Hosanna! Hosanna!

What an incredible weekend!! My weekend was pretty much spent at the church this weekend because they were having an open house and dedication of the new Mbale branch church building.  The church moved into their own building last November and this weekend we got to see it get dedicated. I’m not sure why it took so long for the dedication to happen, but I’m really glad it didn’t happen until this week. It was such a cool thing to be a part of.

Yesterday the church hosted a huge open house for members and non-members to come tour the building, have a little meeting, and eat a huge meal. Sam, Cami, Sarah, and I got there early to practice our song we were singing for the program (don’t ask how I ended up being a part of a singing number).  We sang “O My Father” to the tune of “Come Thou Fount” and I think it actually turned out really good. We got lots of compliments on it.  The program was really good and we got to hear from a couple of local government people talk about how much the LDS church has already done for Mbale and how grateful they are for that, which was really cool.  The mission president, President Jackson, and branch president, President Mubbala, also spoke which was really good.

All set up for the open house

After the meeting, we hung around and socialized while we waited for the food to arrive (nothing ever happens on time in Uganda). We feasted on matoke, rice, beans, chicken, potatoes, and chipati.  All of which was eaten with our hands….that’s something that I’m not quite used to yet.  But it was delicious.

A little bit later, we went to the baptism of Pius’s (piano student) brother, Alan. That was such a cool thing to see.  The missionary work in Uganda is crazy successful.  They have baptisms all the time and the church is growing so fast.  It’s really incredible. So hopefully I will get to see a lot more baptisms while I’m here because yesterday’s was amazing. Pius got to baptize his brother which was really neat because that was the first baptism that he’s ever performed, and he is leaving on a mission soon so it was good practice for him. So cool to be a part of. I just love the gospel.

After the baptism, President Jackson and his wife invited the six of us girls who had been at the open house to meet them at Mount Elgon hotel for dinner.  So sweet of them.  We ended up eating another huge, delicious meal with all of the senior missionary couples who were in town for the dedication as well as the branch president and a member family from Tororo.  It was basically a big party and I had the best time getting to talk to all of the cute missionary couples and receive their motherly and fatherly advice about being safe in Uganda. It just felt like I was with family.  The church is cool like that though. I had this realization last night that I just love being a part of this church because I feel like I have family no matter where I go.  I have spent so much of the last two days just talking and laughing and shaking hands with and hugging people I have only just met, but they all just feel like family. I am so happy when I am with those sweet people who are just so full of love. It’s just the best feeling.

Sidenote: During our dinner, President Jackson told us the story of how the church came to own the building that we are now in. The whole story was really just a string of miracles.  The people of Mbale have a beautiful building to meet in, on a beautiful piece of land, and it is definitely not a coincidence that they ended up with it.

The new church building

Today was also incredible. Church today started with a quick sacrament meeting (with no talks) and after we ended that, we opened a new meeting to dedicate the building. Some of the oldest members of the branch spoke about the history of the church in Mbale and their experiences of going to the temple and raising their families in the church.  The people here have such powerful testimonies and I really can’t get enough of them.  We also found out last minute that we would be singing our song from yesterday again during the dedicatory meeting. We pulled it off pretty well for having no preparation, or our music.

President Jackson bore a powerful testimony and then gave the dedicatory prayer.  I would be lying if I said my eyes didn’t tear up a little bit during it. Besides it being a beautiful prayer, the whole idea of it just really touched me. These people really deserve a nice building to meet in and it was really touching to see them blessed with that. We take so many things for granted in the United States, and seeing a group of such wonderful people blessed with something that we never think twice about was really thought-provoking for me. I don’t even know these people that well yet, but I am just so happy for them and this huge blessing in their lives. And just seeing the church growing in general makes me so happy. Such a testimony builder.

Sam and I with Ann who is just the cutest!

Other thing that made me tear up? The closing song. I really hate the song “God be With you Til we Meet Again.” Okay, I actually love it. But it makes me cry. When we sang it the last Sunday I was in Virginia I just fell apart, and I haven’t really been able to get through it since then. Today we sang it as kind of a farewell to President and Sister Jackson because their time in the mission is almost up and they are headed back to the US. The last verse of the song they both stood up and waved and the rest of the congregation waved back. I couldn’t really watch that because it made me cry. I just met the Jacksons but, like I said, they feel like family and I already love them. And seeing the love that they have for the people in the branch and the family that has been created there just made me a little emotional. It really was such a cool experience. I am so blessed to be here and to be a member of this wonderful church. So so blessed. Happy Sabbath!

Love this place