So we found a dead guy in his car : \

6 months people! SIX!

Hi everyone!

Bilungi nyo? kale kale. Ndi bulungi. Chicchi aluwa? Tewali? Kale...

For me I have been learning the language pretty well. (just so you know!)

I hope you had a good week! Our week was pretty crazy.  Lots of hard work and lots of trips to town. It was the Wilford Woodruff week and we had a 10-10 proselyting schedule. Man, tough week physically! We worked really hard every day but had a lot of random interruptions. Tuesday we had a trainer trainee follow up meeting that my companion and I went to. It was great! Wednesday we had zone conference that was probably the most spiritually encouraging council I have received on my mission. Then Thursday we had to go to town AGAIN for a work permit for my companion. All three days we left in the morning and got home around 4. So from 4-10 the three days we had to work our tails off! The other days were just solid, hard working days. I came home and sacked out fast every night! I slept super well! 

The persecution died down this week. Thank goodness! We did find a lot of great people to teach in the next coming weeks. We even found a guy who was on the wealthier side whose sister lives in Salt Lake. We are eager to teach him this week... Our current investigator pool is doing very well. Esther got her whole situation with her family worked out and will be baptized this coming Sunday! It was a lot of work and calling to get them to agree but that is all behind us now! We look forward to that day. Ibrahim just showed up one day out of the village and is back and ready to go! We are going to meet with him this week and finalize a baptism date. It could be this Sunday or next. Either way it will work! Paul has been a little sketchy with us and work but not in a bad way. He just keeps saying he will meet with us and then gets busy and bounces. But we are slowly progressing him. His baptism should be in about 3 weeks. Irene Ademun was confirmed this Sunday! Yes! The Ntinda area is extremely fruitful right now. We are seeing the completion of a lot of hard work from last transfer! For the rest of our investigators, they are smallsmall people we have found this week that I will probably report on next week when we get them straightened out. The coming week will be busy!!!

We found a Canadian friend that approached us the other day and was super nice! We had a good convo over dinner and then he invited us to a pork joint tonight! We look forward to that!

On Friday we were walking down the road and saw a man peaking into a car suspiciously so we stopped and confronted him. Turns out the guy in the car was dead... :\ So we found a dead guy in his car. No reason for death either. After police came we left because we were very busy!!

That night we went to a restaurant named Taste Buds. It was okay Indian food. When we were about to get our food one of the male workers just smashed this girls face with his fists and then continued to beat her... It was nuts!!! The dude got fired realll quick and we went right back to the meal. Males beating females isn't too uncommon here. Or people beating people in general.

We also saw a boda boda accident where two motorcycles collided real good. One guy was carrying a hacksaw too! It was crazy! 

So, the IAAF World Cross Country Championship took place in Kololo, 5 MINUTES FROM MY HOUSE on Sunday... It was crazy! I am so sad I missed it! I am not sure why they were here but I would look it up if I were you. Good runners were there! Apparently Ethiopia came to win! Let me know what you read on that!

Our church collapsed this week!! It wasn't as crazy as it sounds. Our church is a big tent and a storm blew it over. So Saturday night we spent about 2 hours fixing it before Sunday. Just another delay for the week :(

Today we got to go to the zoo for P-Day! Ugandan zoos would be all levels of Illegal in the states but it made for a cool trip! For example, we could like almost touch the lions and all the fences were about 5 feet tall! They had monkeys roaming wild everywhere that we got to play with too! I will send pictures of it all.

Thanks for all the great emails and spiritual thought (Dad) to keep me going. Next week I hit 6 months! Time is flying out here!!! 

Love you all so much!

Love, 

Elder McLain

Satan don't kick no dead dogs!

Hey Everyone!

I hope you all had a good week! My week was pretty good too! We had a lot of interesting things happen here in Ntinda that really strengthened my faith! Man, this church is so true!

Well, to begin, we had a pretty difficult week as far as things not going our way. Right from the start of the week we just had constant persecution! Every single corner we turned we just had people yelling at us, throwing alcohol and spitting, and many other things. In Uganda most people see us as students of some kind which can be pretty nice and keep us away from persecution. I guess the work got out in the whole area that we are missionaries from the church and that really sparked some flames around here...

(Excerpt from Tim's letter):

Wow. Your spiritual thought hit the nail on the head. I won't lie, this week was probably the most challenging week I have had on the mission. And why? Persecution... Man, people are not easy! I learned a lot though and I am grateful!

