Well, to begin, we had a pretty difficult week as far as things not going our way. Right from the start of the week we just had constant persecution! Every single corner we turned we just had people yelling at us, throwing alcohol and spitting, and many other things. In Uganda most people see us as students of some kind which can be pretty nice and keep us away from persecution. I guess the work got out in the whole area that we are missionaries from the church and that really sparked some flames around here...
(Excerpt from Tim's letter):
Wow. Your spiritual thought hit the nail on the head. I won't lie, this week was probably the most challenging week I have had on the mission. And why? Persecution... Man, people are not easy! I learned a lot though and I am grateful!
Well, during the process of the week we had countless people yell at us and even spit on us as we worked. We found ourselves in mini arguments almost 5 times a day. For some reason we even had many foreigners just telling us off. I remembered back on my favorite talk I have told you about in the past by Jack R. Christensen. In it he starts with a quote that goes, "Satan don't kick no dead dog." I really like that simple quote. He then went on to talk about how just as everything is going spiritually perfect in our lives we lose it all. We definitely saw that this week. We have truly seen success in our area. With a planned 6 baptisms this transfer alone we know Satan felt the need to join us. He started working on our investigators and when we solidified many of them and helped them forward he just turned to strangers in the streets. Man! It was hard! Then I thought about that talk and realized that the only way to get through it is to push!
We have many promising investigators right now. Sadly Satan is making sure he has a minute to investigate them too! We had three baptisms planned and prepared for this Sunday and two of them fell through. Esther has a Muslim uncle that really doesn't want her to step on to the straight and narrow path. He's working his level best to guide her to the Great and Spacious building. It's a great thing that a testimony of Jesus Christ is far too powerful for any serious distraction and Esther is working around everything. She told us this week again that "everything would work out" and that she "knows what God wants her to do". So we are just hoping and praying for her every day. Ibrahim had an emergency trip to the village and is far out in Mbale for the week. Not really sure why but it is definitely not helping him to progress. We are keeping tabs on him like a concerned parent and making sure he doesn't pull any tricks on us while he is gone. He is still wanting to be baptized and we hope for April 2nd. Paul is doing great too. Just progressing like a golden investigator and will be ready by the 2nd too! Adumen Irene was baptized this Sunday! Everything went really smooth! Everything up until her testimony in front of the congregation. She did a great job and has a strong testimony but she also said she was grateful that Adam Smith restored the gospel and that Joseph S. Mons is a true prophet! Haha! It's all a learning experince! We just need to give her a few weeks. She is extremely converted and they are currently building a chapel very close to her house that will help a ton!
We also had a tender mercy this week. Remember Paul? I talked about him a month or so ago. Paul was an amazing investigator. He progressed well and then one day we lost contact with him. He lost our number and he didn't have a phone so he just disappeared! We were so sad. Well, yesterday we hopped on a taxi to go to Irene's place in Kyambogo. After we boarded a man jumped on and sat in front of us. The taxis here are like one way mini buses.... so he jumped on and then looked at us with so much joy! We rejoiced exceedingly, for he was still a brother in the Lord! He was so happy to see us and said he got a phone! So we exchanged contacts and are teaching him again! That was so awesome for us!
This week we had a Mission fast and a fireside for a few things. We fasted for some great things. One was for unity in our zones and areas. The other was for young missionaries to be strengthened. Believe it our not, HALF of our mission goes home in 6 months! Crazy! We lose 60 Elders and Sisters by September. So we are really helping us younger missionaries to be prepared to lead our mission. Crazy! Our fireside was awesome. President Collings gave a really powerful talk on authority and how it is only found in this church. He shared many scriptures that will come in handy for me when I come across some more crazies...
We got some crazy rats in our apartment. I saw one the other day and it was about the size of a small football. Or something. We found some nice traps and set them up all around. The rat outsmarted the traps and ate a good dinner last night! He also ate some small small part of my socks too.... :( It's okay. One day we will figure him out. Maybe we can eat him for dinner one day. Mmmm. I had some gross liver the other day speaking of bad food. I kinda pawned some off on my companions plate when he wasn't looking. He soon realized that he had more liver than what he started with and began pawning it off on mine when I wasn't looking. So we just blessed it twice and threw it back!
I think that is it for this week. We are really hoping that Satan takes a smoke break or something on our investigators this week. We all need it right now. Ntinda is such a great place. When the work rolls forward I just love the mission. When the work comes to a smashing halt I still love the mission! It has been such a great time for me and I look forward to every moment! Thank you everyone for keeping up with me and my work. I hope and pray that everyone is doing well back home. I love you guys!
Love,
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