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