Nothing cuter than a long necked baby.

Mission Transfers

We recently had to say goodbye to four of our special missionaries, something we have to do each six weeks, but it is not easy. These great missionaries have a way of getting into our hearts and so we are happy for them and their new challenges and for the people they will be serving next...but for us, we will miss them!!
Elder Tyler, on the right, has served in Busia since it opened to the missionaries in June. He has been a fantastic organizer, support to the members and someone we relied on greatly. Elder Ndlela, second from the left, has the funniest laugh and he always loved it if we brought them a chicken to cook in their crock pot. They can't buy meat in Busia unless it is still on the run with feathers, etc., you get the picture. Elders Ngqoyiya and Kaseve will continue to work hard with their two new companions.

All of our missionaries become like sons to us.



Elders Ndlela and Kaseve teaching a Book of Mormon class to very attentive members.

The elders in Mbale have been very diligent in their missionary work. They desire to be obedient and bring down the blessings of heaven upon their efforts and it has paid off in many baptisms of converts. Elder Brough and Elder Musonga, the two on the right, have both been reassigned to other areas. Love these guys!!

The Introduction

Living in a foreign country is an education in itself. We were invited by our friend Charles, (the one on the left above), to attend the "Introduction Ceremony" for his sister. The introduction is to bring together her family and her fiance's family for the first time. In this case (which is not unusual in this country), she and her fiance' have been living together for a number of years and have a few children. Anyway, we were interested to see how the tradition played out. We were there about noon, thinking that we were a little early and all would get under way any time... but we learned another lesson in patience waiting for the ceremony.
After Charles greeted us and sat us in a nice shady spot we were then greeted by these two little fellows. The littlest was not too sure he wanted to get by us but soon warmed and while we waited, and waited he climbed on my lap and fell asleep. His father soon came and retrieved him, not knowing that it was perfectly ok by me to have the little guy there.


The guests kept filling in the seats around us and under the other canopies. It was really a big to-do. The family had rented four big tent canopies with all the chairs, had a big sound system and many other decorations. We were thinking how simple it would have been to just bring the guy over to the family and introduce him and save thousands of shillings.

The ladies next to us had traveled from Kampala to attend and so we told them this was our first introduction and would love their guidance about what to expect. The ladies in the crowd were all wearing their traditional gomez dresses, beautiful and colorful; while many of the men wore their formal long shirts and suit coats.


After awhile a big truck drove into the compound loaded with the cattle and goats which constituted the 'bride price' the fiance' pays to the bride's family (probably the reason it took so long for the introduction in the first place). Then the fiance with his family arrived all decked out in their best.
They waited at the arch for some time until they were greeted and given flowers or ribbons to wear. Then together with some of the bride's family they cut the ribbon in the arch and entered bearing more gifts in bags such the one below.




The poor fiance spent a good deal of the time on his knees begging for them to send out his bride.

But instead they sent out the mother, grandmother, aunts, uncles, sisters and brothers expecting from him gifts and trinkets.


The sisters of the bride-to-be received sunglasses from him, the brothers each were given an apple the rest received similar gifts.
But they were unrelenting in bringing forth his soon-to-be bride.



It was all very interesting but seemed to be dragging on and on so we entertained ourselves by watching the babies, children and people around us. One of the out buildings on the property caught my eye as I thought of our artist, daughter. She would have been taking pictures of it for sure, so we did!!

The funny part about the whole experience was...we never did see the future bride because we had to leave to attend a baptismal service.
You would think after four and a half hours the ceremony would have reached a conclusion.
Not this time....