Five weeks ago we met Tricia who was brought to church by
her friend Kenneth. She is 22 years
old. She said she was interested in
learning more about the Gospel so we set up an appointment and met with her a
few days later. At this first lesson she
seemed very aloof and somewhat shocked of the teachings. When we started teaching of Joseph Smith and
the first vision her jaw dropped and she stared at us like, “you must be
joking.” She had very good questions and
I could tell that she had a little religious background but not a whole lot. When we asked her what she thought of God
being a glorified being made of flesh and bone she was completly surprised at
the thought. My feeling throughout the
whole lesson was, “she’s gonna be a tough nut to crack.” I knew that if she would listen to the Holy
Ghost she could be taught pure truth. My
hope was that she would.
As we introduced the Book of Mormon and how it came to be
(more jaw dropping) I wondered what she was feeling. I had only given a few thoughts during the
lesson and let Francis and Elder Phelps do most of the teaching but as the
lesson drew to an end I felt prompted to bear testimony of the Book of Mormon.
I bore testimony of
it’s truthfulness and how that book had made such a difference in my life. I told her of how I have read it many times with
Elder Phelps, with our children and in my personal study. I told her that the prophets have promised us
that our lives will be better and much improved if we study from it’s
pages. I closed in the name of Jesus
Christ and ended. Tricia looked right at
me smiled and with all sincerety said, “I have to know what’s in that
book! The things you said and the .....
I just really want to know what is in that book!” Right then I could see a softening. It’s amazing when we let the Spirit into our
hearts He works miracles. Tricia said
she would read and pray about our message and the Book of Mormon.
The next lesson was great!
She had read a bit in the Book of Mormon and we encouraged her to read
more. We taught her of the Plan of
Salvation and I knew she was understanding.
She engaged with questions and seemed to be progressing.
We turned the teaching of Tricia over to the Branch
Missionaries. They kept up with her and
she has attended church every week since we first met her.
Today was her baptism!
It was wonderful! The Spirit was
strong and we had many people attend.
There was a very reverent feeling there.
At the beginning of the year we changed Saturday baptisms to Sunday and
that has been working out well. Tricia
needed to be baptized today (Saturday) so she can be confirmed tomorrow. She is leaving on Wednesday to work in Jinja
for 3 months so the baptism needed to take place before that day.
As Tricia was invited to share her thoughts after the
baptism she talked of feeling clean and how it felt so good! She knew that she had things to repent of (as
we all do) and how she felt like she is starting over. I love that!
I love how baptism cleanses us and how it brings us one step closer to
being with Heavenly Father. She also
spoke of being an “investigator.” She
said, “I don’t like that word! I didn’t want to just be an investigator
anymore. I wanted to be a “member” of
this church. That got a laugh out of
those in attendance. Not me though, I
was wiping tears from my eyes knowing just how far she had come from that first
lesson.
Today was one of those days that you love on a mission. Since Elder Phelps and I know our time is
growing short, these moments mean the most to us. It is a beautiful thing knowing that you have
helped in some small way of bringing a soul unto Christ. And we get to do it times three
tomorrow! Richard and his wife Shariffa
and Michael
As we drove back through the center of town yesterday, after
being gone for nine days and knowing that we will not be here much of the month
of March Elder Phelps said, “I have this
sad feeling in my stomach.” I knew what
he meant. Today he said,
“I have been feeling melancholy all day.” Our time is short with our dear Mbale Branch
and it has now been made shorter with our new assignment. As we talk to the members I can tell they are
feeling the same. I want to make every
moment with them count. I am hoping that
the Church has a special Easter video coming soon so that we can go into the
homes of our branch members and leave them with our testimonies of Jesus Christ. That is the best thing we can do before we
leave for home! J
Now on to a completely different subject.
I had a verbal exchange with Fazida this morning that left
me cracking up! I haven’ t seen her for
a long time because we have been gone for nine days. I greeted her this morning and stopped to
talk to her about how things were going.
I casually asked how her chickens were doing. (Remember we gave both of our chickens to
her?) She smiled and said they were
doing “good” and that she brought some coke for them. I said, “You brought them some Coke?” She replied that yes, she had. I again asked, “Coke?” She again said, “yes.” I said, “So..... are you going to give them some
to drink?” (thinking that coca cola must be some magical serum to raise strong
chickens) She laughed and looked at me
funny and said, “no, I am hoping to have some little chicks. You know what do you call them……cokes?” I laughed and said, “Oh, you mean a
cock! A rooster!" She laughed and I heard Francis cackling from
over on the porch! He said, “Coke for
the chickens!” I told Elder Phelps a little while later and we had a good long
laugh over this particular language hiccup!
Oh, the fun times we have in Mbale!
Hope he makes some babies. That might be fun to come home to at the end of the month:)
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