This is my home and I love it here

I love every inch of this kid! And I especially love his letters. This one made me smile.....and laugh. OUT LOUD! I think he's going to miss Elder Haines : (

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone had a good week wherever they are in the world. If you have forgotten, I am in east Africa here in a nice place called Kampala, Uganda. It is probably the best country on the earth and I am sure if there were some National Geographic poll that the world would agree. I can easily say that this is my home and I love it here. Ntinda is my current area and I have been here for just over a month. Last week I got the exciting news that I will be the trainer of a new missionary by the name of Elder Denison. I don't know much about him besides his name and a thumbnail picture of him. He is from Salt Lake City and I am super excited to spend the next two transfers with him here in Ntinda. Elder Haines is going to a district called Iganga to be a Zone Leader. Iganga is out in the bush really and is a scenic and pretty place. He will enjoy a lot. Elder Njezula is going to open an area in Busia which is the farthest east you can go in Uganda before hitting Kenya. It oversees Kenya and they even work with the Kenyan elders! It is an area I hope to serve in one day! That area is the actual bush! They teach a lot of Massai people (Look them up) and it just seems really cool! The two of them get sent out Wednesday morning and my companion comes Wednesday night from Provo MTC! It will be really cool.

As for this week we had a really busy one. It was full of random errands for the coming transfer and many dinner appointments before we send off my beloved companion Elder Haines to the land of Iganga. He will be in more of the "what you expect when you think of Africa" part of the mission. I am excited for him and the things he will do there.

Here in Ntinda the work is pushing along. I am really fortunate to serve in a place that sees so much joy in conversion. We had a very fruitful week and found some promising investigators.

We had a few really great experiences this week. We found one investigator named Emma that I will tell you about. On Tuesday morning we had all of our appointments bounce us and we were left without anything to do. As we left the apartment we got a call from a member that there was a man at our church who wanted to meet us. So we flew like bullets up to the church and met this man named Emma. His mother was investigating the church sometime back and he found her small small books in her house. Somehow he located the church and we taught him. He was so powerful. It is a lot different for us to teach people with a real desire to learn rather than us just knocking their door or something. When they want to know they listen well and ask a lot of questions. So we taught him Tuesday. He asked if we could teach him regularly Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 10 am. We happily agreed and met with him 3 times this week. The man continues to progress well and is very smart. He is for an elect man that has been prepared at this time for the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a real tender mercy for us that day and this whole week. He was our only new investigator for the week. Our guards Charles and Enoch continue to progress well. We also tracted into a man named Ibrahim the other week I forgot to mention. We met with him once and the lesson seemed very forced. When we struggled to meet with him again we just decided to drop him. When I was at church this Sunday I was rushing somewhere between classes and saw him sitting in a chair at the back! I did a double take and then greeted him! After all 3 hours he came to us and told us he loved church so much. We met with him again last night and taught him the Plan of Salvation. He took it so well and we are getting him a Book of Mormon today. He also asked for a Gospel Principles book because he enjoyed it so much! Ibrahim is great! We should baptize 3 or 4 on March 12th. We look forward to it and I am sure my "son" will be very excited to see baptisms.

We also had our fun times. For all the hard work we do we have to enjoy some side things. For example last P-Day we went to this totally ghetto photo studio and got nasty portraits taken. They turned out glorious and they are hanging on our wall now. It is hilarious! (see below)

A random side note. Ugandans use a lot of ginger (pronounced jinger with a hard g sound) in their drinks and food. I don't know why but I have come to hate ginger taste because of it. We get served things like hot ginger milk and other ginger drinks a lot. Heck we even had this nice passion fruit juice the other day and they just had to add a load of ginger to it. I just tip it back and chug it though. It makes me sick every time! I hope I get over it one day... Haha.

This mission is the greatest and happiest time of my life. I love every single day! Loosing yourself in the work is the best thing and really helps you enjoy the mission so much. 

Well, That is my kasmall update this week. I think I will have a nice update next week for sure. I will attach some pics though! Thank you all for the nice love you give me every day. You guys are the best. Uganda is the best too. I don't wanna leave!

Love,

Elder McLain

p.s. 

This is Agoot. A little South Sudanese girl that is darker than dark. She is awesome. Yeah so her older sister Atong got baptized a few months ago and we go to visit the family like twice a week. South Sudanese are THE BEST and nicest people. We love their family!

