The Lady from Lira

Dear Family and Friends,

      It seems that the longer I am in Uganda the more I have learned to respect the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It may seem simple at first: Faith, Repentance, Baptism, etc, but really, there's kind of a beauty behind it all. Learning more about the Gospel and how it changes lives, thoughts, and behavior, makes me realize how important the Church of Jesus Christ is to the whole world.

        In this mission because of how young the church is here (every single member in Lira is a convert) the largest part of our job as missionaries is to help the church to develop and become more like the organization that you find in the States, Europe, and other parts of the world. We need to help the church to learn to function, and become more like you see it around the world. Sundays can be a little stressful at times because its up to us missionaries to guide the church meetings and members to fulfill their callings. It may take a few years but I really hope that I can see the day that the church in Lira operates the way that the church was meant to. I think that's the reason why most of the missionaries in Uganda are either from the States, South Africa, Zimbabwe, or Kenya. In all of these places the church has been around long enough that it operates the way it's supposed to.

      This week I had an interesting experience with an older lady who chased me down as we were going to an appointment. She chased us down shouting something in Langi (the language used by locals in Lira), and when she got to us she got down or her knees and started pleading with us in Langi. It was kinda freaky cause we had no idea what her problem was and she made us feel really uneasy. We were getting ready to walk away from her (because for all we knew she was probably just asking for money or something) when she then took out a picture of a young Ugandan man wearing a white shirt and tie and a black name tag that said "Elder Sencka" and "The church of Jesus Christ of latter day Saints" We managed to grab someone off the street that could translate for us and then this lady told us a story about the missionary in this picture, "Elder Sencka". What had happened is that her son, Elder Sencka, had moved to Kampala in 1992 and stayed there for schooling. While he was there the missionaries found him and converted him and he became a strong member of the church. In fact he even decided to serve a mission, and went to serve in the South Africa, Cape Town mission. He served his 2 years and then came home and got released, but then rather than stay in Uganda, immediately after being released he used the visa that he had received from his mission (it hadn't expired yet) and returned back to South Africa, where he lived as an illegal immigrant. Since then he has gotten married and become a citizen there, but now It's been over ten years since he has ever seen his family and this old Lady (his mother) was now pleading for us to bring him back to Uganda (even though we really have no control over that). As strange of a circumstance as this was my companion and I were talking and it turns out that his isn't a rare thing. Especially back in the 80s when the church was just developing in Kenya there were missionaries who would go on missions to the States, and then some of them wouldn't even finish their mission, they would just disappear. Become Illegal immigrants. That's why today most missionaries from Africa serve in another African country. Occasionally you'll hear about an African missionary serving in the States but it's really pretty rare. 

       Honestly you don't realize how good you have it untill you come to a 3rd world country. Everyone back home needs to take full advantage of the life that they live and live it to the fullest. I know I will whenever I return home.

       Have a great week everyone, and I'll update you next time.

MOM- Got a package from you this week Thanks for the power bars and pictures of the familly. Honestly though my favorite part of the package was the letters from Todd and Sarah. What's Todd's and Sarah's email, so I can talk to them as well. It was really good to hear from them. 

           You know that blog that you were reading before I left on my mission. The one by Elder Brandon Winters serving in the Uganda Kampala mission. Well he's sitting right next to me right now. We live in the same house and he's my Zone Leader. Just thought you might be interested to know.

           To Answer your questions:

  

 

Were you able to get photos taken (by borrowing a camera) of the last two companions? (His last one broke)

1- I was able to get photos taken by companions but none of them ever had a cord to connect their camera to the computer so I was never able to send you any pics (sorry).

Glad you got Linda’s package. I know she is happy to have gotten the shoutout in the last e-mail. What cool stuff did you get from them? (Thanks for looking out for our Elder. Linda you're awesome!)

2- Linda got me some sweets, some cliff bars, some really cool looking ties, and some word find books. Really liked the bubble gum they sent. Its really funny to blow a bubble in front of some little kids (who have never seen bubble gum) and they freak out. It's hallarious.

