OFF TO THE TEMPLE

Primary Program in Walukuba

One of the biggest jobs I have here is to help returned missionaries apply for PEF loans so they can complete school and get a good education and job to support their families.  I meet with several students each week.  These two men are exceptional leaders in the church.  Sekumuli (L) just returned from the temple where he was sealed to his wife and two children.  Ivan (R) carries his recommend with him all the time although he will not be able to get his passport for a few more months when he and his wife and baby will go to the temple to be sealed.  I got both of them registered for their PEF loans.

Yes I know you shouldn't take pictures in church, I just couldn't resist.  It was kind of weird that the kids in front did the whole program and all the other kids watched.  She didn't include all the children.  But the speaking parts were amazing and quite well done.

Our second Temple group left on Sunday for JoBerg Temple in South Africa.  They were so excited to go, this will be the first time in an airplane for most of them.  (L to R - back row) Sister Amenia , President  Mbiro - (the District President going as interpreter),  Sister Rose (who is my new cleaning lady), Brother Benjamin,  Brother Ibengo, Sister Aidah, and Sister Mary.  On the front Row are the 5 children of Aidah and Ibengo.  The two youngest are twins named after the missionaries that baptized them, Huskinson and Anderson.

Sister Christine is the Primary President in Walukuba and this was at the primary program.  I  slyly took pictures because I just had to.

Sister Rose.  She is my new cleaning lady.  On the day she left for the temple.  She went alone, she is a widow with 3 grown children and 4 young children she is raising that belong to her sister who died.  She is a very hard worker, but struggles with understanding English.

Sister Emily is the Primary President for the District.  I take her with me every Sunday when I visit all the branches so she can better train all the branch Primary leaders.  She is wearing a typical African dress  - they wear this style a lot here.  One thing I have found is that they love to wear golds and oranges in their clothing.  They think of themselves as having purple skin and the gold/orange colors really look beautiful on them.  (The way I found out that they think they're a purple tone is because I had some purple nail polish on my toenails and one of the girls told me that it was exactly the shade of her skin.)

Sister Mary in the District RS president.  She is married, but her husband is not a member and doesn't live with her most of the year because he works in a different city. She supports herself in spite of having a husband. She is a very faithful woman and understands the gospel very well.  She is a grandmother and is often responsible for her grandkids.  This is the day she left for the temple.

Brother Ben is not married, but is excited to go to the temple by himself anyway

Sister Aidah is the RS president in the Mpumede branch and she is a really tiny thing - We guess she probably weighs less than 80 pounds.  Her husband is a very good man, and they have 5 children.  They took all 5 kids to the temple with them and they were very excited.  This is  probably the biggest thing that will ever happen in their lifetime.

Another shot

Primary Program in Walukuba.  Even in the church some people dress in Arab styles. cute how the two boys were wearing missionary badges.

Christine's son Smith.  He is a very smart boy

On an appointment with the Sister Missionaries, Sister M and Sister L.  We are teaching at Henry and Harriet's home

Harriet

before the Primary program in the chapel.  The balloons were a bit of the red-handbook" violation, but heck, we're on a learning curve here in Africa.  Not to mention that the chapel doubles as the Rec room sometimes anyway.

Another Shot of Henry and Harriet

Henry with their daughter.  Harriet had a stillborn baby just about 3 months ago. They are now working on getting ready to go to the temple.

SAFARI

Baboons wander around everywhere in the park.  They also try to steal food from passing motorists  The water buffalos above love the mud holes

Sometimes driving by at a fast rate of speed doesn't give your camera long enough to focus

These birds love to catch a ride when they can

These guys decided to move on when they decided we weren't sharing our snacks with them

A lot of these pictures from the Wildlife Park at Murchenson Falls were taken by Sister Wilkes and used by permission.   She has a great camera, with a lens that worked better than mine.  They took an African guide with them in the truck so got some good shots that day.  They are the Senior Couple living in Rwanda....(*the word "Senior" is used loosely, they are pretty young).

These guys love to roll in mud holes - some kind of water Buffalo

Lots of Crocs.  These guys sleep with their mouth open.  The tour guide told us they are trying to cool off

This is some kind of Eagle, we saw a lot of them

The older Elephants didn't seem to care that we wanted to take their pictures.  The younger herds would run away when they saw us coming.  This guy has a broken husk, we think he must be old, he was very big

These birds are pretty ugly.  Baby monkeys don't care

We didn't ever see the leopards, Sister Wilkes went out early one morning to capture this picture

The River Nile is full of these hippo guys

Lots of monkeys

We saw a lot of geese and other interesting birds of all kinds

I think these are called Jackson Hardabeasts

This is our whole group.  All the Senior Missionaries in the Uganda Kampala Mission currently.  Pres and Sister Jackson in the middle front row. Sister Wilkes who took most of these pictures is on the back row in the pink.  We had such a great time!

The Giraffes were just everywhere and they don't seem to care what we are doing

This was another picture Sister Wilkes got that we were not able to see because of the tall grass

These are called Crested Crane's.  They are huge and very beautiful and they fly!  Note the fluff on their heads

Another water Buffalo

hippo

Another shot of the leopard

The elephants were amazing

See the baby

More Crocs - These guys are very large, probably many hundreds of pounds

On the Ferry crossing the Nile

Our comrades 

You can't tell very well, but he just came out of the river and has a water mark on him

The kids wanted to know why we weren't in any of the pictures with the animals.  Two reasons,  first, you can't wander around when there are lions about.  Second, we were using our telephoto lenses, and we wouldn't have been able to focus on both things at once as you can see my camera got Rock but not the elephant

These are the jeeps you can rent with an African guide.  You can stand and stick your head out the top as you drive.  Rock and i were too cheap and road behind in a truck which scared off half the animals

Giraffe's get darker as they get older, this one is pretty old

Above the River Nile you can see the resort where we were staying.  We took this on the boat ride up to the Falls

On the boat

This is Robert, he was our tour guide.  Ammon is behind him.  Don't think for a minute that the couples didn't mention to him how great of a name he has, and would he like to know more.

The river is full of hippos.  They hang out in the water all day and go looking for grass to eat all night.  What a life!

This is why you don't go on shore

The females are yellow.  This one was huge, probably a hundred years old.

Hide and go seek with the hippos

On the Ferry.  Elder Thayn is not proselyting, he is trying to get a better price.  They see whites coming and they see dollar signs

Our cars had to cross on the ferry

Lots of Warthogs

Get out of the road giraffe

At the Falls