Not taking things for granted!
"Count Your Many Blessings, Name Them One By One.
Count Your Many Blessings, See What God Has Done."
April 19-May 3
The "Magic Tree" we see traveling to and from our home each day.
We are grateful for our eyesight: We have been told, "it takes a village to raise a child." Who knew it would take a village to help Geoffrey be able to listen to the Book of Mormon on CD's. We first came up with this idea when we arrived in September and met Geoffrey. Due to an accident he is blind and cannot read the Book of Mormon for himself, but he is a faithful, worthy member of the Church of Jesus Christ and desires to learn and live the gospel. We reached out to people we knew in the states and the former missionary couple who served in Gulu who was able to get a hold of the Triple Combination scriptures as well as the New Testament on CD. Through some other miracles which cannot be shared at this time, the CDs made it to the Kaiser's in Gulu. Then the search for a CD player began. We searched on line, in stores, and had missionaries looking in Kampala. We even had a shop owner, who knew a guy in Dubai, reach out to try to get something there and ship it to us. Three strikes, you're out. So we decided to not cry over spilt milk, pull up our big boy pants, and as the going gets tough, the tough get going. (Are you tired of quotes yet?) Fortunately as part of Elder Kaiser's mission work he has access to all the missionaries in Uganda, as well as those who have mission calls to serve here. He was able to reach out to a soon-to-be missionary who was still in USA but was called to serve in Uganda. He was wonderful and purchased a CD player, an adapter for Ugandan electricity, and brought it in his luggage. We ask for blessings upon Elder MacFarlane for all of his help. Finally, we were able to present Geoffrey with the CDs and the CD player and taught him how to use them. He was very excited but calm and attentive as we taught him. When we came back the next week he told us how it has changed his life. He can listen to the CDs at various times throughout the day and will listen to the same chapter multiple times to make sure he understands. He feels so happy and thanks God for everyone who made this blessing possible in his life. In fast and testimony meeting he bore his testimony about those who had blessed his life by getting him a CD player and CDs of the Book of Mormon. Then he witnessed that the Book of Mormon is true. We are so happy for this man!
Priesthood Blessing
We are grateful for the Priesthood: One of our missionary preparation class members missed class because she was visiting her dad who was in the hospital. Elder Kaiser asked the class member, Winnie, if her dad would like a priesthood blessing. Her response was that he is not a member of the church. After being assured that anyone can receive priesthood blessings she told us he would like one. Next we reached out to another soon to be missionary, Anthony, to see if he could help with the blessing. He said he would be, but that he had never given a priesthood blessing before. Elder Kaiser's response; "That's why I asked you. To teach you." The father was met, the blessing given at the fathers home since he was released from the hospital. After the blessing we got to work. Sister Kaiser, Winnie, and Innocent, another soon to be missionary who joined us, washed dishes, swept and straightened up the hut. Anthony and Elder Kaiser fetched water and visited with the father. Everyone pitched in without thinking twice, no complaints and simply made a difference. We love our prospective missionaries. They will be a powerful force in the service of the Lord.
Anthony, Winnie, Innocent, Sister and Elder Kaiser
We are grateful for ice cream: We took the group out for a treat after the blessing and service.The Book Of Mormon
We are grateful for the Spirit of the Book of Mormon: We were pleased to walk to see Grace, the Laroo Ward Relief Society President, and share a message with her. We read from 3 Nephi 11 with her and talked about the Savior's visit to these people. Grace told us that she had read the entire Book of Mormon before she was baptized but she had not read it since. She thanked us for sharing with her and said she was so happy to feel the spirit so strongly again and that she was going to stay where she was and keep reading after we left because it was wonderful.
"O, remember, my son, and learn wisdom in thy youth" Alma 37:35
We are grateful we can learn and laugh: We decided it was time to have the missionary prep class start teaching one another. We gave them some insights to tools they can use and gave them an outline from Preach My Gospel (a missionary teaching tool), gave them a partner and 5 minutes to prepare a 5 minute lesson on the Book of Mormon to teach to their partner. They all did a fantastic job. It helped them to see their potential and gain confidence in themselves. It also provided a few laughs like when Innocent nervously introduced herself as "I'm Elder.."
We are grateful for the Spirit of the Book of Mormon Part 2: After missionary class we always invite those who have time to stay and read the Book of Mormon with us. Last time Charles asked to know more about Moroni. We discussed some things about this prophet and then read together his final words to each of us from Moroni 10. It was powerful as we came to better understand Moroni's promise about the Book of Mormon, the gifts God has given to each one of us as one of His beloved children, and then Moroni's final testimony of the Savior.
"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him..." Moroni 10:32
Literacy in Laroo
We are grateful we get to teach English and do not have to learn Acholi: We added another English literacy class to our weekly schedule. We are excited because the group from Laroo is much higher functioning and we feel the class can really make a difference for them. We have taught them how to pray in English and expect them to do so now in class. We taught about question words and had conversations with questions and answers. They are capable and just need some confidence.
