We Continue On

Selam! 

How is everyone? I am good. Still without permits and missionary work but its all good. Just ticking along right now. 

I don't know much with government and all that. To be honest it just still seems the same to me as even before the resigning of the prime minister and everything else. I feel safe and normal so no worries.

This week was again a backed up week. My companion and others are still no where close really to getting work permits. My companion actually could soon being that he is Habesha blood but the others are not close. Three will be deported tomorrow morning and we will be with 7 here for a little bit. The government is making it difficult right now for sure. And yes, TRIBAL! Agh! Why is it even a thing. Oh well, it is something we have to live with. I learn a lot from it actually. It requires patience!

Hey Dad, Elder Quinton also told me he first heard of you at a (I cant remember what the english word is but like a conference on the ummm) (hahahahah i cant describe it wow)(anyways) they told the students about professors and talked about you and so he emailed me mentioning he saw you. Then later met you at church recognizing your face. He is great! He was an amazing missionary. Made miracles happen in Ethiopia. I would love if you had him over for dinner and I am sure he would love it too.

We went on an exchange to Debre Zeit for 3 days this week so Elder Cooper and I could do some proselyting work together. We got a lot of finding done and the Debre Zeit area found a few new investigators from it. I was happy to do some finding. Other than that to be honest we didn't really do anything this week worth noting. We taught a few investigators and are helping them but don't have any new investigators in our area. It is okay though. Soon we will be able to work hard again here.

I am enjoying myself non the less and am happy to stay here and serve the rest of my mission in Ethiopia. It is a great place and I am blessed to serve here.

By the way, my soccer ball came in the mail. Brother Conner didn't know it was for me though and thought his wife sent it to him and he gave it to his guard's son. So it got in to good hands! I am okay with it. I just hope you are too. I am sure that boy was soooo happy!

That is it from me. Sorry the update on the work is small but I wish I had more to say. We will continue on. 

Have a great week. 

Love,

Elder McLain

Unrest in Ethiopia, loss of work permits, and LOCK DOWN.......Kind of a wild week but we are safe and doing well

Hey everyone!

Well, this week was a bit of a new one. I am not sure if you have heard anything because the Ethiopian government does a good job at keeping things off the internet but there is a lot happening right now here. I don't even know all of it but I know it is happening. So this week we were pretty much stopped again entirely for missionary work... I think I will just write my weekly email right here and now because it will be a pretty simple one. In fact, I will just go day by day and talk about what we did on those days.

Before I do that, this week we had no success on work permits. I have mine but it is only me now. When President first told me I had to stay, he didn't know that there was a problem with permits. He just felt I should stay. Soon after he told me he had some more news. It turns out that work permits are extremely difficult to get right now. None of the new Elder's are getting  them and they are even about to send them back to Uganda and bring back some Elders who previously served here. So the news is, Elders with work permits are super valuable right now to the work here. Annnndd..... that is me! So he told me I wont be able to leave Ethiopia any time soon now. I think I will stay serving here for a while. I think maybe God wants me to stay and do something because the second I felt like I wanted to go crap hit the fan and they are deporting everyone but like 3 of us.... woooO!

So, the other thing that was big this week is the Prime Minister resigned. There have been a lot of tribal fights around Ethiopia lately and the Prime Minister just had enough. So riots started up around and the opposing party is trying to fight their way to get rid of the government and it has just led to a lot of fighting and killing and wildness around me. So we were on lock down for a while. So, pretty wild week.

Monday: After emailing we went to dinner at a members and ate some shiro. Nice.

Tuesday: We had Zone Conference in the morning. It was a great zone conference focused on how to work through the hard times and the worldly troubles around us. I feel like a lot of the words were made for me seeing I had asked just hours before to leave Ethiopia and was told I would stay for a lot longer. After Zone Conference we went to English class and helped teach there. That is how we fill our time since my companion can't proselyte right now. It is sooo super fun for me to do and I am getting betam (very clever) good at it. Following that we were told to go home around 6pm because of riots.

Wednesday: Elder Cooper and I went on an exchange because we are the only two here with work permits. So our companions went to the church and spent the day there and Elder Cooper and I spent the entire day contacting and handing out loads of pass along cards. We have had a few call as a result and legally found new investigators! That was the whole day. Again at 6pm we had to head to the apartment.

