Next transfer in Kajjansi - Week 15

Hello Everyone!

     My companion and I just finished a super powerful transfer.  And now, I am staying in Kajjansi for another 6 weeks and I'm still with my companion Elder de Lisle.  I'm very excited to stay in this area because it is an exciting time for missionary work here.  We have been seeing a lot of success and Kajjansi is flourishing so much.  For a while, there has been construction for a new chapel closer to the main Entebbe Road and on October 5th the Kajjansi Branch will shift to the new building.  We are very excited for this because it will spark interest to the people and we will be able to teach even more people.  So, you could say that I am very excited for this upcoming transfer.
  On Sunday, we had a 4 baptisms of a family.  And before that, the parents got hitched the Friday before at the stake center in Kololo.  That was an incredible experience to be apart of and I know that they will continue to strengthen their love for each other as they continue to live the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They live close to Lake Victoria so they're a ways away but they have the strongest desire to be baptized.  They don't even speak english, so we always bring a member who speaks Luganda to help us teach them.  My love for this family has grown tremendously over the amount of time of teaching them.  I truly see more joy and happiness within their family the more they know about the gospel.  

    So my companion and I switched living spaces with some sisters in the district and the house is HUGE.  and it turns out that they shifted us there because they are adding Elders, so we will all live there.  It's going to be mental!  

     Now that I've been in Uganda for a month and a half, I'm starting to get used to the culture here.  Now it's super weird to see a white person walking around.  It actually even makes me feel uncomfortable.  Being missionaries, we always have to hike around to move and there are a lot of hills in Kajjansi.  And it's blazing hot and humid.  But there is always someone who says "Elder Wilson, you are sweating."  Then I think, "no duh, this is Africa."  By the way, I'm getting super tan, and my tan lines are becoming more visible.  Man, being white in Africa can be hard sometimes.  

      I love this work and there is so much to be done.  My testimony of Jesus Christ continues to strengthen everyday and I find so much joy in sharing that testimony with others.  I'm super excited for this upcoming transfer and I can't wait to work my butt off.

God Speed,

Elder Wilson

So many blessings!

Hello all!

    So many blessings have been found in the work of the Lord.  Elder de Lisle and I have been working hard to bring souls unto Christ and we have been finding success.  Kajjansi is a very fruitful area and there are many people who are willing to hear our message.  

    This past weekend, we had a wonderful baptismal service of a family of 7!  Bosco, Moreen, Sight, Prossy, Sherine, Arnold and Rachel have been receiving the missionary lessons and were baptized on Sunday after church!  We are so grateful for this wonderful family that we were able to teach and bring into the gospel.  Arnold was baptized on Saturday because he was planning on leaving for boarding school so he couldn't be there the next Sunday to be confirmed.  It was a wonderful service and the spirit was so strong.  The branch is so strong in this missionary work and it is a blessing to help strengthen their area.  I'm very excited to continue to help them progress in the gospel.  

      This upcoming weekend, we are having a marriage ceremony in Kololo for Laurent and Narulega.  They don't speak any english so we have always had to bring a member to translate from Luganda.  This past week, we even came to their garden and helped them dig.  (My Dad should be super proud of me considering he was a farmer growing up).  They really want to be baptized so of course we are going to do strenuous work to show them that we really care about them.  Can't wait for them to get married on Friday and then baptized on Sunday!  Super exciting.

        We also have been meeting with a young Sudanese man named James Bol.  He's met with the missionaries before, but he had to move back to South Sudan and lost contact with him.  He really wants to be baptized and he is probably the most prepared guy ever.  We taught him the Word of Wisdom and told him that he couldn't take certain drinks and substances in order to be baptized.  He said he had a question and said "I have never taken any of these things and I never will.  All i take is water."  We said "That's not really a question,...... but the answer is yes."  Can't wait to see this guy progress towards baptism.  