  Are you rushed on e-mail time? How much time are you allowed? Your last e-mail was short..I love the long ones the best! Sarah and Todd both wrote letters and they will show up in the package that I sent maybe a week ago.

3- I get 2 hrs to email, but honestly its hard sometimes to think about what I should email you. I like it when you send me questions, it makes it alot easier for me to know what to email about. I think I got the package with the letters in them, and I got the pictures in them as well. Everyone in my house was interested to see what my family looked like. Good to finally have pictures of the fam. 

 Are you still losing weight?

4- Ya I'm still losing weight. Really fast too. The suite coat that I came with is huge on me now. soon I'm going to need a new one.

 How are the shoes holding up?

5- The shoes are still going good. Their supper dirty all the time but they're champs. I could see them holding up for another 12 months at least. I look at the shoes that the older missionaries have and how poor of a state their in and I'm really glad I came with 2 pairs of shoes. 

 Are you still working out in the mornings?

6- Working out has become much more difficult since I became a District Leader. I usually need to stay up later than normal because I need to receive/ send reports and this makes me much more tired in the morning. I sometimes find myself falling asleep in the living room while stretching before workouts. I'm trying to get better at going to sleep on time, but it's really hard sometimes. 

 Sarah wants to know how your“pigstead” is doing? Hehehehe (Inside joke)

7- Tell sarah to email me and then i can tell her how my pigstead is doing.

 

  Let us know when you get your debit card in the mail, okay?

8- I will don't worry.

Love you guys have a great week. Stay strong in the church and Love everyone as the Savior did.

            -Elder Grilliot

Insight into the Lira Mission

        The mission in Uganda is about to become reborn. In the next 6 months were going to loose about half of the missionaries that are in this mission currently, and receive over 100 new missionaries (including a new mission president). I've also heard talk of them making Ethiopia its own mission sometime in the next year or so, that would be really cool to see while I'm serving here.
         Recently Ive been feeling very well adjusted to the heat here, the only time I really felt horrible about the heat was on Sunday when I wore my suit to church. I was sweating like crazy that day. The dryness is really what gets me though, I don't think it's rained since new years except maybe once or twice, and now all of Lira looks like a desert. The dust and dirt and sand everywhere is awful, especially if its a windy day. On some days you'll get home and your shoes will just be full of sand. I'm looking forward to rainy season next month.
          Probably the most difficult thing about doing missionary work in Lira is just dealing with such a different culture. The culture of Uganda goes almost against the culture of the church, and helping people to understand and develop Christlike attributes can really be a struggle. In Uganda the biggest things we missionaries struggle with is:
  1- Lazyness. Even if people have a testimony of the gospel getting them to church is so difficult to do. You can talk and talk and talk all you want but many people have such a trial in overcoming their laziness that for some people even if you baptize them they will become less active very fast.
  2- The law of Chastity (A.K.A. SEX). In the culture here in Uganda its actually acceptable (and sometimes even celebrated) for a couple to have their first child before marriage. This can cause so many problems for not just the marriage but also for the child, especially if the husband leaves before the child is born, or if the husband is expected to pay dowry before marriage and never comes up with the funds.
  3- Going to church for the wrong reasons. For about 90% of the people in Uganda they are Christians (I'd say about 9% Muslim and 1% Jew). And for all of these Christians only about 5% of them actually know why they are Christians, the rest of them are only a member of their church because that was the church they grew up in, and it's more of a culture than a church, Which wouldn't be so bad if the church's here did their part in teaching them true doctrine. Most of the churches here basically just rob their congregation. They make them pay for baptism, for repentance, for listening to the service, everything. And because people are so dedicated to their church they'll eat it all up, no matter how much they have to pay. Honestly these churches and these pastors have no idea what they're teaching most of the time either, they just do it because they know that there's money in it. I can't tell you how many people I've asked if they know what faith is, or what baptism is for, or why Jesus came to the earth, and they honestly have no clue. Its really disappointing to see, especially when people are so dedicated to their church that they will never leave it, no matter how much we teach them.
    Notwithstanding all of these problems Uganda is still a great place to serve a mission, the people here can be frustrating at times but really all of them have good hearts. And they're are lots of people here who really do recognize truth and convert to it. It's just that because people are so rigidly following traditions that they halt their own progression. I think it was Albert Einstein who said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting a different result each time. That's really what you see in Africa today, people always talk about wanting a change but no one is willing to do anything about it. There was an apostle that was asked once "when will Africa stop suffering so much" and the apostle's reply was "When people stop following the traditions of their fathers, and members of the church consistently pay their tithing is when Africa as a whole will begin to prosper". From what I've seen here in Uganda, I believe that 100%.
    I would like to thank Aunt Linda and Uncle Gene for sending that care package (just got it this week), it was such a good suprise. Thank you so much!
    Have a good week everyone, and I'll talk to you all next week -Elder Grilliot