Thursday: LOCK DOWN... The full day we had to stay inside. I ate tons of eggs and bread and we played some board games like Settlers of Catan and Monopoly. Lock downs are the worst!

Friday: We were on lock down in the morning. In the afternoon we were good to go out so we went to the office to do some work there. Following that we went to English class again and taught there. And then we went to a neighbors house for dinner.

Saturday: We had an okay day. Weekly planned in the morning. After that we went to Megenagna and got lunch. By the way it is "fasting season" right now which means no meat in the country for two months.... yeah, fasting. So we bought a sheep and slaughtered it. Yeah. But we ate a fasting lunch in Meg then taught some people at the church. In the evening we went to Aster's families for dinner and ate some good food. That was our day.

Sunday: Church in the morning. We had the baptisms of Abaynesh and Yiftusara which was sweeeet!!! It took a while cause of some difficulties like no water and other things. But it finally worked out and both got dunked. !! After church we went home and cooked some food. I ate some sheep stuff. Not bad. Then we went to some members out in Ayat and 49. Then headed home before it was late and played some games.

So that was my week! Kind of a wild week but we are safe and doing well. Hopefully things will calm down and we can have a productive week next week. And get some work permits! 

Okay, Sorry it is a shorter email but that's what I've got. Have a good week everyone! 

Love you guys.

Love,

Elder McLain

In the News:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/16/state-of-emergency-declared-in-ethiopia-amid-political-unrest

 Splasshhhhhh! 

Baptisms of Abaynesh and Yiftusara which was sweeeet!!!

Tok blending into my lower half

I am Mama Africa now I guess

Elder Chandler (my companion) meeting his birth father for the first time 

since he left Ethiopia as a young boy!

"Smell my feet." 

"Ew they smell!" Aizosh hahaha

I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go

Hey everyone,

It was another week in Megenagna, Ethiopia. Things are going well for my companion and I. This week we had some bumps in the road but all in all we are hanging on and working hard. 

A highlight from the week was District Conference this weekend. There was a Saturday session, Sunday session and Sunday Fireside. All were so great. It was all focused on the importance of the temple and the blessings that come from visiting. That is a huge problem here in Ethiopia. First off, many members are angry and frustrated because they have been denied the chance to go due to not qualifying and living the commandments. They don't see the importance of being full tithe payers and all that and say it is the District Presidencies fault they can't go. BUT a lot of things were sorted out this conference. We had President and Sister Collings attend along with Sister Collings parents, the Wrights. Wow, the Wrights are amazing! Elder Wright was the Salt Lake Temple records keeper for 30 years. He is extremely spiritual and spoke at the Fireside. He pretty much laid the law of how important the temple is and how going worthily is important. It was awesome! Just what the members needed to hear. I think this conference woke many people up. 

So our investigators were sort of put on hold again this week. We had a really busy week getting the new Elders work permits and showing them around. They can't legally proselyte like I couldn't when I first came. So we can't leave them alone. As well my companion lost his work permit and doesn't have one right now. So 3 of the 4 Elders in our district and house can't do missionary work. We can see members and some less-actives who are willing and that is about it. Eish. So my update on our investigators is the exact same as last week. We can see them but on top of Zone Conference, District Conference and showing the new Elders around, we had almost no time. We did keep in contact with all and have been giving them assignments. They are all doing good. Alex, the one you (Dad) mentioned in your email is doing great. He is still investigating but hasn't quite cleared all things with his family. We still meet with him frequently. 