"Our Comp Photos. Just Beautiful."  - Elder McLain 😂

Every Day Is Super!

Hey guys! 

Wow, another great week! Not much out of the ordinary happened but those are the kind of weeks we love! When the work goes forth and smoothly you can't complain! Elder Haines and I are having a blast together. Every day is super. We teach with a lot of unity too which is a big plus. The spirit is always there when we teach and testify. This area is just awesome and I am happy to know that I will be here for a little while. 

Our week was just smooth sailing. We taught great lessons and continued to progress our investigators. It looks like the 5th of March will be a great day for Ntinda. Many baptisms! It all came down to Sunday when only 3 of them turned up to church... Agh. We taught so many and only 3!? That can be a bit frustrating. That is how the work goes though. It can't be a perfect week every week. Bless those 3 that came! 

Something that will make you happy. There is a mzungu man in our ward that married a Ugandan. I might have told you about him last week but his name is Brother Emeral. He is a really great guy. He is married to a Ugandan girl. He actually met her when he was super young and his Dad sponsored her in school. Over time they met in person and boom... married.  He started to have his wife cook us lunch every Friday! So we have gone two weeks now. It is great food and just really fun to spend time around a white guy that isn't a missionary! Haha. We just enjoy it a lot and have a great time. it is always just nice to hear an American accent and talk in our American accent for a little! The food in Ntinda is the best. I don't go a single day here unsatisfied with the food! 

Our stake is on fire right now with missionary work. They are doing a huge effort and even a stake fast to help us. Yesterday at church they handed out papers in a combined 3rd hour and made every member write like 5 referrals for the missionaries to teach. If you do the math that is like 1,345,005 new referrals for us! So we look forward to a busy week this week teaching all of them!

I think that is it for the week. Look forward to some pictures coming soon! Thanks everyone for just being so great. Keep being great. Keep reading your scriptures. I love this church so much. I love my mission so much. I hope you all have a great week! 

Love, 

Elder McLain

Another perfect week

Can it get any better than this? Well each week he continues to surprise us with his ability to be a little happier than the week before. It's got to peak right?! I don't think so. Not for Colby.  So grateful for where he is, what he's doing, and how he is serving. Love our missionary!

Hey everyone,

I hope you had a great week. Couldn't have been as good as mine though because you probably aren't serving a mission in Uganda. And if you are, lucky you!

Well, this week was another perfect week. It blows my mind that I get through week after week with more and more joy and love for missionary work. I can't even put into words my love for this place and this work. The mission is just the best. Sorry family, but I dont really wanna go home!

The work is amazing right now. Ntinda is extremely fruitful and prepared for the Gospel. Our teaching pools are constantly full and we struggle to see most of our investigators in the week. Right now we have a few really great investigators and look forward to a couple more baptisms in the coming weeks.

So we have a few great investigators right now. Charles is actually one of our guards. It was quite out of the blue that we just shared small small with him and he just came to church. Now he has come 3 weeks in a row and will most likely be baptized in 2 weeks. He is probably about 25 years old and a great guy. We are also teaching another guard named Enoch. We tracted into him at his work place and have taught him a few times. He as well is very powerful. He is only 17 but just awesome. He should be baptized in 3 weeks. Another investigator is a young girl we met at church yesterday. Her story is very unique. She is from Tanzania and speaks very, very little english. She had a friend that came with her to church and when she accepted to be taught after she told us a great story that her friend translated (in broken English and Luganda mixed (my Luganda is coming along small small and so I can understand some few things)). So she had prayed to ask God to guide her to the true church. That night she had a dream that she was at a church that only spoke English and even had some few Mzungus. She thought about it and knew her friend attended such a church and knew she needed to go with her. So she came to our church! She said it was just like her dream too! When we taught her her friend translated into Swahili for her and she accepted everything so quickly. She even accepted a baptism date of March 12th and smiled so big when we asked her to be baptized. After we closed the lesson and were leaving the church we held back while Topista and Esther walked off to go home. When we were talking we saw Topista literally swinging her arms out and spinning in circles just overfilled with happiness. She knows she found the truth and can't wait to join the church. It was an awesome experience. To top it we have a key indicator of 3 investigators at church on Sunday. We sadly only had 2 at the start and it wasn't until after church that they approached us and we realized she was our 3rd. That was a great tender mercy for the week! So the work goes forth only by the hand of our God. He is the one who brings the tender mercies every day. The real question is are our eyes open enough to see them.

