Week 65

Over the River and Through the woods...

This Picture was found on Happy Latter-day saints Facebook page
Grandma Diana found it while she was browsing one day.  It was a happy surprise!

...To President's house we go! 

So. We are currently stuck in Kampala because of a huge traffic Jam... We had a mission Christmas party today, so right after Sacrament meeting yesterday we put the pedal to the metal to get down here. Turns out we will not be heading back tonight and will have to leave at like 5:00 AM to get back tomorrow.

It was a good week though. We had a big baptismal service. I will send pictures next week, but I'll attach a sneak peak sent to my mom by a member.

Have a Very Merry Christmas Everybody!

Some other Pics posted on Facebook by President and Sister Collings.

Week 64

On the road again...

A turkey that wandered into our district meeting on Wednesday

Oh what a week.

On Monday Evening we had an addition of two more Elders to the District. We have had so much to do that they came this week instead of waiting for the new transfer. With that happening I ended up becoming the proud inheritor of a Truck! 

It's been great to be on the road again, but it's been a crazy adjustment. I had very minimal practice with standard transmission before my mission, but it hasn't been too bad. I knew it wouldn't be the easiest thing when I went to get in the drivers side and the steering wheel wasn't there, in fact it wasn't the drivers side at all. Surprisingly enough it wasn't too strange driving on the wrong (left) side of the road. To be honest the hardest thing to get used to was signalling with my right hand, it took me a while to stop washing the windshield and hit the right lever to signal left! Along with all that, I did kind of get in my first accident. Now, don't jump to conclusions here... I did say kind of. I was stopped at a stop sign waiting to turn and a Boda Driver smacked right into my rear light. (I think he was drunk) As we tried to sort things out a crowd began to gather around us. The situation grew a bit tense. Before the police could come the 'Boda Army' took control and drug him and his bike away. Everything is alright, just kinda stressful for just getting behind the wheel after over a year on foot. Luckily the truck no longer feels like a completely foreign object! Pray for me though... I'll be driving to Kampala this weekend for Christmas, and Kampala Traffic is a whole new world of adventure!

Other than that nothing super exciting has happened this week. We have just been working super hard to get people ready for baptism this week. It truly will be a White Christmas! (People dressed in white for baptism. Pun intended.)

I won't be emailing on Monday of next week with some Christmas Celebrations we will be participating in in Kampala. I hope you all have a Very Merry and Safe Christmas Weekend! I Love you guys!

-Elder Winn

A blurry picture of the Ant Army strewn across our yard this morning. If you look closely there are different kinds doing different things. Some make a sort of tunnel. Other medium sized ones travel inside it. Big strong ones patrol the outsides. Pretty crazy! #NatGeoWild!

Week 63

Rocky Mountain Way -Joe Walsh

I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly (Name that tune)

Today, to relieve the stress of preparing so many people to get baptized, we decided to get

On our way up.

up in the mountains on a nice hike. It was an easy decision where to go, as on the horizon looking through town there is a lone granite hill perfect for a morning adventure. 

We headed out there early in the morning, parked at the base, and began the climb. There is a quarry which you will see in the first picture, and we walked along the top of it. From there the ascent gets much steeper and more fun. as we made our way up the mountain we enjoyed watching the sun rise. Once we got to the top we took in the view for a while, and got some nice pics. It was so nice to go on a good hike for once. Sure every day here is like a hike, but nothing beats a true nature adventure.

Summit Selfie

We are still working hard to teach all these people we have in our teaching pool. I spent most of Saturday with Elder Gilbert doing baptismal interviews for their service on Sunday. Instead of making the Zone Leaders come over here to do them I was elected to do it. We have a good group of people progressing for baptism very soon. I'm excited to tell you about them, but I'll wait until things are set in stone. 

