Stakes of Zion

This flower reminds me of the idea of a stake as in the Stakes of Zion.

Zion is defined as the pure in heart.

It was announced at district council meeting on Sunday that the upcoming District Conference on December 6 &7 will be the marker for changing from a district to a stake.  This is exciting news for the people in the Gulu District and for President Bell.

Information for those of you who are curious about the meaning of using the word stake:

Once a Stake is organized with a Stake President he has the priesthood keys to preside over the the people in that geographical area.  Isaiah described latter-day Zion as a tent or a tabernacle secured by stakes (Isaiah 33:20; 54:2). Each stake is composed of multiple wards and is led by a stake president. The Lord establishes stakes for the gathering together; of His people and for a defense and a refuge from the world.  

"Awake, Awake; put on they strength, O Zion" Isaiah 52: 1

Adventure and New Friends

Our truck was in the shop.  Since we were without a vehicle we decided we could walk to the Laroo building 1.5 miles one way for church.  We are healthy and don't mind walking. Back in Broomfield Elder Kaiser often walked to church when Sister Kaiser had early meetings then they could ride home together.  After church Sister Kaiser was answering questions about family history, and Elder Kaiser looked up a short cut to our apartment on his phone. Elder Kaiser suggested the short cut, saving 7 minutes off of our walk.  

Stella, from Laroo, is very interested in Family History

We took the short cut. Elder Kaiser is grateful to be married to an adventurous wife and that she had good shoes for jumping little streams and that they both had dry feet when they got home.  When the trail disappeared and cell service was no longer available we found ourselves walking between huts with peoples laundry hanging or laying out. We surprised some kids who were sitting on a ledge as we came around a hut and said apwoyo (hello or thank you). A few moments later the same thing happened with a larger group of kids who were playing and talking in addition to a toddler crying. It was very noisy and suddenly there was silence.  Imagine two white people dressed in their Sunday best emerging from around the bend asking for directions to the highway in an low traffic area.  The teenage girl suddenly became our guide and all of the rest of the kids joined the surprise visitors and followed us as we followed the girl.  We thanked them, took their picture then showed them their photo. They all covered their mouths and laughed. We waved goodbye and got home just fine and yes we saved about 7 minutes and had more interesting scenery and fun company than we did on the way to church.

The girls up ahead of us (there were 4) were headed home 

from the Laroo building after church.

We went around this bend, jumped over a creek and accidentally 

surprised some children in that hut up ahead on this path.

Our guide, the tallest girl in the back, and our giggly new friends.

After we left our new friends these boys were seen with their homemade cars 

headed toward the water hazard that we also had to cross.

Food

We can't eat with the locals.  We can't drink the water they drink.  They are not as careful with food preparation in the cleanliness department as much as our bodies require.  Sister Jackie invited us to her home to teach us how to cook local food.  We look forward to this but we've set some guidelines.  She's okay with that.  She understands.  

Eating out at reputable restaurants is fine and we haven't had any issues at the 4 restaurants we've tried.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are very inexpensive because they are in abundant supply here.  Everyone grows food.  Its the canned goods that are expensive. Yogurt here is a sad sad story.  We miss the Costco greek yogurt in the white an green tub.  Milk comes in pouches and can be stored on the shelf until opened. Meat is nearly gone from our diet.  The minced meat here is the roughly chopped equivalent of ground beef but after 2 tries we decided no more of that.  Frozen chicken fillets are prepared well and frozen and we buy them as needed. We eat chicken and some Hungarian sausage sparingly.  

Having said all of that we are doing just fine with food.  We eat a lot of eggs for breakfast and make delicious smoothies with bananas. Elder Kaiser surprised Sister Kaiser by making homemade pancakes and they were very good! Since we are sometimes on the go during lunch an apple and some nuts make up a good lunch or a simple peanut butter and honey sandwich if we are home in the middle of the day.  We've built up our dinner menu with foods that we can find here combined with dishes we know how to cook.  Chelsea's friend, Emily, sent some vegetarian recipes our way which we've adapted to match with local foods.  

"All grain is good for the food of man and woman; as also the fruit of the vine; that which yieldeth fruit, whether in the ground or above the ground." Doctrine and Covenants 89:16 

The above scripture is part of the health code that members of the Church of Jesus Christ live by starting in 1833 when the health code called, "The Word of Wisdom" was revealed.

A veggie/grain bowl with rice, chicken, broccoli, tomatoes, chard, 

baby corn,  shredded zucchini, pecans, and sweet chili sauce.

Soup with barley, corn, beans, canned tomatoes, shredded cheese 

(and avocados for Sister Kaiser). 

Rice, chicken with barbecue sauce, and a chickpea salad.

