We enjoyed zone conferences with our final three zones, Jinja, Iganga, and Kampala North Zone. We spent two nights in Jinja for the first two zone conferences. It was so great. All of the zones came so prepared to be fed by the spirit. The one that stood out most to me was the Iganga zone. When we arrived (20 minutes early) the whole zone was already seated in the chapel studying their scriptures. The program was written on the board, and they even brought a table cloth, flowers, and a picture of the Savior. Coming so prepared really enabled us to have a powerful spiritual experience. It was amazing.
Sadly, I didn't think of taking group pictures of the three zones. I feel bad, but sometimes it slips my mind until they are all gone. Needless to say, zone conferences have been amazing. This transfer we tried to motivate the missionaries to catch up on our goal for the year. We should have had 550 baptisms by July 1 to be half way to our goal. It was so fun. The missionaries kept having such amazing experiences. They could see the hand of the Lord in the work as they tried to reach their goals. By the end of this transfer we had a total of 546 baptisms. We are all thrilled. They have all worked so hard, and are really on track with our goal for the year. What's even better is to see that many people changing their lives and coming unto Christ. What a blessing.
This weekend was Stake Conference for the Kampala North Stake. It was so fun to see all of our missionaries in the North stake attend. We were so happy to see them all bringing their investigators. President Collings was asked to speak in all 3 sessions. I always love hearing him speak, he loves the people here so much. I was asked to speak in the adult and general sessions, one of the perks of serving with my husband, haha. It was so nice to hear the counsel of President Okot, the Stake President. He is a very wise man, and really knows how to motivate his stake. His focus in the general session was on the conference talk by President Monson on the Book of Mormon. Helping the members to understand the importance of reading the Book of Mormon in their families. He asked one woman to speak on member missionary work, another man to speak on prayer, and I was asked to speak on diligent scripture study. President Collings focused on receiving personal revelation. It was a wonderful meeting.
Before the general session on Sunday morning, they invited everyone who had been baptized in the last 6 months to come to a special meeting. We were happy to see a pretty large group. We were able to ask them questions, and verify that they truly had been taught the doctrine of Christ, that the ward had welcomed them, and then answer any questions that they may have. It was a great meeting.
Kampala North Stake Presidency
President Collings and the AP's
We had another WONDERFUL experience. Probably the highlight of our mission to date. Our daughter came to visit us with her husband and their baby! Our grandson who we have not met in person before. I was so excited when I heard they were coming! We tried to plan things for them to see and do, but right from the start, my plan was to hold our grandson, and hold him, and hold him... and hold him. It was so fun to meet him. He has such a fun personality. Our daughter and son in law were so sweet to come. It was exactly on our one year anniversary of starting our mission, and a fun way to celebrate it.
On their first day, we took them to the office to meet the Wittwers, our office couple. They also met our office staff. My sister in law sent a suitcase full of humanitarian supplies and $200 to give to Suzan to help with the jiggers projects that she does. She was so happy to receive everything. A true blessing for the children they serve! Thanks for your generosity Molly!!
When our grandson saw the office staff, it was so cute. They each held him, and he just stared at them and studied their faces. He would reach out and touch their faces and was so curious. He didn't cry at all, just made faces. Suzan said this was the first time she ever held a muzungu baby. Our daughter said it was the first time this baby had been held by an African. It was pretty funny.
That evening we took them to Ndere cultural center, where they watched the dancing from all the different tribes. It was a really fun evening, and our grandson loved it! He was laughing, and doing his own dances while he watched them dance. There was a point where they invited members of the audience to come take a picture with the dancers. My daughter took him up, and this picture was the result. It's priceless! We were fed local food, which I think we all loved.
The next day we traveled to Queen Elizabeth National Park. My parents drove from Rwanda and met us there. We stayed in bandas, which are a combination of a cabin and a tent. It was right on the water front, and you could see and hear the hippos. There were giant forest swine wandering around the bandas. They are like huge wild boars with long black hair. We were told they are endangered, but stay at Queen Elizabeth. Very cool to see.
We went on a game drive, and we were able to see cape buffalo, kob, water buck, wart hogs, and a pride of lions.
Harvey watching the Lions
We could see 4 or 5 lions really well, but there were more hiding in a bush.
There was a small house with a mother and small children right across the dirt road from the pride of lions. We spoke with the woman for a little while and asked her if she was afraid to have lions so close. She just said they never turn their back on them, or run away from them. They look them right in the eyes.
Later that same day, we took a boat ride, and we were able to see a lot of the animals at the water, along with a crocodile, and an elephant.
It was such a fun, and relaxing day. At night we had dinner served around a campfire. All the tables were brought around and had little lanterns hanging beside them. It was a fun atmosphere. The food was delicious!