Well, during the process of the week we had countless people yell at us and even spit on us as we worked. We found ourselves in mini arguments almost 5 times a day. For some reason we even had many foreigners just telling us off. I remembered back on my favorite talk I have told you about in the past by Jack R. Christensen. In it he starts with a quote that goes, "Satan don't kick no dead dog." I really like that simple quote. He then went on to talk about how just as everything is going spiritually perfect in our lives we lose it all. We definitely saw that this week. We have truly seen success in our area. With a planned 6 baptisms this transfer alone we know Satan felt the need to join us. He started working on our investigators and when we solidified many of them and helped them forward he just turned to strangers in the streets. Man! It was hard! Then I thought about that talk and realized that the only way to get through it is to push!

We have many promising investigators right now. Sadly Satan is making sure he has a minute to investigate them too! We had three baptisms planned and prepared for this Sunday and two of them fell through. Esther has a Muslim uncle that really doesn't want her to step on to the straight and narrow path. He's working his level best to guide her to the Great and Spacious building. It's a great thing that a testimony of Jesus Christ is far too powerful for any serious distraction and Esther is working around everything. She told us this week again that "everything would work out" and that she "knows what God wants her to do". So we are just hoping and praying for her every day. Ibrahim had an emergency trip to the village and is far out in Mbale for the week. Not really sure why but it is definitely not helping him to progress. We are keeping tabs on him like a concerned parent and making sure he doesn't pull any tricks on us while he is gone. He is still wanting to be baptized and we hope for April 2nd. Paul is doing great too. Just progressing like a golden investigator and will be ready by the 2nd too! Adumen Irene was baptized this Sunday! Everything went really smooth! Everything up until her testimony in front of the congregation. She did a great job and has a strong testimony but she also said she was grateful that Adam Smith restored the gospel and that Joseph S. Mons is a true prophet! Haha! It's all a learning experince! We just need to give her a few weeks. She is extremely converted and they are currently building a chapel very close to her house that will help a ton!

We also had a tender mercy this week. Remember Paul? I talked about him a month or so ago. Paul was an amazing investigator. He progressed well and then one day we lost contact with him. He lost our number and he didn't have a phone so he just disappeared! We were so sad. Well, yesterday we hopped on a taxi to go to Irene's place in Kyambogo. After we boarded a man jumped on and sat in front of us. The taxis here are like one way mini buses.... so he jumped on and then looked at us with so much joy! We rejoiced exceedingly, for he was still a brother in the Lord! He was so happy to see us and said he got a phone! So we exchanged contacts and are teaching him again! That was so awesome for us!

This week we had a Mission fast and a fireside for a few things. We fasted for some great things. One was for unity in our zones and areas. The other was for young missionaries to be strengthened. Believe it our not, HALF of our mission goes home in 6 months! Crazy! We lose 60 Elders and Sisters by September. So we are really helping us younger missionaries to be prepared to lead our mission. Crazy! Our fireside was awesome. President Collings gave a really powerful talk on authority and how it is only found in this church. He shared many scriptures that will come in handy for me when I come across some more crazies...

We got some crazy rats in our apartment. I saw one the other day and it was about the size of a small football. Or something. We found some nice traps and set them up all around. The rat outsmarted the traps and ate a good dinner last night! He also ate some small small part of my socks too.... :( It's okay. One day we will figure him out. Maybe we can eat him for dinner one day. Mmmm. I had some gross liver the other day speaking of bad food. I kinda pawned some off on my companions plate when he wasn't looking. He soon realized that he had more liver than what he started with and began pawning it off on mine when I wasn't looking. So we just blessed it twice and threw it back!

I think that is it for this week. We are really hoping that Satan takes a smoke break or something on our investigators this week. We all need it right now. Ntinda is such a great place. When the work rolls forward I just love the mission. When the work comes to a smashing halt I still love the mission! It has been such a great time for me and I look forward to every moment! Thank you everyone for keeping up with me and my work. I hope and pray that everyone is doing well back home. I love you guys!

Love,

Elder McLain

Every week is just rolling by smooth and well

Hello All!

Another great week for me in Ntinda. Not a whole ton happened this week. In a mild way I could say that "there is opposition in all things." Last week we had an amazing success and work load but this week was just very average. Again, as I have said before, not a bad thing!

