Two years down!

As I begin this post, I have been reflecting a lot on our mission over the past two years. June 29th we hit our two year mark on mission. We have officially been in Uganda longer than any of our missionaries! We welcomed all of our current missionaries into the field, and have been able to see their growth. We have so enjoyed Uganda, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. We have enjoyed the friendships we have made and the many things we have been able to accomplish, and we have so much more we want to accomplish!! The time really flies! I don't know how we will be able to do all we want to, but if it's the Lord's will, I know we will be able to accomplish it in the coming year.

President Kamya is the Stake President of the Kampala Uganda South Stake. He is also the president of the Rotary Club here in Kampala. He has talked with President Collings several times about coming and speaking at one of their meetings, but things always came up and we weren't able to arrange it until recently. 

We had an incredible experience as we were invited to the meeting at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Kampala. There were members from all over Uganda, and it was really a fun meeting to be a part of. President Collings was the guest speaker, and they also invited myself, and our AP's to say few words. The AP's talked about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration, and they brought a handful of pamphlets and pass along cards to share with those who were interested. I talked about following the example of the Savior in serving others, which is what the Rotary Club does. 

President Collings talked about giving your life to God. Instead of working for material possessions, work so that you and have the means to serve others, and trust that God will guide you throughout your life. He has had so much experience in the business world, but when he is lifting and helping others to succeed, that is when he has found the most joy. He shared with them why he walked away from his career to serve a mission, and how it has blessed his life. When he opened it up for questions, one man asked him to tell them how God has blessed his life, he wanted to know more about the material things he has been blessed with. President Collings said that he didn't want to talk about all the material things he had, or could have, but instead said, "See that pretty lady over there?" pointing to me, "Who could ask for more than that? God has blessed me with a wonderful wife, and an amazing family. That is my true joy." Everyone laughed, and many hearts were touched. 

At the end of the meeting President Collings was presented with a certificate in appreciation for spending time with them. There were several people who approached us and the missionaries wanting to find out more about the church. Some said that they knew President Kamya was a great man, and respected him very much. Now they understood some of the things he believes in, and many wanted to know more. It was such a wonderful experience for all of us, and we are so grateful for the invitation.

A perk of living in the new mission home is that we live right across the street from a restaurant/ catering company. We had MLC at the mission home as usual, but this time afterwards we walked across the street for lunch. It's always so great having the mission leadership come to the mission home. We have several new leaders, and are really excited to see how they progress in their assignments. Unfortunately, we did not get a group picture at the mission home this time, just at lunch. We are so grateful for the amazing leadership we have in this mission. I'm looking forward to this coming round of zone conferences, they should be really good.

Our new group at Mile 5 is coming right along. They have been meeting together for a couple of months now, and they consistently have about 100 people come to sacrament meeting. Recently, we had Branch Conference in Mbale Branch, and while that was taking place, Elder and Sister Wittwer attended church in the Mile 5 group.  

Sunday School

Primary, all kids 3-11 are taught together under the mango tree

Mile 5 Group: June 17th

If you read my previous two posts, I had two trips back to Utah. The first one was planned. I went back to see my son Conner get married to his sweet wife Taylor. But the second trip was not expected, as I had to take my parents back home. My dad was struggling with a problem with his heart. They are working to correct it, but it will take time and he won't be able to come back to our mission. While I was in Utah, I had a couple of unexpected surprises.

First, I had one of our mission moms come and bring me something to take back to her son, along with a bag full of amazing Bath and Bodyworks lotions! I was so surprised, and so thankful! She is a sweet person, and we are so grateful to have her son serving in our mission.

I also had my aunt approach me with two suitcases full of shoes and pants for the missionaries and members here in Uganda. It was such a fun experience to bring them back and let the members and missionaries choose a pair of shoes or pants. They all belonged to the same man, so they were all the same size. It was like a re-creation of Cinderella watching the missionaries all try to make them fit their feet. I took a few pictures of the members and missionaries with the shoes and pants they were able to choose. The man who these belonged to passed away a while ago, and his family sent a huge box of ties to our mission. When they realized I was in town, they sent the rest. Shipping to Uganda is SO expensive. The items sent were received very gratefully and with so much excitement! Thank you!!!

