Week 50 Too Busy for Pictures

October 30, 2017

Wow, this week we were busy busy…. like goodness me I don’t even feel like it’s Monday…

No pictures this week guys and I’ll explain why.

Tuesday, we taught 7 appointments and had to go buy propane for some missionaries.

Wednesday, Kajjansi ran out of water like 100% out so we had to buy jerry cans in Entebbe, fill them with 160 liters of water and 40 liters of drinking water, drive it out there and unload the water then drive home.

Thursday, it was 36 degrees C by 11 AM this day, and I forgot my camera at home and we did not want to walk back home to go and get it.

Friday, we made plans for the week and I forgot my camera again.

Saturday, woke up at 4:50 am, drove to Kampala and arrived at 6:05 am. Met with a general authority of our church named Mark Palmer. Then drove home and arrived home at 9:45 pm

Sunday, is Sunday and ever missionary knows how busy you are on Sunday….

And today is Monday and I also forgot…

So spiritual note (feel like I have to do this since I’m a missionary)

Repentance is hard for all of us, and it’s meant to be that way. How it was explained to me by Palmer is that, “When we sincerely repent, our sin is forgotten, so when we make the same mistake again,  God sees it as if we have slipped up for the first time, not the second or third, and so if we sincerely repent again, it is once again forgiven!”

I hope this helps someone, have a great week love you all!

Elder Moncur

Oh yeah, someone just sent me this from today! I taught everyone how to play Ultimate Frisbee!

Here are the guys in the picture

Top left Elder Brewer he is from Arizona and 3 months on mission

Bottom left Elder Young Beaver Utah 3 months out

Elder Dlamini from Swaziland 8 months out and comps with Young

Elder Muncy from California originally born in Ethiopia 10 months out

Elder Quatang from Ghana comps with Muncy is 17 months out

Elder Phiri from Zimbabwe comps with yours truly goes home next week

ME

Top right Elder Winn from Utah, comps with Brewer  1 month out

Elder Moncur

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Week 49 Oh the food…..

So this week we ate mukene (the little fish you get from lake Victoria!! and man they are gross!!!

Like so nasty goodness me. I prefer Nsenene (grasshopper) those I actually will buy them from time to time!

The new car I’m driving!

A super adorable girl of a family we are teaching

 

So this week…. um yeah lots happened but also at the same time it feels like all I did was drive and go to meetings, so instead of talking about what I did (because the driving stories are all like Mario cart, and the meetings are boring,) I’lll explain the food I eat weekly! Since I seem to get lots of questions about that.

The conversion value of Shillings to USD is 1USD= 3,600 UGH
Breakfast, I buy 30 eggs for 10,000 UGH and some local noodles that this lady makes, and I have some stir fry with salt and pepper or I eat Oats with some sugarcane sugar that you can go watch them crush the sugarcane and dry it into crystals

Lunch, so rice in beans is a must, a big plate of rice and beans can cost 2,000-5,000 depending on where you are and if you want other foods with it. Also we can get stuff called kikomondo, which is basically a think tortilla cooked with more oil, chopped up and served with beans and veggies each chapatti (tortilla) costs 500UGH and the beans are free

Dinner, so I like to make chicken and veggie stew and for a whole month of supplies it costs me 50,000UGH besides buying the veggies 2-3 times a week

Desert, sugar and water, and millet flower. AKA porridge

Spiritually wise I have learned that repentance is a commandment, now this is an interesting fact if you think about it. All other commandments is to follow them exactly don’t kill don’t steal etc. but in order for us to repent is to sin… now this sounds contradictory but God sent us hear to become more like him (have a body) and to learn and grow.  For us To LEARN if the fire is hot you make a mistake by touching the fire, but because of Jesus Christ we can be healed from the burns of the mistake. But only if we repent. So thus repentance is a commandment in order for us to learn. Further note. Once we repent God has promised us that he will forget the transgression we have done, so in Gods mind, after we have followed the commandment of repenting, we are following all his other commandments exactly!

I hope that this helps a few of us understand the will of God a bit more. I love you all and thank you for your prayers I have felt them this last week. Truly, thank you!

Love

Elder Moncur

 

Week 48 Car Trouble

Week 48

October 16, 2017

So I broke the back window to the Hilux, and now we had to drive to Kampala today to get it fixed. And it turns out there was a lot wrong with the car so now we are driving a Ford Ranger 6speed. And it is a monster… way fun though! The pics of the car is the inside of the Ranger

So we get very pretty views of the lake. And found a guy with another Alaska shirt!! That’s 3 shirts so far!

This week nothing to crazy happened, we had 2 people get baptized which was real great and exciting to see two people showing their desire to follow Christ!

This week has been stressful for sure though, I enjoy the new responsibility and I’m learning a lot, please keep me in your prayers for this week. Driving is very stressful some times; the big problem is traffic and the lack of time in the day to meet everyone we need to meet. For instance on Friday we left our flat at 6AM drove for 2 1/2 hours (in traffic) then had a 5 hour meeting, then got stuck in traffic again and got home around 11 at night. So just being sleep deprived and trying to drive in the pearl of Africa can be at times…. taxing. But I’m still happy as ever when I get to be a missionary and just teach people the gospel in Entebbe!!

Hope all is well your side have a great week!!

