New Year

Happy 2011 Everyone from the middle of Africa!

We had hot dogs and hamburgers for the Christmas party.
They don’t have any traditional foods really. People
usually eat the same kind of foods every day. They eat
either chicken or beef, matoke or posho, rice or
noodles, and beans. That’s as much as people vary
their foods here.


Well the week was great. On Monday like I said last
week, we visited the Baha’i temple. Pretty awesome place!
It’s nice to get out and see
some of the unique things here in Kampala.

On Wednesday we worked the whole day with a member named C
who is working on her mission papers right now. She does so
much for the church here in Nsambya and pretty much devotes
half her week to doing things there. She’s like a missionary
already.
The best part of the week was on Friday. We got a referral
from one of the APs about a guy in Nsambya who had learned
about the church while in Iraq and was going to church there
with a lot of the members there in his camp. He learned so
much about the church and even now, after
those almost 2 years of going to church there, is still not
baptized so we get the opportunity to teach him and his
whole family and help them get baptized. This was seriously
a miracle to start off the new year. This guy actually had
been emailing his brother about the church
in a village in the far West of Uganda on the border of the
DRC, about a 9 hour bus ride from Kampala. The guy was
then out there and organized a church group that has been
meeting over the last year and a half. He gave us a list
of about 30 people who this one guy has been
meeting with, and none of them have been baptized.
It is pretty awesome to see how members can be the best
missionaries sometimes.
These two guys are not laid back at all and have been
making big strides with their own personal mission.
I emailed the Mission President today with all the details
about it and I’m hoping he sends missionaries there as soon
as possible to organize an actual building
for the members to meet together in, instead of meeting in
someone’s small home. Man I can’t even describe the work
those two guys have been doing out there. My companion and
I are truly so blessed to be able to be apart of the
marvelous work these two guys have started
off.
For New Years we had to be in by 6:00 P.M. just to be safe
so we were a little bored that night. We stayed up till
12 and got on the platform of our roof where the water
tank is and watched the fireworks
all over Kampala. It was pretty awesome! Event the nuns
in the building next to us were out on their balcony loving it.
I think it was the most excitement they have had since
someone switched the holy water with acid.
Saturday was just as good. That guy came with his wife and
three kids to the New Years party we had at the church.
It was pretty cool but … They had a
stage in the back of the church with all the chairs facing
it so that people could go up and dance or just go up and
pretend to sing or something but some of the people’s way
of dancing wouldn’t be appropriate in a club, nevertheless
a church party! Haha. Oh well,
different culture I suppose. The party went well and a ton
of people came (for the free food mainly of course).
Sunday was a great day. Church attendance is always down
after a party which would be the opposite of what you would
think but it happens because people come on Saturday to the
church and think that is good for the week. The day was great
though as we helped a part member family, come a little
closer to being a full member family. We taught
four of the children of a less active member and his two boys,
who are really smart, were baptized by him on Sunday.
We are hoping his other two daughters will be soon baptized
as well, but one of them is a little slow at learning and
our Zone Leader wanted her to wait a few
weeks to be retaught everything and baptized.
The other daughter has been in Catholic school for the
last 13 years of her life, separated from her family
so we will have to work on her quite a bit more as well
in order for her to receive the answer
from God that she needs to be re-baptized into his church.
So the weeks been busy.
Even today we are planning on going to the big Mosque
in downtown Kampala which should be pretty cool.
So that’s the week.
The pictures I’m sending are of the Christmas party,
a waterfall we always pass in our area, a lot of the Baha’i
temple, some cute kids, the New Years party, and of the
baptisms.
Just know the work is marvelous and that the
church is true. I’ve just started reading Our Search
for Happiness and it is an awesome book to give to
non-members. It puts forward why we
believe what we do and it’s an easy read.
A lot easier than Jesus the Christ which I just finished.
If you guys ever have an opportunity
this week to share with people something plain and
precious about the gospel, do it! Don’t be forward or
offend anyone about it, just make
them understand how happy the restored Gospel of
Jesus Christ makes you. That’s what missionary work
is all about and why so many members
of the church try and tell anyone they can about
the church. keep the faith like Paul would say.
Stay healthy and know
I love you all!

Elder Welch