Nsenene

I had completely forgotten about Thanksgiving. If not I would have bought a turkey. It's strange to think about it but Thanksgiving was the first Holiday that I missed when I was on my mission. I missed it when I was still in the MTC. Next Thanksgiving I will be in America, just that thought makes me realize how fast time go's by and how little time I really have left on my mission.

Shoes are going nicely. Already busted one pair of shoes pretty badly, but the other pair is doing nicely. I hope it can last me another year.

Interesting fact about Lugazi, I didn't even know that they had a little league team in Uganda, let alone Lugazi!

My companion is actually from Zimbabwean, not South Africa (if that's what I said last week).

“Nsenene” or the season for cooked grass-hoppers. I love Nsenene! It's like popcorn, but a little more juicy. I watched how they catch them too. They put up all of these great big iron sheets surrounding a really bright light. The iron sheets act like mirrors reflecting the light. The grasshoppers see the light and fly towards them. Seeing the light reflecting from the iron sheets they fly head on towards them and run right into the sheets. After running into the iron sheets they fall to the ground where there is a great big plastic garbage bad hoisted up around the bottom of the iron sheets. Once in the bags they can't fly directly out because their bodies won't allow them to fly directly upwards, only at an angle. It's pretty cool to watch all of these grasshoppers by the hundreds get trapped like that one after another.

I looked in my suitcases as I was packing up and found another 2 memory cards (2gb), so I think I'm set for now.

Sorry pictures were having problems sending this week. Internet was really slow. Next week I should have some good pictures for you. Anything specific that you want pictures of?

Love you

Love- Elder Grilliot

Transfer to Lugazi

     Today I received transfer news, and it came as a very big surprise to me. I am finally being transferred again. This time to Lugazi. It is the newest area right now in the whole mission. It's been open for a little less than a year but it's growing pretty quickly. I'm excited to go there. My new companion is going to be Elder Alfred (I think he's form South Africa), and I'll be in a home with two other missionaries as well.

     I got a new camera this week. It works well but it's having some problems with battery charger they gave me, So I'm going to have to buy a new battery charger this week before I can take more pictures. But otherwise the camera works really well. It was made by this strange Chinese company but so far it works fine and all. I'll be sending pictures this next week to you guys.

     This week we found a bunch of less-actives. Like 6 or 7 of them. Some of them will be easy to reactivate (like a lady named Lovisa who basically told us that she stopped coming because her friend that she had at church moved away, and she felt lonely at church without a friend(she just needs a friend at church and then I'm sure she will come again)). But some I feel will be difficult (like a guy name Dennis who was seriously offended by something the Elders Quorum president had said, so he left the church and joined a born again church). However, there are some really nice things about trying to reactivate people. These people they already know the gospel, they just need to feel the spirit again and feel loved again.

     I wonder how things will be in Lugazi. Because of how new the branch is, I don't imagine that there could be too many less-actives there, I imagine that there would be a big need for new members. But I guess that we will see soon enough.

     Anyway, love you guys. Enjoy your week.

     

Good Week

Good to hear that everyone is alright after that tornado. Crazy to hear about all the damage that it caused there.

Do you and mom go to the temple often? I wish that I could go back to the temple at some point on my mission, but the nearest temple is a like a 5 hr plane ride to reach. When I get home I would love to visit the temple within the first few weeks of being home.

I'm adjusting a lot better now with the new type of missionary work. The changes in mission basically make it so that reactivation is key, as well as focusing on the wealthier homes. In the past it has kind of been about finding and baptizing whoever, but now it's about those wealthy people who can legitimately help out the branch more. Finding these people at home and teaching them can be a difficulty now though.

I was planning on celebrating my one year mark (by fasting like you said), but that day I got super sick and didn't even leave the house. I had some kind of stomach bug and threw up all day. I felt much better the next day though and haven't had any problems since, but it was kind of a downer of a one year mark.

Love you dad

Happy to hear that no one got hurt from the twisters. Funny to hear that you mention power outages though. I remember being home and having a power outage would be something kinda crazy (it almost never would happen). In  Uganda if we go a week without a power outage you think somethings not right. I once had power out for almost 3 weeks straight when I was serving in Lira.

It was kind of a good week with all the adjustment, lots of learning happened this week.

. Rick, Mimi, and Renae have all shared with me missionary moments from the last few weeks. 

Love you mom,

-Elder Grilliot

   This has been a fairly decent week for myself. As we begun adjusting to the changes and stuff this last week, I've learned a lot. I have relied more on Preach my Gospel this last week than I have my whole mission. I really feel like this next week is going to be better than the last.

   I finally reached my one year mark on my mission. It really doesn't feel like I've been out for a whole year though. Time has gone by extremely fast, and honestly I can't believe that I've been in Uganda for so long.

