3 Missionary Musketeers

  

Dinner together the Saturday before Father's Day 

with Hatches (office couple), Hoopes (MLS couple for eastern Uganda districts) 

and Birds (humanitarian couple).  We met up in Kampala on the same weekend, a rare occasion. 

 

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.

Our Elders Next Door

 

Elder Awaluch - Kenya, Elder Tanner - Canada, Elder Crane - Idaho and Elder Nzima - Zimbabwe

They had these jackets and ties made by ladies in a market for $15 USD.  They came to have a photo and dinner before transfers this week and Elder Awaluch's departure. 

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?  

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

Bike Loads