Church and Momma T's

Sunday

Today was yet another amazing day! I know I say that almost every single day, but they just keep getting better! The rain started here at about 3 AM...and when it rains, it rains! Wow, we live under a tin roof and I used to love that sound, but not when it persists loudly all night long. It seriously was pouring cats and dogs. When I rolled out of bed around 8:30 it was still coming down hard and I was nervous we would not be able to make it to church. After a short prayer, it stopped around 9 and we were able to get a boda boda (we probably would have been better off with a canoe!). I say we because there ended up being a few of us Mormon's on this trip. Christina is from Las Vegas and has been a member now for a few years. Joe is from Kansas, but grew up in Logan and did his freshman year at Utah State. Small small world! Anyhow, we made it to the church around 9:30 and the missionaries were just pulling up. There are 3 companionships (6 elders) here in the little village of Gulu. Church doesn't regularly start till 10, but they tell everyone 9:30. The Acholi people are notoriously late for everything! So with the rain storm, everyone was running behind even more. There is one elder from the CONGO! It was so much fun to talk in French with him and learn more about the Congo. Pretty sure I should go there next. The elders say on average there are 160 people at church, but at 10:15 we started with only like 15 of us! By the end of sacrament, the building had filled right up! They also told me that 90% of their membership has only been baptised in the past year! They had 17 baptisms last week! It is going to be so much fun to see them grow and be a part of it for the little remaining time I have. We also met another Moonau (white person). Her name is Morgan and she also went to Utah State and graduated in 2005. She worked in DC for a while teaching and then decided that if she was going to be a good steward she needed to see the world. She is a manager here for a company that makes paper bead necklaces. I am excited to get to know here more, we're going to try having FHE tomorrow with her. Church was just great! It is so amazing to me that where ever I travel in the world, whether it be France, Thailand, Cambodia or Uganda, the gospel is the same. The same wonderful spirit can be felt all over the world. Since they are so new, they were just taught about home teaching/ visiting teaching today. I love to see their enthusiasm as they begin this great responsibility. After church we grabbed a boda boda home to get ready to the Mother Theresa Orphanage. That was an amazing and humbling experience. As I visited with Sister Helen I learned that there are over 250 children at the orphanage and about 70 of them are deaf or hearing impaired. Most all of the children have learned sign. We got there and they instntly grabbed a hold of our hands and would not let go. We played games, sang, talked and at times, just held there hand and gazed at each other. It was moving to see their lives. They had meal time while we were there and it was literally the saddest thing I have ever seen. It was not bad, but just made me realize how blessed I was as a child to have parents who loved me and a home to live together in. They all lined up with their bowl/bucket/tin, really whatever they had. They received a scoop of rice mush, beans and some meat. It was all prepared in a hut over a camp fire. They have no utensils and so they used their fingers to eat. Some did not even eat because they only wanted be with us. After their meal they taught us how to dance and then performed a dance for us! It was so much fun. I haven't smiled like that for a long time. Again, I am just very thankful for the life that I was blessed with, but also that great blessing I have to be here and live and learn from these people. I am so so happy to begin teaching tomorrow and meet the others that I will be working with at Keyo. This is going to be an amazing summer!