New Companion Elder Wangui

     This has been a pretty crazy week, lots of changes. At the beginning of this week everything was fine, Elder Anderson and I had a really good time together (he's been a really cool companion and we got along really well) and got lots of work done. Really, I liked everyone in my house and it's been a really fun transfer to spend together. So then when Transfer news came lots of changes were made. Our whole house has pretty much changed ownership and even my companion (Elder Anderson) was shifted to Mbale, and made a zone leader.  Now it's just me left and I've even been made a district leader. Things just feel very different in our home now, almost like it's a new house.
      My new Companion is named Elder Wangui, and he's from Kenya. He's been on his mission for about a year and a half but he's spent the last 7 or 8 months in Ethiopia. He's had some crazy stories about things that have happened to him in Ethiopia. Man, that place just sounds like a completely different mission. They have to learn a new language, (Amharic) they have to learn a new culture, and getting lessons/baptizing is much more difficult. To be honest I hope that they never transfer me to Ethiopia (even though I've heard that it's a lot cooler temperature wise). Ethiopia is not how most people imagine it, or I should say it's not how I imagined it. I used to think Ethiopia was the poorest country in all of Africa, that It was just a giant Savanna. But From what Elder Wangui has told me Ethiopia is actually very mountainous. It usually is like 70 or 80 degrees most days just because of how high the altitude is, and because it's further from the equator than Uganda is. Ive also been told that in the last few years Ethiopia has gotten lots of help from China, and that because of that the larger City's have gotten quite a bit more advanced. In some parts of Ethiopia you can forget that your in a 3rd world country. 
     Thanks for all of the Love and support from all of you.
     -Elder Grilliot

22 Investigators 50 Lessons

Dear Family and Friends,

       This has been an insane week. Elder Anderson and I evaluated ourselvess, and all of our current investigators earlier this week and realized that a really large portion of our investigators were not progressing and we needed to start anew. So Elder Anderson and I worked super hard this week and tracked our butts off. At the end of the week though we had 22 new investigators and over 50 lessons. Alot of them are really promising too and I could see 7 or 8 of them getting baptized. This week I've been eating really well too. We've been fed 3 times this week by members (which is like a new record for me), and even the senior couple missionaries are feeding us tonight. Also On Sunday to break our fast all of us missionaries in our home pitched in some money and bought ourselves 3 Kilos of freshly killed Beef (so fresh we literally watched the cow get killed in front of us). We also got some potatoes, carrots, and onions and made ourselves the best pot roast of our lives. Seriously though I don't think I've ever had meat that good. If you really want good beef, try to get a fresh kill.
         This morning instead of playing soccer like we usually do, we found a football and taught a bunch of Africans how to play American Football. It was kind of funny to watch them learn, but to be honest they caught on really quick. Next week were thinking of teaching them dodge ball.
       The work is going good in Lira. This week is Transfers (Wednesday we get our news) and so I'll let you guys know if I get shifted.
      
