Baptisms of Issac, James and Phebe

      Dear family and friends, It's good to hear from you all. Life in Seeta is Good right now I feel as though God is really blessing my companion and I this transfer. Things are just going very smoothly. 

      There are some people that I really feel as though I have helped this transfer. There is this one guy named Issac for instance (who was baptized this week), he had actually been investigating the church since 2004. Even read the entire Book of Mormon... twice. But his problem was that while he was investigating the church (in 2004) he was only 17 years old, and his parents wouldn't let him be baptized into another church. So he continued to attend church service but he never got baptized. Eventually missionaries just forgot about him until it came to the point where the missionaries and most member just assumed that he was member of the branch. Even after he moved out of his parents’ house and got a place of his own years later he continued to come to church but he was never baptized as a member. It's kind of crazy to think about, but this guy had been attending Seeta branch longer than most of the members of the branch had been. Anyway my first Sunday attending the branch I walked in and decided to make myself familiar with the branch members, so I went in and greeted the members and introduced myself and learned their names in return. As I went from member to member shaking hands and trying to be social I found myself greeting Isaac. I felt like I needed to sit next to him during the service so I sat down next to him and we began to talk a little as we waited for it to begin. As I was talking to him I realized that he really knew church doctrine well and I felt as though he must have been a member for quite some time. When I asked him how long he had been a member of the church he told me that he had been a member since 2004. I felt satisfied with that answer but at the same time I felt as though I needed to ask a little deeper so I asked "do you remember the names of the missionaries who baptized you?" to which he told me that he had never been baptized and that his parents wouldn't let him be. I was super surprised at what he was telling me because he was about 25 years old and living on his own and yet he was telling me that the reason that he was not baptized was because of restriction from his parents. I learned as I continued to talk to him that he wanted to be baptized badly but he believed it to be a church policy that you can't baptize anyone (no matter the age) if the parents don't allow it. After the church service I talked to the branch president and asked if he had realized that Isaac wasn't baptized, and learned that the branch president knew that he wasn't baptized but the branch president thought that Issac didn't want to be baptized without approval from his parents, as we explained we both realized that, that was just mis-communication. So we scheduled an appointment to see Isaac and got him baptized a few weeks later. He's a really funny guy though, Even though it's kind of an outrageous story about how he got baptized, it's still really cool as well.

      There's another two investigators that were found last transfer by the missionaries before I came. They're getting baptized next week. One of them is a guy named James and also his girlfriend named Febe. They live together and even have one child, but have never been married. As part of Ugandan (and African) culture the husband is supposed to pay a super expensive dowry to the father of the Lady that he wants to marry. I don't know the exact price but usually it involves buying a whole bunch of livestock and stuff. It's extremely expensive and most Ugandans don't have the means to pay that much. Many families don't have legally married parents until the parents are in their mid 40's or so when they finally have saved up the money to pay for their spouse (I even met this one couple who were in their 60's and still had never been properly married). It is a wicked practice and causes the law of chastity to be broken all throughout Uganda. Anyway this young couple were in this same situation when the missionaries met them for the first time, no way to pay for each other. As we continued to visit them they continually asked for us if it would be possible for them to get baptized, but we could not baptize them unless they first were married. Luckily the church performs Legal Church marriages for free, and we could marry them easily, but the problem was that if they got married at the church then most likely the Father of Febe (the wife) would dis-own her completely for being married without paying dowry. Both James and Febe wanted baptism super bad but they were to fearful to consult the father about it. As my companion and I thought about what we needed to do to to help them we decided to fast (both me and my companion and James and Febe). We started our fast Saturday Afternoon and planned on breaking it Sunday Evening. As we came to church that Sunday, James came running up to us and told us of something that had happened that very morning. He told us that, that very Sunday morning Febe's father had come and surprise them by visiting them at home. As he was visiting them, it came up that James and Febe wanted to get married at church. As they discussed about it the father began to get more and more upset until he was in a rage. The father left them and told them that if they were married outside of tradition then they would not be a part of his family. When the father left though, James and his wife said that at that time they felt more comforted and more happy than they had in a long time. They knew with all certainty that a church marriage was what they wanted to do no matter the consequences. This Saturday is going to be their marriage at the Chapel in Kololo. Sunday is going to be their Baptism. I'm super excited for them.

     Love all of you guys. Do your best to be great member missionaries!

