I'm a white guy in Uganda who speaks Amharic!

Hey group!

I am back in Uganda! It is pretty wild to be back actually. I honestly feel like I served some sort of inception mission and I have returned from my mission back to Uganda... It is pretty weird and funny. Right now my main focuses are getting used to the culture again and being able to understand people. I had no idea how weird I was until I came back and everyone is saying I act and talk weird. My manners are like specific to Ethiopia. I stand every time someone enters the room and always have a hand tucked behind my back as I pick and pass things. AND I TALK TO EVERYONE HAHAHAHA.

In Ethiopia NO ONE speaks English and so when you hear someone speaking English you get all excited and go contact them. Now I hear English everywhere and I just greet and talk to everyone! I am going off with missionary work here. I can't tell if my comp likes it or not but it usually makes him laugh so I will keep doing it. By the way, my companion is really great. He is from Vegas and loves cars so we talk a lot about em... we enjoy each other!

Nsambya is THE BEST area for a missionary coming from Ethiopia. Lemme tell you why. There are Ethiopians and Eritreans EVERYWHERE!!! There are like 10 Ethiopian restaurants in my area and sooooo many refugees everywhere. I speak Amharic all throughout the day. And it just shocks people when they meet a white guy in Uganda who can speak their language. In fact we were doing some finding the other day and found an Eritrean family. They invited us in then all of a sudden I started going in Amharic and they nearly died. It was probably my favorite appointment I have had my whole mission. We talked forever (in Amharic) so my comp just sat there shocked. The missionaries here don't believe me when I say I can speak the language well from up there and so when we meet Ethiopians and I carry out a legit conversation for a good hour it surprises them. Hahaha. But this lesson with the Eritrean family went a good - 1.5 hours and fully in Amharic. They loved me and the language so much but didn't care much for the message. They were of course Orthodox. But I did get fed some injera and messir wat which was amazing! I love the area!

Our work is kind of starting fresh. It seems like I always come in to areas that have no investigators and am told "pick it up or your area will close at the end of the transfer"..... So that is the case right now. We have just been doing finding and finding and finding. Ugandans are really nice and love to invite you in but are usually too afraid to say no to things. I am having to get used to everyone saying yes and not exactly being serious about it. Church was a bit of a disappointment when almost none of our new investigators showed. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and say it rained in the morning. So, that is about how the work is going right now. Not much of an update on the investigators because we don't have really any... Hahaha. This week we will be looking though!

That is the current update. Things are as hot as ever back here in Uganda but I am so happy to be back! 

Love you guys. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder McLain

Headed back to Uganda......So excited to be a muzungu again!

Hey Everyone!

Fewf what a week it has been. A pretty insane one really. We had a lot of great things happen but also a few pretty wild upsets in the work. I'll have to be brief again this week due to a PACKED P-Day! I spent the full day in immigration getting ready to go and buying some last minute things to get my fill of Ethiopia!

Well, let me see. This week we had a few lessons with Tigist. She was close to being baptized either this week or the coming one and then out of no where in her lesson she just said she couldn't be baptized or join the church at all because she would receive too much persecution from friends and family so she would just continue to be Orthodox to keep her "culture". That was a kick in the face. She was doing so well! So we taught a really powerful lesson on persecution and sacrifice bringing forth blessings. I shared about Stephen from the book of Acts and what he went through in his last moments. It was a great lesson. We have left her to fast and pray about it. We also have been fasting for her. 