Thanks for the great update from home. It sounds like the home life is very monotonous right now, not in a bad way. Every week is just rolling by smooth and well. It is nice to hear that nothing crazy or unsafe is happening. The boring updates are the best ones. I do miss the smoked meats a lot though. You would be surprised how often I think of it! The other day a wealthy investigator of the AP's got us all some very nice pork though. I was happy with it! We then went to a pork joint in the area that ended quite bad after they tried to overcharge us a ton and we called them out on it. It ended in them yelling at us to never come back after we politely tried to explain the 1st grade math that needed to be done to find our total sum. There are a few things holding this country back from booming. One is roads and the next is currency. Almost every place we go to we have to walk them through the transaction process. It is quite amusing sometimes.

So for our investigators we had a pretty slow week. Most everyone I mentioned in the previous email is doing well. Kwiri Charles was confirmed this week! That was awesome! Right before church we had both Irene and Esther tell us they couldn't come... That was a bummer. Luckily Irene is far enough along that we don't have to push her back another week but Esther hasn't come to church enough and so we are setting her date back to the 26th. Ibrahim as well didn't show which was a shocker. He ended up being upcountry for work and just didn't tell us. He will be pushed back as well to the 26th... Man, why can't people just progress easier! It is all okay though because I often have to step back and realize that not many missions around the world progress like they do here. As of now we have a baptism set for every Sunday of this transfer! We really are hoping and praying for each and every one. Another funny investigator is a man named Paul. So Paul has been coming to church for 2 months now. The entire time of him coming I thought that the other Elders were teaching him. When I greeted him on Sunday he replied saying, "I have yet to receive you Elders." I was a bit confused but after some discussing we realized that this man has come to church for 2 months with no discussions! We were shocked! So we set up days to meet with him and are just going to bust through the lessons in about 2 weeks. As I was planning it out with him he leaned to us and said, "don't worry about convincing me of the truth. I have already prayed and received my answer." That was such a cool experience. Quite amazing that this man found the church and was converted over 2 months with only the power of prayer. We are so lucky to have him now! So everyone right now is doing well. We also worked this week on going through the dropped investigators in our area book to recontact some people. We met up with 2 and they are now being taught again. They don't seem too serious but we are trying!

I am glad you got the stuff from Dan! I was confused for a little on where that stuff went. I hope you enjoy it! Thank you for complimenting my writing! I love to write letters and emails. It is super enjoyable.

Well, I think that is it for the week. Just a slower but good week in the mission. Today we just hung out and watched some church films and then got Ethiopian food. I heard there is an Ethiopian restaurant in SLC I want you guys to try! If you go, order Beef Tibs or Kay Wat Beef. Both are served with Enjera! It is super good! Let me know if you ever go! Love you all! Thanks for all of the great letters and support you give. It really keeps me going! 

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder McLain

I don't even feel like I have done anything that comes close to being worthy of receiving so much joy and happiness in my life

Hey everyone!

Just wanted to start with a quick thanks for the love and support my family and I have received from everyone who keeps up with us! I love you guys!

A super great week over here on the other side of the world. The area of Ntinda is still thriving and the work goes forth boldly and nobly! I had a bit of a different week due to transfers and receiving a companion a few days after transfer. But it all worked out great and ended so well!

This week was great! The beginning was a bit crazy with transfer. Elder Haines got packed and shipped of to Iganga and I got to hang out with Elder Barrington for a few days while my son came. Elder Barrington is a 6'6" 275 lb. BYU football commit. He is just a month and a half older than me on mission. We plan to room together back in Provo when we are done. He is so awesome! My new companion got here on Thursday and we met at the mission home for a little training. We enjoyed it. My son and I are a lot alike. We enjoy a lot of the same things and get along super well. Again like with Elder Haines it is just as if I am with a best friend doing the work! I have been blessed with the best companions! I don't know if it is to reward me or help me but I would like to think the latter. All in all the mission is just the best.

We really saw a lot of tender mercies this week that built my testimony in many ways. It is cool to see how the Lord provides when you have the desire. In a way I find myself "testing" the Lord and seeing that he really does answers prayers and desires. It isn't that my faith is lacking but more that my faith is increasing daily because of the things that I see and do. Lately I have noticed a big increase in my teaching ability. The thing I have come to realize is that most of the time I don't even know what I am saying but rather the Holy Ghost is literally taking me by the reigns and doing the work. In the last few weeks I have had an increased understanding and capability of the Spirit helping me with the work.

