The Reverse Peddle Bodda -- March 17, 2014

Hi Everyone,

I hope that this one gets posted because this letter took a long time to write. I also hope that you get a little chuckle here and there. :)

I’m glad to be here and I’m grateful for all the letters. It is awesome reading them. I really appreciate it. :) This week I have a story :) I wanted to share something that you might not know about Uganda. Here goes! The story of this week is called “Reverse Peddle Bodda”.

In the Uganda Kampala Mission, we are not allowed to ride a Bodda Bodda. What is a Bodda Bodda? It  is made in India. It is basically a motorcycle called a "Boxer".  They range from 100cc-110cc. (110 being the "big ones").  There not quite a DR650 or a KTM 690 but they are trying their best. The motorcycles are huge in size though. They are so large that on average, three people at least can sit on one Bodda. However, sometimes when people are feeling daring, the Bodda will carry as many as 5-6 people! These little mean machines are constantly darting between cars, cutting gaps, running out of gas, running into things such as walls/cars/people, and most of all breaking down.

Each and every owner has the exact same Bodda, the only difference between the machines is the way the owner customizes his over-sized underpowered "motorcycle".  All owners get their own custom made seat from one of the local “Bodda tailors”. It can range from a shiny vibrant pink all the way to a light brown with the pattern of outdated drapes. And on top of the seat each motorcycle has a unique horn that plays a song, sounds like a semi, or has been used so much it no longer works.  On a Bodda Bodda,  they transport not only people but they transport beds, chairs, mattresses, chickens, trash, fish, etc. I have even seen a Bodda transporting a Bodda!  Yes, that is correct—a motorcycle can carry another motorcycle.

Now when I say there are a lot of these things, I mean there are thousands. Every three seconds, a Bodda driver will be swerving down the road with 200 pounds of re-bar on it. Sometimes, a visual is so much better than words. See pictures below:

Bodda Delivery Vehicle

Bodda Family Wagon With Optional Luggage Rack

Bodda Taxi Stand (Staging Area)

Finding Your Bodda Can Be  a Challenge

The drivers line up as if they are waiting for a race on the side of the roads. They call these places Bodda Stages. A Bodda Stage is basically a line up (like taxis at an airport) of motorcycles wating for customers. Often the customers are late for an appointment and are willing to risk their life for the mere cost of 1000-5000 UGX (about 50 cents-two dollars)! A daring customer yells, “BODDA!”  and then all the Boddas start up and race to the customer hoping to be the lucky person who gets to transport this dare-devil across the wild roads of Uganda!

Final Note about Boddas:  Every Bodda has lettering all over it with lights attached in all directions so that no one can miss there pimped out neon colored motorcycle. CRAZY!

Here is an example:
   

Bodda in Showroom Condition

After the above description, the rule to not ride a Bodda makes COMPLETE sense! However, we do have a missionary approved version. It is a peddle bodda or in other words a bicycle bodda.  Instead of transporting 5-6 people, they only transport 1-2 people. Besides that difference they are basically the same but a lot slower and safer. :) A bicycle Bodda uses only the side streets so getting hit by a car is not an option.  HaHa! The bicycle drivers transport people all over town. The small seat in the back is for the passenger.

One day my companion and I were late for an appointment, we knew that our only hope of being on time was to grab a peddle bodda.  We called over two guys. They were looking really tired. This was going to be a slow trip. So we told them to get on the back and hold on tight. We then hopped on the front and peddled like mad!  We were racing down the dirt road, weaving between people, dodging pot holes and swerving around washed out areas trying to get to our appointment on time. As we were riding, we heard MAZOOONGU!!!! MAZOOOONGUUU!!!! and lots of whistles and laughs.  I don’t think they had ever seen a white guy transporting an Ugandan around on his peddle Bodda! LOL

As we were racing through town, every person that saw us would stop dead then start smiling, waving and yelling with excitement as they watched "the Reverse Bodda" race through the streets of Wankaluku (town in Kabowa).  We were making record time! When we arrived at our appointment, the owners of the bikes hopped off and looked at us in amazement. They didn’t say a word. They were stunned at our speed and efficiency. We then thanked them for letting us use their bicycles and allowing us to peddle instead of them. We gave them some money and went on our way :) (Afterwards, Elder Stewart and I got off, we laughed. We were so pumped that we had pulled that adventure off :)

(On my memory card [the one that I sent home] has some pictures of us racing around transporting some Ugandans on these peddle boddas.)