Love-  Elder Grilliot

 

 

 

In reply to Dad's E-mail:

        Yes Murchison Falls is exactly where I was last week. It was such a cool place. We asked about the history of the place while we were there, and it turns out that the lodge was at one time a hospital that Kony had invaded so that his troops could use it as a place of refuge. And then like 15 years or so later a bunch of missionaries have the best breakfast of their life. Wouldn't you know it.
        Thanks for updating me on the others. It's good to know what's going on in the life of the family. That's crazy to hear about the bishopric being reorganized, and with Kelly Swarts being the new bishop, man that just seems weird to me.
      I've been loosing weight like crazy out here I'm down like 2 or 3 belt buckles from where I began and my shirts are enormous on me now. Between me riding/walking everywhere and working out every morning I losing lots of weight. I wish i could find a scale somewhere so i could know exactly how much I've lost.
      I read your email about the Super Bowl, that sounds like it was an incredible game. Between playing football this morning (see other email) and reading your email, I'm remembering just how much I miss football. Just once, I wish that I could just walk into an investigators home and see them watching American football instead of dumb old soccer.

Zone Conference at a Beautiful Resort with President Jackson

    Lira has been extremely hot this last week. It seems like each day is more hot and more dry than the last. I don't think it's rained since New Years, and some days it feels like I'm living in a desert. Everyday I drink between 2 and 3 litters of water but I never really feel like it's enough.
    Because of how dry everything is this time of year this is also the time where all of the dirt roads in town become repaved (they can't repave the roads when it rains. When I first learned this it made me happy because a lot of the roads in Lira have massive pot holes. Riding your bike on these roads can be super bumpy and can really hurt your butt after a full day. Sometimes it feels like I'm riding a bull that's trying to buck me off rather than a mountain bike. Latter on though my happiness became disappointment, I found out what it means for them to repave a dirt road. What it actually means is that they take a plow and tear apart all of the dirt roads and just leave it like that. So now instead of being bumped around on the road, it's like I'm trying to bike through sand. There's almost no traction. some days we just ditch the bikes because they can just be more of a hindrance than a help.
    This week has been really nice though, regardless of the heat and roads. President Jackson (our mission president) came to Lira this week (on Friday) and we had our zone conference. I was even asked to give a training at zone conference about receiving revelation through prayer. Zone conference was really nice, it gave me an increased resolve to work hard and it was very spiritually uplifting. After Zone conference we went to the best restaurant in all of Lira. It was like this buffet place that was attached to a really nice hotel. I had the best food there that I've had since I've come to Uganda.
    The best part of this week though was earlier today. Our whole zone (8 of us) got us at 5 o clock this morning to go to this resort between Lira and Gulu. We piled into the back of the Zone leader's truck and drove for about an hour before reaching our destination. Because the truck (a 2013 Nissan Hardbody) can only hold 5 passengers, me and 2 other missionaries had to sit in the bed of the truck. It being so early, and that we were going about 100 km an hour, and that I was sitting in the bed of the truck, the wind felt legitimately cold passing by us. It was probably the first time I've actually felt cold in Uganda. Then when we finally arrived at the resort, the sun was just beginning to come up. It was the coolest thing, we were driving along this road in the resort watching giraffes, elephants, baboons, and all other African animals, just as the African sun was rising. It was sweet just to be there.
    This isn't all to the story though, it gets even better. We finally arrived at the end of the resort where there is this really ritzy looking lodge. Like 5 star kind of lodge. Like better than most lodges in America, let alone Uganda, kind of lodge. Like how in the world did this get here, in the middle of the African jungle, kind of lodge. Just walking between the two massive fountains and into the lobby of the lodge we were blown away. The Lodge sat right along the Nile river, and had this amazing spectacular view of it. You could look down over the railing in the lobby and see the Nile flowing past with all kinds of Hippos and gazelles and Hogs drinking from it. It was an amazing view. We sat and just relaxed in the lobby for a few minutes, eating up the view. But wait, it gets even better. While we were all siting there in the lobby, amazed at the small piece of heaven we had stumbled upon, President Jackson walks in, our mission president. Turns out that after doing Zone conference with us in Lira he had went up to Gulu to do their Zone conference. On his way back from Gulu, President and Sister Jackson had decided to spend the night in this Lodge, before making their way back to Kampala. So when we arrived by chance at this lodge, he bumped into us and greeted us with open arms. In fact he even went as far as to treat us all to breakfast. So now we were all eating breakfast at this beautiful Lodge with our mission president, with an incredible view of the glittering Nile river, eating REAL BACON. REAL BACON! I don't think I've had a breakfast that good in... I don't even know how long. I had to pinch my self to see if I was dreaming. Really it was an amazing morning, and one I don't think any of us missionaries who were there will ever forget.
      - Elder Grilliot

