"You Are Most Welcome"

The elephant statue that welcomes you to Gulu

Week of Sunday September 14- Saturday Septembeer 20, 2025

On our first Sunday in Gulu, we attended the Gulu Branch, one of the 6 branches we are responsible for staying in contact with and supporting.  We were warmly greeted and met many members.  We felt very welcome which was appreciated.  The greeting the Ugandans offer is charming, "You are most welcome."  We do feel most welcome.  

After sacrament meeting, for all of the congregation, we broke into groups to learn and share ideas and testimony.  The men stayed in the chapel and Elder Kaiser could hear the primary children singing in a room nearby.  After the meeting he slipped into the primary room and his heart melted with their enthusiasm as they sang "I am a Child of God". 

1.

I am a child of God,

And he has sent me here,

Has given me an earthly home

With parents kind and dear.

Lead me, guide me, walk beside me,

Help me find the way.

Teach me all that I must do

To live with him someday.

2.

I am a child of God,

And so my needs are great;

Help me to understand his words

Before it grows too late.

Chorus

3. I am a child of God.

Rich blessings are in store;

If I but learn to do his will

I’ll live with him once more.

Chorus

This is the District and Branch Leadership. The brother on the right, in the suit, is District President Patrick Orombi.  He is the leader of the 5 branches in Gulu. The other brothers are District Counselors, Branch Presidents or Branch Counselors.  

Later in the day we went to a meeting with the local district and branch leaders, It's like the stake organization except the Priesthood Authority is the Mission President. In district leadership council we were able to share our assigned tasks to help train the leaders and ask for names from them to help fulfill our assignment to help their members preparing to go to the temple or those who we might help return to church activity.  Our overall assignment is to help build the area so that they can become a stake.

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Sisters Douglas and Kabole at the "main market"

an example of what many of the stalls was stocked like.

Going shopping in a new city and in a new country was a bit overwhelming.  We had been to Cynibel and Shop Wise on our own already but we needed help going to the Main Market.  A big indoor/outdoor market. Thankfully sweet Sisters Douglas and Kabole agreed to join us. So on Monday we met up with them and they took us to the Main Market to buy fruits and vegetables, which made us happy since these items aren't available in the grocery stores or the selection is poor.  The Main Market  also had sellers with fresh and dried fish (not sure I would trust any of this), seamstresses ready to make items for you, several varieties of rice and beans, different kinds of flour, sugar cane, shoes, ready made baby and kids clothing and school supplies along with all kinds of household items.  We bought tomatoes, green beans, an avocado, carrots, a yellow pepper, potatoes, zucchini, bananas and a pineapple.  Then we went to the grocery store for meat, bread, canned goods, pasta, and milk.  The milk comes in a sealed pouch made out of the same heavy waxed paper 32 oz boxes that broth is sold in USA grocery stores. The milk does not need to be refrigerated but we open a pouch and pour it into a glass pitcher to be stored in the fridge and it tastes just fine.  When we got home we needed to wash all of the fruit and vegetables in a dish soap, bleach and water mixture then let everything air dry before refrigeration all of this is to make sure they were completely clean and would not make us sick.

Fresh produce left to air dry after a cleansing bath and a good scrubbing.

The next day Tuesday we went with 2 Elders, Mbaya and Landsberg, to visit newly baptized members who hadn't been at church meetings because of the distance they needed to travel.  A short time ago many missionaries had trucks and could find people far away from the chapels.  The challenge is the trucks were removed from the mission and members can't get to the buildings because they would have to walk or pay for a boda boda.  Transportation and money are both very real challenges.  

  

                        Grace is wearing green.

At our first stop we met a woman, Grace, who was recently baptized and is 101 years old.  She does not speak English so her neighbor translated for her. We went to another woman's home. When we arrived she was chopping wood. She stopped her work and happily greeted us and brought us a drink.  She radiated the Savior's love.  Our final visit was to a family in a very tiny home.  The woman two Elders and us filled the room with very little extra space.  Each was so humble and yet gracious for what they have.  We ended our day by staying with the same elders for a lesson they were teaching to a young adult woman, Joy. She is bright and attentive to the lesson and asked good questions and was super excited to get her own copy of the Book of Mormon!  

Story Time;

Calvin, lives about 50 minutes away from the apartment where we stay who has been taught the gospel along with his wife, Eunice, and 3 children.  The parents and oldest 2 children have been baptized but the youngest is not old enough to be baptized.  Calvin met the senior missionaries in his little village when they stopped to buy mangoes from a shop. He has been excited about the gospel and shares it with everyone he meets.  The previous senior missionary couple, the Zauggs, who served here before us went to see Calvin and his little group on a regular basis and taught them.  Since they live so far away they can't make it to church, transportation and funds are always an issue and the young missionaries can't get to them since they don't have vehicles.  Calvin has about 40 people coming regularly to "church" services.  Stay tuned to see how this story unfolds....

Look at those happy faces!.

"Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath given it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to repentance.

Behold, hath the Lord commanded any that they should not partake of his goodness? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but all men are privileged the one like unto the other, and none are forbidden."  2 Nephi 26: 27-28

We were asked by Calvin to come teach some friends on Wednesday.  We were not prepared for what waited for us, 40 young children who attended the school that Calvin teaches at and 2 adults!!!  The children were so cute and happy to see us along with Calvin. We quickly formed a new plan. We sang "I am a child of God" since Calvin said they knew that song.  Then we taught about prayer and asked them to pray every day.  We planned to teach the adults about service but the woman, Collins, who was one adult was brand new to the gospel and needed a different lesson, the young man, Calvin's teacher assistant, Daniel, was more familiar with the gospel.  It was tricky.  In then end I gave Collins the Book of Mormon and taught a brief lesson about the restoration and how the Book of Mormon came to be and that it is another testament of Jesus Christ.  She was very attentive and was delighted to receive the book.  Later Daniel and Collins were having a discussion about it.   

