Sunday, June 12, 2022
3 Missionary Musketeers
Seeds of Miracles
There are no chance meetings.
Last week our grandson, Elder Packer Evans, challenged the
family to respond to this question, “How have I seen the Lord bless me as I
sacrifice time for him?” In our kitchen
window at home, we have a small plaque that reads a similar question, “Have I
seen the hand of the Lord in the lives of my family today?” This week we have tried to focus on that
question each day and realize more fully how the Lord directs our lives.
This has been a bit of a stressful month. Unknown to us, all 7 Districts in Rwanda and Kigali
City each have a form who regulates donors.
This gives the individual districts and the city a heads up on projects
being done within their boundaries. This
way they can be aware of the maintenance responsibilities that must be placed
in their future budgets and staff workloads. There are so many well-meaning
countries and organizations pouring money into Rwanda since the genocide, the
government was beginning to lose track of them.
Plus, some districts had companies and churches doing work on top of
each other while other districts have no help at all. These JADF (Joint Action Development Forums)
control who and what aid is being given.
For instance, our church put 18 boreholes in one district 10 years ago. Those borehole pumps have not all been
maintained and some are now unrepairable.
Others are very near additional boreholes placed in country by Japan. In fact this specific district has 5
organizations placing boreholes within it’s boundaries while we recently found
another district who is in desperate need with only one donor in fifteen
years. Therefore, the government asked
several donors to move their efforts to another needy district. We
admire a government that is structured such so that our efforts are maintained
after donations.
But back to my story…. We didn’t know about JADF. When we became aware, we began to fill out
paperwork to apply to become part of the Forum in each District. One District was already upset with the
church who had sent an MOU for the District to sign. The District refused to sign until a church
representative was a member of JADF. Our
Area humanitarian team who was managing the project became distraught not
understanding all they had to do was apply and the Area Legal team became
defensive. Elder and Sister Bird were
sent in to solve the issue. When we
found out what the problem was everyone was already on the defensive. We moved ahead with the application and tried
to calm everyone down. Through this one
experience we did research and found this JADF requirement was in place for all
districts but some were more strict than others. In Kigali City there are 3 districts who are
all regulated by the City. No wonder we
had the city asking us for a commitment of where we were intending to spend
money and how much. For legal purposes
this is something the church never commits to.
Now we have a conflict between the church and the local government.
In not too recent past the citizens of Rwanda have been
taken advantage of by some churches who came in, built up a congregation,
collected a lot of money to build church buildings and then left with all the
money. In addition, they have had a
problem with child trafficking as claiming orphanages wanted to relocate children
in other countries promising to give education and care but instead turned out
to be selling children. Rwanda has
become very protective. Even our
missionaries have had a few problems leaving the country to serve
missions.
At present, Education is a big focus in Rwanda. This is a young adult country. Most of the older generation, parents of
these youth, were slaughtered in the genocide leaving siblings to raise each
other. Sibling relationships are very
close. The government, about 5 years too
late, is now focusing heavily on advanced education. The church is trying to get “Pathways”
recognized but the Rwanda Education Ministry is leery of on-line schools and
will not offer accreditation to Pathways.
Now, after all this background you can see our month has
been a little stressful as we have written letter after letter, fill out
application after application and met with Ministry officials in almost every
facet of the government, tried to explain to our legal team what is being
required, tried to get appointments for our Area authorities with government
officials yet being denied and in general not daring to move forward with our
projects in Rwanda. We have fasted
enough this month we should have lost 10 pounds each, but sadly we
haven’t.
Now for our little miracle experience. As we were ending our fast on Sunday, a knock
came at our gate. The guard answered and
then knocked at our door. A neighbor
wants to visit with us. We invited him
in. When he introduced himself as a past
member of the ministry we thought he was a pastor. Turns out he was from the Ministry of
Education in Rwanda. He is now on an
Educational Board who is over education for all the countries of Africa. He has moved to the Ivory Coast with this new
position. He is presently in Rwanda
meeting with the Ministry to help them embrace and give accreditation for advanced educational degrees from larger
universities who offer online courses such as Pathways in business and
technology. As part of his assignment
he works with the United Nations. As
such he has been living in the US (DC) for the past three years. He knows of BYU. He invited Elder Carpenter and Elder Ronald
A. Rasband who are to be in country this week, to join their meetings today to
plead their case. Of course we have no
direct communications with these brethren but we sent word up through the
channels and are hopeful they will take advantage of the opportunity. (We just learned they had a one hour meeting
together.)
