6 Months...Are You Sure?

Often, when talking with Africans, they will respond to a statement with the comment "are you sure."  I thought it was appropriate for my stating that we have officially hit six months on our mission today.  Since we started our mission six months ago, we had the first senior couple come to our mission.  However, we have had seven couples leave our mission since we arrived in Uganda.  President Chatfield stated that senior couples coming on missions is down 25 percent over the past few months.  The youth have stepped up to create the largest missionary force in the history of the Church.  Why haven't the senior couples felt the same desire I wonder.  Pets, grandchildren, your home, aging parents, finances, I am sure there are many reasons but it seems that with the baby boomers coming of senior couple age there would be a corresponding increase in senior couples.  You don't know what you are missing seniors!  Every day is an adventure no matter where you go in this wonderful world.  We were blessed that our mission would go fast and I can tell you that President Peterson got it right.  It is flying by but some days sure do take their sweet time getting finished.  I know we and our family are being blessed while we are in Africa.

Elder Russell M Nelson stated:  "No senior missionary finds it convenient to leave. Neither did Joseph or Brigham or John or Wilford. They had children and grandchildren too. They loved their families not one whit less, but they also loved the Lord and wanted to serve Him. Someday we may meet these stalwarts who helped to establish this dispensation. Then will we rejoice that we did not seek the shadows when a call to missionary service came from the prophet, even in the autumn years of our lives."

Or perhaps Robert D Hales: "My brothers and sisters, if you have felt stirrings to engage in this work, however quiet those feelings may be, do not procrastinate the day of your service. Now is the time to prepare; now is the time to be called, the time to sacrifice. Now is the time to share your gifts and talents, and now is the time to receive God’s blessings for you and your family. “There is a constant need for more couple missionaries,”

This was a training week as we got two new missionaries and then we had 14 missionaries that originated from Uganda come back home to finish their missions.  What a blessing that will be for us to have so many new missionaries. We have opened new areas and finally President Chatfield has a full complement of missionaries that he is allotted.  It is such a blessing to be surrounded by young men and women who are willing to sacrifice either two years or 18 months to teach about the restoration of the Saviors church to the earth.  We love them!

We were going to go to Sipi Falls this weekend but doctor appointments for missionaries and all the training just kind of made it impossible to go.  We feel bad because the Grundy's (another senior couple) will be leaving this coming week and they are in Mbale and we would have stayed with them. Now every senior missionary home that is vacant will be filled with missionaries to manage the influx of new missionaries.  Crazy!

We had a car break down with a flat tire outside our apartment. I had just finished my walk and was able to help him when he had no jack and his spare tire was flat.  It was nice to be able to help and it is wonderful to see that all the walking I do is really paying off. :)

 Cute girl waiting in vehicle while we went and got the tire fixed.  He was a school bus driver.

These next photos are all from the balcony of our branch meetinghouse.  There is commerce everywhere in Africa.  Here you can buy pans and the round red and metal colored objects are the stoves they use to cook most meals here in Africa.  They cook outside their homes using charcoal.

 Clothing

 Mattress

Beds, shelves etc.

 Metal products

 And a wood shop where they build beds and other wood items.

This was the first time I had seen chickens on top of a taxi.  I guess it is just being prepared in case they get a flat tire and get hungry.

Just so you know how nice health care is in the USA, here we have an elder getting a treatment with boxes of files and a broken chair in the corner. Elder Lipengah is our Sickle Cell Elder and his companion is Elder Bergout from Fruit Heights.  Friends with our niece, Krystal Gallacher!

This is the sweet waiting area/dining area Sister Squire is taking advantage of.

OK, the sweet girl in orange is Tessa from Provo, Utah and Katie is standing next to her.  Both have been here all summer and Tessa was assigned to work in the primary with Sister Squire.  Both Tessa and Katie have done a tremendous job and we will really miss them.  Tessa's parents were here today to pick her up and head to Kenya for a safari.  Katie, the other girl is on safari this week in Uganda and will leave next week as well.  She has been teaching in Young Women.  We will miss them both even though we only saw them on Sundays.  Tessa's mom works in the Primary in Provo and had a video of the primary kids singing, "I am a Child of God" and "I Love to see the Temple."  They made a nice poster and showed the primary kids the video of them singing.  In turn, our kids were videoed singing the same two songs and they will get to see these African Primary children singing when Tessa and Family get back to Utah.

Here are the videos if you care to see our kids singing the songs.  The Branch has around 10 kids but we get lots of kids that come with their friends or just off the street.  We had 22 children this last Sunday. 