My companion and I are enjoying each other so much right now. Elder Haines is awesome! This week we had a funny scare. At about 3am the power went out and our fan turned off. I woke up because I about drowned in sweat. When I was awake I realized the shower was on. Not only was it on but I could hear someone in there! We had just talked to a member that night before about how he had been robbed so you can imagine the stuff going through my head. Dont be scared mom because we have really good guards that guard our house with bows and arrows and spears. Talented warriors no question. Anyways, I looked over and saw what I thought was Haines figure in his bed and that really made me freak out. So I eventually heard the shower turn off and flipped out so I jumped up and went to wake Haines. When I hit his bed he wasn't in it. I was so out of it that I literally thought "Oh man they got Haines already and then they are coming for me!" So I just prayed and asked for some helped and jumped back in bed. Keep in mind I am half asleep this whole time. After a minute of sitting in bed the bathroom door opens and someone walks out. Since the power was out he just had a small flashlight. It was Haines all along! I just sat there and asked what the heck he was doin. Turns out he was a bit sick and couldn't sleep and felt a shower could help. So we had a good laugh! Hahaha. I think it was funnier in person and not over email. Sorry if my humor has gotten lame.... haha.

I am so happy to hear about Sam!! Yess!!! I was even thinking about that recently! I can't wait to see where he goes! I will have to think of my guess for him and you can put it down when he opens it! Hmmm:

State Side: McAllen Texas!

International: Tegucigalpa Honduras

Haha that is my guess. We will see!

Question, did you ever get the chance to listen to The Mortal Christ talk by Jack R Christensen? I really hope you have or will. Even Tab I would hope to listen to it. (Wow my grammar is really going out the window!) Let me know!

 I am having a hard time wording sentences these days because Ugandans have a different way of wording things. I am sure you have noticed some few random grammatical changes in my letters.

Well, all is great right now. The mission is far better than I could have ever imagined. The work goes forth every week and gets better every day. I love my mission and my companion so much. The work is out of this world right now. I can't write enough or express enough my love for this place and the work. I look forward to every day. Thank you all for your love. 

With love,

Elder McLain

Pictures from Ntinda

Colby sends us pictures almost weekly. Here's a selection from Ntinda where he is currently serving. Ntinda is a more established part of Kampala and includes neighborhoods where many government ministers reside.

Fake In-n-Out.

The Ntinda elders. Colby's companion is Elder Haines on the right.

Happy to be serving!

On the edge of town.

I came on my mission expecting to change others and found that it is changing me

What can I say? This kid continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Every week he seems happier and happier. It just shows in his face. There isn't much that brings me more joy than to hear his words of gratitude at the end of his letter. He wakes up every morning grateful to be there. I wake up every morning grateful for him!

Hello everyone! 

It has been a great week for me and even a great transfer! The week has been full of good things. I am just enjoying every day so much right now. It is crazy how I am just engulfed in the work and culture! Everything seems so normal now. I am really getting lost in the work here in Ntinda and my companion and I are seeing the fruits of our labors!  All around Ntinda is the best! I love it. 

This week we had some very powerful moments that really showed the Lord's hand in our work. We got to see Odongo Sam get confirmed in sacrament and then bear the most POWERFUL testimony ever! Man, he will be an amazing addition to this ward. On Sunday we also got to see Ntinda go from a Branch to a Ward and have a new Bishopric called! That was a heart touching thing to see the church growing here! It's the best!

Our week started off somehow slow. Not many lessons were being taught a day and we were really having a hard time finding new people to teach. Our mission has a weekly standard of excellence we like to work for: 7 new investigators 4 lessons a day (28 for a week) and 3 investigators at church. It can be difficult to reach and I have actually never reached it.... until this week! On Saturday morning we woke up with 0 new investigators for the week and far too little lessons too. So we got permission to head out early after studies and work for our goal. Both my companion and I had unshakable faith that if we were obedient and hard working that the Lord would put people in our path. Sure enough, after the hardest day of my mission, we finished with 10 lessons taught and 9 new investigators for the day! We surpassed our standard of excellence in one day! It was a LOT of work but we knew the Lord would help us do it. With him anything is possible! On Sunday morning we had enough lessons and investigators for the week and were pretty devastated when only 2 came to church. Really?! After all that work we came short of our goal by one person?? To our surprise, even after praying at church for something to happen, a man came in on his own. Our man Paul just came to church entirely on his own with the desire to learn more. He attended all 3 hours and made for a really powerful lesson after. So because of Paul we had 3 investigators at church! Our goal was achieved! It was great!