Soooo my personal experiences this week I want to share with you are unique. I have loved my time in Ethiopia and have learned so much. I am going strong and all things are good but this week I had a lot of thought about going back to Uganda. President Collings is always very open about sending Elders back at their request because Ethiopia is by far the most difficult place to serve in the mission and he cares about how we are doing. So this week I had my interview with President and really without a filter I blurted out that I feel like I want to go back. He was a bit surprised and I was at the time hoping he would just say, "okay." But that wasn't the case. He actually told me no. Most every missionary he will willingly send back but it was a no for me. He told me he needed me here. He said he needed my experience, my desire and my leadership here in Ethiopia right now and that I won't be able to go back. I was really frustrated at first but understood completely. After my interview was the Sunday morning session of District Conference. I was sitting in the congregation and just thumbing through a hymn book while thinking of the things we discussed in my interview. I turned randomly to a song and it was hymn #270 "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go". I immediately thought, "oh darn this is a sign" hahaha. I read the words and realized quickly I was being selfish in my desires. I wanted to go back to Uganda because things are harder here. I have been here a while and the work is wearing on me a bit. The language barrier is  wearing on me a bit. The weather is wearing on me a bit. Yeah, I was pretty frustrated earlier in the week with the work here. So, I asked President if I could go back. I then realized something as I was reading the hymn. I thought about Joseph Smith and his trials and tribulations as the early Prophet of the church. I thought about his darkest times and how he endured them and then thought to myself that he never asked to be "sent back" or "released". There have been countless people in the church who have sacrificed so much to move the church forward to all people and now this is my time to do it here. So I need to buckle down and keep working. I have been asked to preach the gospel here in Ethiopia and that is what I will do!

By the way, yes I know Elder Jensen very well. I was the first missionary he met in the whole mission pretty much. I picked my new companion Elder Denison up while in Ntinda and he was right there, fresh from the MTC. He is a great Elder. Humble, funny and really hard working. I was in Ntinda while he was in Kololo. They are neighboring areas so I saw him a lot. Then he got to come here and meet me again! He is doing good up here. His Mom needs not to worry. I think no matter where he goes he will take it well. 

I hope everyone has a good week. Have a good Valentines Day! They definitely don't celebrate that here but I will find something to do! 

Love you guys!

With love,

Elder McLain

1.   
   
    It may not be on the mountain height
   Or over the stormy sea,
   It may not be at the battle’s front
   My Lord will have need of me.
   But if, by a still, small voice he calls
   To paths that I do not know,
   I’ll answer, dear Lord, with my hand in thine:
   I’ll go where you want me to go.
2. I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord,
   Over mountain or plain or sea;
   I’ll say what you want me to say, dear Lord;
   I’ll be what you want me to be. 
3. 
   
4. 
5.  Four in the back of a Bajaj (Ethiopian Taxi)

   
   

   

   
   

   

   

   

   
   

Going from a boy to a young man

Hey guys,

This week was A+ in Megenagna! It was the first week of the new transfer. I am still with my companion, Elder Chandler. The only difference is we got two more Elders in the area and so now we are a force of 4 and not 2. It was much needed for the area and will help us a ton! 

Ethiopia is the promised land and I love it here so much. The work is still going strong. We learned alot of things this week that will help us in our future missionary work. The two new elders are named Schuler and Diamini. Elder Schuler is from Oakland, CA area and Elder Diamini is from Swaziland. They are good elders and will work hard.

Every week I am good. I will be completely honest I have had very few bad days since being in Ethiopia. I have grown a ton here and learned SO much and I know this is the place I am supposed to be here. Since being here I have been able to receive confirmation on a lot of things in my life. I have grown in my testimony of the gospel as well as going from a boy to a young man. For that it is impossible for me to have a bad week. That is why they are all good! Ethiopia is my favorite place on earth. It puts Provo in the dust....

So just a fast update, I am still in Ethiopia as you know. Still in Megenagna as you know. Still with Elder Chandler as you somehow know. And still an office elder. It is all the ultimate combination of best mission experience. My area is the greatest and the most fun area I have been in. My companion is awesome. You are right, good companion after good companion. I don't want to boast but I have been told many times by many people on my mission that my greatest personality trait is that I can adapt myself to get along with anyone. I think that has played the biggest role in having great companions. I find something in each of them that I like and work with it. Elder Chandler is from Pocatello, Idaho and was adopted when he was like 9 or something. Yeah, good time every day.

This week we were supposed to have the baptisms of Abaynesh, Yiftusara, Alemu and Alemayehu. Of those four we had zero of them baptized..... Ara benat. No problems though. All will be baptized in time. For Alemayehu he didn't pass his interview. As we talked about serious crimes and asking if he ever committed one he told us he recently robbed a white guy in Bole, stole $30, a suitcase and then beat him almost to death for not having more on him. Then he and his friend fled. His friend was caught and arrested and Alemayehu escaped. Wooooo. We talked to our mission president who took it up with the representative of the mission in Ethiopia. It was all resolved and he will just pretty much have to repent and wait a few weeks. Alemu just said he would wait until that day to be baptized together. Yiftusara is still having a problem with tea. We politely laid the law and are going to work with her to stop. She will be a little while. Abaynesh passed and was ready to go. Sunday morning the power and water were out and the font wasn't able to fill. So she has been postponed to next week. So that is it for those four! 