We are grateful that we are loved and wanted: We are also grateful we have a truck to get around to all of our appointments: Sunday a day of rest...We did our normal ward rotation that took us to church at Pece. After church we had a few minutes to share some instruction and suggestions to the teachers of Elders quorum and young women's programs. Then we rushed off to Gulu Ward to get to a baptism. Norbert, a young man whom we met last week who had questions about temples. He asked us to come to his baptism. We arrived just in time and then welcomed him as a new member of the church. After he received the gift of the Holy Ghost he bore a sweet testimony. Congratulations were given and we loaded up again to head to Bardege Building. Kenneth, our member friend previously asked if we would help teach his wife Nancy about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We felt blessed to work with the young sister missionaries, Sisters Aroao and Masoso, to teach Nancy. We know that we will continue to be blessed as we get to teach her with the Sisters every Sunday after church.
We are grateful that the Lord is in charge and oversees the work: We never visit Brandon and Delwin in the afternoon because they are always busy at their mill. But for some unknown reason they scheduled us to come teach them at 1:30pm. We showed up and found out that most of the family was sick. It was decided to give a short lesson and let them rest. After the lesson their middle son woke up shaking. We were able to drive him and Delwin to a clinic, where it was determined he had level 3 malaria (the highest level and very dangerous). We took him to another clinic where he was put on an IV drip which would last for three hours. If we hadn't been there in the afternoon we wouldn't have been aware or able to help at a critical moment.
We left to teach a temple preparation class in Lacor and then back to check up on the little one. Delwin's sister, Rita, who is a nurse, was in town and she was there helping with his care. Soon we were able to take everyone home, but we found out that Brandon had taken a turn for the worse and could barely get out of bed. Rita was able to order medication from the clinic we had just come from. We took Delwin back to the clinic to get the order. Once back at the house Brandon was soon on an IV with hopes of getting better. Elder Kaiser gave both patients priesthood blessings. As the blessing was given to Brandon, Elder Kaiser could feel heat pouring out from his head. We all agreed that the Lord had overseen the day so that the family was able to receive the help they needed and everyone should heal without incident. It should be noted that it was raining all evening and the area where Brandon and Delwin live was without power. It was a rough day. It was a huge blessing that Rita was there, she made sure the family was well taken care of medically.
"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:5-6
Hospitality
We are grateful for the hospitality of Acholi people: These people work so hard, have so little and yet always do all they can to be kind and loving hosts. We must sit on chairs when we visit. If we bring our chairs from the truck they insist on carrying them for us. They want to share drinks or food with us. We tell them we come because we want to see them and visit with them but they remind us that being a welcoming host is the "local" way. The other day Sister Kaiser asked if I notice their dark skin any more? No, I really do not. But I do see my "whiteness" at times and realize I still have much to learn from these loving children of God.
We taught Sister Sunday and her children our Easter Lesson. A neighbor girl, Grace, age 14 years, was kind and translated for us without us asking, she just showed up and helped out. It was funny because we started with 5 kids and they just kept appearing to join the coloring crew. By the time we finished there were 11 children and one adult.
Later we walked to see Jackie who lives close to Sister Sunday. She was happy to see us even though it was beginning to rain. She looked up from folding a tarp to see us coming and started laughing. Sister Kaiser got a big welcoming hug and invited us inside her home. She has overcome much. She has worked very hard and has bought land, made huts, planted a large garden and bought and raised pigs. She takes care of herself and her children, and we are very impressed with her. Other people are jealous because of what she has done and for that reason someone poisoned all 16 of her pigs, 10 were piglets. Her heart is breaking because the pigs were the family's way to pay for her children's education. We were glad we were guided to see her that day. Elder Kaiser was able to leave a priesthood blessing to dedicate her home and land and pray for the Lord to watch over them.
Sister Kaiser received phone calls from Stella but her phone was not ringing so they were missed. We stopped by to check on the family and found out that a wall of one of the dwellings had caved in on the addition they had just added to their home. There has been more rain lately and the mortar had not set up well. We shared a message of the love of our Savior for her and her children. They will rebuild, someone had already donated more bricks, they still needed cement. We were happy to see their children happily washing the clothing and singing and dancing, they are resilient.
Fun Stuff:
Day one: We were told there is an ice cream man in our neighborhood and we finally saw him. He rides the bumpy dirt roads on his bicycle. He has a speaker and music playing "happy birthday" on the front of his bike. There is a cooler strapped onto the back. He peddles around and sells frozen treats. We wish we had gotten a photo, hopefully we will see him again. Even though we did not buy a treat it still made us happy.
Day two: We saw another ice cream man, we got pictures and ice cream. It was more like sorbet with some milk in it.
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