Peddle Bodda Without a Customer

Peddle Boddas Resting

Peddle Bodda Taxi Staging Area

Well that's my story for today :)

Now about the work:

As I remember, I had told you about Ben last week. (He is the only member in the family that is not baptized.) Well he is ready for baptism and will be baptized on the 30th of this month. Ben has been doing amazing. Since he has been attending church, it has made all the difference for him and his family. The whole family (except for Frank, his brother) has been kind of on and off again regarding commitment. However, since Ben started going it has really made a difference.

Since taking the lessons and his commitment to being baptized his whole family is completely active in the church. This past Sunday all eight people in the family came into church together and sat next to each other and stayed for the whole service. It is really amazing to see how people change when all are committed to the same ideals. Not only have they all become more active in the church but on top of that Michael the recent convert has had a struggling business for a long time that has really started to take off and has become really successful.  This is such a blessing because it allows the children to enjoy life (instead of working and worrying) and they have what they need.

The other person that we are teaching is a man named Ronnie. He was refereed to us by our recent convert Kennedy (the guy that we baptized about two months ago). We have been teaching Ronnie for the past few weeks and he finally came to church. Ronnie is 30 years old and is a successful business owner. The great part about him being a business owner is that he has a flexible schedule.
This past week he finally accepted a baptismal date and came to church as well. He was happy to be there and sat right next to Kennedy. Kennedy was very supportive. We were so grateful.

On top of that Kennedy this week was called to be the secretary in the Young Men presidency which was really cool. I could tell that he was nervous.  Elder Stewart and I sat down with him and talked to him about his calling and what he would be doing. After talking to him he became very confident in his abilities to do the calling that he was given. It was pretty cool!

They will big difference in the church. They are both very stable and have the ability to be flexible. They are both very smart people. I know that they will really help the church out a lot and it will be great to see :)

I sure love you all

Sincerely,

Elder Bitter

Pull Up Bar From Scrap - March 10, 2014

Hi All,

I have spent a lot of time transferring photos from my companion’s memory card to my card so the bad news is that today's email will not be as long as normal. The good news is that I will be sending home another memory card :) So there will be lots of photos and videos for everyone to check out once my parents uploading them. :)

I have two short stories for this week.

The first story is about a couple named John and Rita. On Tuesday Elder Stewart and I were walking down the road and this guy just came up to us with his arms open for a hug. We reached out and shook his hand to stop the hug from happening. He then proceeded to tell us that he is a member of the church and has been looking for the church in Kabowa. Of course, we were happy to see him and we gladly went to his home. After we sat down, he told us that he has been a member of the church for about seven years and that he has been in Iraq for the past two years or so.

We then started asking him a little bit about his conversion. After visiting with him, it seemed like maybe he was not a member. He used terms like the “father” at the church and other terms we don’t usually use. Well at this point we are super confused.

After conversing some more, we asked who baptized him and he said an elder. We asked if there were two and he said no just one. We are still pretty confused but we are planning to check with the ward for his records.

The other story is that my companion and I have slowly but surely been collecting pieces of plumber pipe (about 2mm thick and ¾ in in diameter). After we had enough we made a door frame pull-up bar and it is awesome! :)

The work is looking good. This week Ben came to church for the fourth time. Ben is the last person in his family to be baptized. His father was baptized about six weeks ago. We have been working with this family for some time. If all continues as it should, Ben will be baptized on March 30th. This will be awesome because this will mean his whole family is members. This is very unusual in Uganda! :)

Well that’s all for this week. Mom and Dad a memory card is coming your way.

Love ya all!

Sincerely,

Elder Bitter

Cow Guts - March 3, 2014

Time is flying by. This week, I was trying to think of an entertaining story and I came up with one! I think it is pretty funny.

About four weeks ago a family (recent converts) invited us over for lunch. They indicated that they wanted to prepare something special for us. We accepted because how often do missionaries get free food? When we arrived at their little shop, we sat down ready to partake of this "Special meal". As we were sat relaxing in their little hut, we were trying to guess what the family was cooking. I could smell the food but I did not recognize the smell. In Uganda they only cook about six different foods so it is pretty easy to guess but this time I had no idea.

As we waited, I started to get a little bit concerned since I didn’t recognize the smell. Tthis probably meant I hadn't eaten it before. I have eaten just about everything a person can get their hands on in Uganda. Some things I ate just once just to say I had tried it. There a few specific foods that I have not eaten because I had crossed them off my list of edible foods.

