One of the perks of living in an exotic place is having family and friends come and visit so they can see the amazing sites in our mission. My cousins Shayla and Lisa, along with four of their friends made the long trip over here to see Rwanda and Uganda. They have talked about coming since we received our mission call, and contacted us several months ago as they planned their trip. It turned out really nice because they organized everything they wanted to do while they were here, and worked with some of our local friends to set it all up. All I did was let them sleep at the mission home a couple of times during their vacation, and enjoy their company.
My cousins, Lisa and Shayla
So fun sharing Uganda and Rwanda with these ladies!
On their first day here, Sussie, who is the National Public Affairs Director for Uganda, worked it out with the Kampala North Stake President to have a musical fireside. They are all so talented with singing, playing the piano, and even an amazing photographer. We were all really excited to see them share their talents! On the day of the fireside they were supposed to fly to Uganda from Rwanda when there was a problem with their flight. The plane was changed to a smaller one, which meant there were not enough seats for all the passengers. Two of the six ladies had to stay in Rwanda until the next flight which was at 7:00pm. The fireside was set for 4:00pm. So two of the six ladies did not make it in time for the fireside.
The musical fireside was still very good. Shayla, Allison, and Christine all have amazing voices and sang many beautiful and fun songs, while Linda played the piano. They sang together as a group, and each had individual solos as well. They sang church hymns as well as some songs from popular movies and musicals. It was so GREAT! Lisa had prepared a special video showcasing a lot of her photographs set to music. She was one of the two who was stuck in Rwanda, unfortunately there was a problem with the projector and they were unable to show the video. I saw it posted on YouTube and loved it so much, I am posting a link to it HERE, if anyone wants to watch it. It's totally worth your time.
The day of the fireside was probably the most I saw of them their whole trip. I'm so glad they came. Our mission is an amazing place! I really think they enjoyed it.
Here in the Uganda Kampala Mission there is quite a large group of members who have come from South Sudan. They are strong and wonderful members of the church. South Sudan is part of our mission, however, due to civil unrest there are no functioning branches there at this time. We have grown very close to our South Sudanese brothers and sisters, and are often asked when the church will open a branch in Juba again. President Collings decided to invite some of our South Sudanese members over to the mission home for Sunday dinner, where we could talk with them about the situation in their country, and hopefully lift and bless them. It turned out to be just a wonderful night.
We had seven of them who were able to come over and spend the evening with us. Some are return missionaries, and some are recent converts to the church. All of them have family members who live in Juba. We were able to enjoy Sunday dinner, and then President Collings shared a spiritual message with them. He then opened it up for questions. Everyone was edified and really enjoyed our time spent together. We continue to pray that the civil unrest can stop in South Sudan. When the church does start a branch in Juba, we are sure it will grow very fast. They are amazing people, and we are so grateful to just serve among them.
I have said this every six weeks since I arrived in the mission field, saying goodbye is the most difficult thing I have to do. We have had our office couple, the Wittwer's here for 18 months. It has been an absolute joy to serve with them. Elder and Sister Wittwer came into this mission and just went to work. Everything that they did was to make the mission better. They followed our mission scripture to the best of their ability, which is Omni 1:26. The shortened version is "Come unto Christ and offer your whole soul."
During the last week of their mission, we all went together to eat local food. They asked the Assistants to take them to the place where they usually go for lunch. We were each able to get a very large plate of food for 2,500 Uganda Shillings which is about 66 US cents! I could only eat about half of mine!
Elders Mambou, Colvin, Gilbert, Appiah-Kubi, and Gwatidzo
I wish I took a picture of the food we ate. I guess I was just focused on eating. Mine was called Kikomando, which is rice, beans, and chapati (like a tortilla), with cabbage and other vegetables cooked in it. VERY good.
This picture off the internet looks like it, but add rice and cooked cabbage to it, and double the portion.
On the day of the Wittwer's return home, we got together with Richard, Godfrey, the Assistants, a couple of our zone leaders and the Wittwers. We had a final testimony meeting, and gave them a gift. We had t-shirts made that said Uganda Kampala Mission. Then we took the t-shirts around to all the missionaries and had them sign the shirts and write a few thoughts on them. It was fun to present it to them and give them some reading material for the long flight home.
After the meeting we went to an amazing restaurant in Entebbe called Thai Gardens. This is the Wittwer's favorite restaurant in Uganda. We have gone with them a couple of times as we went to pick up missionaries at the airport, and it's really a wonderful place! The owner is from Thailand, and her daughter works with her as well. Their customer service is excellent.
The Wittwers previously went to Thailand and had a dessert called "sticky rice with mangoes", which they said we had to try. In the past when they asked if this restaurant had the dessert, they said that they could make it for us, but would need at least a day's notice because you have to soak the rice. Well the day before our farewell dinner, I called the restaurant and asked if they would make the sticky rice with mangoes for us. They hesitated and said that it's not mango season and they weren't sure if they would be able to get it. On the day of the dinner, I received a text message that they would be able to make the dessert for us. We were so excited to try it!
Sticky Rice with Mango
So we went, enjoyed a wonderful Thai dinner, and then we topped it off with a wonderful dessert.
Afterwards, we took them to the airport for our final goodbye. We will miss them. But want to say WELL DONE! We are so grateful for your service!!