Another dinger lesson this week was with a family. The mother's name is Emebet and the father is Ephraim. They are struggling in their marriage and want to divorce. We have been helping them do otherwise by sharing. Emebet loved our message. She was even brought to tears in every lesson. Ephraim enjoyed it up to a point then he asked his friends and was filled with a ton of false doctrine. He called us last week and scheduled what ended up being the worst lesson I have had on my mission. We went to the house in the evening and entered the home. He kicked his wife and daughters out leaving only a new man, his false doctrine source. We began the lesson with a video on the Restoration which didn't help much. Then they just came guns loaded and blasted us left and right. To be honest things got pretty heated and it just went like that for almost 2 hours. They REFUSED to believe anything we said and kept showing us the things on the internet saying we can't hide what we believe. So, I learned on Wednesday that we have a Quran of our own written by Joseph Smith under the pen name Mormon, we worship Joseph Smith... I could go on but I'll just stop right there. Anyways, at the end of the lesson he just kicked us out of the house. Emebet pulled us back in to feed us and he just kept roasting her in Amharic and so I started roasting him in Amharic and he was surprised to hear that I could understand the horrible things he was saying to his wife. It left her in tears and left us 3 missionaries just pretty beat and sad. None of us talked for the rest of the walk home and then went to bed. ROUGH lesson... Hahahahaha but life goes on.

That is my update on the work. And now I am headed to Uganda tomorrow to teach such a great group of people again. I have heard great things about my area and my companion. I am in a compound with 8 missionaries!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And there are 12 total missionaries in the Nsambya ward! More than I have served around in almost a year just in my area! I cant wait! I am so excited to be a muzungu again and eat rolex! So I will update you on it next week.

That is it!

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder McLain

 Saying goodbye

I will miss this family!

My last week in Ethiopia

Hey!

It was another good week. Unfortunately the power went out a few hours back and we had to taxi to another area so I am just now able to email. And for that I only have 20 minutes! Ah! SO I will be mega brief.....

Things are going good. I actually go back to Uganda a week from tomorrow. SO one more week here... Its been cool here but I am soooo excited to go back to Uganda! My new area is MY DREAM area in the mission. It is in Kampala and called Nsambya! I cant wait. My new companion is named Elder Burnum... I don't know anything about him but that he is about 6 months on his mission. I cant wait!!

The work is going good here. I have seen both of my recent converts and they are doing great. In fact, Emiyu still travels 15 km distance to church blind when her helper can't take her. By herself.... She is amazing!

I am sad to be leaving behind my Amharic. I am just now getting really comfortable with it. I will continue to practice in Uganda too. Oh, and there is an Ethiopian restaurant in my new area! haha

I got my package finally! Thanks!!! The doritos made me laugh!! hahaha they were a bit crummy but delicious! Thanks again!

Anyways sorry i gotta run. I love you all so much! Talk to you next week!!!! 

Love,

Elder McLain

BY THE WAY I AM 128 LBS RIGHT NOW 

A great quote from the Quran:

"If God had willed, he could have made you a single community. But he desired to test you in what he has given you. So, compete with one another in good deeds. You will all return to God and he will inform you regarding the things wherein you used to disagree."

The Ethiopia Zone - 7 STRONG!

Jehovah's Witness

Hey everyone,

It has been an insane two weeks on my mission. Things are going pretty good for me. As I said a few weeks ago, I was transferred back to Beklobet area. So I am here now! It is good to be back and see old friends and members. This was my first area in Ethiopia and things are a lot different than when I was first here. Mostly that my perspective and all has changed. I am in a threesome companionship with Elder Trippe from California and Elder Adu-Mensah from Ghana. They are both new to Ethiopia. Right now I am pretty much a full time translator/guide in the area. Hahaha.

Welllllll where do I begin. I have a lot of stuff to tell you about. You might be asking why my email is titled "Jehovah's Witness",  WELL, we have like 30000 Jehovah's Witness "Investigators" right now. I call them "investigators" because at a JW event in Qera we met a ton of local JW's that really think the Mormon church is just insane and were hitting us with a million questions. We took all of their numbers and are now meeting with many of them. None of them have the intent to join or even investigate our church but that doesn't stop us from declaring repentance to all of them and teaching them about the Book of Mormon. We have had some crazy lessons as well as some great lessons out of it. We have actually made friends with a great couple named Mesfin and Milka. Both were raised in the JW church and are very kind. Tonight we are going on a private tour of the Ethiopia Jehovah's Witness Branch Office with them and then they are taking us to dinner! We are excited!