I have really enjoyed working in the Lira-Adyel area. People here are very well prepared for the gospel. I think it might have something to do with the contrast of the light of the gospel against the shallow life people tend to be fighting through. Something I've noticed here is that the general population is not as happy as other places I've served. Walking down the street I see people who just aren't happy, and when asked how they are doing they say they are not good. I have seen a lot more open opposition against us missionaries here as well. While tracting

An artistic pic of me pretending to know yoga.

the other day we sat to teach some young men and an old lady began yelling at us from across the street. She hobbled across the road and shooed us off. As we left she hit me with her cane. Small things like that are much more common here. One thing I've been doing to "light the world" this week has been simply to smile more often and spread the love and joy that Christ spread. In doing so people have noticed something different about us, they ask why we are so happy. We then are able to share that we are happy because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I am grateful for this time I have to serve the lord and give my all to him. Especially as Christmas approaches, my purpose is clear: to bring the world the good news that we bear as the Lord's Missionaries!

I love you guys!

-Elder Winn

Left to right. Me, Gilbert, Tshimanga, Brother Opio, and Wilhelm.

Week 62

Arachnophobia

Massive Spider

What a week.

I exhausted my song title library with last week's double feature, so while we wait for more songs to queue a movie title is in order. Luckily I have a fitting movie title for this week's adventures. Keep in mind that as I write this I do have a couple pretty nasty spider bites on my neck that are all blistery and gross. I won't attach a picture... if you really want one ask me or my mom, haha

I could have used "A Bug's Life" as this week's title, but that wouldn't properly describe the terror we have gone

Ants pouring out of a crack in the wall.
This is after killing most of them
  and clearing them off our beds.

through this week in getting our house in order, haha. It all started Monday night as we were winding down for the night. There was a huge spider on the wall next to the bedroom doors... This thing was seriously the size of my hand! (or at least half... which with my hands is still big). The spider put up a pretty nasty fight, but Elder Wilhelm came out as victor! This is his second week on mission, but he is already proving to be a champion!

The battle may have been won, but the bug war was definitely not over. Later that night Elder Gilbert, Elder Wilhelm, and I were chatting when my companion, Elder Tshimanga came running across the hall yelling "Come See! Come See!". We were surprised to walk into our bedroom only to see ants pouring out of the wall, covering Elder Tshimanga's bed, and spreading over mine. As a district we made quick work of pulling the beds out of the room and ridding them of the bugs. My companion and I slept in the front room, but that wasn't much different from our usual room as we don't have bed frames yet. On Tuesday a man came over to help with the bug situation. It got a lot better, but we are still fighting it now.

Our front room before finally getting couches.

In my last email I mentioned that we would be getting furniture on Tuesday, Brother Godfrey finally came on Friday to bring us some more. We now have the necessities: a Stove, fridge, couches, one bed, a water filter, and one luxury... a Washing Machine! We are super grateful for what we have! Hopefully when we go to Kampala for Christmas we can bring back beds for my companion and I, as well as some other finishing touches. It is, however, starting to feel like home here!

What the area has lacked in accommodation, has been more than made up for with how great the work is. We have been teaching some very powerful people. Brother Michael and his family have been happy to receive us, as we have shared with him, his wife, and three boys. Even though his wife went to the Catholic church on Sunday, Him and his 8 year old son Jarom were seated in our chapel at 9:30... Half an hour before the service began. (Side Note: Jarom has some awesome questions... Things I would have never thought of at eight, and is always reading the pamphlets and Book of Mormon. I could honestly see him dragging his mom to our church next week, haha) We hope to see the rest of the family progress as well. 

We also had a brother come to us on Sunday and tell us that he has been faithfully coming to church since 2011 and would like to be baptized, I'm not sure why he hasn't been yet but we are headed over to see him after we finish emailing tonight. We had a sister come to us in a similar situation, and we joined with her in fasting this Sunday to receive the approval of her family so she can also be baptized. These are only a few of the miraculous things we are seeing in development. I can't even begin to express all of the similar miracles we are seeing here in Adyel. My testimony of this work is undeniable. I am so grateful for the experiences I have had sharing the gospel, and I can't wait to see what lies ahead in the coming weeks!

I love you guys!

Take Care!

-Elder Winn

Our Bedroom