      I'm loving this work and I love helping the Lord bring more of his sheep into the fold.  This is my last week of the transfer so I really hope that I stay in Kajjansi.  I know that there is no greater work than this on the Earth and I know that Christ lives.  Have a wonderful week everyone!  Bera Bulungi!

God Speed

Elder Wilson

Life in Kajjansi District - Week 13

Jebale ko,

    Super good week this week, a lot has been happening.  I'm starting to get the hang of how pasty I am.  And i'm truly grateful for the many wonderful experiences I am having.  

     First announcement:  Our good friend Raju James was baptized!  Super solid guy.  Our biggest concern with him was that he has been super busy working with the Census that is going on over here.  We had the baptismal service on Saturday night and he was a little late because of work.  But nonetheless, he made it!  It was a great baptism.  Turns out there wasn't anyone that was available to conduct the service, so I whipped out my conducting skills and put them to work (jk I'm horrible at conducting a meeting).  Anyway, he was confirmed on Sunday and the Branch welcomed him so well.  Everyone is super excited for him to be the new member.  

      Incredible stuff has been happening.  We have been teaching this fisherman Laurent that lives far away but he comes to church every sunday.  We have traveled to teach him and he really wants to get baptized.  The wife however did not want to be taught.  Over time, we have been visiting them and with the help of the branch mission leader, we were got her to have an interest!  And not only that, she came to church on Sunday!!  We were so happy to see her there.  The thing is though, they are not married, and that's hard if you want to be baptized.  So we set a date for them to get married next week by the church and they accepted!! So many miracles with them.  We strongly believe that she got interested because we offered to dig in her garden for her.  She just laughed and laughed.  Apparently, muzungus can't dig.  

     Another family we have been working with has strengthened their testimonies so much in the past week.  Peter and Lynette are super wanting to get baptized.  Lynette has been coming to church every single sunday.  Peter has been accepting of our teaching but we just need him to go to church.  And he did on Sunday!!  He absolutely loved it.  The thing is with Uganda is that marriage is expensive.  So people usually don't get married and they just live together.  So we extended an invitation for them to get married and they accepted!  They are getting married in October!! Super exciting.  

     Highlight of the week:  We went to teach Peter and Laurent and the whole village was throwing rocks at a tree.  Mugala, our Branch Mission Leader pointed out that there was a huge venomous snake in the tree.  The people just kept throwing rocks at it and even Mugala joined in, we just watched from the side because it looked like they knew what they were doing.  Then one guy, SUper interesting fellow, takes a stick and destroys it's head.  We asked him if he eats snakes and he looked at us disgusted like and he went on for 20 min about how we will die if the snake bites us and if we eat it.  He then offered to sell it to us for 5000 shillings.  I told him we only have 500 and he said Ahhh no snake for you.  We said ok and walked away and then he yelled "You have for free!"  Nutz.  

     Anyway,  People... have a good week.  Keep being awesome and know that Uganda is in good hands.... jk I still don't know what I'm doing.  But serving the Lord is what I love.

Bera Boolongi

Elder Wilson

Week 12 - KAJJANSI

Jebale Banange,

     Super powerful week my companion and I had.  The Lord has been blessing us with strong numbers and a lot of people to teach.  Just yesterday, we had about 16 investigators attend church and they are scheduled for baptism within the next couple of weeks.  We are loving the people that we are teaching and we are seeing them grow tremendously.  The missionary work in our area is stronger than ever.  

     Elder de Lisle and I are getting a lot of support from the branch because some time in the fall, the new church building will be finished with construction and if we have enough members in the branch, we will be able to create two branches.  Super powerful.  I've been eating a lot of the local food, and as I ate, I could distinctly remember the last time I had a burger.  The food here will take some getting used to, but the experiences need to keep coming.  

