On Mon, May 11, 2015 at 10:52 AM, Caleb Collison <caleb.collison@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Didn't really get as much talking time and it was a bit sketchy but I really enjoyed it. It was really good to see and hear you guys.  

Saturday was actually my record for lessons taught in a day. We got 9 lessons and had to do splits all day.

It's the culture here to offer the guests a drink. It's mainly pop, but we do sometimes get hot water, after just being boiled to clean it. I think all the hill climbing here is whats keeping me from gaining. So I think I might chunk up a little in Uganda.

It hasn't been too hot lately. I've actually been waking up pretty cold because it cools down and with a fan on me all night... So for a while in the mornings I have my blanket wrapped around me. And in town we have all the tall buildings shading us when it isn't raining.

I guess I look really young here. Everyone's always asking if I'm my companions younger brother. saying I look around 15. That ones the most common. I have also gotten pretty much everything between 13 to 28.

One last thing. Another gross food. Well, drink. Ikivuguto. It's rotten milk. It's this sour, cold, thick, almost sourcreamy or yogurty tasting. It's not good.

Ok. Love you all!!

-Elder Collison

On Mon, May 18, 2015 at 9:45 AM, Caleb Collison <caleb.collison@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Yesterday we had two more baptisms! Claver and Junior. Junior just turned 8.  He wanted me to baptize him so that was neat. His mom guards at the church during the day so we play around a lot while we're there waiting. Then Claver. I got to baptize him as well. I first found him like 3 months ago outside of Bank of Kigali while we were street contacting. We've met a lot since then and he's been really accepting and understanding of everything and he's really gonna help the branch here. The baptisms went well and I'm really excited about them.

Today we went bowling as a district/zone/all the missionaries in Rwanda. (It's all the same now.) There's actually a pretty nice place here. And I won. Surprisingly. After bowling we went out for some Ethiopian food. It's some sort of thin, fluffy bread thing and you use it to pick up different sauces and foods. It was pretty interesting.It's a fun group of Elders and we had a good time.

That's pretty much my week. Love y'all,

Elder Collison

Thanks for the pics! I miss cool weather. And grass. This is my favorite time of year back home! 

 

It's been a good week. Not the best for working though. This week is the genocide memorial week. Tuesday the 7th it started and everything was shut down. Even all the people we called said it would be impossible to meet with them and we shouldn't even bother getting out. I guess everyone gathers to their sector to share stories and cry. 

 

I think things should be getting back to normal this week. But we did find a few awesome families with a bunch of cute little kids. Transfers are today. Elder K and I are still together here. This is his last one. K3 is getting white-washed again so I'll be the youngest missionary in the house here again. :/ I've been spoiled with a fan my whole mission until last week. One night the power went off for a while then came back. The fan never did.  :(

The memorial place was sad and sick. The hardest part was the children section. The walls were covered with their smiling pictures and there were plaques with info about them. Some of their favorite things, then their last words, like "I love you" or "when is someone gonna come save us?", then the cause of death, which I don't even want to get into. It was a really disturbing and powerful place. But it's amazing to see how Rwanda has improved so much now.

Love and miss you guys!

-Elder Collison

Mwiriwe! Or I guess for you it's Mwaramutse..
We had another baptism yesterday! There's a guy named Francis who was baptized just before I got here. It was his wife Esther. We started teaching her my first day here. She doesn't know English so Francis has been our translator and has been helping her a lot. The Claudine that was baptized last week is engaged to Francis and Esther's son who is in France. Delphine is friends with a few of the young women in my branch and she's been coming to church for several months. We started to teach her shortly after I got here and she was really excited to finally be baptized. It was a really neat experience.

Last week on Palm Sunday everyone in town was carrying around palm leaves.  This week our zone got together and had a passover feast. It was really cool to eat and discuss all the symbolism.

Last night we went over to the Palmers for our Fast Sunday dinner. She makes some good food. And we got to watch a few of the priesthood session talks. I think we'll be able to watch the rest of conference with our branch towards the end of the month. I really liked what I heard though.

Alright. Love ya'll lots!

-Elder Collison

Sorry. It's gotta be quick today. We just got done at the genocide memorial and we have fhe at 6. The memorial was really touching. The part about the children most of all. I can explain a bit more another week hopefully. This weeks been great! We had two baptisms yesterday! Claudine and Delphine. Again, I'll explain more later. Elder K baptized Claudine and I baptized Delphine. It was great!

Love you lots!!

-Elder Collison

Yesterday was a long day. We went to Akagera! The other four missionaries came over to my place Sunday night so we could leave by 6. It was about a 3 hour drive and then we drove around the park for about 7 hours. Then 3 hours back. I can't stand sitting that long. (Haha, that's kind of a funny sentence.) But it was really neat. Since it's the end of the dry season, everything was all yellow and dead, so it actually looked like what you would expect from Africa. We got to see a bunch of animals. The zebras were the best. They were standing right by the path we were driving on. We were hoping to see an elephant but it didn't happen. Probably for the best... I guess the last time some missionaries came to this park they were chased by an elephant. But we did get to see a lot of giraffes and cape buffalo and antelope and hippos and baboons.  It was great!

Sorry it's short today. Love ya all!

-Elder Collison

Email from March 9, 2015

 Welcome home Andrew! So happy for you guys!

Wednesday was a little tough... I had to just keep checking my watch all day, imagining what was happening there.

I have a few unhappy people... The other day we stopped this guy on the street and started talking about the church. He was fine at first and then he just snapped. Started shouting at us about how he was already born again. Stuff like that happens every once in a while. But mostly people are kind and accepting.

Man. Syrup season is my favorite! I'm really gonna miss that this year!

P-days we're mostly just waiting around the house. Our whole apartment place has one washer so we mostly just do a lot of waiting for it by playing cards or now Catan. 

I think next week we might go to Akagara. It's some sort of animal preserve. I'm excited about that! And some week soon we'll probably play some soccer with the members since everyone here is obsessed with "football".

For sacrament meetings we use translators for everything except prayers. So half of the time is just a repeat so there's usually only one speaker.

We've run a few times but now we've started this Insanity workout. It really is insane. Its like an 8 week course and our whole zone is kinda having a competition to see who can have the best looking six-pack by the end of it. :)

The new guy is Elder M from Zimbabwe. He got here on Sat. and it feels nice to not be the newest guy anymore! :)

The weather actually feels quite nice lately.  The rainy season is coming so its been really windy. That's my favorite. On a hot day when the cool, strong wind comes  and you can just smell the storm coming :)

Here's one of my cool teaching/spiritual experiences. So there's this guy I contacted on the streets. His name is Claver. We've met with him several times and he's even come to church for a couple weeks and he's super interested and always cheerful and grinny. The other day we were teaching him the Word of Wisdom. When we tell him about no coffee and tea he starts freaking out. In a good way. He said that just the day before he and his wife were talking about that and decide they wouldnt take coffee and tea anymore because they just didnt feel right about it.. We're planning for his baptism this month. He's a great guy and he's been really prepared for this and everything we teach him he accepts with an open mouth and slow nod like everything we say makes so much sense. And it does! The church is true!!

Love you all! And I want to see more pictures of you all together!

-Elder Collison