Week 98- Iganga, Uganda with Elder Bukasa

Monday, I had an interview with president Chatora. We talked a lot about discipleship and about how the end of my mission really doesn't have to be the end of anything. He encouraged me to continue to strive to become like the savior and live righteously. It was great. Tuesday was zone conference and I bore a departing testimony. We had an extremely spiritual lesson this week teaching brother John about the book of Mormon. He had lots of questions and really wanted to understand it. We left him to read 3 Nephi chapter 27 and when we met him later, he told us that when he read, he just absolutely knew it was true and really felt the spirit. It made me really happy to see someone get so much joy out of the book of Mormon because of how much I love it. Hopefully I'll get to see him be baptized before I leave. Two sisters we have been teaching, Olivia and Alice, came to church for the first time this Sunday and really enjoyed it. Last week we had two baptisms and this week William and Dorrine were confirmed. William especially is so so happy to be baptized and confirmed. It's been a long time coming for him, we've been teaching him for 6 months. On Sunday attendance was 110 people. When I first came here to Iganga 6 months ago it was in the 40's. It's been a blessing to see the ward here grow, and the members grow as well. 

  

Mission Release

THE CHURCH OF

JESUS CHRIST

OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

16 October 2019

Dear Family of Elder Payne,

Elder Dylan Edward Payne has completed an honorable mission and will depart for home on December 16^th, 2019. He has played an important part in the missionary team effort in the Uganda Kampala Mission and we shall miss him as he returns home. He has matured in the gospel and learned many good habits and has increased in wholesome attributes that will be valuable to him as he begins life after missionary service.

Elder Payne has served well in the Uganda Kampala Mission.  He has brought the Gospel message to many people in Uganda. Those precious converts will never forget him for bringing the blessings of the Gospel into their lives. Along with carrying a full proselyting load he was a faithful Junior Companion, Senior Companion, District Leader, and Zone Leader.  He has carried out the responsibilities of his assignments with diligence and devotion to the cause. 

Having thrust in his sickle with his might he has reaped an abundant harvest of souls on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ whose faithful servant he has been.  The Uganda Kampala Mission is indebted to Elder Payne for his service, loyalty, and devotion to the work of the Lord.  We anticipate the Lord will bless him throughout his life for the good work he has done in East Africa.

Warm regards,

President Walter Chatora

Uganda Kampala Mission

Week 97-Iganga, Uganda with Elder Bukasa

The first week of my last transfer is done. I’m feeling a little bit like time is slipping away. It's so funny because I never expected to feel that, I've always been so excited to come home. I’m still so excited to come home and see my people but I’m really happy being a missionary. I've discovered how much I love to serve others. 
This week was great. At our last zone conference Elder Palmer focused on the Book of Mormon with us. He encouraged us to use it more when we teach. Not to just teach about it but use it and show people that what we believe comes from scriptures, the written word of our God. This is something my companion and I have taken to heart, and this week we noticed something amazing as we used the Book of Mormon to teach. Even though a lot of the people don't understand English well and often cannot read well the spirit is able to teach them as we use the book of Mormon. It's been uplifting to witness the spirit teach people according to their own understanding through the book of Mormon. I've come to love the Book of Mormon deeply and am so grateful for it. 
Most of the week was just normal missionary work. We did have one day that was especially awesome though. We were walking and noticed a gentleman named Joseph we had tried to teach before but because of work he bounced us. We hadn't planned to see him, but we made a little bit of time and taught him a very simple summary of the restoration. He asked a lot of questions which we answered the best we could with the Book of Mormon. He really wanted to know what he could do to strengthen his relationship with God. He felt that his main concerns revolved around his career struggles but as we shared with him, he began to express that we were helping him resolve a deeper concern that he didn't know he really had, about who God was. It was a good first lesson and hopefully the beginning of more good lessons. As the lesson ended it started to rain like crazy. We really don't like the rain, especially this kind of rain and normally would be fine just waiting it out, but elder Bukasa and I both felt like we should go to our next appointment anyways. Well when we got there it looked like we'd been swimming but we were both happy and laughing. When we got there one of the sisters, we were going to teach asked us about how we could be so happy moving around in the rain like that. Haha, she thought we'd be miserable for the rest of the day because we were soaked.  We both laughed and told her it was because we were so happy to share with her something that is so special to us, the Book of Mormon. It turned out to be a great opportunity to teach about how the gospel of Jesus Christ can help us be happy no matter what the conditions of our life are. This group of ladies we just began teaching are awesome. Hopefully they'll come to church this next Sunday to see how we worship. 
This week we couldn’t teach our deaf investigators. It's been a whole week since I've done sign language and I feel like I forgot it all haha. My big goal before I leave is to help the ward be able to minister and communicate on their own with these deaf people so that they can be baptized. That's pretty much my week! 
Love, Dylan.