Colby in Kampala: 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