How did this man find us?
We passed his house on our morning walk and stopped to admire a
flowering bush. He saw us as he was
leaving for his meetings and asked a neighbor who we were and where we
lived. He came to invite us to see the
rest of his yard. Oh how the Lord works
his wonders. In this one simple incident
he may plant the seed for the future education of millions of youth in African
nations. Of course, this isn’t the only
seed planted, or nourished, but as the many seeds grow in the garden a good
crop will be harvested.
To continue the story of Kigali City, the Commonwealth of
Nations is presently descending upon Rwanda for their biannual meeting. 53 country dignitaries will attend. The Rwanda government people are swamped
right now so we are on hold for a few weeks.
Elder Rasband decided not to come since he could not get appointments
with the President of Rwanda but Elder Carpenter, the Area President, is
here.
We will leave for Uganda after our District conference on
tomorrow. We have seven projects
underway or to get started in Uganda so we will shift gears and check on those
jobs for three weeks. Once again we will
meet with government leaders in hopes of gaining their support for projects
suggested by our Stake Presidents. After
six months, we are getting smarter. This
first week we have four appointments with partnership organizations like, IRC,
Water Aid, Water For People, Maji, and USAID.
We are hoping to find a good fit so we can join forces to implement
larger projects and let that organization do the ground level work leaving us
more free time to find other projects.
We are swimming in paperwork with all these small projects. Small school projects are rewarding but a LOT
of work. Now that we have a few
projects underway we will start posting some photos so you can see what we are
doing.
Sunday, May 1, 2022
Our Elders Next Door
Training with E&S Mellor
We have had a wild
week with SL Director and Area Director here plus legal people as we are
dealing with government issues in Rwanda. Will be Back to Uganda next
week to have a bid review meeting on 2 projects. Will only be there one
week as we need to return to Rwanda for city meetings with government officials,
Elder Carpenter and an Apostle. After the dust settles and we catch up
on paper work, we plan to return to and stay in Uganda for two other project
reviews with proposing agents and sector engineers. Hoping to be there a while
and make a trip out to Mbale to find a project there.
Elder Carpenter will
be in Rwanda May 18th to meet with Mayor but Mayor is refusing the visit until
legal MOU is presented to the City. Will keep you posted on legal issues
as we can. OGC (church legal department) is presently here to advise on
city and government understanding. We are moving gently but
quickly before the City deadline of the MOU next week.
New couple, E/S
Bickmore from LV, are settling in. They need a few item which we will take them
to purchase tomorrow after our Head Quarters guests leave.
We might get a chance
to breath next week. They really need a
humanitarian couple in both Uganda and Rwanda.
Know anyone who wants to sign up?
Sunday, April 17, 2022
Today is Palm Sunday. As we passed several other churches on the way to District Conference, the streets were lined with people selling palm leaves to worshipers going inside to worship. The thought came to me of the people selling outside the temple when Christ came to the temple. There he found people more concerned with the selling than with the attitude of worshiping. I will admit I loved the idea of the palms to wave. It gave me food for thought. Would I have chosen to be one waving those palms when the Savior entered into the gates of the city? Do I now wave palms of consecration in my personal life?
As I get to know the members here in Rwanda I am amazed at their level of commitment. We have a branch president who joined the church 5 years ago. His wife is not a member. He does not have a job. He comes every day to the chapel to assist in pathway, seminary, cleaning, or to help his members through interviews of encouragement. Many of his branch members are also unemployed. Last week he baptized his oldest son who is 18. He has such a positive attitude and with optimism says God is preparing a good job for him.
I am sitting here in-between conference sessions. We are listening to the meetings in the language of Kinyrwanda. A translator then speaks in English for those few that need translation. Our visiting area Authorith, Elder Ndinga, from Nairobi speaks French. So when he speaks his words are translated from French to Kinyrwanda and then into English. We wonder how accurate his message is when we finally get it but always the message is inspiring. They teach from the scriptures and the handbook. We had about 300 attend today including 21 investigators.
