Adding Power To Our Mission!
April 2 - April 18
Easter Message Continued...
Our hearts have been deepened by sharing the Easter message combined from the New Testament and the Book of Mormon. Each time we share with a family or an individual, the Spirit has testified of these scriptural accounts that Jesus Christ lives. This experience has been a true blessing. The Easter message is not seasonal, it is eternal.
We have continued to share this message after Easter with many people, sometimes the teaching opportunity simply presented itself and we were ready. Each time we have taught this lesson the Spirit has been there. We love how we feel and know this message is a powerful reminder which testifies that Jesus lives and loves each of us so much! More than once a person who has not been baptized, and joined us for the lesson, said that they want to know more about the gospel of Jesus Christ. They liked how they felt. Who can deny that the experience of Jesus appearing to the Nephites is a witness of Him?
On Easter Sunday we called Sister Kaiser's Mom and shared the Easter message with her. She pointed out that she loves the words that Jesus used to tell the Nephites about Himself, "I am the light and life of the world." She said that as she took the lessons from the missionaries many years ago, she knew that she was missing the light and as they taught her she knew the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the light that she was missing. We are grateful for her desire to seek for truth. It has changed the course of the generations that have followed after her. Oh and Sister Chandler has completed her mission at home while we have been in Uganda serving. Who knew that Sister Kaiser and Sister Chandler would be serving missions at the same time?!
The Book of Mormon
Over the last several weeks we have been teaching gospel principles from the Book of Mormon. We cannot deny the power that has come to each teaching experience. Here are some ways that we have been using it:
- As a teaching tool in our literacy classes.
- At Gulu Zone at Zone Council we encouraged the young teaching missionaries to open the Book of Mormon when visiting members to help strengthen them. We taught them how to hold a persons finger and help them touch the words as they read from the book to help the member feel like they are reading. We have found this method to been very successful and gives the people confidence in our literacy classes.
- The people of Acholi land are not big readers. We are working with the members, one by one to encouraging them to read the Book of Mormon each day after we share a message from this powerful book. The Spirit does the teaching, we do the inviting.
"The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion."
Ezra Taft Benson
- Teachings of the Spirit: "I implore each of us to study and ponder the Book of Mormon each day. As we do so, we will be in a position to hear the voice of the Spirit, to resist temptation, to overcome doubt and fear, and to receive heaven's help in our lives." President Thomas S. Monson
- Protection: "I promise that as you daily immerse yourself in the Book of Mormon you can be immunized against the evils of the day." President Russell M. Nelson
- A Second Witness: "The chief reason we have the Book of Mormon is that in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall all things be established (2 Corinthians 13:1). We have the Bible; we also have the Book of Mormon. They constitute two voices--two volumes of scripture--both bearing testimony to the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ." Elder Mark E. Petersen
- Healing Power: "When I think of the Book of Mormon, I think of the word power. The truths of the Book of Mormon have the power to heal, comfort, restore, succor, strengthen, console, and cheer our souls." President Russell M. Nelson
"Your Book of Mormon is your spear. When you are going to war, this is your spear. You must carry it with you. Don't leave your weapon at home."
Rather than arguing points of doctrine, Betty is sharing how she feels: protected and strengthened by the power of the Book of Mormon.
On Easter Sunday, April 5 it was fast and testimony meeting here in Uganda. We attended Lacor Ward for Easter and watched as Betty got her Book of Mormon out of her bag and took it with her to bear testimony of this sacred and powerful book that testifies of Jesus Christ. Sister Kaiser leaned over to Elder Kaiser and said, "Look what we have created." Actually, we didn't do anything to influence Betty's heart and mind. It's the Power that the Book Of Mormon offers. If you read it you will wonder why it isn't in the hands of every person.
Watching A Miracle Unfold
Evelyn has been coming to literacy class which began shortly after our arrival in Gulu. She lacked confidence but kept coming. We taught her to say short sentences such as, "I am Evelyn." "I am a mother." Then two things happened:
1. The inspiration came to start our literacy class with reading the book of Mormon each week. Why we hadn't thought of this sooner has baffled us. We use the method of having a strong reader sit with someone who is learning and hold their finger to help them touch each word as it is slowly read. Then we stop and discuss the content in simple terms then continue reading.
