Thoughts from a Mission Mom

The never ending cycle of missionaries coming and going. This is the hardest part of being a mission mom. I get to know the missionaries, watch them grow in confidence and wisdom, grow to love them, and then they go home...

The transfer week starts out on a high note, with our new missionaries coming in. It’s so incredible. You see the excitement and light in their eyes. You feel their energy. They are anxious to go to work, and experience all that the mission entails. I absolutely love it! I get a little bit intimidated when all the new faces come. I try so hard to remember each of the names, and get to know a little bit about them. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed... How will I remember all of them?? How will I get to know them?? But as time goes on, I start to feel a real connection. I start to see them go to work, and sacrifice for other people. I start to see their testimonies grow, and their faith increase. And I get to know each of them. As they go through trials, they will call and tell us about it, and we help them work through it. (Mostly President Collings helps them, unless it’s an illness, then it’s me.)  As they see miracles or tender mercies, they are anxious to let us know. And pretty soon, they have really become OUR missionaries.

Just look at this amazing group! We received 19 new missionaries last week. NINETEEN! You wouldn’t think that there could be that many young men who are all AMAZING, but they are! They have come to the mission prepared, and ready to teach.

Loading up the vans.

Thanks to Godfrey for risking life and limb to help us get luggage strapped on. 

 Let’s just say, it’s no small feat trying to get them all to the mission home from the airport. We are only 20 miles away from the airport, but it usually takes about 2 hours travel time with the traffic. We had two vans, and two trucks to take all of the missionaries and all of the luggage. It is so fun to see the new missionaries’ reaction to the traffic in Kampala. It’s unlike anything you have ever seen in the United States.

Once we got back to the mission home we fed them, and then we asked some of the missionaries who had been out for a while, to give them some advice.

 They each took a few minutes to send an email home, just letting family members know they arrived safely.

They spent the night at the mission home, and then had orientation the next morning. By about 1:00pm they were all ready to go meet their new companions.


As the week goes on, it’s time to bid farewell to our veterans. These missionaries have spent the last two years in the refiner’s fire of mission work. They have worked hard, sacrificed their time, talent’s and comforts. They have suffered rejection and persecution, and have reacted to their trials in a Christ like manner. They have studied the scriptures, and the words of modern day prophets. They have learned to listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost, and follow them. They have been tempered, and polished, and perfected in missionary work. I always say, now that they are the perfect missionaries, it’s time for them to go home. And my heart breaks.

This week we sent 17 of them home. SEVENTEEN!!!  Again I wonder how there could possibly be that many men who are AMAZING! But they are!  How can I let them leave??

It’s amazing to see how much growth can occur in two short years. We are blessed to see it every day. I love it when a missionary “gets it”. They have an “aha” moment, and everything clicks into place. They understand their purpose, and they start to live it. You see the light in their eyes, and the spring in their step, and even though they experience trials, they are optimistic because they know there is a blessing right around the corner. This is a payday for a mission president and mission mom. It’s not about how many baptisms we get as a mission, it’s about the growth of our missionaries. It’s seeing them embrace the eternal truths they teach every day. It’s seeing them in 10 years, still embracing those gospel truths. How can we help but love our missionaries? We are so blessed! 

Mission Life in the UKM!

We have had such an amazing couple of weeks! We finished up the zone conferences with

Rwanda Zone, 

Jinja Zone, 

Iganga Zone, 

and South Zone. 

We absolutely love the time we are able to spend with our missionaries!

On Saturday we brought President Okello with us to Lira. We had a combined branch fireside on Saturday afternoon with Lira and Adyel Branches. It was such a fun experience spending time with members of both branches. We also brought Jackie and Esther with us. Jackie's mom lives near Lira, so we invited her to come along so she could spend a little time with her.

On Sunday we had branch conferences in both branches. President Okello presided at Adyel Branch, and President Collings presided at Lira Branch. There was very good attendance at both meetings.

President Collings focused his remarks on Jesus Christ. John 17:3 "And this is life eternal that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." He spoke about the difference between knowing about God and Jesus Christ, and actually KNOWING them. He talked about what we need to do to come to know them. It was a very special meeting.

After the meeting, we went to the various classes. President Collings was asked to teach Gospel Doctrine, and Priesthood afterwards. He really had a special experience teaching. There were some who came up to him and said that they had been taught things that they had never understood before. It was a highlight for them, and for President Collings.