Speaking of investigators, two weeks ago we had 2 investigators come. Last week those two returned again to sacrament meeting and between those two they brought 15 more with them. The Missionaries can hardly keep up with their teaching load. President told us last night he has expected to receive an additional 18 missionaries assigned to Rwanda in preparation of the new mission but has been given none. Rwanda is a young adult district. There is only one high priest in the entire country. The church is young and rapidly growing.
We are struggling with government leaders in Uganda wanting bribes to get our projects moving. We are doing what we can where we can but this week we did get exciting news - clearance for our Grace School Project. We can only do half what they need but we think we have a partner who is interested in completing the remainder of the school classes we can not build. This will give that school 7 classrooms. We are now looking for a sponsor for a borehole to give them water and to pay for a kitchen.
This week we had a power week. On top of the news for Grace school, the Lord Mayor of Kigali City requested a meeting with us. We went fasting not sure the purpose of the meeting but needing support in city sectors and other districts /sectors beyond. Rwanda has recently changed their requirements to do humanitarian projects. Each sector or district is now requiring an organization to register and join a form which gives permission to do work and tracks where and what the projects are. Until now many organizations were just doing work and asking the districts to maintain projects but the districts can’t keep up with the maintenance load. In addition they found some organizations doing the same work in the same areas when other equally needy areas went without help. This decision to get organized is amazing idea but it has slowed us down in receiving permissions.
Back to our city meeting. To our relief, they were very warm and welcoming. They asked for our help. They are very concerned with their youth getting into drugs, alcohol, immorality, and stealing. In our first meeting last December the city asked for the help of the church in three project focuses. One was a business mentoring program which is out side the parameters of humanitarian so we could not embrace it. The other two we are slowly embracing, one school at a time. Where we failed is that we have not informed the city of our projects, just the sectors. That kind of information is cultural so thay forgave us and smiled as we told them of our projects. So now, we will write a letter to inform them on a monthly basis. Secondly we gave a copy of the non denominational My Standards Booklet which the area presidency has recently published. This is a booklet much like the Strength of Youth booklet but is not church oriented. The area presidency has asked us to get permission to distribute it as we meet with the ministry of education in both countries. The Lord Mayor and the entire committee loved the booklet idea to give their 6th to 12th grade students. They asked if it could be translated into Kinyrwanda for them. They want to roll it out as quickly as possible and he will present it to the government at large.
To top off a good week, we were told we have a water specialist coming from Lehi, UT to train us in water wells and spring captures. We are so needful of his help and we get him for a whole week. 3 days in each country. We are very excited. Elder and Sister Mallor are serving a 15 year mission in water. They consult all over the world so we feel very blessed to get a chance for training.
The only disappointment is that our new CES couple arrive in Uganda the same day as the Mallors arrive in Rwanda so we can’t be here in Rwanda to properly welcome them. It will be so nice to not be the lone couple serving in Rwanda.
Happy Easter to all and to all a good night as it is now 11:30 pm.
Elder and Sister Bird
Hi everyone, March
8, 2022
Time for an update on our work. We are in Uganda right now and dying in 98
degrees and no air conditioning. Can't wait to go back to Rwanda in two
weeks. It is 10 degrees cooler there. Each Country and home have
their advantages and disadvantages. That is good because it gives us
something to look forward to when we need to return to either country.
Tomorrow we are receiving a shipment of 10,000 PPE kits for Covid. Aren't
we about through with this Covid stuff?
Rwanda is still masking but Uganda is beginning to shed them. We
are still required to wear them as missionaries. We hear you are back to
normal in Utah church meetings. Can't wait for that decision here.
Receiving a huge wheel chair shipment as this week. That program has a
lot of hic-ups in it. It's taken about 4 months to get them across the
border from Kenya and even though the chairs are donated by the church and are
supposed to be free, they often charge the patrons for them. Somehow that
money slips into someone's pocket but no one knows who's pocket that is.
We have at least three emails per week asking for us to
support someone's NGO which usually is paying someone a wage. Good thing
we have guidelines so we can say sorry - that isn't within our
guidelines. Uganda is so full of NGOs it's become a joke among all the senior
missionaries. The white skin and tags seem to attract the
requests. We all joke that when we go shopping there are always two
prices, the black man's and then the white man's. One couple even pays a
ward member to do their produce shopping for them because it is cheaper and
they get quality produce. Wish I had that option. We are in
cities. They are VERY rural. (Wouldn't trade jobs with them.
