On April 17th we had three young men from the same mission branch who left to serve their missions. All three were called on the same day to serve in Ghana. Ghana Kumasi mission and Ghana Accra mission. They were set apart by President Jimmy Ondoga, second counselor in the Mission Presidency, then traveled to the Ghana Missionary Training Center that evening. We are so happy for them. They are strong young men and will represent their branch in Busia very well.
One thing President Collings has tried to do while serving in the Uganda Kampala Mission is to help uplift the leadership who are staying far away from us in Kampala. He started having a monthly conference call where he would teach right out of the Handbook of Instructions and help them to understand their roles as Branch Presidents. Back in October of 2016, we invited Branch Presidents to the mission home for two days of training. We have had kept up this special leadership training every year. On April 18th we had our final training at the mission home. Looking at pictures from the first training, you can really get an idea of the growth we have had in the outer branches during our three years here.
In October 2016 we had all seven Branch Presidents from the Mission Branches in Uganda come, and two of the three Rwanda Branches were represented. There were 9 Branch Presidents, 2 members of the mission presidency, and 5 wives. About half of the Branch Presidents at the time were single. At that time we had a senior couple serving in the District in Ethiopia, and felt like they already had the help they needed.
Fast forward to 2019, we now have Districts in Rwanda, Ethiopia, and two in Uganda. We brought in all the district presidents, the branch presidents from the Uganda Districts, and Branch Presidents from all of the Mission Branches. All of these leaders are married, and all of them from Uganda brought their wives, and babies that needed to stay with them. We had 4 District Presidents, 14 Branch Presidents, and 3 members of the mission presidency, 16 wives, and 9 babies!
The training was focused on the revelations we have recently received:
- Ministering and conducting ministering interviews
- Come Follow Me curriculum
- Using our Relief Society and Elders Quorum counselors to help with missionary, temple, and family history work
- Filling out the online missionary recommendations properly.
We were able to spend quality time in each of the training sessions. There was time for them to ask questions and to do hands-on computer training in each of the areas of focus. The women talked about how much the training helped them as well. Some of them have leadership roles in their branches, and said that they will be able to do better in their callings because of the training. They also said that this shows how important family relationships are in the church. They could see that we value their relationship as husband and wife, and welcomed the children into the meetings as well.
I was a little bit worried about how we would fit everybody into the mission home for the training, but we had plenty of room. It was also nice because when the babies got tired, it was easy to take them into another room to play or settle down and fall asleep.
It was so fun to look down the rows of people and see these sweet babies sleeping. At one point, President Collings was talking and told the mothers not to worry if their babies cried. He said it just sounds like angels singing when a baby cries.
We had church music playing as they walked into the room to begin the meetings. One branch president later said that as he walked in, he felt like he was walking into the temple. There was such a good, spiritual feeling there. I felt the same way as I walked in. I just felt like I was surrounded by good, stalwart, valiant people. It was a humbling experience.
On the first night we had a dinner together. Before the dinner started, we stood and introduced ourselves to each other. The couples were really able to get to know each other and to help lift and motivate each other.
This little man is named Collings. He became good friends with us during the meetings. He was given a name and blessing at the beginning of our mission. In fact, as his father stated his name in the blessing, President Collings and I were both surprised. He's a fun, energetic little man. He is holding hands with Margaret Thatcher. I just love the beautiful Kitenge (African Print) dresses she wore each day. Here are a few more pictures I took of the dinner we had the first night, before the food was served.
These are precious times that we will miss so much! We believe the leaders went back to their various areas feeling motivated to get on board with the things they were taught. One branch president said, "We have no more excuses. We have been asked by our church leaders to do this, now we must do it." The missionaries in some of the branches have said that they have seen a difference in the leadership, and have really started to implement the various things they were trained on.