I went into the primary room and spent the rest of the meeting with the children. This is where I spent the last 25 years (give or take), so it's where I feel most comfortable. I loved that they were using the same outline as the Primaries use in the United States, and I'm sure, worldwide. I was able to participate in sharing time, which I really enjoyed.

After church in Lira, we went over to Adyel Branch to pick up President Okello, Jackie, and Esther. It sounded like the meetings there were really nice as well. We were so happy to see Jackie's mom at the church. It was her first time attending, and it sounds like she really enjoyed it. I was so happy to meet her, and let her know how much we appreciate the work Jackie does at the mission home for us. It was a great day.

Another highlight of this week was a special training we had for the Branch Presidents in the mission branches in Uganda. We invited the Branch Presidents and their wives, if they were married, to come to the mission home for two days of training. We enjoyed so much having them stay with us!

They arrived in Kampala on Thursday around 1:00. We had lunch waiting for them at the mission home, and spent some time just visiting together. We have several new Branch Presidents, so it was nice for them to get to know each other a little bit better. We started the actual meeting at 2:00. After some small opening remarks, I took the ladies out and we had a nice activity. There were 5 of us total, and I took them to the mall near the mission home. We sat down and enjoyed some ice cream. We each bought two scoops, which I think was too much for Sister Dilish. The rest of us ate it all, but I think Sister Wittwer and I ate it the fastest. The African sisters struggled with how cold it is. Then we let them experience some things that maybe they hadn't experienced before. We took a ride on the escalator, and also on the elevator. It was fun to see their reactions. We really enjoyed our time at the mall.  Then we went back to the mission home and watched a few Mormon Messages on the television. Finally, we all came back together for the rest of the meetings.

The entire experience with these branch presidents was amazing! There is such a good feeling of love and unity with the whole group. I feel like they all felt encouraged, and excited to do more in their callings.  We were able to have a fireside, where President Collings spoke to them. He said that because of the good feelings in the room, and the spiritual preparation of the Branch Presidents, he was able to teach them more. We had this training a year ago, and it was good, but this was so much better. We hope that it will continue to get better and better each year.

After the meeting, we went as a group out to dinner. We were in a private dining room, and were fed more than any of us could eat. It was fun to sit on a large round table, all together. We went around the table and each told something interesting about ourselves that we thought nobody knew. It was so fun.

That evening we had 8 of  them stay at the mission home, and 4 others stayed at a nearby hotel. I love that we have enough beds to house so many in the mission home. It's so much easier than trying to work out other arrangements. And I feel like we really get to know each other better when we are able to just spend time together.

The next morning, I made a big breakfast for the group, and by 9:00, we started the meetings again. This time President Okello was in charge. President Collings and I had to get to the airport and catch a flight to Rwanda. But we really felt like they were trained well. We had men come and speak to them about audits, church history, and perpetual education in addition to the training that was done by President Collings, President Okello, and the Wittwers. We felt that as we left, they were in very good hands.

Meanwhile, we were off to Rwanda for the first District Conference they have had since becoming a district. It was a very quick trip to Rwanda. We had the adult session of District Conference on Saturday afternoon. The meeting was held at the Kigali 3rd branch, and it was pretty full. We were happy with the attendance, and the talks that were given.

That evening we met with one of the members of the church in Rwanda, and his friend, who is a member of Parliament in Rwanda. He had just returned from a two week trip to Utah, where he was given a tour of temple square, welfare square, and was shown many of the programs the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is involved in. He was happy to find out that the church he visited in Utah also exists in Kigali. We invited him to the General Session of District Conference, but he was busy with his family. It was a wonderful meeting.

Sunday morning I was able to sit down with my mom and watch Women's Conference on the internet. I don't remember the last time we watched it together! It was so fun to be together with her for this fun meeting. I love having her and my dad so close. Truly a blessing! The talks were amazing, and really make me want to be a better person!

On Sunday, we had the Priesthood leadership session at 8:00am at the Marriott Hotel Ballroom. There were over 90 priesthood holders in attendance. It was amazing!

Elder Corbridge did a wonderful job playing the piano for conference. 

We had the General Session at 10:00. All of the members of the church were invited to come, along with those who are investigating the church. The missionaries invited all who were interested to come enjoy conference with us. We were so pleased with the turn out. We had almost 400 people come to the general session. The spirit was strong, and there was just a great feeling there.