Those three things are:

1. Cow intestines

2 Chicken feet/heads

3. Cow feet (OK, I already ate this one)

I was sitting there hoping and praying that it wasn't one of those things. We finally heard the scraping of pots. We were ready to discover what was behind Door #1. As Frank brought in the food -- it was cow intestines and rice. I remember looking at the tubes and the chunks of "food" that had hair like tentacles (the tentacles are supposed to push food down the body—and not meant to be eaten in my opinion) on them.

Elder Terry and I just looked at it and laughed with dismay. In Africa if you don't eat what has been prepared, you are not welcome back. It is considered super offensive not to eat. So we both took out our cameras and took videos and photos of our first experience of eating cow intestines. As the camera was rolling, I was laughing because I couldn't believe I was going to eat it. "Mmmh cow intestines!"

Well long story short I ate it all and kept it down! Wahoo! Go team! My ability to keep down unwanted things has improved!!! :)

Now it’s time to talk about the work.

This Sunday was pay day for all the work from the past few weeks!! The week started out searching for people to teach and just a few appointments in a day. As we were searching for people, we would get invited in and try to teach a “personalized” lesson so it would not be repetitive or boring to us or the listener. As the week progressed, we found some great people that seemed promising.

One of the referrals we were given was for a guy named Frank (not the same guy I wrote about above). As we shared with him the gospel, things seemed promising. After the lesson, he committed to come to church and to meet with us again. We were really excited for Sunday. Over the past few weeks the number of investigators at church has really been low. We have tried to do everything that we could think of to increase the number. We really prayed that all would work out and that people would start coming again so that we would have people to teach.

When church finally rolled around, we were really anxious to see if Frank and others would come to church. The Lord blessed us on Sunday. A lot of the people that we had been tracting over the past few weeks (including Frank) all came to church. The investigators at church were awesome and it was such a great feeling to see all of them there.

I’m so grateful to be with Elder Stewart. He is a great guy. I really enjoy Kabowa a lot.

I hope that all is well back home. I love ya all.

Sincerely,

Elder Bitter

William's Long Walk of Faith - February 24, 2014

Let’s start with a few SHOUT OUTS:

Happy Birthday Mom!!

And Happy Birthday Hunter!!

To start I want to tell a cool story. Two weeks ago, we tracted into a guy named William. He had a serious drinking problem. We sat down with him and shared a simple short message about “life is about change” and a little bit about the church. Well two Sundays ago to our surprise as sacrament meeting was starting in walks William. He was dressed up and prepared for the church service. During the service, he is taking notes like crazy.

After seeing him at church, we decided to continue to visit him. When we met with him the second time, he explained to us that he had always wanted to get off drinking but he hasn't been able to do it. We talked to him about the gospel and how it can help you accomplish all things. We also told him that this kind of problem takes time and that he will need to rely on the Lord and put forth a huge effort to be successful.

After this appointment, he came to the next appointment somewhat tipsy. We then explained to him that we would not be meeting with him unless he came sober. He started working on it. Believe it or not, when it comes to committed investigators he is really one of them. He has truly kept ever commitment that we have given him! It is remarkable to see the change in his countenance over the past two weeks.

Our last visit, we talked to him some more about his drinking. He said that he is really trying to stop and that he is having trouble with it because there are times when he doesn't have work and he is just bored. Then he falls back into the habit. We gave him a Book of Mormon and told him that every time he gets bored or wants to drink he should read his assignments. We gave him a BUNCH of readings hoping that he would use it to still the raging habit.

We then invited him to come to stake conference which was last Sunday. The stake center building is about a forty minute drive from where we are working. We weren't sure if he was going to be able to make it because of the cost of transport for a taxi. Most of the investigators from my experience rarely come to stake conference because of the travel expense. On Sunday, we arrived at the church about two hours early so that we could watch for any investigators and recent converts.

At 9:30 to our surprise here comes William drenched in sweat. He came with Book of Mormon in hand and the biggest smile on his face. He came up, shook our hands and said, “I’m glad to be here.” AND he was sober! Not a single whiff of alcohol on him. It turns out that he had walked! The walk must have taken him at least three hours. It was cool!

I think that William is going to make it all the way and have a really strong testimony. He is awesome and is just a great guy. He is willing to make the change in his life that is needed.

On top of that great experience, Elder Stewart and I had another really awesome experience. Over the past week, we had been trying to figure out what we needed to do to improve as a companionship. We wanted to find the best people to teach. After thinking about it we came to a conclusion and immediately implemented this change. As we started to tract it wasn't going all that well but we recognized that sometimes it takes time.