They are real sports.)
Held a bid opening for a medical center last Friday. We
will build a new critical care maternity unit for mothers and a neo-natal
baby unit. Ladies were laying on the ground under a tree waiting to
deliver. One delivery bed only to service about 20 babies a day. All 6
recovery beds in one room were full. Attending mothers, sisters, aunts,
or friends bring them meals until they go home which is usually within eight
hours and on a motorcycle holding the new baby.
We are hoping to start two similar projects at other medical
centers. We have several school projects adding new classrooms, squat latrines
and water tanks to public schools. Schools are the bulk of our
work. We are hoping to diversify a little by doing a hillside flooding
retention project with the city and a pig farm project with the Episcopal Methodist
church. Both the latter projects are in planning stages. Funding
still needs to be approved. I can't believe how much work it takes to get
a project completed. It has taken us until this month to even get one
started. That has been three months of identifying, planning, estimating,
clearing funding and now bidding. The construction work now begins. Hand
over in four to six months if all goes as planned.
Our biggest frustrations have been – poor or no internet
service, power outages, a landlord who is awful to deal with, and no church
credit card to charge office expenses and gas to. The internet service issue we will live with
because there is no fix. We bought our
own toilet seat and tools to repair a few things in this new apartment. We learned that we pay for power ahead of
time each month, not just when the meter runs out and our mission credit card
finally arrived today. We are doing
fabulous!!!!!
We had two prayers answered this week. In fact, both within the last two days. We arrived back in Uganda last week. Thursday was the health center bidding with
contractors. On Friday we had a long
list of things we really needed to get accomplished while in Uganda but we
needed to have contacts in the government to assist in the goals. The Area Presidency have published a
non-denominational My Standards book that is much like our church Strength of
Youth booklets. They asked us to present
it to the schools as we meet with them when doing projects and to also ask for
permission to hold Seminary for the teen age students who are members as well
as any other students who wish to attend.
We included our needs in our prayers and then moved forward patiently as
we waited for Heavenly Father’s help. Within two days both needs were met. At Christmas I baked cookies and took them to
each neighbor and wished them a Merry Christmas. The lady across the hall from us stopped us
as we were returning from our morning walk.
She welcomed us back and thanked us for being so kind. She asked about our church tags so we invited
her in. Rita visited with us for an hour
asking about our beliefs. We found out
she works for the Kampala Board of Education. She knew the name of the person
we needed to talk to in education and has made the appointment for us. The very next day a member of Parliament who
attended the kick off to the Health Center addition asked if he could meet with
us. He wants a project in a neighboring
district to be considered because their health center needs a full maternity
center. They have nothing and the
mothers are delivering in their one and only exam room. We were shocked he
wasn’t asking for more in his own district area. Good man.
And we found out he is a less active member. He was very interested in our education
project and wants to embrace it. He
asked if he could arrange a dinner meeting with 5 to 10 other members of
parliament for us to present our program to.
Oh how the Lord does work in little ways to accomplish great
things. We are simply his tools.
I have sincerely been reminded how many blessing come when we
try to live the gospel. Just try. No one is perfect at living all the
commandments or putting forth effort to be good every day, but the Lord
forgives our mistakes as long as we just try our best. The blessing just pour into our lives when we
put our heart into good works.
Have a great week. Try
to stay focused on goodness this week. Read
at least three verses of scripture every day. Find gratitude in something every
day. Pray to be a tool to do something
good for someone and then watch for the miracle. It will come.
Don’t forget to record your miracle.
Sister Bird
Sunday, March 27, 2022
Gratin's Baptism
. He was just dancing up to the front of Sacrament meeting to be confirmed today.