This week we weren't able to see many of our other investigators. Elder Chandler and I spent the majority of our time splitting with the new Elders in the area and showing them the ropes. Both are new to Ethiopia and let me tell you, missionaries are more green coming to Ethiopia than they are their first day on mission. Pretty much everything you know and have learned on your mission you just chuck out the window and relearn everything. So it has been fun showing them around.

This morning we were walking to a taxi to go to town and a random van pulled over. The guy asked where we were going and I said "Megenagna". He told us to jump in. I opened up the back and there were no seats, just a typical like kidnapper van. Me and my comp sat on the wheel well things. He started driving quick and turned up the radio and I hear, "AND YOU CAN SAY BABY" and I asked him in Amharic DUDE YOU LISTEN TO TRACY CHAPMAN ?? And he goes YEAH SHE IS MY FAVORITE. I reached up and gave him some knuckles. His name was Abel, super duper cool guy. Made a nice friend today!

I think that is about it. I am well and happy as ever! Love you guys. Have a great week.

Love,
Elder McLain

ELDER KUBHEKA SENT ME 5 ROCK BOOMS FROM UGANDA 

HE IS THE SAINT OF SAINTS

Got some free glasses

 A new cafe we found that is owned by an American 

and is super nice and not super expensive

In the back of my new friend's van listening to Tracy Chapman

An ebony wood carving I got to turn into a shift knob for my car

Staying in Megenagna!

Hey!

Soooo no time to email this week. The internet connection has been out so I don't have anymore time. Sorry! I will just say a few things and then I gotta go.... :(  Well this was another super good week. We had a lot of fun and accomplished some good work. Things are going great! I am staying in Megenagna for another 6 weeks with Elder Chandler!

Glad you got to meet Jantz! Isn't he such an awesome guy! One of my favorite people on the earth. I hope he helps you guys out and you enjoy his company! I can't wait to get home and work on cars with all of them!

Yeah so there is an abandoned 1968 BMW 1600 at the church! It is right next to it. Not much rust at all. Less than ours for sure. It has no motor in it which could be good. It would allow for some fun work. It would be more of a project than ours because of some funny weird things all around it. I will send a pic! Just a fun thought.

Sooo I got some thing special for James this week. It is a surprise though! You will see it soon!!!

Sorry for the short email. I had a great week and the investigators are all great too. We should have 2 to 3 baptisms this coming Sunday! Progress!!!!

I gotta go... Sorrry!!! I love you all so much! Have a good week and I will talk to you more next week!!

Love,

Elder McLain

 Guess which countries these kids are from... 

Hint, 3 different ones! For me its no problem.

Lemlem's daughter hahahahaha so cute.

 Look! It's my car (almost)

 I LOOK LIKE TAB! (and getting wrecked by acne)

 Random me

Ethiopian dishes

TemQet and things

If I could always be half as happy as this kid is, life would be glorious! 😀


Hey everyone,

We had a really good week in Megenagna. It was a pretty busy and there were some things that interrupted the work but we got a lot done. The main thing was an Orthodox holiday called TemQet (The T and Q are explosive sounds and it means "baptism" in Amharic). But all in all it was a great week!

TemQet is to celebrate the baptism of Jesus Christ and how far he traveled to be baptized by John the Baptist. They celebrate by walking all through the day and night in large crowds while wearing their Orthodox clothes and singing songs. After the walking many are baptized by an Orthodox Priest who holds a hose on a large platform and sprays out over the crowd. Others are baptized by immersion in the surrounding lakes. I find it kind of ironic that they celebrate Christ's baptism by being baptized by the sprinkling of water. Haah oh well. I appreciate their faith though that's for sure. During the holiday we weren't really out doing much proselyting for two reasons. The first is that we need to respect them and their celebration and interrupting them would be rude and possibly cause contention. The second is that even many of the members here celebrate it because the Orthodox church is pretty much just the culture and so many of the doctrines and celebrations get mixed in with our church... So we didn't have really anyone to see for Thursday and Friday. 