It is amazing to see what our Father in Heaven can do if we increase our faith. I can testify of that. My faith definitely increased this week and my testimony right along with it. Ntinda is an amazing area. The people are so awesome and the ward works hard to help us. We are seeing the miracles here as we establish the foundation of the gospel here in Uganda. The mission is the greatest experience of my life and I wake up every day so grateful to be here. I came on my mission expecting to change others and have only found that it is changing me. 

I look forward to another great week and wish you all the same! Thank you for all the love and support!

Love,

Elder McLain

p.s. I got a really nice outfit like you saw in the pics! Custom made by one of our investigators. It is sweet! 

Three Ugandan princes.

The best week of my mission

Colby is now in Ntinda. Sounds like change is good! He's happy and healthy. Life is good!

Hey Everyone!

I had a great week!  In fact probably the best week of my mission. My companion and I get along like bread and butter and the area is just perfect for us. We work in such unity that I find the exact words I want to say coming out of his mouth. Regularly. It is amazing! It was somehow crazy but really cool! So Ntinda is very close to the mission home. I even included some addresses in Dad's email for the house and church and what what. So Ntinda is extremely nice. It is where a lot of mzungu business men live too. I have a Tusky's in my area! Nice! And a Quality Shoppers. These markets are really nice and have everything. Even coconut milk for about 1 dollar. I am going to answer your questions now so I don't forget:

1. My apartment is a big 4 story apartment with 4 elders, the Assistants to the President (2 elders) and a sister couple. It also has 2 senior couples! I replaced Elder Gooch in his last area. The apartment is pretty nice and much bigger than my first.

2. Yes there are grocery stores, Tusky's and Quality have everything Day's Market has.

3. The mission home is like 20 minutes by taxi. Close!

4. My companion is Elder Nathan Haines from Phoenix, AZ.

5. We have a washer and hang dry. That's how all apartments are.

So, about my area. It is a big area with lots of hills but really really nice. Many people drive nice cars like range rovers and what here. There are a lot of younger wealthy people because Ntinda has a few higher end Universities. Some of the houses like in Mininsters Village are nicer than the nice houses in Provo. I have a million restaurants to eat at like KFC, Cafe Javas, Mr Tastys, Chillies, fake In-n-out, and many more. So food and all is no problem  here. The actual problem might be running out of mission money because both me and Elder Haines like to eat at restaurants :/ So I might have to use personal money this month or next... I have only had 3 full days in the area so I don't know a ton but that is what I know!

The stake split this month and now we have 2 stakes in Kampala area and even branches are now wards!!!! It is so neat. I smell a temple soon maybe?!

I even watched Queen of Katwe this last week! It was so cool cause that is literally my last area and I walked the same streets every day! The movie is incredibly accurate. There are some funny things like when the mom goes to sell her nice dress for 10k (which is like not even $3) and the guy says "make it 200k and your company at Calendar Hotel"... Well in my last area I lived like a 2 minute walk from Calendar Hotel! So it was all really cool to see!

I also got to meet Dan (dad's friend from BYU) this week! We don't stay far from each other so we quickly passed the stuff then walked a bit in the same direction. I loved everything! The calendar is so sweet! Man, just awesome! Thank you! I ate the pesto noodles twice this week and they were so good and cheap. Since they are small you can throw some in every package cause they are super nice! 

So a few things, I can buy a speaker here for about $10 or so which I might just do. Should I? Also, just for future warning. If you ever send money in a package you have to be super sneaky about it... Like super sneaky! My companion's mom just sent him $100 and literally cut open a beanie baby and stuffed it in and then he cut it open and retrieved the money. That goes for all nice things! And tape pictures of jesus or mary to the box too. We have gotten lucky that no one has messed with our packages so far! But they do!

Elder Tesch fell in an accident from a boda guy last week and that had me staying in once this week to watch him while his companion went out with mine. Other than that this week was quite crazy! We had a Zone Development Meeting, Mission Broadcast and Interviews with President... Woah. All on different days too! We were really hungry for the work so right after all of these things we would go running back to our area to teach. It was fun!