Sunday, February 13, 2022
February Letter
In Rwanda we attend church alternating between 4 branches. We will soon have a 5th branch. All are in the native language of Kinyarwanda. They give us an ear set and a returned missionary who speaks English will interpret for us. It is so sweet to feel the spirit of these sweet faithful members. If someone speaks in English or French another person interprets. Into Kinyewanda. All testimonies and talks go on like this for the entire meeting. Attending these small branches takes my memory back to my childhood when our little branch was so small. Our faith so strong that the missionaries would be successful in their teaching so the branch could grow and become a ward. Just in my life of 50 years there is now a Stake in Kingsland, GA. It will come here also. The new mission will have a huge effect in moving the work forward quickly here in Rwanda.Rwanda is a small country but a fast developing country. People are generally honest and respectful. The country focus is on the education of the children. The schools here are focused on teaching English and technology in all the government schools. This little country will advance quickly now that the church is recognized by the government. We notice how strong the families are in this country which was war torn just a few years ago. Maybe that is a result of war. I don’t know. We read the dedication of the country by elder Jeffrey Holland. He blessed the people of this land to forget the hatred and mistreatment they have experienced. That has happened. We meet people all the time who have lost one or both parents in the genocide in 2002. Yet these people, now parents themselves, are strong and loving in raising their own families.
Today is the first day of returning to Sunday classes for the branches. Rwanda has been very strict fighting Covid. Masks in public are still a strict mandate. The 7 pm curfew in the country just lifted this week after a mandatory 3 day quarantine. Last night was the first time we have experienced night life in Rwanda. We went to a close eatery for a wrap for dinner. It was amazingly delicious. It is cheaper to eat out than fix. $3 for a chicken wrap. Yet groceries are outrageously expensive. IF you find a can of vegetables or tomatoes you pay about $6. No such thing as frozen veggies or frozen goods of any kind beyond fish except Ice cream which is $20 for a small container. It sure tastes good though. They have amazing gelato. So, I am on a quest it find a few choices in eateries. So far we found a sandwich shop, a pizza joint, two nicer restaurants and a hamburger spot. We are careful of eating things not cooked but I ventured a wrap one night and so far I am good. I would not be so brave in Uganda though. Milk is only purchased in 1 liter boxes with a long shelf life of 4 months. Juices are available in boxes like the milk. Apple being the most popular but you can get pineapple and mango too.
Our projects here in Rwanda are mostly schools where we are assisting in providing new classrooms and desks. The culture here is to capture rain water in large tanks to be used in cleaning. If for drinking they have a tank that is filtered. Of course few schools have filtered tanks so the kids drink the rain water. At least it is better than the ditch water in the rural areas. We have a water filter at our kitchen sink and we drink only filtered, boiled or bottled water.
The country of Rwanda is a lot cleaner. Although the streets are still red dirt, the wind doesn’t blow so much and it rains more so the dust is controlled. In Rwanda we mop weekly. In Uganda we mop daily. After being in the field inspecting, our truck in covered in mud. Our gate guards also wash our truck for $5 and they scrub it inside and out with a small scrub brush and soap. At first they washed it daily until we finally said to the boss they must only wash the truck on Saturday night. Now they all want to work the Saturday night shift. All five are members and returned missionaries except one who is preparing to go soon. They are great young men. They often accompany the missionaries to interpret for them. No pay of course. They spend every day out proclaiming the gospel and loving it. We don’t know how they live. Most of our meals are prepared for three, and sometimes 7 if the elders next door are home. We eat a lot of pasta and rice and extremely little meat except fish. Tilapia is harvested from the Nile and adjacent rivers so it is very plentiful and very delicious.
The people in both countries are generally well kept and clean at church. During the week they don’t bath quite as often which is a challenge if you need a repair man. The more educated are definitely cleaner and well dressed. The older generation bath over a small tub by splashing the water up onto them. The rising generation have apartments with showers.
Our living accommodations in both countries are very comfortable. Like most of Africa they seldom put electricity in bathrooms. But in Rwanda we do have a razor plug which is amazing. We have all the comforts. Hot showers, king bed, fans for cooling, a washing machine but no dryer. Here in Rwanda we have a toaster, rice cooker, an insta-pot, a popcorn popper, and a waffle iron. In Uganda we could find them all if we wanted to buy them at our own expense. We feel ok with a toaster and a hand mixer.
This has been a week of paper work. We had one very important meeting with sector engineers and directors over a hill side water project we are hoping to embrace.