Our investigators are still doing great. Most of them are progressing still really well. Dawit was confirmed this week and that was awesome! I was able to help during the confirmation too. He is just super duper strong and great. After the confirmation he stood up and shook the hands of the others helping and when he got to me I just hugged him huge and it made the congregation giggle. I love him so much! Definitely one of my favorite people I have met in my life. Our other investigators still going strong are Yiftusara, Abaynesh, Alex, Wurku, Alemayehu and Alemu, Hossene and lastly but not leastly Esekeder. I can't really say much but they are all still doing good. Almost all of them are ready for baptism soon. Hossene just came up with a concern this week that she is willing to follow the church but that she was already baptized into another church so she doesn't wanna be rebaptized. We corrected that one really quick and she is back on track. :)

We got a few new investigators this week that are really great. One is the mother of a part member family. Her name is......ohhhhhhhh flip I am forgetting. Her sons are Moti and Eebba. They are cool little kids and I teach Moti every Sunday in youth Sunday school class. Oh yeah that is my calling by the way. Second calling on the mission wooo. It is fun! Their Mom has refused the church even when everyone else was baptized but out of the blue she showed up on Sunday and a lot of members got super excited!! They came running saying we had a new special visitor. After church we went to see her and she was just saying she thought church was "betam qonjo new" a ton which means "very beautiful". We will start teaching her this week. We also received a referral from a returned missionary here in my branch named Jote. Her name is Bethlehem. She is about 20 years old and is a model here in the Bole area. She worships at some super i dunno "Paulos Mulu Wengel Internashional Betkristian" which is "The Full Gospel of Paul International Church"... We set up an appointment with her early in the week and actually had to miss it for some reasons and she called us pretty frustrated that we would do that. We felt bad but she said she would meet us another time. So we met her yesterday and briefly shared about the gospel. After the meeting she texted us and said she was sooo happy and excited to meet us on Friday. She actually seems really powerful. Often times these people who go to the born again churches are really accepting of the gospel.

For some other things that happened this week: 

1. We got a ride from our District President this week to our house. On the way I was chatting with their daughter Daisy who is the world's cutest little girl in the whole world ever in the world. She was sitting in the seat in front of me and just turned around super fast and yelled "look at my eyes they are rainbow color!!!!" They are just brown but hahahaha it was funny. I will include the pic I took after.

2. We were on exchanges this week in Debre Zeit. It is a little town outside of Addis Ababa. While there we were eating lunch in a little tiny shack. We ate Tibs Firfir which is pretty nice. While eating the lady turned on some music and it was one of my favorite songs from back home!!!! I was shocked really to hear it. I am in a 3rd world country, in a town outside of Addis where no one speaks English and my favorite song pops up. Wooo!

3. We had a District Self-Reliance meeting this week. I sat next to a recent convert named Leti. He is super funny and super awkward. He has some disorder I think like Asperger or something. We were about an hour into the meeting when he just whipped out a pen and start jotting down notes on his pant leg!!! I died laughing cause he was just dead serious about it too.. Hahahaha  It was great!

4. While waiting for Bethlehem to show up to our appointment we were sitting on the curb outside a supermarket shack thing. As we were waiting a little street kid starting begging from across the way. He was asking for money to buy food but we can't give in those situations so I just looked around me and found a little plum in the gutter. I grabbed it and rolled it to him and he missed it and it rolled passed him and got run over by a car. He laughed and we all laughed but man just the timing was sooo funny.

5. Still waiting for Bethlehem and sitting down on the curb and a family of 4 walked by. It was a mom, dad, son and daughter. The little girl was maybe 2 years old and could barely walk or talk. Her dad was holding her hand helping her walk. When she saw me she got a big smile and walked away from her family and stumbled over to me. She just landed in my arms and whispered, "iwedehalehu" which means "I love you" and I just lost it hahahaha. The cutest little girl soooo happy to see a white person and came and hugged me. I loved it aaaah!

OOOOOOOKAY That will wrap it up this week. That was a pretty massive email. I hope it satisfies you guys. All is well here. Have a good week!!!