   This week we were given 5 names of people who are less active in the branch, people that we are to activate. Just names nothing else though. No phone number, no address (there are no addresses in Uganda), or anything. We have to rely a lot on the branch members to track down many of these people and bring them back to activity. It feels a lot like detective work though. For example there is this one guy named Martin that is less active in the branch. The only information that we received is the place that he used to work at (at a barber shop). We went to the barber shop yesterday and got information from the manager as to his phone number and after that we had to call him and track down his home. It was kind of fun though.

Anyway, I'm about to run out of time, but I thank you for all the support that you guys give me.

-Elder Grilliot

One Year Mark

So ya there are lots of changes in the mission. There is a big shift off of tracking and finding, and a much larger emphasis on working with the members to reactivate Less-actives. There is still lots of missionary work to be done, but the emphasis is on now baptizing the wealthy, learned, and strong minded people that will help establish the church in Uganda.

I like your idea of what to do on my one year mark. I think that I'll do that. It really helps me to focus on my calling.

Sorry to hear what's happening to the Vikings, sounds like they're having a bad year again. How much longer do they say Aaron Rodgers is going to be out (and Clay Mathews)? Sounds like green bay is having some bad luck right now.

Thanks for sending that world news. I haven't seen any evidence of terrorism in Uganda or anything but when/if I do I'll let you know.

Thanks as well for the money for a new Camera. I was looking at all the Cameras though in Kampala and the cheapest one was a little less than 300,000 shillings. I'll keep looking to see If I can find one cheaper though.    This has been a very difficult week for my companion and I. There have been some MAJOR changes in the mission as far as missionary work is done. It's hard to describe all of the changes that have begun happening but in short things have just made it a bit more difficult to find people to teach and stuff. I have a good feeling about this next week though. I think that I will start getting things figured out with this new type of missionary work.

   There is a member of our branch called Erasmus. He's a really cool guy and he's leaving on his mission to Sierra Leone in a few days. To celebrate with him we went to his home and we made/ ate hamburgers with him and his family. They were all supper amazed with the hamburgers that we made. They had never had one before in their lives, and they said that it was the best thing that they had ever eaten. It was pretty funny to watch their reaction the burgers. Could you imagine living and dying without ever eating a hamburger? Too many Ugandans do it. It really is pretty sad :(

Ya there are lots of Changes that were made this week alone. It feels like I'm part of a whole new mission to be honest. It's hard to be a district leader and training right now when all of these changes are happening. I know that I have to lead all these people but it's kind of hard when I myself am having a difficult time adjusting to so many changes. It can be a little stressful. If there is anything that I would like for you to pray for me about it would just be that I can adjust quickly to the changes in my mission and become effective at fulfilling the mission president's view for this mission.

Love you mom, only 12 more fast Sundays and then I will see you again (when you meet me at the airport in one year have a bag of McDonalds in your arms. I miss food :( sometimes I have a huge craving for fast food and there's nowhere to go to sate my taste buds).

-Anyway love you guys, have a great week!

A Lot of Changes

I forgot that Halloween even existed. It would be so awesome right now to be able to get a bunch of free candy and Chocolate.

How can you have Spanish sisters in an English speaking ward? Are they thinking of opening up a Spanish ward or something? Are there even enough Spanish speakers in Bloomington/Normal? Are they are members of the branch that speak Spanish (besides you, dad). How do Spanish speaking missionaries go proselyting in such an English speaking place? WHAAAT!

Sounds like things are going well back home.

Honestly it does not feel like it's been a year. Maybe that's just because I've only been in two areas... But I feel like I've only been in Uganda for a short time (but at the same time it feels like it's been an eternity since I've been home).

This has been a week of a lot of Change.

The Area 70 over the Africa Southeast area came down to Uganda and got together with the Mission president, The stake president (of the Uganda Kampala Stake) and each of the branch presidents/ bishops. They held a big conference with basically every leader of the church and talked about some stuff. One of the biggest things that were talked about was missionary work, and to summarize it all there's a lot of changes taking place in how missionary work is going to be done. A lot of Changes. All of the changes are focused on retaining members. There are lots of Less actives in this mission, too many. There are about 15,000 members of the church in in this mission, but the average sacrament meeting attendance for the mission is a little less than 3,000. There are a few reasons for this, but the two biggest are that people move to a place where the church doesn't exist yet, or because the hand off from the missionaries to the branch/ward wasn't smooth enough. The Changes are mostly focused of fixing those problems and on helping rescue the less-actives.

On November 15th I have officially been serving as a missionary for one year. Any Ideas of what I should do on that day?

I was thinking about it, you guys should tell me about your missionary moments that you have had during the week. (and those of you who already have done so continue doing so). I almost get the impression from some of you that you haven't been doing any member missionary work back home.

This was a good week. My companion is adjusting fast to life in Uganda, he's a quick learner. We have met some good people over the last few days. We met a guy called Steven this week who seems to be pretty solid. He came to church on Sunday and really loved it. He's a bit quiet, but I just know that he is really searching for the truth. Plus he was a referral to us, so he already has a fellow shipper and stuff which is awesome.