Fun pictures after the meeting.

Some of the sister missionaries serving in Rwanda. 

Here and There

Just wanted to share a few fun tidbits of my life, both here  in Uganda and  home in the United States. I have been  a little bit preoccupied over the past couple of weeks with things going on back home.

First of all, there was a hurricane looming back home. It stood out to me because they named this hurricane after my sweet grandson, Harvey. Later, my daughter sent me a picture of him...

I think that during the week, while he was having a tantrum in Texas (actually he was crawling too close to a fireplace back home in Utah), he bumped his head and had to get stitches.

Our sister missionaries saw the picture of him and decided to call him Harvey Potter. I like that name better than Hurricane Harvey. They think Harvey is so lucky to have "cool" parents that "meme" his life. Haha.

We have watched this storm closely, and are praying for those affected by the massive amounts of rain in that area. I also wanted to add, that people here in Uganda have seen the reports of flooding, and have been praying for people in the Untied States as well.

Some of my siblings had planned to go to the BYU game which was supposed to be held in Houston. This was planned a year ago. They ended up still flying to Houston, and then driving to New Orleans to watch the game. It was unsettling seeing their adventures while they were driving through the affected areas in Texas.

After the game, which was not good, some of them were able to go back to Houston and help muck a few houses before their flight left. I'm so proud of them for helping those in need. I have a brother in Alabama right now who is scheduled to work for several days in Texas as well, with his family. We are truly blessed when we serve others.

I already talked about the eclipse that happened in the United States, but it was so fun to get pictures of my two granddaughters helping each other to look at the sun and still be protected. Avery was at school during the eclipse, so after school she came home and told Addie all about it. All I can say is grandchildren are the best. I'm missing all three of them a lot today.

Back in Uganda, there are so many things that are so different here, but I'm getting used to the differences now. I decided I'd better take a few pictures as a reminder to myself when I go home. Uganda definitely has differences from the United States.

 This is one of our chapels in Lugazi. There are many chapels that look very similar to chapels in the US, but there are some that are in unexpected locations as well.

Driving down the road the other day, I saw the three little pigs on their way to a dinner appointment. They were alive and kicking. I really thought one of them would wiggle his way off the boda boda, but it didn't happen while I was watching.

Over the weekend, we took a trip to Gulu to change out the Branch Presidency of the Bardege Branch. We went with President Okello, who is in the mission presidency. President Collings and President Okello spent several hours Sunday morning interviewing Priesthood holders in the branch to try to understand the Lord's will.

The new branch presidency was called, sustained, and set apart. We had to leave right after they were set apart, because we had postponed a trip to Ethiopia for this. But President Okello spent the night in Gulu. He trained the branch presidency the rest of the evening on Sunday, and then met with them again Monday. It felt so good to have them really start out on the right foot. We are so grateful to have him in the mission presidency.

Monday we took about the quickest trip we have ever made to Ethiopia. We arrived Monday, had interviews and zone conference, and flew home Tuesday.

It was very nice as we got on the flight to Ethiopia to bump into one of the members of the branch presidency in the Debre Zeit branch! That doesn't happen very often.

The zone is doing very well together. They are working hard, and trying to build unity within the zone. The training was really good.

We also had zone conferences with Masaka Zone

Kampala North Zone

And Kampala Central Zone

Back to the United States. Two of President Collings' brothers and their families were in harms way as a wildfire came towards their homes last week. They were evacuated and had to wait it out in Grandma and Grandpa Collings home. I'm so relieved to know that they are all okay. The fire was a little too close for comfort. We are grateful that they were protected. They said at one point their kids prayed together that the winds would change and their houses would be saved. What a blessing that their homes were protected.

And now we are all waiting to see the effects of Hurricane Irma. It seems like half the nation is on fire and the other half is under water. It doesn't seem like we can do much from our home in Africa, but know that we are praying for our nation. Our missionaries are praying for the safety of their families, friends and loved ones as well. We are all just doing the best we can, and hoping that our family will be blessed for our service here.

One more fun tidbit. I have received the itinerary for my son's trip home. He just started his last transfer of his mission, and will be released on October 20th. I'm quite excited about this!! It was also fun to get a picture from the bishop of the ward where he is serving. That hasn't happened too many times since I came to Uganda. Feeling very blessed today.