My official one month mark

It was a LONG week but Colby made up for it with another LONG letter! One month down and a lot more to go. 

Family and friends, how are you?

Yesterday was my official one month mark. It seems like it came both extremely fast and extremely slow. Some things feel like they just happened and others feel like they were years ago. I am happy to say that this week was better. I am doing much better with the adjusting to living conditions and food. The homesickness is better but still no joke! Everyone, spend time with your family before you go. You wont regret it I promise. I regret not doing so and wish I could go back and redo the last few weeks before the mission. In all honesty, if one wish could be granted to me right now, I would wish to go grocery shopping with Mom and Dad! I mean it. I miss the small things like that more than anything and think about them a lot. So spend time with your family!

Just a few quick things. I think about home a lot but more specifically I continue to think about my last trip to Chicago. I loved that trip. I talked about this last week but I still think about it! I love that place and love and miss Ruby and Caitlin and Nate! Also I spent quality time with Mom there and I miss that more than anything. 

I will recap the week now:

Tuesday: Tuesday was a good day. We had a Zone Development Meeting in Mengo and took a taxi there. Our taxi driver and another driver got in a fist fight for stealing each others passengers but it ended quick and we got out. Later on the ride we got rear ended and I kid you not we just kept going. Like nothing happened. This country is crazy haha. After the ZDM we ate at Cafe Javas, an american style diner and SWEET MOSES BLESS THAT PLACE! It was the best food ever. I got a double bacon burger with fries and a coke and I have never felt happier. I ate in in 2 seconds. But it cost a ton and I had to eat rice and oats for the next 3 days to make up for it. We live off of $4.25 a day including all groceries and supplies so it can be a tight schedule at times. This place is really humbling me. When I get home I will be grateful for many things.

Wednesday: I woke up in the morning extremely homesick. I dont know why it comes randomly but some days I just really get trunky. Especially wednesday morning. I got over it and we went to Presidents home for interviews. I told him about my homesickness and he gave me some really really powerful advice. I took it to heart and have been working to overcome it. Prayer is so important in this process! Also realizing that it takes both you and the Lord to overcome it.Not just one or the other. After, he got us all pizza and I ate like 7 pieces. Man, talk about 2 good food days. I was happy. Later we went to appointments and no one followed through. We got rejected a lot but Ugandans are weird because they hate saying no to your face so they invite you for a return appointment and then just ghost you. I am getting used to it.

Thursday: This was an interesting day. Satan was hard at work on Thursday. I will explain. We went out right away to do some finding. The first door we knocked on, a women came to the door. The bottom half of the door was solid and top was a net so she talked through the net. I wont lie, she was easily one of the most beautiful africans I have seen and my companion agreed. She was about our age too. Anyways, after introducing ourselves she invited us in. as we approached the door she opened it and we realized she was only wearing a skimpy shirt and no pants. Like none at all. We immediately bounced on that and left. It was super weird. As we continued, we went to 5 other houses during the next 4 hours that had several younger women trying to get us to come in. Man, we were dying that day. It was also the first day for me to see both a naked man and a naked women. At different times in the day I saw people doing bucket showers. Geez they just don't care. It is bad. The night time came around and a huge storm came. It rained hard and the power went out. The power was out for 3 days actually. So no fridge or hot water or anything except a gas stove. So all of my food got spoiled and I had to throw a lot away. It was hard for me because I am having to eat small small and usually bad cheap food to make up for it.

Friday:This was the hardest day on the mission so far. I cant really explain why, my homesickness wasn't too bad and things were alright but for some reason it was just a hard day. We went to a cool african market in the morning and looked for fun things to send home. It is every friday so we will go back but I got some cool stuff for you guys (family). We planned horribly this day and did a lot of useless walking. I kid you not I walked further on Friday than I think I ever have. We walked constant for like 9 hours while getting rejected and finding no one home. We only taught one lesson which is bad for an african country. I got over it though. Then we went home to no power and I ate oats with water cold. Haha, I have done that a few times now.

Saturday: I woke up pretty homesick again. Mainly thinking about working on cars with Tab and stuff. Haha I think about that too much. We walked 2 hours to see Fidel only to be ghosted. So 4 hour round trip for nothing. That was tough. We ate oats and bananas for lunch and some Kikomando which is like beans and bread.Then we started our fast for fast sunday. Fasting on the mission is HARD. It leaves you with no energy so Saturday night we were like zombies haha. We taught a family and the wife did some breast feeding right in front of us with no cover. That was interesting. I came home around 9 and passed out early. I slept like a rock that night.

Sunday: Sunday was nice. I woke up feeling really refreshed. Sunday we get to sleep in till 7 which is awesome. Church was crazy as usual. I think I forgot to mention last week what church is like. Anyways, Sacrament is like a Do It Yourself and you just speak whatever language you know best. We hear French, Luganda, Swahili, and English. So everyone just bore their testimony in their language. Then Sunday school was nuts. The person that taught is an RM that speaks Luganda and English. So one man would ask a billion questions in Luganda to her, she would translate to english for another person and answer, and then they would answer in swahili and french so everyone could understand. The english is whacko too so I hardly understand anything in church. It is a crazy experience.

Today: Today we went to the Kololo church by the mission home and met with like 25 missionaries and just played sports. It was awesome. I needed it. The days are slow and the weeks are fast. And now I am here writing you.

As I pondered this week about how to get my homesickness under control, I realized one big thing. I realized that I only sacrifice 2 short years, just 2, for other families to be together for eternity. So that has helped me. I also found some powerful things in 2 Nephi 4:20-26, 28 on being strong. If you have time, read that.

Friends, my advice for the week is on clothes. My biggest regret was focusing on style over comfort. The seasoned guys here have the ugliest, bulkiest shoes but they are so comfy. So remember that. Comfort over style any day. Especially you, Connor ahhah. Get the comfiest shoes you can. Also try to get Ecco Fisherman sandals. A lot of elders here have them, including me, and I can testify that they are the greatest. So nice for the hot days. and they are so comfy! Its crazy. One elder is 1 transfer from going home and said they have lasted him his whole mission. Connor, get them!

So that should be it for this week I think. I am really happy to be here. I am running out of time though so I need to wrap up. I miss everyone so much. This mission has really made me realize that Utah is the greatest place on earth and I miss it every day. I love all of you. I thank you for the love and support I feel every day. I will talk to you next week! Keep writing me everyone!

Love always,

Elder McLain