We visited two drug rehabilitation programs that are asking for machinery. The rehab patients spend six to twelve months in a facility getting their addictions under control. After that they are given the opportunity to enroll in a tailoring or carpentry training center where they learn a marketable skill. This is where they are asking for assistance in needed tools. Some graduates choose to stay with the program for three years to earn a certificate and can then become mentors and teachers. Many are street kids with no family and no homes to return to. Living on the streets they eat anything they can find and if someone gives you anything you take it. Easy to see how they get addicted.
One of our projects that was cleared for funding was Empower the Future. You can look it up on line. This organization takes street kids the police find and returns them back to their parents. Parents send them away to the streets if they can’t feed them. The organization provides training for the parents giving them a skill to earn money, provides professional counseling to the family, teaches money management, and aids the kids in their school studies. The organization is funded by the items they make being sold. Of course we have purchased a few items from them like aprons and hot pads we needed. Elder Bird will buy a tie when he sees one he likes. They make other things like pin cushions, computer bags, children’s toys, and such. The church will purchase 10 sewing machines and some carpentry tools for them. We have partnered with The Sterling foundation on this project. An amazing foundation from Provo who does so much good in the world. It is an honor working along side of them.
Our Elders next door got transferred so we now have two new sets. They give us a little more privacy than the last set. The past elders were in charge of the finances here in Rwanda (and still are). Before we arrived they came and went from our flat at their pleasure because they used our office and our truck to do all the finance work. Now they live across town and have to take the bus to our flat when they need to file paperwork. They no longer have a key to our flat either so now they have to ask permission to come. Before they just walked in any time. I had to be very careful never to leave our bedroom until fully ready for the day.
The last two days I helped a prospective missionary get his application ready for submission. He has been trying to go on a mission for three years. His brother has raised him and was quite upset when he joined the church which means he gave no support to his desire to serve. Paul (the missionary applicant) finally moved out to live with some other member returned missionaries. He has been working and saving then covid hit. Now he is finally able to submit his application but is so worried he can’t go because he turns 26 the first of May. Today we had another young man approach us at church in the same situation. Too old now to apply because of the covid shut down. We feel so badly for them. We will speak to the mission president in hopes they can receive a call to serve locally like stake missionaries.
Yesterday was the first day we quit work at 4 pm being all caught up on everything. It felt so good after so many midnight bedtimes. We made popcorn, relaxed and watched a movie last night. What a nice break.
This is the beginning of the rainy season. It rains every day and I am becoming a wuss. I am wearing a windbreaker jacket in 80 degree weather because I am cold. Can you believe that? We even put a blanked on our bed. We are going to have a hard time adjusting to the cold again when we return home.
“Urabeho” from the Rwandan “Mazungoos”.
Sunday, February 6, 2022
January 30, 2022 Letter
Dear Friends and Family
We are back in Rwanda this week. We will probably be here for a month as we
meet with our leaders and review prospective projects. Elder Bird is acclimating to driving like home
again. It takes him a day or two every
time we switch countries to acclimate to driving on the right or left side of
the road. I am navigator as often we do
not have data so our GPS doesn’t work.
How did we ever live without cell phones and GPS?
This society, as in many
other countries of the world, is what is known as a "hand to
mouth." They barely earn enough to provide two meals a day. At
one school we visited the enrollment was 1886 students grades K - 12. 600
of those students come to school at 7 am to receive their breakfast consisting
of 1 cup of cornmeal porridge and one slice of bread. Most of these same
students go without lunch because their parents cannot afford lunch
money. The amazing thing is the kitchens they cook in. I haven't
yet seen running water in any school kitchen. We have visited several
schools where the kitchen is an out door open fire with a pot on top of
it. They are thrilled to receive a 10' x 12' block building to store food
supplies in. No shelving - just a room to pile the sacks of grain away from the
bugs and thieving hands.
Enablement is a HUGE problem in all
the countries of Africa because so many well meaning people do so much.
The people sit back and wait for someone to come to their aid and save
them. Many reach out by Facebook with sob stories that are unreal and
scams are frequent - especially with US and Canadian citizens.