Love,

Elder McLain

Me with Berhane and Habtamu

 Playing soccer in the house

 Me in a traditional dress LOL

 Daisy - the girl with rainbow eyes :)

 Our bathtub (random....)

 This is Ethiopian traffic. When there is a traffic jam on a one way road people just turn around and go the wrong way and cause more traffic.... Just dumb honestly. 

The cars you see are supposed to be going the other way hahaha.

A nice Merc 😀

Kitfo, Tre Siga, and all sorts of wats

Hey everyone,

It was just another good week in Megenagna (by the way it is pronounced Megenanya). The work is still on fire in the area and we are continuing to increase in investigators and recent converts. I had a lot of fun things happen this week so stay tuned to find out what's up!

First great thing was the baptism of Dawit! It was one of my favorite baptisms I have seen on my mission. Not just the service but the progressing and preparation of Dawit was just awesome. He is sooo powerful and has already asked us to start teaching him the things he needs to know to serve a mission. He was baptized by his little brother Abel. It was a really smooth service. Abel has been less-active for a while and so Dawit's progression has reactivated Abel and prepared him to be a worthy priesthood holder again to baptize Dawit. So it was a win win! When Abel put Dawit under the water he lookked up at us to make sure it was all good and literally held Dawit under for a good 4 seconds. We were all like waving our hands telling him to pull him up hahaha it was super funny. But also super spiritual. It was just a great day. This branch is awesome!

Our investigators are all still doing good. Some have slowed down and some have surprised us with their progression. I forgot my planner today so I might miss some stuff (that is when you know you have a lot haha)... Alex came to church!!! He didn't even tell us he was going to come but he showed up and BOOM! I just kinda yelped a little out of shock and ran over and hugged him. I was soooo happy. Alex is one of my best friends I have made on my mission. I told you about him earlier. He is the college student who has been really busy lately. He loves the church and is just finding a way to let his family know he will be leaving the orthodox church. 

We found some new investigators. One is named Wurku and the other is Yohannes. Both are heavy Orthodox members and Wurku is actually a deacon in their church. But he says he is unsatisfied and wants more. He is finding joy in the church. Wurku actually just showed up to the compound one day and said "tell me more about this place!" That seems to be the #1 way we get new investigators, people just see the church and come in. 

Yiftusara was the same and she is doing great. Her parents both passed away last week unexpectedly and unrelated to each other. It was sad but we helped her be comforted with some nice teachings. She is preparing for baptism. 

The last I will share about is Abaynesh. She is a younger girl working for a member here. She cooks and cleans menamen. She is from Arba Minch, a village in the south and is part of the Welayta tribe. She speaks zero English and zero Amharic... Only Welaytegna. Soo Marta translates for her. In our first lesson we told her we were from the US and she asked where that was. We said okay what about America and she still didn't know of it. So she really is from the village haah. I think I am the first white person she has seen in person. That was a first! She is great though and just loves the church even though she can't understand anything. Marta just keeps her updated on what goes on in church. Even her she will be baptized soon.

There is a member here named Getu I am close with. He got married this week! Yesterday we went to his wedding in Debre Zeit with Habtu. It was sooooooo nice! His wife is not a member but she is really nice and cool. The wedding was so fun. We couldn't stay long cause it was far from home and we needed to be home by 9:30 but we ate big. Kitfo (raw chopped meat), Tre Siga (raw cubed meat), All sorts of wats (sauces). Oh man it was nice. One of my best meals on mission (I say that a lot).

On Saturday we went to Dawit's work to see him. He is a professional traditional dancer at Desalech Kitfo Restaurant. It was soooo fun. We ate more Kitfo and Fento (look it up) while watching Dawit dance super cool on stage to a live Ethiopian band. It was seriously one of the funnest things I have done. If any of you come here make sure you eat at Desalech. Well worth it!

That is about it for the week as far as I can remember. It was a really great week for the work and the area. I am enjoying Ethiopia soo much. I feel like this is my real home now and that I should stay here forever! Love you guys. Have a good week!

Love,

Elder McLain

 Some nice doro wat for the boys

 Leti insisted we teach a lesson standing by this bush. Haha

 Desssalech Kitfo

 The lone white man

 Dawit's Baptism

Wedding day! 

 Wedding food!

Wedding fun