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New Companion Elder Anderson

     Uganda is a crazy place. The longer that I'm here the more I realize that we take things at home for granted. Consistent electricity, supermarkets big enough to fit thousands of people in at once, and a stable economy. And so many people here can have a steady job or two and still be living in poverty. Back in the States no one lives in true poverty. Unless your living off of less than 50$ a month your living better than most people here. It makes me proud to be an American.

    This last week has been pretty nice. Transfers were on Wednesday, and I now have a new companion, Elder Anderson. He's a really cool guy from southern California. We get along pretty well and he's taught me a lot so far. He's very well rehearsed in his scriptures and he’s pretty good at teaching people using the scriptures. I've picked up a lot of his teaching methods and have been using them as well. Elder Anderson is a pretty big dude too, before coming on his mission he could bench almost 400 lbs. He's lost some muscle since then but he's still in very good shape and he's been helping me to get a nice work out in every morning. We've made it a goal to do 100 pushups every morning, 250 crunches, and 300 squats. the first few days of working out with him my whole body felt like a wet noodle.

    My old companion, Elder Cardon, was transferred to Rwanda, and now is one of 6 missionaries to ever been sent to work in Rwanda (aside from the mission pres. and his assistants). It's pretty sweet to see how fast the church is growing out here. Even in South Sudan the church is growing super fast, and in this last week the missionary couple that works up there baptized 10 people.

      I've been reading a book called Jesus the Christ the last couple weeks, and It's a pretty sweet book. You learn more about the life of Jesus in this book than from any other book I've read. Especially when you get to the part of Christ's Earthly ministry, the author James E. Talmage, uses scriptures to really break down every single statement that Christ says and expound it in a way that helps you to learn about Christ, beyond ordinary understanding. It's a sweet book.

      This week I've really seen the protection that god offers those who are in his service. Early today Elder Anderson and I were riding our bikes to town when we were rounding a corner along a small path near our house. As we slowed down to turn the corner a boda-boda (motor bike) zooms in out of nowhere and runs strait into my bike, turning my front tire into a pile of twisted metal. I go flying, and land about 10 ft. away from my bike, but amazingly don't have a single scratch on me. Even my clothes were pretty much unscathed. I felt so protected today that I didn't get hurt at all. What’s even more is that the repairs on my bike weren't even that expensive, about 15,000 Ugandan shillings, which is much less than I had thought it would be. One thing I've learned today is that God watches out for his missionaries.   

     This last Sunday was really disappointing, only one of our investigators came to church this Sunday, even though we have like ten of them with baptismal dates. We've had to push back some baptismal dates and drop some investigators this week simply because they refuse to come to church. It hurts me to see that people recognize truth, and honestly want to be baptized but have no desire to come to church. I've realized that unless they truly understand the sacrament they have no real desire to come to church. It's easy for them to understand faith, repentance, baptism, but when it comes to the sacrament they have no understanding and simply don't care to understand. That's not for all of our investigators, but sometimes it just seems like we’re trying to save someone when they have no desire to save themselves. 