The mission broadcast was nice. It was neat to hear from the Apostles what they expect from us now. Many thing are new and I will mention them briefly. So they did a schedule change BUT our mission president sort of changed it because he has the authority. So not much changed other than between 6:30am to 10am we can do our schedule how we want as long as we do personal study and exercise. So that is nice. And now we don't plan for the next day at night but rather in the morning the day of. I think that makes sense...

Interviews with President were super awesome. President is an amazing guy. He really gave me a boost for the work.

We had a baptism this Sunday. It was a young man named Odongo Samuel. He is 19 years old and is THE most converted person ever. It took him some few months to get baptized but he knows more than even some members know. It was amazing to see such a converted person join the church.

This week we also found a man named David. He is from Congo and is a really educated man. His wife came back from Congo on Friday and sadly David left to Congo as she got here. We gave him a book of mormon and sent him to some missionaries there. He is Catholic but loves our church. I have no doubt he will be baptized and even come back here in 3 months. His wife and daughter are a little tougher but we are working hard on them. Sadly the mom got online and read an article titled "Why I am not a Mormon" and that caused some serious confusion. She told us she read that we are free masons who rewrote the bible... Ouch... We are straightening her out.

The work is fruitful here. I love the area so much! I hate to say I love it more than my last but it is night and day difference for the work. I love it and my companion!

I am glad all is well at home. Seems to be snowing like crazy! That is good! Keep skiing and even send me pictures of you skiing!

Okay, I think that is it for this week. I hope that is a satisfactory update. Again, I think for now on just to save me time, because I email with the APs now so I have to be exactly 2 hours, I might just have you start to take my emails to you and dad and collaborate them for the blog. Cause that is just the time I have and I pretty much say the same things. Sorry it has to be that way but living around the APs requires exact obedience now now.

I am doing so good right now! Me and Elder Haines are like best friends! We get along like nothin and it is so awesome. It makes the work so fun! Ntinda is the best! I will have a full week in the area next week and give a nice big update but this is what I got for the week! I love you all so much! Thank you for loving me and supporting me. Mom, you and Dad are the best! 

 Enjoy your week and I will enjoy mine!

LOVE,

Elder McLain

Ntinda is the BEST! I feel like I'm on a crazy adventure

Transfer #2- Ntinda, Uganda. I think he's going to like this place! It sounds wonderful and so does he.😊😊

Hey Everyone!

Wow, I finally got a taste of being a little older on mission this week. Transfers are an interesting thing. I would like to start by saying that this transfer has been a huge blessing for me! The work is absolutely amazing right now and the area of Ntinda is THE BEST! My companion, Elder Nathan Hanes, is from Phoenix, AZ. We are whitewashing Ntinda and it is a blast. We get along like best friends and have a lot in common. Even running and basketball. So I feel like I am just on a crazy adventure with a best friend right now!

Ntinda is a fruitful area. It is much nicer than Makindye and even many white people live here. I see nice cars and well dressed people every day but yet the people are so receptive! We have been doing a lot of finding every day and have success almost constantly. We have been teaching lessons on lessons and just thoroughly enjoying the work. Just to show you the area so you can check on google maps: I love off of Bukoto Ntinda Road on Commercial Road. I don't have an actual address but my house is a big green gate at the base of the steep hill we call Repentance hill! The church is in a very wealthy part of Ntinda called Ministers Village. It is on Muwafu Road and you can see the big sign for the church out front. Just continue in that area and look at the houses... This area is very nice.

The man who added mom on facebook from my stake showed me pictures of Dad's award when I saw him at stake conference.. Wow, it seems like a big deal! I wish I could be there but from the looks of the pictures it doesn't seem like a small award! I am proud of you Dad! You deserve it! 

Well, I am just over the moon with my mission right now. Everything, and I mean everything, is going good right now. I love being a missionary and have so much fun working hard every day.

Love you all.

Love,

Elder McLain

p.s. I also forgot to mention I met with your friend Dan! It was a tender mercy for me to transfer to Ntinda because that is where he stays every time he comes! We even stay just a 5 minute walk from each other! So I got everything you sent with him and it was awesome!! (Special thanks to Dan Nielson for hand delivering our love to Colby.)