Love you guys have a great week.

Facing Opposition & General Conference Week

    This has been a difficult week for my companion and I. We worked really hard but faced a lot of opposition as well. Were thinking of changing strategies this week. We need much more member referrals and so rather than put our efforts on trackting were going to utilize the Conference that we watched this week by making members feel much more accountable to their God in doing member missionary work. Not that the work is going badly, just that it's starting to slow down a bit.

   This week we had the opportunity to watch General Conference. There were some great talks there. One of my favorite was Edward Dube in the Saturday Morning(?) session. The people in Uganda were so excited to hear an African General Authority speak. He was probably the highlight of conference for many Ugandans. My Favorite talks were by Richard G. Scott in the one of the Sunday sessions (they kind of just blend together because we watched them back to back) and another one (I can't remember who it was) that talked about teaching, and teaching by the spirit. It was nice. OH! Another favorite was from Russel M. Neilson(?) in the Sunday Evening Session. He talked about self mastery. It was a good talk. I missed the Priesthood session though. They didn't have a time that it was showing at the church for us.

   Overall I'm excited for this upcoming week, I have a good feeling about it. Thanks for all of the Love that each of you send my way. I really do feel your prayers give me the strength that I need.

My Sabbath was alright, We watched Conference this Sunday. Power went out during Conference though. Fortunately though we had a generator that kept Conference going.

Answers to Mom's Questions

Dad,

Thanks for the NFL update. The other day I had a nice little surprise as I walked into a local supermarket and saw playing on the TV a collage football game from 2010. It was the first time I had seen any football on TV in about 11 months. It blew my mind.

Thanks for the money as well it is well appreciated.

I'm training for the 2nd time in a row now. My new "son" just gave his father your email so you might be getting an email from his sometime in the future.

Mom's Questions:

Tell me are you in a new area or are you still in Seeta?

1- Still in the same area. I kinda wish that I had left though, I enjoy change.

Do you still have someone to do your laundry for you?

2- Yes I do

Tell me something interesting or funny that happened to you or your companion this week?

3- Kind of a funny story: so this week I was skipping along and I tripped and fell in a nest of wild honey badgers. After they ripped off my face I befriended them and they all came to church and got baptized. Hope they didn't get baptized for the wrong reasons.

On a spiritual note what did you learn this week?

4- I don't know what I learned this week but I know I've learned a lot!

When are you going to send us pictures on your card?   We will send you a new card for the camera if you let us know what kind you have that needs replaced.  Are you taking many pictures? I know you probably don’t take it with you every time you go out for fear of it getting stolen.  Glad you are having fun on your p-days.

5- To be honest my Camera and the card in it got stolen last week. During Church I left my Camera on my chair while I went to help out one our branch members for a few minutes, then when I came back it was nowhere to be found. I was pretty upset. But don't send me money to buy another I don't want you guys to go broke!

What are the holidays that people there celebrate that are uncommon in the U.S.?  What do they do to celebrate these events?  As you know Halloween is coming up and all the craziness that comes with that holiday.  I’m sure they don’t celebrate Halloween, do they?

6- October 9th was Uganda's Independence day, so a few people celebrated it but not many people. Oh! and There was a Muslim holiday this week. It's called Eid al-Adha (you can look it up). I met a Muslim family this week and they invited us to celebrate with them. We wanted free food, so during our lunch time we went and chilled with a Muslim family ate their food and then ran off. My companion and I called it Eid day for short.

Are you still working out every morning with your companion?

7- Yep, I use a jump rope every morning.

We are planning on sending you handwritten letters and photos of the family for Christmas, what else do you need or want in the package? Would $ be the best or is there a little something from the U. S, that you miss and would like for Christmas?

8- Money is awesome, but getting a box full of American Chocolate and Candy is also really, really, really, really, beautiful. Either one will make me happy.

Are you good to take your malaria pill consistently? Be smart and be consistent okay?  No more scares like that! 

9- Yes I take the pill everyday

Tell us about the missionary work/teaching pool and how many investigators you have right now and how they are coming along.

10- Missionary work is going well. Things are looking good right now. We have a little over 20 investigators with a baptismal date and a little less than half of them are progressing. The thing that we are really focusing on is getting people to fellowship. I'm not sure if it's because the church is new or if it's just because of Ugandan culture but people aren't great are being friendly to new people who come to church. Lots of times I have to specifically tell people "hey there's this guy sitting over here, it's his first time to come to church. Can you go and greet him and make him feel welcome?" I've learned to make sure that I tell at least 5 members to do that to each of the investigators that come to church. If I don't make the members greet my investigators, sometimes no one talks to them (other than us missionaries) and then they have no desire to come back to church the next time. Forging friendships is something that I am really pushing members to do with investigators. It can be difficult.