Finally, here is the random photo this week.  The bodaboda drivers are so cold here in Uganda.  They are all bundled up in coats and ski hats.  It is cool in the low 60's but I love it.  Here is one in a nice fur coat.

Not good enough, well OK, one more.  This is not my picture but it does get me excited for when a couple of our girls come to visit in November and we go to see some of the elephants.  If only we can be so lucky!

Here Comes the Bride

Whew, what a week.  We had Elder Moore here this past week with the four bulging discs at the base of his skull.  Poor man was a walking zombie while taking medications that would make him sick while never fully relieving the pain.  It was hard to watch someone go through that much pain and not be able to help in any way.  They have been great MLS (Member Leader Support) missionaries in
Gulu.  Gulu is close to the South Sudan border and about a 5-6 hour drive from Kampala.  Half of the drive is on a nice road but the other half will shake your booty in a dozen different ways.  It is full of pot holes and the side of the road has no blacktop so the big rigs drive down the middle of the road and you have to move to the side.  The only problem is that often there is a huge drainage ditch that will swallow a truck if you get too close.  The have been such a blessing to the two Branches in Gulu and Elder Moore never got to say goodby.

The doctor from South Africa flew up to Kampala, arriving around 9PM at the Hotel and he left with Elder and Sister Moore at 4AM the next day.  I guess he can say he has been to Uganda but he sure didn't get to see much.  The area medical doctors for the region are always on the go.  I can't imagine having several missions where you have to take care of the most critical needs.  They were sure he would need to be admitted to the hospital in Johannesburg but once he got some of the good stuff Oxycontin - illegal in Uganda) in him, he was able to fly back to the US the next day.  Sad that he was only 6 weeks from finishing his mission but they both did so well they were able to go home early.  I may have to stay a few extra weeks to finally get it right.

Here is his first night in Kampala.  Had to go to the hospital to get pain under control.

He starts feeling a bit better...

He got to spend the night a the Hospital.

Sister Moore at the going away dinner.  Elder Moore is home in bed.  So glad she was willing to come and let us say goodby.  As members of the Church, we come to know our Savior through afflictions and trials. Our Savior knows all about our pains and sufferings; “And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:12)

After that adventure we took the Humanitarian Couple, Elder and Sister Hannan, to the orphanage to see if there was some project the Church could sponsor to help with the 45 to 60 babies they care for depending on the day.  By the time they are 4 they will have been placed either with family or someone else willing to care for them.  Can you imagine doing the laundry for 50 kids that are changed three times a day?

OK, if you don't think this is the cutest thing then somthing is wrong with you.  The toddlers are sat here and fed at this long bench and table.  It is quite the mess when they are done.

This is one of the twins that had just come in the last time we were there.  She looks great and is gaining weight.  They do an excellent job of taking care of these kids here.

At our Lugazi Branch we have a couple that have been taking the lessons for quite some time.  They could not be baptized because they had not been married.  They have a beautiful 2 year old and because of the culture here in Africa with having to pay for your bride, people just live together.  President Bednar stated during his visit to Africa that "Bride Price" is a very wicked tradition as it keeps people from getting married.  The groom is required to pay the brides family a sum for the opportunity to marry their daughter.  Crazy, but they finally got all that worked out and we had the wedding in Jinja yesterday.  This is a wonderful couple and Sister Squire agreed to make the cake and provide flowers for the wedding.  She went above and beyond to make sure it was a special day for Sister Olivia.  Not very many people afford a vehicle so they take a taxi.  Lugazi is about 28km from Jinja so they rented a taxi to bring with wedding couple and some of the Branch members.  Here they are starting to get out.

 If I counted right it had 17 people in the van.  I think they are allowed 14...

The beautiful bride to be, Miss Olivia.

Two new interns that will be living in Lugazi for the next month.  The two that have been here all summer are leaving after this next week.  They have really helped the Branch out in Primary and Young Women.

 The cake and flowers.

 Another shot, well done Sister Squire.

I was not able to get any photos of the wedding because it was in the Chapel and we don't take photos in the chapel.  It was fun to see the customs of Africa.  After the marriage the bride and groom cut the cake and then the groom sits while the bride kneels and feeds him some cake.  Then he feeds her some cake.  Next they take a drink and she helps him has his first drink and he will reciprocate with the drink.  At more traditional African weddings there is a lot of yelling but this was much more restrained.  I love the family proclamation: “marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children.”  They will hopefully follow this up with a visit to Johannesburg to be sealed in the temple there.  Here are some of the wedding photos.

The groom and his boys.

The bride and her girl

Married

Ah, the kiss

The bride with more of her girls.