As we continued on, we came across a man named Julius. He was just leaving his home so we stopped him and started talking to him. He had been looking for the TRUE CHURCH of GOD for some time now and had attended pretty much all the different faiths. As we continued to talk to him we asked if we could sit down with him and he accepted. (His job has something to do with orthopedics. His company is based in Egypt and he is over the area of Uganda.)

At our next meeting, we taught him the restoration and he seemed to accept it. He told us that before he could really accept this into his heart he needed to pray about it. But he will still continue to meet with us.

The coolest part of this whole thing was not that he was some smart guy that was looking for the true gospel but that the Spirit was there during the whole lesson. This is the first time I found myself praying for my companion (even though he was doing a great job) as he shared and I believe he was praying for me as well. It was awesome. I know the Lord cares and really wants us to succeed. BUT he really wants us to put forth the effort and make changes first as well.

I hope that this all made sense. I really love you all and hope that everthing is going well back home. Be happy and enjoy life.

Sincerely,

Elder Bitter

You Never Know Who Will Listen to the Message - February 17, 2014

I’m back and ready to roll.

Well this week was transfer news and there are some big changes for me and my companion!!!! Kidding! We are both staying and we are totally happy with it. Lame missionary joke. : )

I could serve with Elder Stewart for a long time and be totally good with it. Elder Stewart is an amazing guy. He loves the gospel and loves the good things in life. He is one of those people that can really make a difference in the world but doesn't have any idea that he can.

Another cool thing about Elder Stewart is he sees everyone and cares for them. He never looks at the situation with his feelings in mind. He is only out here to serve. It is remarkable to watch. Elder Stewart is going to help the Kabowa Ward a lot because of his selfless service to the ward and to God. His primary goal is to help others come closer to God.

This week went by so fast. It seems that my mission is going by faster and faster. Every day seems to rocket by. Elder Stewart and I have really been trying to increase the amount of people we have to teach on a regular by doing a lot of finding again. Sometimes this can be tough, miserable or boring. However because of the great relationship that we have together we just go to work, smile and keep moving. I learned a lesson from our tracting.

I learned that you never know who will accept the gospel. This week we contacted and found a lot of different people. As we taught the people, in my mind I would think, “They will be interested or they are not interested.” I made this judgment from the feeling in the lesson. But I learned on Sunday that sometimes even though the Spirit is not in the lesson, it doesn’t mean that the Lord and the Spirit have given up on that person.

For example this Sunday we had three people come to church. (This was awesome!) However, the surprising part was who came. It wasn't the people that we thought would come. It was those who had not seemed interested in the least during our discussions with them. In fact, we had the impression they just wanted us to leave.

I learned that the Spirit does say, “Yes, this person is interested.” BUT as we do our small part regardless of how it appears, the Lord will then continue to work with them and their needs. The gospel is really for everyone. It is great to watch His Work move forward.

As we were walking to an appointment, we saw a less active (Jospeh) that has been avoiding us. We saw him in his garden. We both stopped. We both just knew that we needed to talk to him and see how he was doing. We started chatting with him. We were shocked. He did not try to make excuses so he could get away from us. In fact, he seemed happy to see us.

After chatting for some time, he actually invited us in allowing us to share a message. At this point we are amazed! In the past we had done everything that we could possibly think of to meet with him. We meet with him twice last week. I was so excited I could barely stand it!

On Sunday, 15 minutes into the meeting we look over and in walks Joseph!!! He was dressed to the T! He had the biggest smile and looked happy! We were so excited to see him. He stayed the whole time and loved it!

I love ya all and hope that all is well back home and that your all being taken care of! Have a good one!

Sincerely,

Elder Bitter

Ugandan Traffic Ticket Humor - February 10, 2014

Hello Everyone.

It is good to give you a weekly update on what has been going on in Uganda.

First, I’ll share my driving story of the week. You need to understand that if you are not from Uganda, it is likely that you will be pulled over two or three times a week and receive a ‘ticket’. Well every time I drive I usually get pulled over. I don’t get pulled over because I’m doing something wrong but more because I’m white and don’t quite blend in. There is not really a procedure for writing out a ticket. The procedure is more like discussing with the police officer how much it is going to cost you to pay for this ‘ticket’. It is very possible that ticket revenue equals personal income.

