Missionaries

We had a small group of members over last night to have a party for Douglas( a young man who will leave on Friday for a mission. Eric had wanted to have a party for him so he and a few older young men came to prepare. Martin is about thirty and Paul is the same. They started at about 11am going to the market and buying meat and other supplies. The ugandan culture is big on meat. I was talking to Martin and said but the meat has flies on it and he repeated that yes it does have flies on it and bought it anyway. I had to laugh. He said that it would be fine because they had been eating it since they were little. Needless to say we only watched them eat it. They cooked all afternoon until about six. Then we waited for the quests to arrive. Douglas got here and we all yelled surprise. He was so happy. He is from Rwanda and all his family were killed in the genocide. He joined the church a year and a half ago and now leaves on Friday. When he got here we thought we would just yell surprise and eat, but then started the program. My children looked at me in horror they were starving at this time. Oh no not another long meeting, I just smiled. It was a nice program and then we played a game or two that Eric started. It was interesting to watch them play American games. Then we ate. They love to eat may be because they don't eat often. After dinner then the second half of the program began. Hannah fell asleep, Cariel and Mckay disappeared into their rooms. It was so sweet to hear the songs they sang with great feeling( we had brought small hymn books that we ha purchased at the BYU Lost and Found Sale) Then they bore testimonies and then we sang God be with you till we meet again. Tears filled their eyes. The spirit was so strong and all were strengthened.
Another missionary that I love is my Liza Jane. Today in her French class they started to watch a PG-13 movie. She quietly went up to the teacher and asked if she could leave. The teacher looked at her for about 5 minutes Liza said it felt like. She then turned on the lights and turned off the movie and continued to look at Liza at this point all the other kids were wondering what was going on and staring at Liza. She asked again if she could just leave. The teacher finally said for her to find another class. It was a very difficult thing for a young 13 year old to do but when she came home and told us with tears in her eyes it was sweet to watch her siblings rally around her and say that she was a hero in their eyes and a great missionary to those around her. I am grateful for children who stand up when things are hard.