On 21 January, the Kampala North Stake had a stake conference. Elder Hamilton, the Southeast Area President came and reorganized the Stake Presidency. President Okot, the previous stake president has been called as a mission president, and will travel with his family to Zimbabwe in June. It has been such a wonderful opportunity to get to know him and his family better. We are happy because we will still get to spend time with him and his wife when we go to mission presidents seminars for the next year.
The new stake president that was called is President Oketta. We are so thrilled to get to know him better. He has been the bishop of the Kololo ward, where the mission home is. When we are not traveling to the mission branches, that would be considered our home ward. So our bishop has been called as our stake president. So fun.
It was also nice to spend a little time with Elder Hamilton and Elder Chatora, the area authority for Uganda. They both stayed very busy with interviews, setting the men apart, and training. But we did get to spend a few minutes to say hello and talk about a few things. I love seeing how the Lord works. These church leaders come in for just a couple of days, and are able to know who He wants to have lead the church in the stake. It’s been a blessing to watch it unfold, and to see the members accept the changes here in Uganda.
I borrowed a few pictures from Mormon Newsroom Uganda. These are some of the members who were at the conference.
We had the opportunity to have our son, Steve and his wife Sarah, come and visit this great country of Uganda. We were able to show them all of the wonderful things we have come to enjoy here. It was a real treat. They spent time at the zoo. The zoo here is so fun because you can pay extra for a behind the scenes tour. The zoo keeper will take you to see some of the animals up close. You can even feed and pet some of them. We did it once while Conner was here, and decided it would be something special to do with Steve and Sarah as well. My parents flew in from Rwanda to spend some time with us, and we all had a wonderful time. It was a great preparation day.
We had a working/ playing week. I was able to really spend time with the family, while President Collings did a lot of work on the phone, and computer. He didn't have a lot of free time, but did enjoy some time with the family. He was able to take care of business over conference calls and Skype, which was nice. We went to Murchison Falls National Park. At the park the family was able to go on a game drive, a boat, and hike to the falls. Uganda has so many wonderful things to offer! We were so happy with how many animals Steve and Sarah were able to see while they were here. I think they really enjoyed it. We were so surprised that we were able to witness 3 lions catch their dinner, right in front of us. I felt so bad that President Collings missed it because he was on a conference call. We also saw 3 Hyenas.
Murchison Falls from the bottom
Murchison Falls from the top
Monday was my birthday. I didn't really tell any of the missionaries, but some of them knew. I felt like I celebrated the whole week just having my family here, and didn't really expect anything on my actual birthday. It was really a nice day. I had to say goodbye to my family. My sweet husband made us all an amazing breakfast, and took us all out to dinner and had the people at the restaurant sing to me. It was kind of embarrassing, all the workers came out with drums and shakers and sang "Happy Birthday Dear Tracy..." over and over to an African beat. Steve and Sarah brought me gifts from the United States. I haven't had Bath and Body Works for 1 1/2 years! My parents brought me a beautiful basket from Rwanda and also bought me flowers. I had some of the sister missionaries buy me a single rose each, and several of the elders texted me. I share a birthday with Elder Khoriyo, so he knew and let some of the other missionaries know. All in all, it was a great birthday. Who would have thought I'd be in Africa for 3 birthdays!!
The day after my birthday was the day our new missionaries came to Uganda from the Johannesburg MTC, followed by the missionaries from the Ghana MTC. Transfer week is always so busy, but I love it. I love having the missionaries come to the mission home and getting to know them better. I love making them food and helping them feel welcome in this new place they will call home for two years.
We have orientation on Wednesday and they go with their new companions.
On Thursday and Friday we send our veterans home, depending on where home is. This transfer we had 9 new missionaries come and 5 going home. We really enjoyed the time we spent with each of them. President Collings likes to get his running in with the missionaries. He is getting pretty fast, and the missionaries look forward to a little bit of competition.
These missionaries were being transferred to other countries or distant areas and needed to spend the night. They enjoyed a good morning workout.
We will miss our missionaries who went home. We lost some of our best! It's been a great week.
One more fun bit of information. This weekend President Collings attended a coordinating council. It was presided over by Elder Chatora. We were able to spend church with him in the Entebbe Ward. That makes three weekends in a row that we have been able to spend with Elder Chatora. It has been so neat seeing his leadership here in Uganda. President Collings has enjoyed spending time together with him teaching the people of Uganda. He is the Temple Recorder of the Johannesburg Temple, which is the same job my dad, Elder Wright, had for almost 30 years before he retired. It has been so nice to get to know him better. I told him that I will see him next week... but I doubt it. He has had a very busy few weeks, and deserves to spend some time with his family.