Mom's Questions:

1-     In this new area are you able to teach single sisters?  In Lira that was discouraged for the lack of priesthood

2-      Any news on the new building?  Any progress towards finishing before the end of August?

3-     You seem to like this new area or am I reading your e-mails wrong?  There seems to be much more convenience and more abundance of shopping?  How is the missionary work going? 

to answer your questions

1- Teaching sisters is still frowned upon unless they show lots of potential. Really the focus is on families and potential priesthood holders. There still are not allot of priesthood holders even in Seeta. The attendance per week is like 60-70 people but only about 8-12 of those are Melchizedek priesthood holders. 

2- The chapel is going to be finished in October this year. I don't really know if I will still be around for it.

3- I think that I really like this area. There are some bad things about Seeta and also some good things, but I think that the good outweigh the bad right now. I'm having lots of success in this area right now. I feel as though the lord is really blessing me at this time. I also really do like the shopping, but we don't get nearly enough money per month to get very much food. Things like bacon and sandwich meat are so expensive that I have been found crying in supermarkets as I stare at the forbidden fruit.

Dad's Questions:

1. Are you still a district leader?

2. Do you have more than one Zone for all of the missionaries in the Kampala area?

3. Elder Bitter, who I believe is in Jinja right now, talked in his letter last week about several members of his district getting sick because they got careless with their drinking water. You haven't mentioned anything about that, so I'm hoping that hasn't been a problem with you or any of the missionaries in your district?

4. Do many people smoke in Uganda? Is alcohol your biggest Word of Wisdom challenge?

5. So what kind of suit or clothes did you get? I noticed that you had withdrawn money from your account.

6. Are baptisms as frequent in your new area as they were in Lira?

7. Are you enjoying the weather in Seeta?

1- yes I am still the district Leader. 

2- There are three zones in Kampala. Right now I'm in the biggest zone

3- I haven't heard of any problems with people not drinking clean water, but I know that sometimes if the filters break and you don't realize in time then you can accidentally drink unfiltered water. But for those of us who are obedient we check the filters regularly and change the filters regularly.

4- Honestly because Uganda used to ruled by the British Empire the biggest Word of Wisdom problem most people have is drinking tea. Alcohol and smoking is here, but it is looked down upon by most of society so it's not a huge problem for most. 

5- I withdrew the money to get a better suit and also to buy some exercise equipment (jump rope and a few weights)

6- Seeta has a history for being kind of a dead area as far as baptisms go (in the last year there were only 8 baptisms) but I'm actually getting more baptisms in Seeta right now than I did in Lira. We had one baptism this last Sunday and 3 more planned next Sunday.

7- The weather here is very cool. Some days it can be kind of warm but there is always a nice breeze wherever you go.

What I forgot the 4th of JULY??!!

 Family and Friends,

   I've got a new mission Pres now! I was able to meet him in this last Zone conference. Ours was President Chatfeild's first zone conference. He seems like a pretty solid guy, really determined. He is pretty similar to President Jackson, but at the same time different. It doesn't really feel like much has changed with this new guy though, things feel basically the same. I'm really happy to have him as the mission President though.

     Not a lot of things to update people on though, It's been a really relaxing week, and we have found some really good people. There's one guy who we found this week who Sounds just like an American. He's Ugandan but he's spent some time in the States and he has a completely Americanized accent. It's pretty cool to hear, I feel like I'm back home when I talk to him. I would love to baptize this guy though he's unlike any Ugandan I've ever met.

     This week was the 4th of July but I didn't really do anything to celebrate. To  be honest I forgot that American Independence day was this week until  my family reminded me. That's a holiday I never thought I would forget. 

Love Elder Grilliot

Success in Seeta

     The longer my mission has carried on, the more I have realized the importance of obedience and hard work. My work ethic is totally different than when I first started my mission. Seeta is known for being a difficult area to work in but my companion and I have actually been having tons of success here. I have a larger teaching pool now than I think I have had my entire mission.

     There are a ton of Less-Actives in Seeta right now. I don't know where any of them stay (no one has addresses out here) but our branch has over a 150 people who are members and our average sacrament attendance is about 60 people.

      It's much cooler here in Seeta and there is always a strong breeze running through it as well. I miss the quietness of Lira but at the same time it's nice to be near the city. On P-day you can go into Kampala and go to a real supermarket (like Shop-rite, or Uchume, or some other African supermarket). It's also different to be in a much bigger zone as well. It's the biggest zone in the whole mission with about 14 missionaries in it. Zone activities are lots of fun though (like today we played capture the flag.