    For others that we've been trying to teach, they are just too stubborn to give up their other church. They are too attached to their beliefs that even if they realize that our church is unlike any other church on Earth, they are unwilling to change. We've even had one investigator who had prayed about our church and told us that he knows that ours is the one true church of Jesus Christ, but that he is unwilling to change churches because he’s been going there so long. It hurts to know what they are missing out on and not be able to do anything about it.

    I've seen so many lives become changed because of this church, and that those who are truly seeking Jesus Christ will find solace in this message: He lives and his church lives, and that God still speaks to us today. I know that this church is the only way to truly become converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that any other path is a noble effort, but will put you short of the glory that God and Jesus Christ want for us. And I know that by praying with a sincere heart, real intent and faith in Christ the truth of this message will be manifested unto you by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

    To each of the people in Uganda that I bear this testimony to, some of them take it seriously and some do not. But those who listen to this message and take it seriously, improve their quality of life beyond that of people who are living in much less humbling circumstances than they. I didn't know how much this church can change a life until I came to Uganda, but I can honestly say now that there is no other church like this on earth.

 

     -Love Elder Grilliot

 Dear Family and Friends,

 

   I really enjoyed all of the pictures and love that I received from the emails this week. It feels good to hear all of your love and support for me. Sorry for not being able to send more pictures to you guys but my camera broke this week. I don't know what happened to it but one day it was working fine and the next it just wouldn't turn on. I still have my SD card though so when I get a new camera I can send you pictures again.

    This last week my companion and I had some pretty good success in our teaching. During our weekly planning we thought that we should concentrate on teaching the less-active members of our branch here in Lira so we decided to dedicate at least one lesson a day on less-actives. By the end of the week we had taught 8 less-active members and 7 of them came to church this Sunday for the first time in a long time (for some of them it had been over a year since they had last come to church). One of these people we taught, named Gloria (different from the other Gloria mentioned last week),  no one had seen in over two years, but prior to becoming less-active she had been very active and was even preparing to serve a mission. Missionaries and home teachers alike had passed by her house several times since then but had always been unsucsessfull in their attempts to bring her to church. Elder Cardon and I felt like passing by her house on the way back from an appointment and to see if she was home. We found her, and at first she was a bit reluctant to see us, but then her older brother (we had never met him before) who was there was very excited to see us and welcomed us in with open arms. We decided to share with her about the Savior, His love, and the atonement power of Jesus Christ. We sealed our lesson with our testimonies and the spirit was so thick after, you could practically feel it like fog surrounding us. She ended up breaking down and crying and telling us about how when she used to be active in the church and getting ready to serve a mission she had accidentally gotten pregnant. She had felt so ashamed about it that she left the church in fear of judgement of others and she said that she had felt "unworthy to come to church". We shared with her a scripture from the Book of Mormon about putting trust in the lord during our trials, and we explained that we were representatives of Jesus Christ and would do anything in our power to be able to help her. We also told her that our branch president was a man called of God and that he would be able to help her through her troubles as well (we introduced her to our branch president on that Sunday). It was such a cool experience, and even her brother (who sat in on the whole meeting) came to church that Sunday. He sat next to me during Sunday School where the lesson that day was about baptism, and asked me after class when could he be baptized. Since then we've set up appointments with him to give him the lessons preparing him for baptism. It was such a cool experience overall and really lifted up my whole week.

    This week has also been a little difficult over the last few days. Transfers have been changed again this week so rather than get transfer news on Friday, and Transferred on Monday, we now find out transfer news on Wednesday morning and then get transferred either Wednesday afternoon or Thursday night. For me I don't mind the change to much, but for everyone else in our apartment they're really mad at this change and at the mission president. It gets tiring to have to listen to everyone complaining about it, and for the other set of missionaries I can see a visible change in their work ethic because of this.

     I'm so gratefull for all of your love and prayers that I've felt this week. There have been times where I've been able to feel the prayers helping me to stay safe and to be able to work harder in this mission and I really appreciate it.

        Love-

                 Elder Grilliot