Tacos with chicken, rice, beans, tomatoes and cheese. 

Topped off with some super spicy salsa that we use sparingly.

Soup with brown rice, lentils, carrots and chard.

Simple things make us happy

Here are a few things that made us happy this last week:

• We found clip boards in an office supply store that we can use for lessons in various situations.  We were hoping for lap sized dry erase boards but those are just not to be found. It was not easy to find the clip boards but we bought all 5 when we found them.
• Florence taught us how to sift and sort dry maze (corn) kernels.  She laughed because Elder Kaiser was doing "women's work." We laughed too!
• We tagged along with the sister missionaries on a visit with Lillian and her family.  A girl, Sheryl, was invited to join us but she had a chore to do, which was cracking ground nuts, (peanuts).  All of us helped Sheryl with her chore and cracked ground nuts during the lesson. During the lesson little chicks were peeping around and kept trying to steal the nuts. A rooster and his hen strolled by as we sat under the large tree in the yard as people walked by in the late afternoon on a path near the sunny cornfield.  It was a pleasant way to use our time that day.  By the way Sister and Elder Kaiser have never been allowed to sit on the ground or on the woven mats, ever.  The Ugandans insist that we use their chair, stool or bench.   They want to show respect to their guests who are older.  (YIKES!!!)

Our visit at Lillians.  Her niece, Fiona, in the chair, Lilian with her 2 yr old on her lap, 

a neighbor boy who slid into the group, Sheryl,  Sister Kaiser, and Sisters Mafa and Kabole.

• Going to Calvin and Eunice's school is always a delight.  Sister Kaiser prepared a lesson from the Book of Mormon for the adults about Enos and prayer .  They asked for us to teach them more about the Book of Mormon, no problem.  We asked them to teach us more about the words and actions to the children's songs and dances.  Imagine su being in a big circle with all of the children and trying to follow their actions as they sang their songs.  The children laughed that we joined them in their silly songs.  We think we are still young but we probably looked ridiculous jumping and turning around and waving our arms around to the beat of the songs.  Oh Well!

Elder Kaiser taught the  children about following the Light of Christ.

• The women in Literacy Class make us happy every time we meet with them. Many women in the class are moving forward rapidly. Stella has struggled to wrap her head around the idea of letters making different sounds and when you combine letters they make words.  She had a break through moment. She was shown a picture of a person reading a book and then read the caption pointing to each word. Without help she read, "I can read."  Then she looked up and realized what she had just done.  She read a sentence without help!!! It was "a moment!" 
• We were early to the Laroo building for Temple Preparation class and found a group of boys playing in the church yard.  They live nearby and the church yard is a safe place for them to play.  There are no playgrounds here.  One boy had a Liahona (church) magazine.  Sister Kaiser read a short story from the magazine to them which referenced missionaries and then asked them if they plan to serve a mission.  All but one have been baptized.  Then we played Button Button with them, which they loved.  One little guy had a hard time keeping a straight face and giggled a lot, we nicknamed him Mr. Giggles.

Sister Kaiser in her happy place reading to the boys who liked being read to.

Being a Part of a Righteous Trend

There was another wedding.  We had just arrived home after training a Temple Preparation teacher at the Bardege building when Elder Kaiser's phone rang.  It was President Ting Taa, the Lacore branch president, inviting us to a wedding happening in a short time.  We dashed out the door and drove to Lacore, 20 minutes away only to find out that the wedding would be at the Bardege building 7 minutes from our apartment.  We didn't delay anything with our mix up.  Ugandan time.  The couple were wed on Saturday then were baptized the next day on Sunday.  We have gladly accepted our roles at the weddings, Elder Kaiser gives the marriage talk and Sister Kaiser gives the closing prayer and is the wedding photographer.

Joyce and Dickson

Things that made us do a double take:

Adult goats are usually tied to a rope with one end around their neck and another to a stake they eat the plentiful grasses and plants around them.  The "kid" (baby goat) stays near the mother and is free to roam around but it never goes far.

This mischievous baby goat is up on a table used for selling vegetables.

On the way to church Sunday we saw a heard of about 10--12 goats walking down the sidewalk like good citizens.  There were big billy goats with beards, medium sized goats and baby goats.  Maybe they were headed to church too.  We were sorry to not get a photo of that.

Seeing a white person. Besides a few white missionaries we've probably seen fewer than 15 white people since we have been here in Uganda. We notice them because what?  White people stand out.

While driving we saw a flock of birds moving quickly down the road together making a lot of noise.  We couldn't identify the birds and were surprised by their speed and noise making and that they all seemed to move as a precise unit. Sister Kaiser caught a photo of them and had to look them up because of curiosity.  

Guinea Fowl are medium sized ground-dwelling birds native to Africa