Colby in Kampala: Happy NOT New Year's in Ethiopia!

It's 2018....... The year my boy comes home!

Hey guys!

How was everyone's New Years celebration? Mine didn't really take place since it is like February 2010 here in Ethiopia. Oh well! Today was a pretty normal P-Day. Nothing old nothing new. But my area and comp are a great time. So things are really good right now! We had a lot of work this week and a lot of people to teach so we kept busy. Also, a few crazy things happened this week too !

We got together 4 of us missionaries last night at 7 pm to cook a dinner and celebrate but the power and water has been out for 3 days sooo it was tough. We still cooked and enjoyed but none of us had lights so we used one phone flashlight for the whole thing. Hahahaha.... Then this morning we went to Brother Conners house and played some board games with him for New Years. It was fun. He cooked us some waffles. Yeah!

My area is awesome! First off it is HUGE. We work from Bole, Gerji area all the way out to "49" and Ayat. It takes hours to taxi from one side to the other. This means a lot of work. A lot. Our area was pretty prepared as we came in to it but even since we have gone out finding and found more people. So, we have a lot of people we are seeing right now. We have 9 with dates for baptism in the next few weeks and about 5 more that just need to be told but are ready and asking for baptism. To be completely honest some of these people won't even be baptized on the date set because WE don't have enough time in the week to progress them. It is hard! I will tell you of a few great ones:

1. Alex- This guy is insanely amazing. He is a 19 year old college student from a well off Orthodox family. He has never cared much for the Orthodox church and so it wasn't hard to convert his attention to our church. He actually found us. He was walking passed the church one day and saw the compound. Our church compound is really beautiful and well kept so it caught his eye. He entered the gate and just walked around inside. He later told us that those first moments in the compound he felt a peace unlike ever before in his life. A later day he came back and found us there so he introduced himself and we taught him. He had the great comprehension of the lesson that I have ever seen on my mission. It was just perfectly clear to him. Every lesson since has been the same. He hasn't told his family yet and for that reason he hasn't come to church on Sunday but he is eager and ready. Just the best guy. His great attributes are, English, resources, not struggling, and a lot of family in the US and Canada. These are big things. These are what future leaders are made of.

2. Yiftusara - She is a quiet woman. She is of a Born Again background. She has had a lot of issues in her life especially recently so she is looking for purpose and help. Like Alex she saw the church and felt like she should enter. She said there was a light about the compound unlike most places she had seen. We have taught her a few times and she has been to church 3 times. The great thing with her is the Relief Society in this branch is powerful and inviting her to all the events and activities and including her so well in everything. She is finding just what she needs and is ready to be baptized. She asked if she could be baptized next week but we still have a lot to teach her so it will be a later date....

3. Dawit - Oh Dawit (Amharic for David) is awesome. He is the brother of a part-member family. His mom, sister and little brother are members. Dawit is just sad that he wasn't baptized with them. At the time he was about 18 and a bit of a punk so he didn't want the church. Now he is 23 and a professional dancer. He is soooo eager, almost too eager to learn. It is a great thing though. He loves the lessons and church and has some great fellowshippers. He will be baptized in 2 weeks. His little brother is about to start his mission papers and last week Dawit bore his testimony and said he knows he will also need to serve a mission when the time comes. He is so cool.

There were 3 others that came to church on Sunday that are powerful. One is Wessen. She is an older Orthodox woman who is just tired of her church. In Gospel Principles she was told by the teacher that this was the true church and she needed to be baptized into it and she responded saying that she wanted to and has felt the spirit so strong. We are meeting her this week. She is excited. Another is Rahima. She was formerly taught by missionaries about a year ago and fell out of contact for a full year. She came back to church on Sunday and was SO happy. She was just hugging everyone and asking us when we can teach her so she can be baptized. We are meeting her tomorrow.

There are a ton of others right now honestly but I figured I would tell you about a few. So, this is my work right now. A lot right!?

Some weird stuff from the week:

1. Last night a super creepy thing happened. I couldn't sleep much and I was just tossing and turning. At about 3am I wake up to some screaming in our apartment hallway. It is just loud and deadly screaming from a woman. She was screaming in Amharic and it was soooo loud so we could make out much. During the screaming we were hearing some beating sounds both from her and a man. I think they were hitting each other and fighting. It lasted for about 10 minutes. We didn't open the door to check it out but the 4 of us missionaries stood in the living room hearing it. This morning as we left the house we asked the guard what happened and in Amharic he said, "Dont worry about it." We followed up again and he just said a Muslim man and woman were fighting and he was forcing her to leave with him. We asked why and he said, "crucifixion." Soooo we aren't sure at all what took place but seeing the police for and everyone doesn't care much here we might have just experienced an offering of some kind last night. We felt strongly we shouldn't go out of the apartment while it was happening though. Weird stuff.

2. We have a crazy guy in our branch who just attends hoping the church will give him money. In church , my companion was teaching Elder's Quorum and talking about the Word of Wisdom. This man just botched the WHOLE lessons and went on for about 15 minutes on how the Word of Wisdom is useless and that it is all about what we take into our bodies cells rather than stomachs. He then went on to explain how Ethiopians don't take enough "weteT" or milk and that is why they are all starving and their brains are slow. Kid you not, 15 minutes straight blasting my companion for saying it is bad to take alcohol and drugs. Hahahaha I think alcohol and drugs have caused his mental state.

That is a long email gosh darn! I hope you all enjoy it and celebrate the New Year big! I will follow up next week. Happy New Year everyone from Ethiopia!

I love you all!

Love,

Elder McLain