A pretty powerful place

Hey guys,

What a week. We had a great one and were lucky to have a lot of success. It is cool to serve in an area where people aren't so busy with work and life and are able to meet us. We can fill a full day right now with 6 or so lessons. Its a powerful place right now and we are working hard...

This week we were able to baptize Kato and Shanita! That was so awesome. They seemed as prepared as we could get them and we just hope and pray that primary and church can help them learn more too. Like all young kids, they need to know the simple things like who is Joseph Smith and what is the Book of Mormon and is it true? That's about what we get them to understand. They did great though! Our Branch President was the one to baptized them and he did an amazing job making them comfortable. A funny thing, most Africans fear water and swimming so baptism can freak people out a lot. But President gave them a good talk before and really baptized in such a caring way that they did perfect. That was a blessing! It was such a great Sunday.

We are still teaching and progressing Goreth, Ayub and Teddy. All 3 of them have been taught the discussions and are now just reviewing and polishing up for baptism. They should most definitely be baptized all 3 this coming Sunday! Goreth wasn't able to come to church this Sunday due to a family situation in the village but fortunately she has been to church enough and is for sure ready to be baptized.

We had a great experience this week. We were teaching one of our new investigators named Patricia from Tanzania. She is pretty stubborn and isn't progressing well so we planned this to be her last appointment. As we were going her neighbor stopped us. She is a middle aged woman and is Born Again. She wanted to know what we do so we set an appointment. When we went back she had a list of questions trying to confound us. For two reasons, one she thinks we worship mammon (a common misunderstanding with Mormon due to the accent. Mormon and Mammon sound the exact same with the UG accent) and the second because her husband is a pastor for soe Born Again church up the road. We did such an amazing job answering her questions. It has been a LONG time since I have had a lesson where the spirit was so strong. She ended up loving us and our teachings. We taught a lot about the Book of Mormon and also Joseph Smith. It actually left her crying a little bit and sharing a story. She said she was born Muslim and grew up till 26 as a Muslim. At 24 she had a dream and in it a man in all white came to her. His face was so bright she couldn't see it but she heard him say, "I love you. I have always loved you. I will always love you." She was confused with the dream and asked around. Many told her it was Jesus Christ and it was making her angry and she was refusing to accept it. She continued in her ways for 2 more years. When she was 26 she had another dream. The same man, Christ, appeared to her again and said, "Its your time now. Come, follow me. I will give you peace." She knew then what was the dream about and knew what she needed to do. In a few months she converted to Christianity and her family banished her. She moved from Rwanda to Masaka where she met her husband and is here to this day. At the end of our lesson she said her life has been made up of stepping stones. She started as a Muslim and took the step to Christianity and she thinks, if this church is true, this is her next step. That was a powerful lesson for the week. She is pretty amazing. Her husband is away in Kampala preaching though. That will be an interesting lesson when he comes back....

Well, today we jumped in the truck and drove far out to Lake Victoria and to a cool village on the lake. Saw some few animals and a bunch of other neat things. I sent some photos to show you the trip. It was fun! 

That's my update for the week. People feel free to email me! I get bored sometimes out here when emailing and want to hear from you guys! I hope all is well back home though. Keep it up!

Love,

Elder McLain