This week he pulled me over and talked with me for some time about how much it was going to cost me to "take care of this ticket". The officer indicated that it was going to take ten thousand Ugandan shillings (about three US dollars) pay the fine. I was sitting there just laughing to myself because all I had was a single 20,000 shilling note on me. I thought that if I gave him a 20,000 note right off the bat, the price of my ticket would instantly double.

So I looked at this guy and said "It’s ten thousand right?"

He just looked back, smiled and said "yah, ten thousand".

I just smiled back and said "Well, I guess you owe me some change then don’t ya". I pulled out the twenty thousand note and gave it to him. It was one of the funniest things to see this police officer looking at this twenty wanting to increase the price but knowing he had already settled on ten. He continued to look back and forth from me to the note in his hands. Eventually he pulled out a Ten thousand note and gave me my change. Needless to say, I am keeping that note as a souvenir and will be writing this story on it as a memory of my regular police officer friend.

Enough of the funny stuff. On to the good stuff spiritual stuff. :)

This has been a fast week. My companion and I have been really been trying to find some new people to teach and have been doing everything possible to make sure that the lessons we are teaching people are not repetitive lessons. A repetitive lesson is when you are not taking the extra effort to teach by the spirit. Since we teach so often, it is easy to fall into a ‘script’ format similar to the last lesson taught to different individual. Lessons are intended to be personally delivered to each and every person. It is as simple as that.

As we work to teach by the spirit we get great results. It has been really cool to see how the gospel is for everyone. It is learned differently by each and every person even though the principles are all the same.

Elder Stewart and I had a pretty great experience when we met with an investigator named Francis. As we walked to Francis’ home, Elder Stewart and I were in our normal happy good mood. As we entered his home it felt particularly peaceful and warm.

We started with a prayer. As soon as the prayer was finished, I had the strongest feeling that we should extend a baptismal date. I knew that Elder Stewart felt it too. As we finished the prayer Elder Stewart and I both looked at each other and just smiled. We knew exactly what the other was feeling.

Without hesitation, Elder Stewart went on to extend a baptismal date invitation before we ever taught the lesson. He gladly accepted. It was cool to see that after only teaching this man twice that we had such a strong confirmation to extend a baptism invitation.

One thing that Elder Stewart has taught me in the past couple weeks is how to be more sensitive to the spirit. I have been able to feel the spirit throughout my mission but Elder Stewart has taught me how to better recognize the promptings quickly.

Elder Stewart as my companion has been a fun, eventful and spirit building experience. Elder Stewart is one of those people that can truly lift wherever he is standing and make a big difference. The transfer isn't over yet but it sure has gone by fast.

I hope that this was a good letter to make up for last week’s weak letter!

I love you all and hope that all is well back home!

Sincerely,

Elder Bitter

Short and Sweet - February 3, 2014

Hi,

This letter is going to be short. It has been a very fast week.

My companion and I have been spending a lot of our time looking for some new people to teach because over the past few weeks -- all the people we have been teaching have been fading away. We have just been finding.

We were recently referred to a man named Vincent. Vincent is a good friend of Kennedy, the man that
was baptized a few weeks ago. Vincent is a really happy guy, 27 years old and has one child. He works hard and really tries to serve his son.

As we have been teaching him over the past week or so, he has been very interested in learning more and more. The best part about is that he is trying his best to read and pray. When we teach a person like Vincent it feels great because he is trying his best to feel the spirit and learn if what we are teaching him is true.

I know that as he continues to pray and really looks for an answer that he will really find truth.

Most of this week was spent knocking on a lot of doors. So I really don’t have all that much to say.

Some of you asked about the meeting with Elder Bednar and the reaction to the declaration that the tradition of 'Dowry' is not in keeping with the will of the Lord.  For the most part, they were not happy. Dowry is kinda just ingrained in the culture of the people.  One thing that is hard to accept is change.  In some respects, people are living the exact same way as their great-grandparents were living 150 years ago. The only thing that has really changed is the use of phones and taxis. This is a big change for these people and they initially weren't happy at all.  Give them some time and they will catch on.

On a more positive note, the sewer is fixed!!! yahoo :)  No more stinky, slimy, nasty gunk on our kitchen floor!!! :)

Oh, one more thing.  This last week we had a meeting with President and all of the Zone Leaders.  He told us that it is time for the younger generation of missionaries to have a chance to lead, so most of us will slowly be released over the next couple of months.  I'm guessing in the next couple weeks my turn will be finished and someone else's turn will begin.  It does not matter what your role is, the work is the work.

I hope all is well back home. I'm healthy and all is well.

I love you all,

Elder Bitter