Three Baptisms

It was a great weekend!  After Tricia's baptism on Saturday she was confirmed by Benard on Sunday during Sacrament Meeting.  She looks so happy!  She just had her hair plaited (she waited until after the baptism) and was just beautiful!  Radiant!  That's what the Gospel of Jesus Christ does to people.  It teaches us how to live and be happy!

After our block we got ready for three more baptisms!  There were MANY people who attend after the block to attend.  There was much joyous singing and testimonies shared:)  During the service we could here thunder and knew a storm was coming.  Well, it hit just as we went outside to witness the baptisms.  Luckily, the font is under the eaves of the church.  I snuck in right next to the font but everyone else either watched from the window inside or peeked around the corner to the font:)

Richard was the first to be baptized.  He had asked Francis to be the baptizer and the big joke between Richard and Sharifah was that because Francis is such a small person that he would have a hard time getting Richard out of the water.   Well, it just so happened that Francis DID have a hard time bringing him back out.  Richard grabbed the side of the font and helped to pull himself up:)

Sharifah was next and Rick was able to baptized her.  She was scared of going under the water and not being able to come back out but Elder Phelps reassured her and everything went well.

I just love this couple!  We met them through our gate guard Geoffrey (who was baptized in November).  Richard comes to collect our trash on Fridays and Geoffrey one day started talking to Richard about the church.  He let us know that Richard was interested in learning more and the rest is history!  

We began teaching the first few lessons on the porch of our home.  Mostly Francis and Geoffrey did the teaching because Sharifah speaks very little English and what she does understand is made even more difficult by our Mzungu accents.  So like I said Francis and Geoffrey did most to the teaching and we just bore our testimony toward the end of the lessons.

For the last three or four lessons we were invited into their humble little home.  It is located in Mooni, just up the road from our place at the base of Wanale Hill.  Their home is a concrete building that houses three different families.  Richard and Sharifah's place is about 9 feet by 13 feet.  There is a sheet hanging in the middle to section off their sleeping place from those who might be coming to visit.   Shari'ah does her cooking outside on a small charcoal burner.  Whenever we visited their place they always borrowed chairs from heir neighbors to accommodate us.  I will be honest and tell you that it was very difficult to sit through the lessons in their home.  Only because the heat was TERRIBLE!  It seems the lessons would drag on in a language that I couldn't understand and even some of the time I could feel myself nodding off.  Don't judge!  This is reality folks!  Put me in an environment like that in the late afternoon and it is 'supa' hard to stay awake!  Anyhow, their home is humble but they have a lot of love with each other and their two children, Tony and Ketra.  

The third baptism was of Michael.  Remember Faith's friend?  Well, Rick interviewed him on Saturday and was so pleased with Michaels readiness.  He loves the Book of Mormon and reads it a lot.  He says when he feels a temptation coming on he will read the B of M and gain strength.  Michael has had troubles with alcohol in the past and Faith has been such a wonderful influence on him.  According to Faith he has changed so much since she first met him.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ  does that.  It changes us for the better!  So happy that Michael was baptized.  He is a good man and will be a good member of the church!

                                     Our group with President Etiang on the left.

After the baptism and running home to pick up a few things we started off on the road to Kampala.  It was late in the day to be starting but that's what we had to work with.  We had Andrew Ochom join us.  Andrew is one of our prospective missionaries.  He needed to come back to Kampala to finish up his dental work.  I felt so bad for him on our trip.  I had packed a couple of pb&j sandwiches along with some carrots and cucumbers to eat on the road.  After about the first hour Andrew got car sick.  Poor thing!  With all of the speed bumps and potholes and stopping and going his stomach couldn't handle it.  He threw up about four times in the five hours on the road.  He would just roll his window down and vomit out the window.  Rick tried to pull over but that didn't work so well.  Anyway, needless to say we were all happy to roll into our new apartment where we could unwind after a long day.

Andrew ended up staying with us for two nights and left just this afternoon back to Kampala.  He is very close to having all of his papers ready to submit.  Isn't that great!!  Next week Mercy and Francis will be traveling back with us from Mbale to Kampala to get some of their needed immunizations and dr visits taken care of.  It feels good to be helping some of our prospective missionaries to be getting ready to turn their papers in.  We are most excited for Francis, of course.  I know that sounds biased but he is an awesome missionary and is VERY ready to serve a full time mission!

                                   Here is Andrew enjoying Rick's homemade popcorn!

So.... our apartment is doable.  I'm not in love with it because well, frankly nothing can compare to my "home" in Mbale!  It's on the third floor of a complex.  We have the Ntinda Elders and Sisters living on the first and second levels as well as The Towers, a missionary couple.  Elder Tower is a retired judge from CA and his helping mentor some here in the Judiciary Courts.  They have been here for 6?? months and are headed home in just a couple of weeks.

One thing I do love in our new place is THE BED!  It is very comfy.  There is even a small AC unit in the bedroom which we have been enjoying the last couple of nights.