It is small to many but big to me that these little thoughts and promptings bring forth such great things. Being the senior companion and training has challenged me to really plan and lead the area. Countless times in the last few days I have found myself overwhelmed and confused on what to do. Every time I feel promptings to do the weirdest things and the coolest things happen! For example, my first week last transfer (6 weeks ago) we met a boy named Emma. He was smart and receptive but somehow ghosted us after our first lesson. After teaching him and moving on I honestly forgot about him. On Saturday after lunch we were left with nothing to do. I was about to say we could do some finding but then out of nowhere he popped in to my head. I had this strong feeling that we needed to go to his place. At first I thought there was no chance of him being home and that he would be in class or work but after a few minutes I said why not and we went. After 20 or so minutes of walking we arrived to his place. He was home and willingly accepted us to share with him! I was shocked and so grateful! After a great lesson we got him to come to church the next day. Emma enjoyed it a lot and is now a promising investigator. The promptings are real!

Another super cool story was with our brother Ibrahim. He was born a Muslim and converted to Christianity not too long ago. We found him a few weeks ago and have taught him most of the lessons. He refers to the church as "our church" including himself now and is so excited to get baptized on the 19th! He told us a funny story the other day I wanted to share. He and his friend were out for some fresh air outside of there work a few weeks ago and they saw Elder Haines and I marching down the dirt road. His friend leaned to him and said "Don't so much as make eye contact with these guys or they will stick to you like ticks!" After challenging his friend by greeting us, we turned and took the chance to share a message. After the message he accepted a return appointment and we are now preparing him for baptism! After he told us the story he said, "Look at us now! You are sticking to me like ticks and I love it!" Man, it is so cool how the Lord prepares people in such different ways. Ibrahim will be a really powerful convert and we look forward to his future in the church! Yesterday we came to him at his workplace and he was sipping on some coffee. We were coincidentally teaching him about the Word of Wisdom. After the lesson he committed to live it and just got rid of his fresh cup of coffee. It is so cool when people have a testimony enough to change their regular habits for a new way of life.

Right now our teaching pool is somehow small. On the bright side almost every person we are teaching is progressing rapidly to baptism! We first have Okwiri Charles. He was baptized this past Sunday! It took them 4 tries to get it right but the 4th time was the charm! So Elder Denison's first Sunday on the mission was a baptism! We also have Okot Kaifa. He is a cousin to Odongo Sam (our RC from a few weeks ago) and he has been in the village for police training. He came back this last week and we began to teach him again. He is sooo powerful! He has a strong testimony that the things we teach are true and we have set a baptism date for March 19th with him. Kaifa is a really humble guy. In our last lesson with him we got him to pray with us to ask if he should be baptized. After him saying the world's most AMAZING prayer to ask we all sat in silence and just waited. Maybe a minute later he just said he had the most relieving feeling in his chest. He is progressing well! Our next is Irene. This is a woman we have been teaching for a while now. Her problem is she can't afford transportation to church. Last week we visit her and Elder Haines and I presented the strongest lesson on the Sabbath Day. She promised to come every week and did this week. She will be getting baptized this coming Sunday! Our last really great investigator is sister Esther. She is a young woman that approached us late one night on the street. Quite honestly I think it was for the wrong reason and she was looking for a relationship or something. After a few days of cooling her down and pushing through with great lessons she really changed and started to investigate seriously. It has been about 3 weeks now. Her main problem is her family prays from a church here called Watoto. If you are curious, give Watoto a google and read more about the church that is mainly located in Africa and believes that more money means more blessings. So, Esther's family is chastising her pretty and she is hesitant. We really hope we can help her build the courage and faith to push through it and be baptized March 19th. So that is a good sized update on our amazing investigators. We love them all so much and can't wait for them to enter through the gate and onto the straight and narrow path!

Thanks so much everyone for the good reports on home. I am glad that Provo hasn't blown up or anything while I am away. I miss home but not in a way that effects the work. Uganda is home for now and I know I am supposed to be here! The missionary work is the greatest blessing in my life. I don't even feel like I have done anything that comes close to being worthy of receiving so much joy and happiness in my life. I look forward to another week in Ntinda! I love all of you guys so much! 

Have a great week!

With so much love,

Elder McLain