Lots of pioneers in Africa

Whoa, are you kidding me, this is the last month of our mission.  I guess it is time I started to get to work!  We love it here but are excited for the chance to renew our love with family and friends in person!  But enough about that, we really try not to count the days down because it will happen way to fast as it is.

In the book "The Crucible of Doubt," another highly recommended book, I found this quote about prayer and how we sometimes are stymied as we wait and wait on the Lord.  In the book it is recounted how a young man had prayed in spiritual agony for years.  He finally wrote home and his mom gave this valuable feedback: “Enough of this nonsense. This is pure foolishness. Stop this at once. Stop praying with your knees, start praying with your feet.” And that was a sweet relief for me. It was complete and total liberation. I took her advice and decided “I’m going to stop doing this thing. I’m going to stop holding a gun to the Lord’s head and insisting on a sign. I’m just going to live my life as if the gospel is true.” So you must understand: what I did upon reading that letter, was that I made a wager. I decided to bet my entire life that the gospel was true. I decided I would wager my life that the Church is everything it claims it is and live out my life accordingly. So that is what I’ve done and what I continue to do. . . . The kicker is that in the course of serving and fulfilling priesthood duty, knowledge does in fact come. But for me it has come in ways that were unbidden. Knowledge for me has not arrived because it was beckoned, or because I said “give me a revelation.” For me it has come in ways I can barely describe, and never on command, and I’m not even sure that they’re sensory or palpable. But I can tell you . . . that I somehow crossed a threshold into an area that I think we can call something more approaching knowledge. When I speak with conviction about our church it’s not merely with hope and with faith but with something that is approaching knowledge. That I can tell you. But it’s never come on my terms and never come to me on my timetable."
Givens, Terryl; Givens, Fiona (2014-09-05). The Crucible of Doubt (Kindle Locations 2356-2365). Deseret Book Company. Kindle Edition.

I love it, "stop praying with your knees, start praying with your feet."  I know I sometimes think all I need to do is ask and then wait for the fireworks to begin.  Not so, pray with your feet and get to work will bring desired results over time, or perhaps, something even better.

Hard to believe that when September gets here, we will have been home for several hours.  If anyone knows of any jobs, that is where I will be, looking for work.  I hope changing my profile picture will let people know how serious I am.  Believe me, the front view picture would not express confidence in my capabilities. I can just see potential employers asking: "so, why the long face?"

In Jinja we had the yearly agriculture fair and they get over a million people over the week long event.  We were doing the hoes project for the first part of the week so we only got to provide help to the missionaries for two days (thank heavens!).  The church had a tent set up to share what we believe and get future contacts if they are interested.  You can see from this picture how many were there.  The schools ship all their kids in for one of the days and it was crazy.

Our tent.

We changed elders every day so they all had a day along with the sisters who took one day.

For fun one day we went to the reptile park right by where the fair was held.  It is at the source of the Nile and you pay a small fee to get in.  This is a leopard turtle and I fell in love at first sight.

This one, not so much.

I don't think this guy has ever seen a tooth brush.

As we were leaving a school group came around to see the animals.  Glad we were done first.

 
We found a couple of dusty donkeys on the way to the reptile park.  You have to get a picture right?

 

Glad we don't get these guys around our home.  It is around 2 1/2 inches across.

For pioneer day Sister Squire invited the missionaries, in the district closest to our home, to help her make bonnets and hats for the primary kids.  They had to model them after completion.

And this is the final product.  Usually there are around 20 in primary but it was a light day.

The humanitarian couples from South Africa came to train the Howards and wanted to go out and see the source of the Nile.  Off they go.  Samuel, the boat driver, is going to be baptized soon.  It is fun to see how many people you talk with about the gospel come to church, feel the spirit and get baptized.

Here is Cosmos, another one of our referrals, who we talked about in another blog post, and his finished product.  I hope we can find somewhere that could make him some "hands" so he will be able to start learning a new skill.  If anyone knows anyone (they don't exist in Uganda) you can let me know.  He received his settlement from the business where he worked and it came to a grand total of around $3,000 dollars.  Yikes

When a branch has a conference we go out and visit less active members to invite them to come out.  We see some pretty cute kids.

This is the family of one of our guards (he has since been transferred) who we really enjoyed.  John was out fishing on lake Victoria but it was nice to see his family.  This area is very poor.  You can see from the background they live a very humble life.

One of the less active members owns this business where he sells movies and video games.  He also has it setup where they can come and play.

Some of the locals helping me make it back to the vehicle safe and sound.

In the market at Jinja they sell just about anything.  We get all our produce here and if we wanted we could get these small fish to add to our meal.  Glad I am not a fish fan.

Another wedding and TWO cute girls.  I didn't ask but they may be twins.  We had a mission fast and one of the things we fasted for was to teach families.  Currently, the mission is teaching 205 families.  Never have we taught anything close to that amount in the past.  This wedding was from Mbale.

Another wedding this time from Lugazi.  This couple was baptized the next day.

Fight, fight, fight!  While out visiting we caught this action between two roosters.

A video of the same action.

This is Samuel (yes another one) who we passed on our way to the reptile park. He is 15 years old and was washing his laundry in the Nile.   We always share who we are and why we are in Uganda and invite them to chruch.  Samuel came to church and by chance we were at the Jinja Branch that day.  First time ever and so we got to introduce him to the missionaries so he can be taught. He has been to church the last two Sundays!

We were invited to a graduation party for the District Relief Society President's daughter.  All her friends that have graduated anywhere close to her were also invited and wore their graduation gowns.  It is like the introduction ceremony, a lot of singing and dancing.  We left early but it went until midnight.

 

How on earth can they sit like this!

This is one of our returned missionaries who is still looking for Mr. right. She is the Primary President in the Iganga Branch.  Her name is Ritah.  She is awesome!

The kid has some moves.

This is the wagon with no wheels I mentioned last week.