A visit to Rwanda / Zone Conference

Week 4 of the transfer done, and the time is going by way too fast.  Faster than I'd like.  But we had a good busy week.  On Tuesday, we had a zone conference for my old zone in Mukono.  We had a powerful meeting, talking about the importance of grasping how much time we really have on mission.  President Chatfield would stress the importance of obedience and the blessings it can bring.  It was held at the mission home, so we basically had a home cooked meal right after.  Then on Wednesday, we flew out to the beautiful country of Rwanda.  Just a super great trip.  I've missed my old area and I was able to meet with some of the people that I taught.  There's just a lot of happiness, when you find those that you teach live the principles of the gospel that you have taught them.  Thursday, we had our zone conference, and the meeting was filled with really great insights about the work.  One thing that the church is struggling with in Rwanda is finding people that speak English, but we were able to talk over how we are overcoming this challenge.  Afterwards, we had a nice lunch break at this Mexican restaurant called Mezze fresh, it's like the equivalent of chipotle or cafe rio.  So you could imagine that lunch was the highlight of the conference.  But we had a great time and now we are back.  This week will be busy again.  We have a mission leaders council on Wednesday, then Thursday zone conference with Kololo and Nsambya zones, then on Friday, Kabowa zone, then we crack down on transfers.  Loving the work, and the Lord is blessing us.  We went tracting yesterday in our area, and at the very last door of the day, there was a family all together, and let us in and teach them.  We are super excited to go and visit them again.  not much else to talk about, except missionary work is the most powerful and important work in the world.  And there's no way we can fail.  Have a great week!

Elder Wilson

Ethiopia

So, I'm not dead yet.... jokes.  But Sorry I didn't email last week, we were doing a zone conference road trip around Uganda.  Super fun and spiritual time.  We get to work with missionaries from all around the mission, and help them with the concerns they have in their areas.  Plus, President Chatfield is truly an inspired man, his words are always valued by the missionaries.  We got through Lira, Gulu, Mbale, Iganga, and Jinja.  So we've been a bit busy.  The great thing about going to all these zone conferences is that we always learn something new that can help the mission become better.  We have faith that the missionaries will continue to progress throughout their mission, because mission is the university of life. 
     Even this past week we traveled to Ethiopia to have a zone conference there.  Getting there was a little stressful, because we were already late for the flight, plus my companion forgot his yellow fever card, so we had to get him another one at the airport clinic, and then getting in he forgot his passport at the airport clinic, so just stressful trying to make our flight.  But we made it, and upon arriving in Ethiopia, I was pretty amazed at how different the culture is there compared to the culture in Uganda.  I actually didn't feel like I was in Africa, but I felt like I was in the middle east.  The people look different, their language is super different and difficult to learn.  Just a super foreign environment for me.  But it was a great experience.  The missionaries there are super hard working and they are truly there for a reason.  Even Elder Kapatamoyo, my greenie that I trained a year ago is a zone leader there.  Just a powerful guy if I do say so myself.  But the missionaries were eager to learn in the zone conference and have a strong desire to improve.  I love working with these missionaries, because I can always learn from them.  And they show a lot of great faith in the Lord, to go forth and do the work.  All in all, zone conferences are great and we are not even half way done.  Tomorrow we go to Mukono, and on Wednesday we fly out to Rwanda, which I'm really excited for. 
     The work is doing really well, and I'm trying to live up the time that I have.  I always make sure that I don't go a day without learning something new that can help me on my mission and in life.  I truly love this work and I truly love the Lord.  My testimony continues to grow each and every day, and there's no other place that I'd rather be.  take care of yourselves this week, and always count your many blessings. 

Love
Elder Wilson

New temple in Zimbabwe!

What a week!  From Monday up to Sunday we’ve been going through transfer week over here in the UKM, so I apologize for not being able to write last Monday.  So that you are all up to date on what’s going on over here; Tuesday we got 5 new missionaries that flew in.  It was actually a little hectic because two of them came from the Ghana MTC and their flight was changed at the last minute, they reached us on Wednesday and that disorganized our orientation and transfers a little bit.  But there were no huge concerns.  Having this responsibility can get pretty stressful, but it’s the least that I can do for my Father in Heaven.  We even received another companion, so we are in a three sum!  Elder Afrifa joined us assistants and he is just a super powerful guy.  I’ve already learned so much from him.  Wednesday and Thursday were busy days as we were moving missionaries around to get to their areas.  And we had a ton of missionaries having to stay in our apartment.  And what added more to the craziness, the power was out the whole night.  Typical, but just going through the daily.  On Saturday, we went to do another Jiggers project over in Jinja.  We went to the same village and finished the rest of the kids that we didn’t get around to last time.  It was super great, and we always have fun doing it.  There was a man, who has the same problem of jiggers, but on a more extreme scale.  I would send you the pictures, but I think I’ll just save you the trouble.  Not gonna lie, it’s pretty gross.  But we helped him out as well. 

                Sometimes on the mission, we go through some disappointments that we can’t really avoid.  I had the opportunity to visit one of my past areas yesterday for church.  The branch had been split while I was there serving, and we decided to visit the branch that is having the most trouble in strength.  Hoping to see some people that I’ve taught before, I have found that a man and his children that I taught and who chose to be baptized, was not there.  I was told by the members that he hasn’t come to church for a long time, and he doesn’t want to be visited by anyone from the church.  That pretty much hit me like a rock.  It’s amazing how someone so prepared to receive the gospel and who welcomes the church so quickly, can turn away from it just like that.  I always think about the day where the saints will enter into the rest of the Lord.  Those who receive eternal life will dwell with God in a state of never ending happiness, but the only sadness they will have is for those that they cared about on earth, that chose different paths apart from the strait and narrow.  It’s something that we won’t be able to avoid.  This past week, I’ve been ponderizing a scripture in Mosiah 2 v41, which explains how blessed people are that keep the commandments.  And if they are faithful to the end they return to the presence of God.  Such great blessings for such simple directions.  Keep the commandments and receive eternal life.  That’s why I love this gospel so much, it’s simple but powerful.  I can’t wait to watch General Conference, because over here, we have to wait for copies to come.

                I hope everyone is having a great week.  For those of you that are having a difficult week, remember who you are.  You are a son or daughter of God.  You are of divine heritage.  You may think that you can’t live up to the challenges that life throws at you, but remember who your Father is.  Find those divine qualities every opportunity you get.  Heavenly Father loves you and I love you.  And if I don’t know you……. Well I better get to know you soon, cuz I already love ya.  God speed.


Elder Wilson

Also:  WOOT WOOT for Zimbabwe, they are getting a temple FINALLY!