We had to leave the fireside early because we had to rush to Entebbe to pick up our new Missionary Couple!! Elder and Sister VanDerzee arrived on Saturday night, and will be our new MLS/ Office couple serving in Ethiopia. We had them come to Uganda and spend a couple of days with us and Elder and Sister Wittwer, just to get to know how things work here, and know who they will be working with over the phone and online. We are so thrilled to have them! We enjoyed the few days we spent with them, and are excited to continue to get to know them and work with them.
On Sunday, we went with the VanDerzees to the Lugazi Branch, which is about 1 1/2 hours drive from the mission home. It was so fun to spend time in this area! It was missionary Sunday, so they had Elder Payne speak, followed by President Collings. Then President Collings taught Sunday School, and was even asked to participate with Elder Thornley as he taught Priesthood.
The Relief Society sisters put Sister VanDerzee right to work. She led the music and did a wonderful job. We were taught by Elder Hyer. I talked with him after the meeting and said, "I bet you never thought you would be assigned as a Relief Society teacher!" We laughed, but he did an excellent job.
It was fun for the VanDerzees to see Elder Millecam. Apparently they are related, somehow... They were hoping they would be able to see him, but thought it wouldn't be possible because they would mostly be in Ethiopia. This was the only Ugandan branch that the VanDerzees would see before they leave for their assignment to Ethiopia. We were all surprised to make the connection, and to see the Lord's hand in the little details of our lives.
We were so happy to see Mabel! She was a young woman that President Collings contacted when he was working with Elder Antolin and Elder Duma almost a year ago. They taught her and baptized her. It is always fun to go back later and see that the people you have shared the gospel with are still active, and happy. It was a very good day.
The VanDerzees spent time in the mission office on Monday, and too soon were off to the airport. We will be seeing them in about a month. I know they will love the people of Ethiopia, and will be such an amazing support to the missionaries and members there. We are so excited to have them serving with us in this amazing place.
On Tuesday and Wednesday it was time to welcome more new missionaries. Before I get into that, just wanted to share a few fun memories of this day. First, I have been here in Uganda for almost two years. Every taxi we see has something written on the back. It's always fun to read the different sayings. But on Wednesday, I found my very own taxi!! Yay!
We also spent some time with the Assistants to the President. Elder Yemoh and Elder Barrington. Elder Yemoh has been an AP for many months. He is a strong, organized, amazing leader. This transfer, he will be going to serve in Rwanda. He will be such a great support to the missionaries there, but we will miss him so much. We took him and his companion to breakfast, which was so nice.
He was staring right at my juice, and I seriously thought he was going to jump onto our table! He was right next to us. It was pretty funny. President Collings tossed a small piece of a banana muffin to him, and he ate it and went back to eating the bugs. I think he liked them better than the people food. It's such a blast being here in Uganda!!
Back to picking up the missionaries. We received three from Johannesburg MTC, and four from Ghana MTC. We have missionaries that came from United States, South Africa, New Zealand, Samoa, and Ghana. Again... AMAZING! These are strong, smart, great missionaries!
We had a day of orientation, and then most of them went to their new areas. There was one who stayed an extra night with us at the mission home because he will be serving in Rwanda. So he needed to wait for his flight the next day. Orientation went well, and they are off with their new companions serving the Lord!
After we receive the new, we have to send home the veterans. It was pretty incredible this time. Sister Shongwe is the first missionary that we received and also sent home. She has only had President Collings as her mission president. It's pretty weird to be at this point. The Elders who went home did have a couple of transfers with President Chatfield, but we have been out here long enough that these missionaries have mostly only known one mission president. I was talking at one of our zone conferences and was talking about something Elder Hamilton said in our first mission tour. I asked the missionaries to raise their hand if they were here when Elder Hamilton came. Only one missionary in the whole zone raised his hand. That was a real eye opener.
It was neat to look at the departing missionaries and have memories of each of them individually. They have all really grown in their knowledge of the gospel, in their confidence to teach it, and in their strength of testimony. They have a light about them, and a power when they speak. We just felt pure joy as we shared our final thoughts with these missionaries, and listened to their final testimonies. They will surely be missed here in the UKM, but I have a feeling we will see them again, and will have a wonderful reunion with each of them.
Agyemang, Carter, Shongwe, Shumway, Driggs
Elder Carter, President Collings, Elder Driggs, Elder Shumway
Elder Agyemang, Sister Shongwe
A small update from my last posting. I talked about struggles we were having in Rwanda and Ethiopia. Right now, there's not much to report. We are still waiting on some issues with work permits in Ethiopia, but are confident we will be able to work them out, and have a full force of missionaries. The issue in Rwanda has been with the church buildings that were closed. All three of our buildings were closed. We were able to rent one large building temporarily while we work on a permanent fix. It's large enough that all of the members can fit, but the difficulty is transport to the building. Sometimes the wait for a bus is too long, and sometimes the price of transport is too high. People mostly walk here, and it is far for many of them to walk. People are still remaining faithful, and patiently waiting for a permanent solution. We feel completely at peace, and know the Lord is watching over this mission and will help it to become even better.