After our final night, it was time to leave. We traveled with my parents for a while, and when we stopped, we realized that we hadn't taken a 4 generations photo together yet. Terrible timing to take it after two days in the bush... but we took it. Then they headed back to Rwanda.
President Collings went with our daughter and son in law to do some chimpanzee tracking. I got to stay back with my grandson and hold him, and play with him. It was so fun. There was a woman with her children who live where we were parked waiting for them to return. One of her children, a little girl named Promise, is two years old. She came up to me, and pointed to the baby and said, "Baby Jesus?" Her mom and I laughed, she thought it was so funny. Promise and Elijah, a 17 month old boy, played with our grandson for a long time. He really had fun with them, and I think they enjoyed playing with him.
President and the kids hiked for an hour or so, kind of running after the chimpanzees. It sounds like it was a pretty intense hike. Once the chimps stopped, they were able to watch them for about an hour, and take pictures and videos. They really had an incredible time.
We went to Masaka that night, and President Collings went on visits with the branch president of Masaka. He was able to conduct a few interviews, and strengthen some of the members there.
We spent Sunday at the Masaka Branch, and enjoyed fast and testimony meeting with them. Our kids really enjoyed the meeting, and I think the branch members all enjoyed them. Many of them wanted to hold our grandson throughout the meeting. It was fun to see them all getting to know each other.
Before sacrament meeting started
During Sacrament meeting a family blessed their baby. During the blessing the priesthood holder states what the name of the baby will be, and it sounded like they called him Collings. Sure enough, when the prayer was over, they looked over at us and smiled. President Collings has a cute little baby boy in Masaka named Collings after him. So sweet.
President Collings and Baby Collings
162 people attended Masaka Branch on the day we were there.
We made our way back to Kampala, and of course, had to make a quick stop at the Equator. Just long enough to snap a few pictures of the family.
When we arrived back in Kampala, Jackie, our sweet housekeeper and her friend Esther had made us Sunday dinner. It was all local food, matooke, greens, rice, beans, chicken, pumpkin. The food was amazing, and we had such a nice evening with them. They even made matching dresses that they wore. It was so sweet. I think their favorite guest was our grandson. They took turns holding him and taking pictures with him. It was so fun.
On Monday we had to say goodbye. It was tough, but we are so grateful for the time we were able to spend with them. I'm sure it will be two years before we see them again, but what an amazing week it's been.
After saying goodbye, we went right into transfers. We had a group of 7 new missionaries come on Tuesday. Wow! What a great group! We are being so blessed in the Uganda Kampala Mission. We brought them back from the airport and they went out tracting with some of the mission leadership. Then half of them came back to the mission home for the night, while the others went with the mission leadership.
President Collings goes running every morning, and invited any of the missionaries who wanted to, to come with him on Wednesday morning. All of them ran with him, and said they really got a good work out.
They got cleaned up and we had a breakfast for all the new missionaries, and then an orientation. We got to listen to each of them bear their testimonies, and then President Collings interviewed each of them. After orientation, they were off to meet their new companions, and let the missionary work begin. I love the excitement the new missionaries bring with them. It's so fun to see their love for the Gospel, and their willingness to go to work.
Thursday was the farewell dinner and testimony meeting for the departing missionaries. We decided that we would cook an authentic Ugandan meal for them one last time before they leave. I'm still learning how to do this, so I had the experts, Sussie and Jackie come do the work. I worked with them, and was very willing to learn the techniques of Ugandan cooking. It was really fun, and so yummy!
Preparing the charcoal stoves for cooking (Matooke in the background)
pounding the spices
Preparing the greens. Fried chicken in the back.
Boiling the Matooke (this is the short cut, we were short on time)
Master Chef! Sussie!
Mashing the Matooke
Cooking the Mukene, missionaries eat this all the time. This was my first time trying it! Google it! It was really good! (Thanks to the wonderful cooking skills of Sussie.)
Wrapping the Matooke in banana leaves to cook once again.
This was a fun day of cooking, which helped take my mind off of the departing missionaries...
Farewell dinner and testimony meeting is always so difficult for me. This group was no different. We had 14 wonderful missionaries return to their homes. It was so neat to see them all come in suits. They really look like representatives of Jesus Christ when they dress so nice. Many of these missionaries have been in leadership positions over the last year, and we have come to love each of them so much. Saying goodbye is too hard! I do see so much potential in these missionaries. They will be great husbands, fathers, and even leaders in this church! We are so blessed to know them, and to watch their growth while they are serving here.
Just praying they will keep in touch with us. Till we meet again... Safe Journey elders!
