Spitting Goats

The pictures of those falls are on the Nile. They were awesome.

The guy in the water was just some guy who went down the

falls holding onto a jerry-can (to earn money of course). Ya J

is doing great. We were supposed to have a baptism this week

but that didn’t happen. The guy came to church but since he had

been working the night shift he hadn’t slept yet so he left half an

hour before church ended. I We called him and he just said he was

too tired to stay awake any longer and the heat was too harsh.

Hopefully next week he won’t have worked so he will be able to be

baptized. I was sad about this because it broke the streak of my

own personal goal of 1 baptisms each week. Actually, we had a

leadership training and that was the exact goal our Mission

President presented at that meeting. He said we should aim to

be the best. He said being average wasn’t ok and gave an

alternative definition of the word “average.” He said it’s being

the best of the worst or the worst of the best. Both of those

don’t sound very good do they? I was happy to see him present

that as our goal but I know others will struggle with that.

Well Bugembe is a rugged area, we are just blessed with one of

the nicest homes in the mission. Other areas apartments are

pretty bad actually. Some areas in Uganda reach up to the

borders of Sudan, so about 8 hours from Kampala at the farthest.

The two most northern areas are Lira and Gulu. The mission also

covers Ethiopia which is decently far so if you get transferred

there you have to wait for your visa and than take about a 2 hour

flight there. Hopefully Rwanda and Southern Sudan open up soon

so missionaries can start moving into there.

Don’t worry about me, I’m completely healthy and always taking

my vitamins and malaria pills. I work out 3 mornings during

the week so I’m staying relatively fit. Well as fit as I can keep

myself. Plus walking keeps my legs decently strong too since

there are a few hills in Bugembe.

So this week was good. We were supposed to have that

leadership training on Tuesday but last minute they changed

it to Saturday so it was kind of frustrating not having any

appointments set up for Tuesday but we found investigators

to teach.

Wednesday we had a few Family Home Evenings at some

members homes. One of the members was a returned

missionary who served in Nigeria. The guy is awesome and

he has a wife and 2 kids already. I was surprised looking at

his mission pictures to see him swimming in his mission

… I guess they didn’t get the memo.

Thursday was a busy day and we saw a less active member

and taught him how he needed to endure to the end. I really

hope he starts coming back to church soon.

I also saw a goat spit that day and it was pretty funny for

some reason just because I didn’t understand how it was

even possible. Goats don’t even have lips really!

Also my companion told me he knows how to talk to

dogs that day.. Interesting.

Saturday we had that leadership training and set up

an appointment with an R.M.’s “daughter and son”.

They are really his sister’s kids but he takes care

of them. They even came to church on Sunday and

we committed them to baptism for November 12^th

after the first lesson.

Sunday was good despite not having O baptized.

Next week I know it! We also had a few good lessons

with some young adults and finally had an F.H.E.

at the Branch President’s house.

It’s been a good week and even today I think we

know a place where we can find a Dr. Pepper!!! Just wait

for lots of pictures of that moment next week haha.

I was reading this week in the Book of Mormon and read

Helaman Chapter 11. I was thinking about how

“history repeats itself” and how “the Book of Mormon

was written for our day”. How true. As you read this you

can see that this is exactly how times are now with the

U.S. in Afghanistan fighting the terrorists. The thing I

found the most interesting was that this is like 11-7 years

before the birth of Jesus Christ. For me this is a testimony

of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and how we

need to prepare for the second coming of the Savior.

We need to humble ourselves always and constantly

repent because the Savior could come sooner than we

all think. I love you all so much and keep the faith.

The church is so true.

Elder Welch