     The family that we are teaching has a friend that denied our baptism invitation at first and seemed very disinterested in the church.  Turns out her father is a pastor at a local church.  To our amazement, she came to church and absolutely loved it.  We asked her if she will come again and she gave us a definite yes.  The Lord is softening the hearts of His children and it's such a blessing to witness.  I just love how humble the people are here.  Many of the referrals that we get and the people we find have no problem investigating the church.  And teaching them about the restored gospel is such a blessing.  

      Ok Highlight of the Week:  We were teaching an old lady and two of her grandkids out in the open one day about the Restoration of the gospel.  While we were teaching, a super drunk women started mumbling and treating us poorly saying "ehh... mormons" about 5 times.  We know a little bit of Luganda so we would throw her off guard with the little language we know.  She left and we kept teaching, and then a man joined in on the lesson and sat down, halfway through the lesson, he said he had a question.  Our translator told us that he says that he talked with God and the angel Gabriel and they told him that he is going to be ruler of the world, but they also told him that a man from Namibia will find him and shoot him in the head with an arrow.  He then concluded by asking us if we would join forces with him to defeat the "One Eyed god."  While this was happening, that drunk lady came back and yelled at us saying "Look I have a Bible too!"  This was all happening at once, and we were already late for our next appointment. Craziest lesson so far.  Still unsure about whether to join forces with him or not.

     So many miracles are happening, but they don't come in the ways you expect.  In missionary work, miracles are small but later you see that they are effective.  The scriptures read "By small and simple things, are great things come to pass."  I find this to be so true, and this is where faith takes it's part.  Without faith, people just think miracles are coincidences, but all good things come from God.  As you go about your daily life, reflect on the small miracles that God gives to you, and realize that they are truly miracles.  

     I love you all and have a blessed week and love life in the moment.  I'm continually praying for you and I hope you all find joy in your lives.

Over and Out,

Elder Wilson

Elliot in Kajjansi - week 2 in Uganda

Hey everyone!

     So I was hoping that I would get used to Africa already, but everyday, there is something new that I have never really seen before.  I'm super grateful for the opportunity to be here and to serve on the other side of the world.  But anyway, my past week has been pretty great.

     This past week, Elder de Lisle and I have been finding so many people to teach and we are getting new investigators like crazy, but when we have time to kill we just quote the office and laugh till we can't remember anymore references.  There's a Sabo, Peter who is so ready to be baptized and his wife Lynette as well.  Lynette has been going to church every sunday, but Peter has been having a hard time trying to get out of work on Sunday.  They are finding so much joy in learning about the gospel and I can't wait for them to be baptized.  

     A Sabo James who lives in Entebbe has been coming to church and he is very interested.  We have been teaching him the lessons and he tells us of the joy he feels when he learns and he wants to keep learning.  We just have to make sure he keeps coming to church so he can get baptized at the end of the month.  

      David is a great investigator of the church who was referred to us by recent converts to the church.  He loves the lessons that we have and he understands most of what we teach him.  A problem we have is that he lives pretty far, so we have to meet him only once a week, twice if we are lucky.  I have high hopes for this crazy awesome guy.  

      Lorent and Willie are two amazing people that we teach that also live far away, but they come to church like it's nobodys business.  Teaching them takes some time because we always have to have some translate for us because all they speak is Luganda.  But no problem whatsoever.  Lorent's wife doesn't like the church but we are hoping to help her to understand that the gospel will help her to find joy in life.  And I'm so glad that Lorent is stepping up and being an example to her.  

     Just recently yesterday, we found a family!  When we were at church, this man showed up out of the blue not knowing anyone or anything about the church.  We talked with him and his name is Bosco and he is interested in the church.  We scheduled to teach him later that day and he brought his sister to the lesson.  We invited them to be baptized and they accepted!  Then Bosco wanted to show us where is mother lives and when we showed up, his wife and kids were there.  And get this... yep, we taught them and they asked us to come teach them again on Tuesday!!  Such a fruitful week it has been.  