      I haven't met the new mission president yet but I'm hoping to meet him this upcoming week. All I know about him is that he's super tall. 

Good-bye to Pres. Jackson

     Dear Family and Friends,

 This is going to be my mission presidents last week of service (President Eric Jackson), he leaves this Friday. It's really sad to see him going, he has helped to make this mission one of the best missions in the world. I have learned more and matured faster during these 7 months in his leadership than I think I ever have before in my life. I know that he was a man chosen by God, and although I will miss him I also look forward to seeing what the new mission pres will bring to the table.

      This was a pretty good week. We had stake conference this week, and we were able to bring a few of our investigators there as well. The stake center is really nice, It's like being in an actual chapel back home (which is something I really miss). There was a huge turn out at the Conference and over a thousand people from all over Kampala came (Only the wards in Kampala are part of the Stake so I didn't get to see anyone from Lira, unfortunately). It was a good Conference and the central theme of it all was actually about missionary work, and about how members need to do a better job supporting the missionaries.

       At the Stake Conference I also received a nice surprise when someone that I knew from my ward back home appeared: Charles Smith. I guess he was doing some work in Uganda to help build stoves for the people here (or something like that I didn't really ask to much), and he showed up to the Stake Conference as well. It blew my mind to see him all the way in Uganda, and seeing him It felt like I had been in Uganda a lot longer than 7 months. After the Stake Conference, we needed some help teaching one of our investigators who came to Stake Conference, so I even got help from Charles in teaching as well. It was kind of cool.

    I didn't really know much about the new advancement in the missionary work and stuff, but it's going to be really cool to see how everything works out in the next few years. Knocking doors is pretty effective in Uganda (I've found and baptized a few that way), but at the same time you honestly baptize referrals and people who have found you the most. The internet is a great way to find people. There was this one Lady who was baptized in Seeta just before I got here named Elizabeth, and she actually found out about the church online, went on Mormon.org and got referred to the missionaries through the internet. The internet could be the breeding ground for much good (especially in the developed world). I love that the church is really utilizing there potential.

     The branch in Seeta is very different from the one in Lira, It's more organized but less friendly to the missionaries. We have a branch mission leader but he's Less-Active so we go to visit him sometimes to reactivate him. The Branch President is a way cool guy though, he is super organized and he helps the branch to function really well. Home teaching is a big problem in Seeta, I've been trying to work with the Elders Quorum President to help Home teaching happen, but it's really difficult to get things started out here.

     Thank you for the Loving support mom, your awesome.

New Area! SEETA

       It's finally happened. After 7 months of the same area I have finally moved. This Wednesday I packed up and left Lira and I was moved to Seeta (kind of a subberb of Kampala). It's so crazy to be out of the village area now though, everything is so different in Seeta.

There's no mud huts, no one speaks Langi (they now all speak Luganda) and there is much less poverty as well. There are a lot more people in Seeta who have white collar jobs, like business or office work. But in Lira it was a lot more blue collar jobs (farmers, construction workers, etc). It's like I've been sent to serve in a completely new mission to be honest.

      This week has kind of been an adjustment for me, a new area, a new apartment, a new companion, and a new teaching pool. My new companion's name is Elder Thomo, from South Africa, Durbin. He's in his second transfer right now so he's fairly new to mission, but he's still carrying some MTC fire in him. The other two new elders in my district (and apartment) are Elder Morris (from Kenya) and Elder Latola (from South Africa), so for the first time on my mission I'm the only American In my apartment.

      The branch in Seeta works much differently than the branch in Lira. The branch in Lira had been open for less than a year so part of your duty as a missionary there was to make sure that the branch didn't go into apostasy (as in make sure that they're not teaching false doctrine, and that the auxiliary leaders are running their classes correctly). However in Seeta the branch has been open for about 7 or 8 years so the branch runs more or less as a branch should run. Seeta is also getting ready to open it's own chapel (right now were just meeting in a rented out house), it should be dedicated sometime in September or October, so if I'm around during that time that will be a big deal for the branch here.

       Thanks for all of your love and support. I feel your prayers and they uplift me, thank you, each of you.

