Eagle Scout Project

   It's been a nice week so far. Things have been going fairly well. Kind of an interesting story. On Saturday we got a call from a family who came down to help dig a well for an Eagle Scout project.  This Mother and her son came up from the States to help dig a boar hole for a village out on the outskirts of Gulu. As part of the Eagle Scout project they went to a local community and set up a manual drill and taught the local community how to use it to drill into the ground until they reached water far enough down. 6 of the missionaries in Gulu (myself included) went to help out as well. It was really cool to see how it was done. they set up a 20 foot tall tripod over the ground, and use it as a pulley to pull this drill up and down. one guy holds a rope and pulls, while 1 or 2 people throw the drill (which is like a giant metal straw) into the ground. Then they pull it out of the ground, and throw it back down. Each time they throw the drill down it collects a bit of dirt, and they do it over and over and over again. It can take like 3 days until they reach water doing that. It was a cool experience to see them do that, and to help them do it. It made my Eagle Project (painting a fence) look wussy.

   I have been meaning to send some pictures to you guys, but every time I come to email, I for get the cord that allows me to get pictures on the computer. I should be sending some pictures to you  guys next week.    Gulu and Lira are about the same temperature I think. I may be wrong though, you can check online to see which one has higher temperatures. I think that I'm just used to the heat by now.

   Love all of you guys, enjoy your week.

-Elder Grilliot

Child Named "Grilliot" in Uganda

   This week I didn't have a lot of time to work in my area. We had transfers this week (I have a new companion) and so for much of this week I wasn't able to work as effectively as I wish that I could have done.

   My new companion is a good guy. He's still adjusting to Uganda and stuff (he's been in Ethiopia his whole mission until now) but he's a boss. He's a smart guy and quick learner. I think that I will get along with him well.

   Good news to all of the Grilliot familly. There is now a child in Uganda that shares the Grilliot name. His name is Otim Grilliot, named after the legendary Elder Grilliot. We were teaching a family, and the daughter-in-law to the familly had a child recently. A few weeks back I jokingly asked her to name the child Grilliot, and she said that she would. So now there is a Ugandan who holds the same name as us.

   It's been a good week, although a hectic one. But I had some very good experiences this last week to uplift me. I'm happy with where I am right now, and I am learning alot right now.

Love you guys!

Letter to Dad

My new companion is pretty good. He's served in Ethiopia his whole mission so it's interesting to learn about all the differences between Uganda and Ethiopia. He's a good spirited guy, and I think that I'll get along well with him.

   There were no other changes in the zone. Our zone is doing really well right now so I don't think that the mission president felt that many changes were necessary.

   When we hold zone meetings we all meet at either the couple missionaries home, or else at the nearest church meeting house (which is like a 5 min walk away from our home). We usually hold a zone meeting once a week, but we work a lot with our district leader to organize them and stuff. It doesn't take too much preparation, but there is preparation that is needed.

-Elder Grilliot

A Great Week Mother's Day Call

   For Mothers day I was thinking that I would just call. I can skype you guys from a couple missionaries home, but It would be for 30 min, and I would not be able to call afterwards. I don't think that I would be able to connect to Rick/Mimi if I did that. (BTW calling this time will only be for 30-40 min, they have changed the rules this time)

   The war in South Sudan is pretty bad from what I hear. Every now and then I hear a story about the war and some of the things going on there, but I don't hear too much. There are no permanent missionaries up there but there is one pair of senior couples that go's there once every few months to check on the branch there (I hear in Juba the fighting is not too bad now). The small branch there is still meeting every Sunday, and it is still functioning well. They have an average sacrament attendance of about 50 people. They have two missionaries from their branch serving right now (both of them in Ghana).

   My home in Gulu is like this: You go down Gulu Lira rd, untill you reach a road called upper church hill road. turn right on upper church hill road and it is the first house on the road. There are 7 identical homes in the same compound. mine is the home farthest from the road, in the back left corner.

This is going to be a great week. At the end of this week. I will call home (mothers day), watch General Conference, and we are planning to have 6 baptisms on Sunday. It is also the last week of the transfer so just in case myself or my companion leaves, the members have volunteered themselves to feed us dinner (and some even lunch). We have meal appointments with members all week long which is awesome. If I'm not careful Gulu will make me become Fat.

   Since I am calling my parents at the end of this week I won't write too much, but things are going well.

-Elder Grilliot