2. Evelyn's adult daughter, Annette, started attending class with her mother. Annette has higher English skills than her mother. We knew that we had to use this to Evelyn's advantage and asked Annette to speak to her mother in English as much as possible.
One day, our interpreter was missing when we tried to explain instructions to another sister. Evelyn leaned forward and spoke the instructions in the local language. Evelyn understood everything that Sister Kaiser was wanting the other sister to know. Sister Kaiser looked at Evelyn and said, "Look at who is interpreting now!!!!"
We all had to marvel and laugh together. She is becoming a confident English speaker and we are so so proud of her! For Sister Kaiser she had to wipe away some happy and grateful tears.
Baby Silas
Annette has been our darling young student. She makes us laugh when she comes up with clever sentences to state when we practice. Her little boy, Silas, was born cesarian, 12 March, and on 2 April we went to see her after class. Several of the other sisters crammed into the truck to visit Annette, the baby and Evelyn. It was fun to meet this sweet boy fresh from heaven.
For Sister Kaiser it was also a hard visit. When we arrived Evelyn and Annette were moving houses all by themselves. The house was not good. Their belongings were all outside the home. Sister Kaiser kept asking if we could please help but she was denied. We left without helping and that did not feel right at all. Things are done differently here, most of the people live hard lives.
Priesthood Blessings
On the Friday before Easter Sunday Sister Kaiser was quite sick. It was a very rough night. She woke Elder Kaiser and asked for a priesthood blessing. After he administered the blessing she began to feel better from that hour forward. Saturday was a sleeping day for her as she recovered. By Sunday she was eating again and moving normally.
On a different day we spent time with Alice who has been recovering from a leg injury since June 2025. She hasn't been to church since the accident. After we taught her and Genesis about faith, using Alma 32 in the Book of Mormon as a reference. Elder Kaiser asked Alice if she has ever had a priesthood blessing. She had not. There were three missionaries with us. It was discovered that Genesis, a Melchizedek Priesthood holder, had never given a priesthood blessing. Elder Kaiser taught him what to do, it was good for both Genesis and Alice.
On Sunday as we drove to the Laroo Ward building, Sister Kaiser wanted to stop to see if Alice was feeling ready to go to church. We pulled to the side to turn the truck around and saw Genesis walking along the road to church. He was smiling very big. We told him that we wanted to go get his mom. He said, she just passed by, she's on a boda going to church! He got in our truck and we arrived just in time for Genesis to get out and assist his mother up the driveway to the chapel. She was very happy to be at church and many people came to shake her hand. It was another witness of the power of priesthood blessings and also illustrates how ministering can help someone have the faith and courage to do what they know they need to do.
General Conference
Missionary Preparation Class
Visits
- We visited an ice cream shop. They had vanilla or strawberry. It was nice to try something different but we miss good ice cream.
- On our preparation day we went to see if a craft shop had any Easter crafts. The shop was closed but we suddenly found Flavia there in the compound saying hello! She was nearby visiting a friend and saw our truck. We were genuinely glad to see her and visited while we drove her home. She was quite a long distance from home.
- We forgot that Geoffrey was going to be at the doctor on Tuesday but were glad to see Anthony, his nephew there and read the Book of Mormon with him and his older brother Steven. It was nice.
April 10 was Calvin and Eunice's son Kenon's 10th birthday. We gave him a football (soccer ball). He shared it with the other children right away. We shared our Easter Lesson with Calvin and Eunice and encouraged personal growth in the gospel.
- We enjoyed a visit with Patrick Ocot - Lacor 1st counselor in the bishopric. When we arrived at his home we discovered that Betty is his mother! Patrick said that his mother's English is improving quite a bit, he can tell that she is learning. We shared the Easter lesson with both adults and answered questions that Patrick had.
April 12 we attended church at the Gulu ward and watched 2 sessions of General Conference. Afterwards the missionaries introduced us to a young man, Norbert, who had questions about temples. We had a little lesson and a nice visit. He asked us to attend his baptism in 2 weeks. We will be there!