Short stories: one day we were walking in Arat kilo and a man stopped us. At first he was talking as if he just knew a little about the church. We walked with him and he ended up inviting us to get some juice at a shop. We found out he was baptized about 10 years ago. Since then he has moved to a remote area for work and not been able to attend church. He has also been married and had children. They are not members. We were able to refer him to Megenagna area where he plans to reactivate himself and teach his family!

Last Wednesday I went with Elder Abdulahi to the Sierra Leone Embassy for him to do his work to head on a mission there. It was really nice to see a true African country style again and hear some West African accents. I miss that stuff!

One day we were waiting for an appointment in an office building. I was looking down at the street when I heard a man yelling and two kids running. They stole his phone while he was in his car parked. As he yelled pretty much everyone turned against these two kids and they both ended up getting like full speed laid to the ground and taken to jail. Hahahah it was crazy. Right after that we were walking on a back road to an appointment when I heard a slap sound. In front of us a man had slapped his girlfriend. When he noticed we saw he pulled her in as though he was hugging her and all was fine. After we passed I heard another smack. OHHHHH boy I turned around and ripped the dude off of her. I grabbed him and turned him around with my hands on his arms and head restraining him and pretty much telling him to hit her again. My comp was taking care of her as she was holding her face and was pretty beat. We called police and had them come take him. As we were waiting he tried to get away from me and get to her again. Oh no way it didn't work. He just ended up on the ground while we were detaining him. That is one thing I just hate about this place. No respect for women whatsoever...

We have some good investigators right now. A few to mention are Getachew, Ashebe, Deme and Tigist. Getachew is from the Western Region of Ethiopia. He met old missionaries and then moved back to his home town. He called out of the blue yesterday and wanted to meet. At the end of the lesson he said he felt that he was getting close to the answers he wanted and that he knew the Orthodox church was guiding him the wrong direction. It was powerful. Deme is a man we walked in to on the way to our branch president's house. We contacted him and left. He called later and we went to his house to talk. He loved the lesson and really has a strong desire to learn more. Tigist has been taught for some time. She originally wanted to learn English with our help but is now on track for baptism. She is a slow learner but very great too. We are going to her house for dinner tomorrow.

Yesterday was Easter in Ethiopia! People go big on Easter. In Ethiopia, all christian churches fast for 40 days prior to the holiday. By fasting they simply just don't eat meat or dairy. It originated from the Orthodox but as Religion has become culture here, they all do it. So for a LONG time we haven't really eaten meat. Yesterday the fast was broken! On Saturday, no one was inviting us to celebrate so we got a little desperate. We began street contacting and just boldly asking people if we could join them. One protestant man was happy to have us over. So Sunday after church we traveled about 30 minutes to his house where his whole family welcomed us in and we just destroyed the food. Meat on meat on meat. It was awesome. I will attach a picture of the visit!

That is it from me. I am doing better here and things are going good! In 2 weeks I will be heading back to Uganda to finish out my mission. I can't wait! Hope everyone has a good week. Stay blessed!

Love,

Elder McLain

Me and Getachew. 

The first member in Ethiopia

 Saying goodbye to my companion Elder Abdulahi

My great friend!

Comp dinner prep...

ADDIS!

 My house!

 A nice house neighboring my church. 

Quite funny, the next door neighbor's house is made of mud

 Went to the national museum today and saw LUCY! 

The oldest human like creature ever found! Ethiopia pride

Comp dinner

Back in Beklobet

Hey guys,

I don't know what is the problem with the internet today. I think the gov't might be jamming some stuff. So, I can't really open and read all my emails. A few are opening and I am trying. 

Things are going better for me. Beklobet area is just as I remember it. It's been interesting to be back. The branch was a little confused as I came in to church on Sunday. Hahaha.

I will keep trying to write and respond to your emails but just know there is a problem, I will get back to you next week. 

Sorry and I love you guys!

Love,

Elder McLain