Last week we visited a water source
with our District President. He took us there asking for the church
humanitarian department to help with a spring where the children are getting
water from a ditch. Only 20 feet away the church had erected a lovely
cement capture area with steps down into a rocked area where the children could
place their cans under the spout of running fresh clean spring water. In
the 15 years since this structure was built it has eroded and the steps are
destroyed (mostly by unattended children). The ditches are flooding and
the area is becoming a swamp instead of watering the crops in the
fields. Our men would see the breakdown of the cement and
repair it and clean the ditches. The committee of 6 men all stood
around and could not see a solution. Finally Elder Bird pointed out the
water needed to be temporarily rerouted, the steps could be broken up, the
debris hauled away, new steps formed up and poured. Then the ditch banks
should be shored up with rocks and cemented into place. Most of all, they
need to not throw trash into the ditches and they need to clean
the ditches so the water would flow downstream to their crops.
They were aghast. They really truly could not see a solution or any
way to remedy the situation. Simple things are unknown to them
because of lack of training. The people have been held back and oppressed
for many years. They lack education and parental examples. Think of
all the things most of us learn at the side of our parents as we work in our
yards, repair a car, clean our homes and cook in a kitchen etc. Families
are almost non-existent. The youth, however, are being educated.
Slowly the people are coming. The problem is much worse in Uganda than in
Rwanda. The government is more corrupt in Uganda with wealthy leaders and
oppressed citizens. When it is election time the candidates line up to pay
their vote bribes to the citizens. That is easy money for these poor
people. In Rwanda the infrastructure is stronger, leaders are more
honest, and people are much more honest. They take great pride in their
country, pay high taxes (50% on earned wages), and the money is returned into
the education system. In both countries the progress will be slow but is steadily inclining.
We met this week with a school
committee. We are proposing a large project at this school which will
impact the entire community. This school is on the top of a hill in
Kigali, Rwanda. The capital city of Kigali is built on hill after
hill. The school is at the crest of a hill with about a 300 foot drop off
at a 30% incline. When it rains, which is often, the water washes down
the hill into the community homes below causing muddy flooding. In
addition, this community can sometimes go a full month without water during the
dry season. We are hoping the city will join efforts in terracing the
hill side, erecting a retaining wall and fence around the school property,
build a water capture tank at the hill top to aid the citizens below, and
follow up with leveling and planting the school grounds. We hope to
involve the citizens and members in a helping hands planting project to help
control erosion. This would also provide the children with a large grassy
playground area. It will be one of three very large projects we are
proposing to our Area Presidency for clearance.
We are diligently working to find
projects in which we partner with the government of Rwanda. Some members
of the government are very leery of our church purposes and are
opposing granting visas to prospective missionaries. Two elders received
their calls and last week, at their departure, were denied visas and cannot
yet leave. Our Mission President is here in Rwanda now. Tomorrow we
will meet with the Immigration Department of Rwanda to represent the church,
the humanitarian work we are doing, and plead our case. Please
pray for our success or we may not be able to come and go from Uganda to do our
work here.
After finally getting comfortable in
Uganda over the last 6 weeks, we packed up and moved to Rwanda. We are slowly settling in to this
apartment. Food costs have sky rocketed
in the last month because Rwanda borders have been closed. They announced reopening to start February
first. Hopefully that will help items to
drop in price. When shopping yesterday
we found a small box of corn flakes cost the equivalent of $9US. I put it back and said we can eat
oatmeal or toast and eggs. I was amazed
at how many common items had doubled in cost in just the six weeks we were in
Uganda. We brought one full box of
items with us because we couldn’t find them here in Rwanda. Now we are looking forward to our return to
Uganda in February just so we can bring another box back with us. Next time I will bring food items.
One of our city officials asked about
the church and if she could attend. She
and her husband showed up today and even stayed for two meetings! You never know who is watching and who will
be touched by the spirit.
Great week! Great work!
Finally feeling we are needed and functioning missionaries.
Elder and Sister Bird
Rwanda District Conference January 29 & 30, 2022
Sunday January 23, 2022
We followed our GPS to a chapel location where we were
to meet with leadership. Of course, GPS
had the wrong location. The church had
another address so we went there but there was no church. Time to pray we decided so we did and
immediately two men in white shirts walked up behind us. Nope – not
missionaries. They were two brethren
walking to church which was a few hundred yards away, around a corner. Not
where the GPS or the church website said the building was. But we found it on time and were warmly
welcomed. It was a lovely building
to! Most buildings here are rented. They range in all sizes and shapes and
conditions. The only universal thing is
the church sign at the entrance.
