Several months ago when we went to make arrangements with the gym in the park to bring the missionaries for their workout, there was a young woman  who helped us book the gym and the exercise teacher.  When she saw my name tag,  she became very excited, exclaiming,  "I have been looking everywhere for this Church!"  So we hooked her up with the sister missionaries when we all came to the park to exercise and didn't think much more about it.  Imagine our surprise when we went to last week's baptism service and there she was, being baptized!  Her name is Rose, and we were excited to see her again.

May I just say, "ALLELUIAH!"  This week we received official approval for the new building for Branch 3 in Bujumbura and also for 2 new buildings in Uvira!  One for each of the branches there. Hopefully we'll get rid of the squat toilet!  Yay!  These changes cannot happen fast enough for me!  

On Easter Sunday we had a notable "first" happen in Branch 1.  The Primary children sang a song in sacrament meeting and did a great job.  First time the Primary has sung in sacrament meeting!

This week we were having lunch with 3 of the 5 branch presidents when they started talking about the influence the U.S. has on polities in Africa.  They were very positive about what they considered the considerable influence of the U. S..  They stated that democracy in Africa was being helped along because of the power of America.  They said that in countries where the U.S chose to wield no power, the governments were dictatorships, and where democratic rule was in effect it was due to the support of the U.S.  I must admit it was nice to hear some citizens of foreign countries complimenting the U.S on what we are doing and actually valuing our efforts.

Time for a kitten update!

They are so cute---skittering and pouncing all over the place.  We have started to try to get them to eat cat food and drink milk from a bowl, and the female is doing quite well.  The little male, however, still prefers his bottle!

 This is Bob, the female kitten.

 This is Darth Vader, the male.

Yesterday we had our weekly baptism service and there were 12 people baptized.  Among them were 4 siblings. Their mother and father and 3 other siblings were baptized several months ago, and the father holds the Aaronic priesthood.  So, at Gary's insistence, the dad was able to baptize his 4 children.  That was super special, it  being the first time a dad has baptized his own children since we arrived 13 months ago!