Collins, Daniel and Calvin

On Thursday our afternoon was pretty open so we headed to the Bardege chapel which seems to be a gathering place due to the availability of free wifi and also people feel comfortable there.  We met a couple of local members who were working on Pathways, a Church sponsored education program to help and prepare adults to be better prepared for the work force.  We met Anthony, age 20, who willingly showed us what he was working on in the Pathways program and answered our questions. He also showed us around the church.  He is a new convert and plans to serve a mission.  He is the only member in his family and wants to set a good example for his younger siblings.  It seems like this is the largest group joining the church, the young adults.  They have been raised to understand the Bible and know of Jesus Christ.  They are in tune to the Spirit and are excited to learn more about the Savior and the Book of Mormon.  Fun fact, we found out that his institute teacher (online religion class) is David Porcaro!!! David is our friend from our ward in Broomfield, Colorado. We texted David and made our connection complete.  It's a small world in the church.

Our new friend Anthony

While at church we were able to talk with 6 of the younger missionaries who happened to stop by.  We are working on learning their names so this was a helpful time for us as we got to speak to them and find out more about them.  Getting the correct pronunciation of their names can be a challenge but they are being patient with us.  We think we have Elder Smith figured out.  Some others include: Sithole, Mhlanga, Kabole, Muava'a, Madhlambuzdzi, and Uwamahoro.  We will get there.  The missionaries are wonderful. Most are pretty recent converts who desire to share the gospel they have come to love.  They are soft spoken but have strong spirits.  They will be such a blessing to their native countries as they return to help build up the church as leaders in their home countries.

Cute little goats are everywhere tied to a stake. There are no fences.

There are only two senior missionary couples in all of Uganda.  The Ence's are the other couple, serving in Masaka, Uganda. One of their responsibilities is to assist prospective missionaries with their paperwork to make sure it is completed correctly. They also manage the English Connect Program for the incoming missionaries who do not speak English.  The Ence's will return to the USA in November  2025 so they are passing the baton for both of these two programs to us.  They have begum to train us is these areas.  It's a bit overwhelming but it will come together. No other senior couples are coming until May 2026.

   Singing with our new friend, Connor                Sister Kaiser and her attentive audience 

We decided to visit the other chapels in the area on Friday to see if these were also gathering places.  They were not, but we did find Connor at the Pece building.  He was practicing singing the hymns and had the keyboard on accompaniment mode.  Elder Kaiser joined in and they sang about 5 hymns together before moving on.  At the Laroo building they were having a young mens meeting so we looked around and met three young boys who had a pamphlet about families and temples.  Sister Kaiser went through the booklet with them.  They were 6, 9 and 11 years old. They sat quietly huddled together, not moving or wiggling and listened carefully and were hungry to learn.  The two older boys Steven and Joseph are baptized but Adrian is too young to be baptized.  As we left one boy said he was hungry.  We said he could go home soon and his mama would have dinner.  He replied that they had no food or money.  We have been told not to give things or money to the people or they will come to expect it and we would set an inappropriate standard for missionaries who come after us.  It breaks our heart to see how tough their lives are.  There are church programs to help with these things.  

On Saturday we decided to do service and join the branch members to clean the building.  It was us and a couple of young adult men who ended up cleaning everything.  I guess the struggle to get members to clean the buildings is universal.  No problem, we got it done and had it prepared for a baptism later in the day and church on Sunday.   We attended the baptism for three soon to be members that afternoon. Little did we know the surprise that would soon be coming for Elder Kaiser.

We were told to expect "Uganda time."  The baptism was to start at 2PM but got started at 2:50.  Of the three converts, the two women spoke a little English. Their primary languages are Swahili and French.  The man spoke the French and his tribal language.  All 3 are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Sister Douglas, a full time missionary got up to give the baptismal talk and asked Elder Kaiser to come and translate her talk into French.  It is important to understand that he has hardly spoken French since his first mission 40 plus years ago.  It wasn't a perfect translation, there were a few struggles, laughs and a overall  he got a passing grade because  the message was understood.  

"And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth; and he numbereth his sheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture." 1 Nephi 22:25

Following the Good Shepherd

The next surprise came on Sunday.   

Wait for it....

Fun Stuff

Things we miss:

-Family and friends.

-Chips and salsa.

-Good meat to eat (most of our options are kind of scary). Sister Kaiser is considering going vegetarian.

-Home Depot and Walmart.

-Flying Frogs (some of you will understand).

-Dry heat.

-The mountains.

-Warm water at faucets (we have a little water heater that warms water but only for the shower and one for the kitchen sink)

- Our bathroom (here the shower and toilet are in the same area, there is a squeege to push the water to the drain).

-Reliable electricity that doesn't cut out or go off at random times. 

-Traffic laws.

-Maintained roads.

-Good cheese

-Lettuce

-Daily bike rides

-Good sponges.

-Doors and widows that are sealed up tight so that bugs and dirt don't get in every day. (Elder Kaiser sweeps the floor every morning before we do our stretches and exercises.

Side note: the people of Uganda don't know any other way of living.  They carry on and do not complain.  Please don't see our "things we miss" list as a complaint.  We've been exposed to different things than they have, it's natural to miss what you are used to.  We are happy!