April 13 Sister Kaiser made doughnuts with Jackie from Bardege 1 Ward and Elder Kaiser went to hoe weeds in the garden. It was our preparation day. We were there when the kids came home from school. It was fun to see how the children ejoyed being together and hear them singing together while one boy washed his shoes that were muddy. It is a happy home. The 15 year old boy ate 13 doughnuts one after the other, we were not surprised. We know the age and the never ending need to eat. The daughter left a piece of mirror propped against a rock and a rooster came along and stared at himself for a long time. We weren't sure if he was going to pick a fight or if he was admiring himself. That night Elder and Sister Kaiser both needed to stretch from the bending that we are not used to doing every day. We had a nice yoga session in low lights with calm music. It made a difference in how we felt the next day.
We invited the Bells to come have dinner at our apartment. They were in town for Gulu Zone Conference and we usually spend time in the evening together on one of the nights they are here. They get tired of restaurant food. We enjoyed a meal and a good visit. They made us grateful that we don't have the heavy load that they carry. Pray for Mission Presidents. Also, The next day at Gulu Zone Conference we were divided into 4 groups and were in a "competition" to answer questions about the Book of Mormon. Elder Kaiser helped his team with the answer "Rameumptom" and Sister Kaiser was the only one to stand up with the answer "Amalickiah" to get the bonus point for her team and win the game. We were team 2.
April 16 we taught literacy at Lacor then went with Charles to meet his mother Betty. We wanted to meet the mother that raised such a good person. We are really impressed with Charles. He will be an amazing missionary and will add so much depth to the church leadership in the coming years. We met 2 of his older siblings and they shared a meal with us. We were surprised and humbled. They served chicken. That is a very nice meal.
April 18 The sister missionaries (STL's) asked us to go with them to visit a friend Mike who wants to know more about the church. He's smart and was engaged asking good questions about the restoration of the church. We were able to testify of the power of the Book of Mormon.
Grand Parenting Long Distance
"Children [and grandchildren] are an heritage of the LORD."
- On our Monday nights our son, Andrè, often calls in the morning for them and hands off the phone to the kids who don't have school on Mondays. He works from home and often has to get on the computer for a meeting. Recently we enjoyed a visit with him for a while. Later he handed off the phone to the kids who were all on their parents bed looking at notebooks containing saved school papers. They were laughing and enjoying the way they wrote and drew as little kids. Brooks is 6 years so his notebook wasn't very full. They all made us laugh.
- On Sunday's we sometimes get to talk to Tyson's kids before they leave for church. It's night time for us. We enjoy reading books with them. Sometimes they read to us which is even better.
- Chelsea included us in lots of festivities in celebrating Gavin's 3rd birthday. One of the best ways we were included was when Uncle Shane took Gavin and Emmett for a ride in Gramp's blue truck. Gavin is obsessed with the color blue and vehicles. He said that he was driving in "The Little Blue Truck" (as in the children's book) and they were frogs inside the truck. If you know the story you get it but it's even funnier because of how frogs relate to Gramps.
- Thursday nights we usually get to talk to Chelsea and the kids. This day it was raining where they live so the kids got out memory games to play. Emmett and Gramps were a team trying to match Baby Animals and Finley and Grammie worked on matching Disney Princesses. They took turns holding the phone and letting us choose tiles to turn over to create matches. They did a great job at sharing the phone and we were just happy to feel almost like we were there with them.
- Susannah kept in touch with us on Saturday, April 11 as Shane and 7 other friends took a shot at breaking a world record. They were interviewed by local news in Utah and made the front page of Deseret News and KSL.com. The World Record that they unofficially broke was Most Fast Food Visits in 24 hours on foot. The unofficial stats are: 176 restaurants, runnimg 40 miles in 16 hours. They had to consume food at each location and document all of their journey. The group had a smooth experience with minor hiccups that were easy to overcome. We woke up at 4 am to track how they were doing and went back to bed. Sunday morning for Shane we had a chance to visit with him and check to see how he was feeling. Overall he was tired because they got to bed after 1 am but he felt well. They trained and planned for this. They had good support and an excellent plan, "Ocean's 11 style where everyone had their job."
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