      The Kajjansi Branch is incredibly supportive of the missionary work.  In the Branch, there are several young men who are heading out on their missions soon who are actively helping us with lessons and giving us referrals.  We feel incredibly blessed and we find a lot of success with their help.  The Stake is trying super hard to set goals to have 16 convert baptisms within 10 months so that another stake can be made and hopefully in the future, a temple in Uganda!  I feel so incredibly blessed to be apart of this exciting time.  On Saturday, we had a Mormon Helping Hands service project at a primary school near the church building.  It was amazing to see so many people willing to help strengthen others and serve.

       I'm trying to think of some weird things that have happened and I can only think of a few.  Today, we were waiting for a ride and this crazy woman was asking for my companion's coke that he was drinking and it was super funny because after he said "Nada Niabo this is mine" she just pulled it out of his hands.  Lets' just say that my companion is a lady killer.  

     I am growing in ways that I would have never imagined.  For instance, my facial hair is growing faster than I expected..... Alright alright, guys enough with the jokes.  But seriously, I am at a point in my life where I am learning to mature and learn about my purpose on this mission.  My testimony is being strengthened by all of the miracles that I have witnessed and all of the joy that I feel when I teach others.  I know that this is the true gospel.  before I never really knew what that meant until i came on a mission.  I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer and I am so blessed to have the opportunity to feed his sheep.  I love that I get to teach people that this everlasting gospel has been restored.  And I love teaching these people because they are so humble and loving of God and Jesus Christ.  

    Have a good week everyone.  Love who you are and find your purpose.  Know that I love you and your Heavenly Father loves you

God Speed

Elder Wilson

Ps. Pictures will come soon.  Computers are sketchy here

Week - 9 UGANDA!!!!

Jebalay Buzungus!

    That's right, that was an African language, so that could mean only one thing... Yes I am in UGANDA!!  Finally, am I right?  Anways I made it here on Aug 6 and I am so excited to serve here on the equator on the other side of the world.  But first I want to talk about my last week in Taylorsville, Utah. 

     Our family got baptized!!  We were so happy to be apart of their conversion into the gospel, and it took a lot of work.  I love them all so much and it was really hard to leave them.  The baptismal service was beautiful and the spirit was so thick, that you could cut it with a butter knife.  I feel so blessed that the Lord put me in their path, because even though I helped them find the gospel, they helped me discover the pure joy of missionary work.  

       I made it to the Entebbe Airport in Uganda on the Tuesday night and I left Salt Lake on Monday morning, so you can imagine all of the blood clots I had.   I had two layovers in Dallas and in London.  It was super crazy because apparently there's this flesh eating bacteria that is taking over the west part of Africa and they pulled like 247 missionaries out of there.  In London, I ran into a bunch of Elders who said they were getting evacuated out of Liberia.  And it turns out that a good chunk of them are getting sent to Salt Lake City Central mission where I waited for my visa.  I thought it was pretty weird considering that they were leaving and I was just jumping in to the action.  But then I landed Tuesday night and met the Mission President and his wife.  Such great people, their spirit makes me want to cry the waters of baptism.  My first assignment is to be in Kajjansi, which is close to Kampala and my companion is Elder De Lisle.  He's white too, so he's keeping me somewhat sane.  But seriously, people told me that there will be a huge culture shock and I was like "Oh please do you know who I am?  I'm the tall white guy, they will LOVE me".......... nope.  People will shout at us and little kids will call us muzungus and it gets really annoying (means white people btw).  But people are so accepting of the gospel here and they are always open to hearing our message.  I love the branch that I am with and they are trying so hard to help us with missionary work because the church here is trying to get enough members to make 2 stakes because right now there is only the 1 Kampala stake.  

     I miss you all so much, keep being amazing in everything you do!!  Don't forget how cool you are.  and how much the Lord loves you!!

Elder Wilson

Week - 8 Traveling to Uganda!

Elliot was unable to write as he was flying to Uganda on August 4th.