For the first two weeks of the transfer (which is a 6 week cycle), President Collings interviews every missionary in the mission. There are about 140 missionaries, so it's quite a job, but he loves the one on one time with them, and loves helping them with any questions or concerns that they may have. In Kampala these interviews are done at the mission office or at the mission home. The smaller, outlying zones, and other countries are usually done at the same time as zone conferences. But when we travel to Jinja, we usually spend the night and meet with the missionaries at the church. This past round of interviews on day two in the Jinja area, we decided to treat all the missionaries who were interviewed that day to lunch. This is pretty rare, because we always feed them for zone conference, which is in the same transfer cycle, but we couldn't help it. They just gave us those puppy dog eyes that said, "Please feed us!" Anyway, here is a picture of our time at the restaurant with this group. The restaurant is owned by Sister Sarah. She is a member of Wanyange Branch. The food is very good, and very affordable. We fed this entire group for about $27 US.

I post a lot of pictures of President Collings working out (running) with the  missionaries. He is very consistent with his running, and this mission has been amazing for his health. He has probably lost 30 pounds, and has actually been able to run, which he hadn't been able to do for over 15 years before we came here. I actually like to work out with the sister missionaries too. I just have less opportunities to do it, and when I do, I don't particularly like to take pictures of myself. But I did take pictures last transfer, when I had four sisters staying at the mission home. Three going home, and one going to Rwanda. I like to do interval training. It's really fun to see how hard we can push each other.

This is before...

...and after. I think we worked hard!

This is before a run with president Collings, but three of the sisters stayed back and worked out with me. We like to practice what we preach. We ask our missionaries to wake up at 6:30 and exercise for 1/2 hour, and we do it with them. President Collings loves to take the missionaries running up a steep hill. He is usually the last man running. It's so great to see him doing what he loves. 

We spent 4 days in Ethiopia. It's always fun to go spend time with our missionaries in Addis Ababa. Our first night we were invited to have dinner with Taiye and his family. He had invited us the last time we were in Addis, but President Collings was on such a tight timeline,  and the traffic was absolutely terrible. We felt so bad that we had to cancel. It was very nice this time because we were really able to spend time with him and his wife. They were planning to go to the temple that very week, and it was nice being able to talk a little bit about the temple with them. 

Their son is Moroni. Isn't he adorable?

This time while in Ethiopia, we spent a couple of days in Debre Zeit. We have gone to Debre Zeit many times, but we have never spent the night. The VanDerzee's set us up at a very nice hotel that is on a lake. It was a beautiful setting, and we had a wonderful time. 

President Collings had a District Presidency meeting with the zone leaders and Elder VanDerzee. It was neat to watch those who hold priesthood keys working together for a common goal. We have such great missionaries and priesthood leaders in Ethiopia!

Elder VanDerzee, President Eyob, President Collings, Elder Schuler, 

Elder Trippe, and President Berhane

We were invited to have dinner with President Kiros and his family, along with Elders Cooper and Chandler, and Elder and Sister VanDerzee. President Kiros is the branch president of Debre Zeit Branch.  The food was amazing, and we really enjoyed spending the evening with him and his sweet family. We were touched when he said that President Collings is the first mission president who has ever come to his home. He is a kind and humble man, and we love him and his family. Did I say the food was amazing??? It was!

On Monday, we joined the missionaries in a game of basketball. Actually, President Collings, Elder VanDerzee, and Sister VanDerzee joined them for a game of basketball. They basically played until they were completely exhausted, which was so fun! I did the cheer leading from the sidelines, and took the picture! Yay me!

Then we treated them to lunch. We had pizza! Actually we had two pizzas this size, and the missionaries ate all of it! 

Our last day in Ethiopia was zone conference. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with these amazing missionaries! They are strong, and doing amazing work for the Lord. Hoping and praying that we can add about 10 new missionaries to this zone soon. 

While we were in Ethiopia, a group of members were able to travel to the Ghana temple! They have worked so hard to prepare for this special moment in their lives! We are excited for them, and proud of the choices they have made in their lives to prepare to go to the temple. 

Back in Uganda, we had a combined zone conference. We had 4 zones come in; North, South, Gulu, and Masaka Zones. We have training by President Collings and myself, and then we take a lunch break. When lunch is over the missionaries divide into zones and have their own separate meetings where they are trained by their zone leaders. The missionaries say they really like it because they are able to see other missionaries who aren't in their zones, and share ideas with each other. We like it because President Collings and I are able to spend more time working one on one with the missionaries during the times we would have been having zone conference. We had Gulu and Masaka Zones stay at the mission home. This is always a treat for me. I love being able to talk to them and make them meals. When they tell me that they haven't had something like bacon or cheese in a year, it makes me happy that I can serve it to them. Life is good as Mission President and Mission Mom. Looking forward to one more year!!