When we first walked into the apartment there was brown standing water on the kitchen floor.  After cleaning up the mess (Rick is so good:)  he discovered that it was coming from the water heater and seeping underneath the cupboards.  Luckily, we were able to have someone come and take care of the problem today.  Life in Africa is always an adventure!!

Tricia's Baptism

                                           

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!

                                                                      The "coke"  

Hope he makes some babies.  That might be fun to come home to at the end of the month:)

Our New Assignment

We have some new responsibilities as of today.  On Monday after we left for Kichwamba (Queen Elizabeth National Park) we received a call from President Collings informing us that the mission office couple (The Bratsmans would be leaving because of health problems.  He then asked us if we would be the interim couple for four weeks until the new office couple arrives.  Of course, we said that we would.

After Rick hung up the phone and said, "Do you want to cry?"  Just less than a week before we were on our morning walk and talking about how we have loved being in Mbale and interacting with the wonderful people there.  I said,  "I'm so glad that we were assigned here and not stuck in some office somewhere."  I think someone must have heard me and laughed to himself and said...."just you wait Sister Phelps!"

On that drive to Kichwamba I think I went through the five steps of grief....
*Denial...."Maybe President won't really need us."
*Anger....."How could this happen, life is going so great in Mbale.  What about all of our investigators and branch members that we love!"
*Bargaining....."Maybe we can go home every weekend to see our members."
*Depression......"I don't EVEN want to think about learning all of my responsibilities!"

*Acceptance....."I think I'm going to survive this and maybe , just maybe even kind of like this assignment."

Well, today was the first day in the office.  Elder and Sister Bratsman were able to come in and help to teach us of some of our new responsibilities.  Our heads are spinning and we hope we don't completely mess everything up in the office in the next few weeks!

Elder Phelps is in charge of the finances over the whole mission.   His responsibilities include:

Making sure the bills get paid for all missionary housing and utilities.
Keeping track of ALL mission expenditures and making sure there is an adequate paper trail to follow them.
Picking up money from the bank for reimbursements.
....And whatever else is needed

Some of my responsibilities will be:
Office and Proselyting supplies
Office e-mail
Opening all of President's mail and organizing it.
Keeping track of all the missionary files.
Take care of incoming and outgoing mail for all of the missionaries.
Preparing packets for arriving and departing missionaries. (this is the most in depth)
Manage the comings and goings of the office.

Today during the training session I received a frantic phone call from a dear friend in Mbale.  She and her husband are not members of the Church but Elder Phelps and I have taught them a little and feel quite close to them.  She was sobbing on the phone and for two full minutes could barely even talk.  She said that they had gotten into a fight and he told her he was leaving her.  She is with child and was frantic!  She said, "I wish you were here so you could talk to him."  I know that Elder Phelps and I cannot fix everything that goes wrong in people's lives but I so wanted to be with her at this time.  I wanted to be a calming influence and to wrap my arms around her to help bring her comfort and solace.  I am worried that she will have to sleep alone in their apt. tonight which is NOT in a good area of town.  These are the things that I want to be in Mbale for, to help the people who mean so much to us in their time of need.

We are having four baptisms this weekend so we are planning to go back for those.  We will get to be there for the next two Sundays so that will be great.  Hopefully our Branch missionaries will continue in the preaching and keep bringing others to the truth.  We are hopeful that we can return by the first part of April to spend our last few weeks with our beloved friends!  There is still so much to accomplish before we leave.

Lake Mburo National Park

Today is Wednesday March 1^st.  Happy March Everyone!  After a nice breakfast at the lodge we knew we had a big driving day ahead of us.  It was seven hours to Kampala where we are staying tonight.  We got left around 9 and have been on the road all day today.

We took a small detour off the Kampala Highway just past Mbarara and drove to Lake Mburo National Park.  I was disappointed when I found out that QENP did not have any zebras.  I haven’t seen any of those yet so Nicholas, (our game drive guide) told us we could find them at Mburu Lake.  I checked the distance and it was not to far off of the path to Kampala so we decided to take a short detour.  Well, our detour was NOT short.  It took THREE HOURS!!  It was totally ok because in the end not only did we see lots of zebras, but we got to see more cape buffalo, bush buck, Privet monkeys, warthogs, impala, and A LEOPARD!!  SCORE!!

As we were driving out of the park the car in front suddenly stopped and we saw why.  About two hundred feet from the road on a huge rock sat a big leopard.  He was just sitting there like he had nothing else better to doJ!  He was swishing his tail and did not seem alarmed or concerned that we were watching him.  After about 6 or 7 minutes he mozied off of the rock and disappeared into the bush.  We were so happy and surprised that we had the good fortune to happen upon him at just the right time.  A few minutes later and we would have completely missed him.  It stretched our seven hour trip into a ten hour trip but it was SO WORTH IT!!

       Sorry the leopard is really hard to see in these pictures but I promise he is there!!

After yesterday’s experience of asking Heavenly Father to help us see a lion, this morning we prayed that today we might see a zebra (because it is something I REALLY wanted to see before leaving Uganda).  Well, he let us see many Zebra and threw in a leopard just because He couldJ!  He is so good to us!