Cute Josalena

All the attendees

After a rough wedding you need to go with the interns to get a milkshake, and so we did.

The real great thing about their wedding was they could now be baptized.  Here is Elder Edmund who will do the baptism and his companion Elder Bokwe.

Great viewing area for the baptisms.

 The Primary kids love Sister Squire.

The final shot...

Finally, don't be this guy, only drink filtered water when you are in Africa.

Nathan checking out my awesome beard growth.

Here he is leaning how to use the ipad.

Lions, Tigers and Bears...Oh my

OK, so we didn't see any lions...or tigers...or for that matter bears; we had to settle for wart hogs, monkeys, giraffes, impalas, deer like creatures, hippos and cape buffalo.  Bummer :)  Before we get to the fun photos, a bit about our week.  We had many appointments for Sickle cell, wisdom teeth, broken teeth, neck pain, and cavities.  Who could ask for anything more?  We love these missionaries but they sure do break down a lot.  Actually, it isn't that often but there are just a lot of them.

As you read last week we had a wonderful week helping for a day at the refugee camp up by South Sudan.  We were very blessed to be able to get out of Kampala and do some different type of service work.  It was great to ride up with the Public Affairs missionaries (Hansens) and take turns driving on the horrible roads.  We will probably not get that far north again so this was a great opportunity for us to see more of this beautiful country. We will get to the animal park again because Rachelle is coming to visit in November and we made our reservations for Paraa already.  Chobe is the park we went to but both resorts are in the Murchison Fall National Park on opposite sides of the park.  You can pay 5,000 shillings ($2) each for park entrance if you are only going in for lunch.  It was a beautiful setting right on the Nile River with over a hundred hippos out in the water feeding.  As evening approaches they move out of the water onto land.  We look forward to seeing that when we go in November and stay overnight.

Our first view of Chobe as we walk out on the deck of the Hotel.

The Nile River

 A dead tree in a tree, wow, only in Africa...

A great view of the lodges if you have deep pockets.

The balcony where we are eating our lunch.

It is so cool to see all these animals so close to the road throughout the park.  You have to wonder about all the animals that are a few miles away from the roads.  This beautiful shot of Giraffes has been my screensaver for the past few weeks.  I like it a lot! (Thanks Reese and Ellie)

As you drive all through Africa, everyone walks.  This is a group of school kids but the road is lined with kids and adults walking on the roads to wherever they are going.  I should say that all roads are full of people walking at all hours of the day and night.

These three girls were so cute walking down the road together with their arms around each other.  They turned around when they heard the truck slowing down so we could take a picture.

You can see them breaking apart and getting ready to run.  A group of muzungus is enough to scare anyone. The kids in Africa wear all different kinds of school uniforms and man, they do look cute.

Now lets get going on our safari, should we?  It was actually all on the road as we were driving in the park to have lunch.  Have I told you lately how great Africa is?  The Tsetse flies here on our mirror were nasty.  They bite!  You can see how many are surrounding our vehicle and when we would open the window to take a picture they fill the truck and attacked.  We were all slapping like crazy.  Interesting, once we got to the lodge, they were gone.  I think it must have been posted that no Tsetse flies were allowed past a certain point.

Cape buffalo

I love the two different colorings on the giraffes here.

 Better picture

Impala

These pictures are for the grand kids that love lizards.

Duck taking off for the water.

 

Chillin while we wait for out lunch.

While watching the river, all of a sudden we see a hippo looking like a balloon floating down the river

Closeup.  The guides tell us the hippo will get stuck in the bend of the river and then the crocodiles will make quick work of it.

Wart hogs.  We had the guide give us a ride out on the air strip where they were feeding to get a good shot of them.  They kneel on their knees to eat.

Baboons are all along the Nile.  There have been problems in some remote area villages where the baboons come and kill the children when they are out. 

Giraffe and Cape Buffalo together

Giraffe and Impala together

Sister Squire and I had the chance to speak in Sacrament Meeting this past week and what a blessing to prepare and learn from Prophets, Seers and Revelators.  I hope as you find joy and also struggle with your daily life you will remember this from President Monson: "We were not placed on this earth to walk alone.  What an amazing source of power, of strength, and of comfort is available to each of us.  He who know us better than we know ourselves, He who sees the larger picture and who knows the end from the beginning, has assured us that He will be there for us to provide help if we but ask."  D&C 90:24: Pray always, and be believing, and all things shall work together for your good, if ye walk uprightly and remember the covenant wherewith ye have covenanted one with another.

Hope you all remember to have a safe summer.