Sussie Apondi, who works at the Uganda Kampala Mission Office, served her mission in Cape Town, South Africa, when my brother, Bob Egan, was mission president.  She sent me this link to the Uganda Mormon Newsroom site! Pretty cool!!  Ü  We leave for the MTC in 21 days! That is just three weeks from today!!  We will be speaking in our ward, Mesa 46th, on July 28th at 11:00 am.  Ü

www.mormonnewsroom.ug

My brother, Rick sent me this photo taken in southern Ethiopia.  He said that people ask why it takes so long to drive just a few kilometers in Ethiopia. Now we know!  He said there are usually donkeys and carts on the road too.... We can't wait to see this wonderful country!! Just 35 more days until we leave! : D

We had a FUN evening last Saturday with the Gurrs and their friends from Ethiopia. Kevin Gurr has taught with Bob at ASU Institute and arranged the evening so we could meet them!

We went to an Ethiopian Restaurant in Tempe called LALIBELA.  The food was really

good! We ate Ethiopian style picking up the food with pieces of injera (thin pancake-like

bread shaped like a big tortilla).  We LOVED meeting Arefeayne and Miheret and learning

more about Ethiopia!! : D

This is the flag of Ethiopia on top. Blue represents peace, the star represents diversity and unity, and the sun's rays symbolize prosperity.  The green recalls the land, yellow stands for peace and hope, and red is symbolic of strength.

The second flag is the flag of Uganda.  The national symbol in the center is a gray crowned crane, fabled for its gentle nature.  It was the military badge of Ugandan soldiers during British rule.  The three colors are representative of African people  (black), Africa's sunshine (yellow), and African brotherhood (red ~ the color of blood, through which all Africans are connected).

At the bottom is WOLD written in the Amharic language of Ethiopia.

This is the brand new chapel in Debre Zeyit, Ethiopia!  It will be ready to meet in soon!
(Update:  It was dedicated on Father's Day!!)

Here is the Book of Mormon written in Amharic, the major language in Ethiopia.  English is the second  language so we will not be required to learn Amharic.   We are pretty sure we will be serving mostly in Ethiopia from what we have heard.

This is a map of our mission.  We understand that it is the largest mission geographically in the world. It includes the countries of Uganda, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan and Dijibouti.
We enter the Provo MTC in just 88 days!! Ü