Love Elder Grilliot

Helping Jimmy Pick Peppers

            This week I've learned about the importance of Being Christlike. We met a guy named Jimmy this week who owns a bunch of chili pepper plants, and as we were out going to an appointment we saw him picking his peppers. Elder Cobabe and I decided to stop and talk to him, but he seemed pretty uninterested in listening to us so we got up and went to our scheduled appointment. After that appointment though we passed by the the same guy as before and I had a strong prompting to stop and help him in his garden. So we went up to him and we asked if he would like any help picking chili peppers, and we spent the next hour in the sun helping him pick peppers. After that hour I told him that we had to get going but we thanked him for the opportunity to do service. As I picked myself up and started walking away we heard him call to us "Wait, hold on a second. I feel like you guys have something important to tell me". To which we replied "Yes we do". From there we taught him and his wife the pure doctrine of Christ and they accepted to be baptized. I'm so glad that our simple service was able to soften his heart the way that it did. I'm also so glad that I was able to listen to the promptings of the Holy Ghost in the moments that I needed to.

           Next week is transfer news, and there's a very good chance of me leaving Lira. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Q & A

Dad’s Questions:

1. Do you have a branch mission leader that you work with?  If so, does he understand his calling well, and is he helpful? 

2. How many Priesthood blessings have you given?

3. How often at church are you and your companion called on to bless or help pass the sacrament?  Or are there enough young men to do that?

4. Have you seen any tennis courts in Uganda?  Does anyone even play tennis there?  (If no, that might be the saddest thing I’ve ever heard.)

5. Are there any national holidays or big celebration days in Uganda where everyone parties?  What are those like?

Elder Grilliot’s Answers:

1- Yes we do have a branch mission leader but he's still new in the church. He was baptized about 9 months ago and were still training him in how to magnify his calling. He does a
decent job, but he still has a lot to improve on.

2- I'm not sure how many blessings I've given on my mission, but it's been quite a few. You can't go three weeks without giving a blessing out here.

3- I have never had to bless/pass the sacrament on my mission yet. Lira has a very well organized Young men quorum. Also with  all of the recent converts who have the Aaronic priesthood there are always people around who are willing to bless/pass the sacrament if asked.

4- I have never seen a tennis court in Lira, but I saw one next to the mission office in Kampala, and I've heard that there's one in Entebe (where Elder Bitter is serving). But those are the only places I've heard of.

5- There aren't many national holidays in Uganda but when there are the entire mission has the missionaries go home early (around 4-6 pm). The reason why is because when it's a national holiday everyone gets super drunk and the streets can become dangerous. On New Years people in Kampala went home at 2pm and people in the Village (Lira, Gulu, Mbale, Busia, Masaka, Jinja, ect) went home at 5pm. It's more likely for people to begin rioting on holidays.

Mom’s Questions:

1-        What is one thing this week that helped you see the hand of the Lord in the work you are doing?

2-     Think of one thing that made you laugh this week and tell me about it (even if it’s just a little thing)

3-      One thing that you really like about your companion and that you have learned from him.

4-     “Best” trial you’ve had so far and what you’ve learned from that trial.

Mom,

        I shall answer your questions.

1- I have seen the hand of the Lord in this work mostly by seeing how some people react to the spirit. When you teach with the spirit and you can tell that people feel it is always interesting to see how such people react to it. I've seen instances where people are willing to open up and tell you things about themselves that they never would have normally. I've seen times when people want to reject your message, but you can see that something is fighting inside of themselves to constrain them. I've seen the spirit make people want to do something even when they don't fully understand why. Honestly the spirit has a power to touch someone’s heart over, and over.

2- There's one missionary that I live with named Elder Benjamin who makes me laugh a lot. The country that he's from (Malawi) is a lot like South Africa or Zimbabwe, meaning that it's becoming somewhat developed (2nd world country). He likes to joke though that he's country is still back in the stone ages. He does it in a way that It's just awesome. He makes jokes like that the richest man in Malawi owns a bicycle, and socks, and that the entire country gathers together during one day in the year to watch the man with socks ride the bike because they have never seen anything like it before. Or that His trainer on mission had to teach him how to wear pants and shirts because when he was in Malawi all he used to wear was a loin cloth. He's just a funny guy.

3- The best thing that I've learned from my companion is diligence. Even when he doesn't want to work (which is most of the time) I've learned how to continue working despite him. Honestly he's been a very tough companion, because he came on a mission for the wrong reasons, and I think he's still trying to figure out why he's here.

4- The best trial that I've had so far is probably my current companion. He is pretty disobedient, and I feel that by being with him I've been forced to learn why I am here and how to be more obedient, and more diligent. I've been with my current companion for 2 transfers now and It's becoming more and more difficult to be with him these days.