After Sacrament meeting, we met Brian Mathews. He was
there to attend a baptism for a worker at his orphanage compound. This
young brother found the gospel through one of his fellow workers. He felt the
spirit and asked for baptism. The sisters also had a baptism today. There are two
sets of missionaries in this ward. Within the next two years the Mathews’
orphanage will have their own ward. This orphanage is very organized. They are
setting up homes parented by an LDS couples who will foster twelve to fifteen
orphans. They have three homes presently completed and 12 more planned. The
compound farm is functioning and producing enough food to feed all the workers
and residents. The main building was completed two years ago which presently
acts as a dining hall and sleeping quarters for the workers. As other buildings
come along, these workers will sleep elsewhere so the main building will become
a church on Sunday, a dining hall and a school room until the school is
constructed. Elder Bird says Brother
Mathews is building an orphan city. Actually,
it is an orphanage farm. He has several major investors and many minor
investors. Amazing what the vision of one man can accomplish. “You can’t help
everyone, but everyone can help someone.”
Someone famous, like Ardis Bird, gave us that quote.
It was hard to visit two water sites this week
where there were springs. Both had previously been tapped by someone else but
both were nonfunctional due to lack of maintenance. In both cases the people could
get clean water by simply cleaning the ditches and laying a
small piece of 4” pvc. But the people do not think “how can we fix this or improve our situation.” Instead they wonder when someone will come save them. Too much enabling and not enough training and self motivation. Even the brethren visiting the sites with us did not know how or where to begin to improve the issue. This spring has fresh clean water but the steps to the capture have collapsed and the bottom has filled in with sand and debris. We sent them photos of a good repair and suggested two Elders Quorum projects.
Daily scripture reading has helped me this week. I had
become lax with the overload of the work since coming on this mission. This
week we received a challenge from President Chatora to reread the BOM in the
next three months. I am now starting Alma
and have been so inspired. Did you know you can read the book of Mormon in 16
hours? I’ve done it several times. Having said that – you gain so much more if
you read it a little bite at a time and ponder the messages it holds. I ask myself – “What is so important in this
verse that an ancient prophet laboriously formed a metal plate and then took
the time to engrave it just so I could learn from it a thousand plus years
later?”
I wish all our grandchildren would ponder the scriptures
that way. And as you do – ask for a
witness of the message. I know you would
each like to receive a grandiose angelic visitation proving the gospel is true,
so would I, but quite frankly none of us are worthy of such. Our faith has to be tested first. Are we willing to just be a good person all
the time? Do we think kind thoughts all
the time? (I haven’t been thinking very
good thoughts about our landlord lately – she is quite a unique charm. I am repenting.) I have learned that if we just do our best
every day and move forward with faith, little witnesses come. You will often have “AH Ha” moments when you
hear the spirit say “That did not happen by chance. I am in the details of your life.” That has happened so many times. For instance, Here we are in a medical world
wide pandemic and who has the Lord placed as prophet to lead his church through
it? A doctor. Our prophet set in place a study program of
personal at home learning which preceded this quarantine by only months. Do you think that was just a lucky
guess? Not at all. When I was a young mother, President Ezra T.
Benson was our prophet. He told us we would
see the day when we would hold church in our homes. That prophecy came true this last year. I know our prophets lead us by
inspiration. I also know we will only
recognize that prophetic leadership is we open our hearts to receive a witness
of the spirit. If we put forth a little
effort, the Lord magnifies that effort when seeking truth.
You may ask why we are serving another mission when we
could be living at home in comfort. It
is because the Lord has blessed us so abundantly. When we married, we asked Heavenly Father for
direction in our life together. We
followed that request with a promise to him that if we were financially
capable, we would serve him as long as our health would allow us. We did everything we possibly could to teach
our children righteous principles of self-reliance and I think they found happy
lives as they followed our counsel. We
admonish you grandchildren to do the same.
Listen to your parents. It is
actually quite a “cool thing” to have a good relationship with parents (and
even cooler with grandparents). It will
buy you a lot of happiness and disobedience will lead you into a life of
misery.
Make you life a happy one. We love you!
Elder and Sister Bird
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Hi everyone, March 8, 2022 Time for an update on our work. ...
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In Rwanda we attend church alternating between 4 branches. We will soon have a 5th branch. All are in the native language of Kinyarwanda. ...