Week 47 What Median?

Toyota Hilux

October 9, 2017

Week 47

So this week was a full week of driving. oh my goodness… to describe just one of the roads here in this wonderfully organized country: so there is a 2 lane road going through the town of Entebbe, and they are building another 2 lanes just next to it so when it’s done each direction of traffic will have 2 lanes to travel on instead of one. This additional road is split by a by a median.

Well during the day life goes on, one road is getting work done on it, while the other road is just doing its normal thing. But at night oh boy, the construction company removes the road blocks because people will steal them, now all 4 lanes are free for cars to use. So trucks, cars, and semi trucks hop the median and In EACH lane a car can be driving towards each other so its like a game of Mario kart on the level Midnight Highway.

Also this week we had a meeting on a mountain/ rainforest resort with all the other missionaries who are called Zone Leaders, (guys that drive cars and deliver supplies to surrounding missionaries in other units/church buildings). We wore normal clothes for this meeting because we had to climb the mountain and we got rained on hard!! But I learned a lot about certain aspects of the gospel. The purpose of the meeting was to show people how love is applicable in all aspects of the church and our lives! And the biggest thing is we need not be intimidated by other people. If you love and trust the Lord you will do what he asks of you regardless of what the world says.

Carter didn’t say what these boys were carrying, but it looks heavy, and the trash in the background must have a story too. I will ask him next week. -Mom

Over all it was a good week, I’m really enjoying Entebbe! I got a feeling I’ll be hear for a spell so I’m sure I’ll have more driving stories for you guys!

Hope you all have a good week! Love you!

Elder Moncur

Those are some big old horns on that cow! 

Week 46 Entebbe

Week 46

October 2, 2017

Lake Victoria

So my companion is Elder Phiri he is from Zimbabwe and is 28 years old and this first week with him has been so much fun! This man is the must humble person you have ever met! (He is the dark one in the selfie.) I actually forgot to take a good pic with him so ill send one next week! The other two in the pic is Elder Young USA and Elder Dlahmini From Swaziland! Also LAKE victoria practically surrounds us!!

So driving hear is insane, the lord is protecting me for sure. Only 4 close calls this week though so it was a good week! Here diesel is the cheaper fuel and petrol is expensive. It’s about $1 per liter! Entebbe has the state house here so for lack of a better term it’s like I’m in DC so lots of crazy drivers. The president of Uganda is my neighbor, and there’s some crazy cult that kills 19-30 year olds for sacrifices. So far there has been 38 confirmed murders last month.

Spiritually wise the Unit in Entebbe is strong! They meet in a house that the church rents and they love to help missionaries with the work. We can call anyone in the unit and they will try their level best to help us with out question! In the neighboring unit called Kajjansi an elder found a family of 25 people all living in the same house! So we had to drive out there to deliver some Book’s of Mormon so the whole family did not have to share one book!

I have been super busy this week and I have only been in Entebbe for less than a week so I don’t have too much to talk about for now.

I hope all is well I love you all!!

Elder Moncur

Brother Matambalas’ House in Mukono. Matambalas is like a second father to me.

Lizard in Entebbe

Goat meat with fermented rice

Week 45 Worms and Automobiles

Week 45

September 25, 2017

 

So to explain the title of this email. Elder Trippe and me have a worm problem.

There is a certain fly in Uganda that lay’s eggs on to wet/damp clothes, and when a person wears the clothes that the eggs are laid on the eggs hatch! So yeah been dealing with that all week. Lucky for us though they don’t go into your blood stream or anything they more just act like a mosquito and stay on the surface of your skin… but still it sucked!

And for the second part of my title. So the transfer news has come! And I have been called as a Zone leader for Entebbe, (a Zone Leader basically is in charge of missionaries who are serving in multiple church buildings/ units in a surrounding area) which means me and a companion now have to deliver supplies and transport missionaries via car. So now I’m driving in a city of 20 million people on the wrong side of the road in a stick shift… the only way I can describe it is its like the video game GTA except that there are not even cops, and cows crossing the street is a regular.

My last day in Mukono was a special one. We had 4 people get baptized and saying my goodbye to the ward was bitter at best. This place has become my home and the members of Mukono have been my family.

Hope all is well love you guys​

Elder Moncur

Week 44 Matambala

Week 44

September 18, 2017

Uganda cranes!!!!! (soccer aka Football jersey)

Bro Matambala, James

And a toad (scroll to the bottom)

This week was hard. Lots of prep for next week basically we are planning for 4 baptisms we had 5 but one of them is practically enslaved to his parents and cant make it to church

So Brother Matambala is the man I wan to talk about this week because my week was disappointing and busy and boring.

This man is 52 years old and is in charge of the missionary work for Mukono

He is a landlord for about 4 houses (1 room) and he has established a farm system that makes it so every food you can imagine grows all year round, (except things that are seasonal) but he has to do virtually no work, he made is own miniature Forrest, so all he has to do is go pick the fruit or veggie, then make sure to throw the seeds back into the Forrest and it will make more!  He has pigs and chickens in there as well that feed off the smaller plants.

So next week I’ll be getting transfer news to see where my next adventure will be. I could stay in Mukono for another 6 weeks, but you never know!

Hope all is well love you all!

Elder Moncur