i am getting transferred far

I received a message from my missionary this week. This is what it said.......

i

am

getting

tranferred

far

it is 6 hours north

small village

it is where dads friends are doing their drone transportation to Juba, 

South Sudan. I am closeish to South Sudan

the people there are TALL and DARK black 

He said he was sad to be leaving Nsambya. He wanted to finish here. They were planning a big birthday celebration for him. He wanted to stay but knew there was a reason he was going. It has been one of his favorite areas to serve in. 

And then he sent this.



hey guys!

This is the end of my 16th transfer. Here in Uganda we serve for 17 transfers (6 week transfers). So that officially leaves me with 1 left! I am shocked it is here this fast. I have been spending the last 3 transfers (4 1/2 months) in Nsambya. The area has been a highlight of my mission and pretty much the best! I love every day here. The members are active in the work and really cool people. I feel as though my adjustment to home will be  easier because of the ward here. I truly love this place!

I received some news on Saturday that I will be heading to GULU! It is in Northern Uganda near the South Sudan border. Don't know if you remember KONY 2012 or Joseph Kony? That was in the Gulu area. Luckily the place is really cool and peaceful now. I look forward to it! My companion is named Elder Godfrey.

That is all the time I have for the week. Sorry it is so short. Love you all and talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder McLain

With Mbaki, Josh and Kenneth

Aisha and Elder Brewer

BODA

ghetto rifle

Elder Hunter and me

We walk......and walk........and walk........and walk

I GOT SOME DR. PEPPER!!!

 Cool busses

 Found a mirror

 We played the Jelly Bean game. 

I ate Dead Fish Jelly Bean and Dirty Socks. Not good ones....

Prayers for my dear friend Elder Kubheka

Hello all,

This week was good. It was a cool week with some fun and powerful experiences. Some I will share to all and one I will share only with my parents... Let me hope I can remember it all. I wish I could have just taken a picture of my journal entry for one day and sent that to you. Oh well.

The missionary work for the week was really cool. The highlight was going on a 24 hour exchange with Elder Mbaki. He is awesome! We worked in my area so that was not a change but it was great to be around him. He is from Cape Town, South Africa and shares a lot of the same interests as me. I think one reason I like South Africans so much is because a lot of my weird and unique interests are shared with many elders from South Africa! We worked really hard that day but also had a great time talking about cars, anime, Premier League soccer, jellyfish and much more. It was a good day. 

We spent a lot of the week seeing members. Both Elder Barnum and I got the news that we are likely leaving Nsambya next week. I was pretty shocked myself to hear that I would leave and go to a new area for only 6 weeks. If I'm not mistaken the same thing happened to Tab on his mission and he said it really messed with his brain to try and learn a new area, members, investigators and work while knowing at the end of the transfer he would be going home. I will just wait until this Saturday to hear if it is true. I hope not! I love Nsambya. Many of the Embassy families came back from their summer holidays this week and I got the BIGGEST surprise on Sunday!! I walked into the church compound to find the Moore family from Ethiopia!!! They moved here to Kampala and are in Nsambya ward now. I missed them a lot and was so happy to see them. Another reason I hope I don't leave!

Horrible news came to me last week. As you know, Elder Kubheka has been my closest friend through my mission and will be through my life. He was raised by great parents but his father passed away when he was young. Having a single mother made his aunt and uncle step in to help. So they raised him and he lived a lot of his growing up years with them. He got a call this week that they were in a very serious car accident. His uncle died instantly and his aunt made it 3 days before also passing on. I was heart broken myself and felt so bad for him and his family. Keep them in your prayers.

That was a really cool story about Brother Anderson. I didn't know he had such an influence on missionary work or even in the church! That was great to hear. It is sad that he passed away though. I never really knew him very well but I know he was a good man! 

Crazy news from home. Zak is now home! And Tab moved home. And Rorie started school! Happy for Noah and Ellie. And the Liptrott's are coming to America! Can't wait to see all of the family! Sounds like things are good at home.

Well, that will be it for the week. Thanks for all the emails and support. Have a great week! 

Love,

Elder McLain

*The pictures below were posted by Sister Collings on Instagram. Colby thought we'd get a kick out of him "raking" the leaves with a broom. He said it was dang tough work! Hahahaha

Colby and his companion

Colby's companion Elder Barnum

Sometimes you have to go to the end of the road and turn around and start over again

Hello!

Another week has passed! As always, a pretty good week for us. Suuuuuper slow but good. My companion got sick on Friday with some serious stomach stuff that kept him in the bathroom most of the day. That actually put us down most of Saturday and all of Sunday. We even weren't able to go to church... That was my first time missing church on my mission and it felt super strange. It was also a bit of a challenge because we had investigators there that we couldn't support. So I hope it went good! I had fun and we got some good work done so I am content with the week. 

Well, at the beginning of this week we had a pretty small teaching pool. We had many that were just not progressing and we decided to stop meeting them. Others we had progressed and baptized. So we had only 4 or 5 people at the beginning of the week. This week we were able to find 9 new people. It was great! Many are really good and interested too! So I will tell you about them:

Samuel and Family! - We met Samuel while knocking doors. We were walking down this little road and there was a compound with many houses in it. We peeked through the crack in the gate and saw a younger girl cleaning the porch so we knocked . She let us in and pretty much just ushered us into their home as though they were expecting us. The Father welcomed us in and sat us down on the couch. It was probably one of the most casual welcomes I have had. It was literally like he was just waiting for us and knew we were coming! After chatting for a while they were more than happy to accept our message. We set an appointment to teach the whole family, Mom and Dad + 4 kids, this Thursday! 

Moses and John - These two were contacted when we found Moses sleeping on the ground as we were walking down a road. He woke up as we were passing and we greeted him and moved on. At the end of the road we turned around and started knocking the doors again. We had no success until we again reached Moses. As we talked to him he awoke and sat up. He was happy to hear from us. His brother, John, came out of their house and sat with us. They told us that their mother passed away a few months back. Their pastor told them some words that weren't so comforting about her "current state" and it angered the two of them and now they "hate" God. We gave them a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and will be returning tomorrow to talk more about it. We are looking forward to it. 

Fiston and Kawunga - Fiston is from Burundi and Kawunga is from DR Congo. They were both found on the way to visit another investigator named Emmanuel. Kawunga called us over and told us he is pretty much a mess. He drinks and smokes and hates the fact that he does it and just wants help. He tried other churches and none of them cared about is addictions and struggles. We of course do! His friend is Fiston who has actually come to church a few times. We are meeting them again on Wednesday.  

That is pretty much it for new people right now. Others we are teaching are still doing pretty good. Emmanuel is having a little problem with the Word of Wisdom and so we are working with him to overcome it and progress to be baptized. Vicky is doing great too and we are still teaching her! It should be a busy week coming up. We have our work cut out for us so keep us in your prayers. 

Welp, I am excited to go on some fun hikes and join you guys on your trips when I get home! Have a great week!

Love you all! 

Elder McLain

It seems as though I have been doing this my whole life!

Hey everyone,

Woosh another week down! Today marks 22 months since I got to the MTC.... WOW! It seems like its been forever but at the same time so fast! I am enjoying it though. Just 2 more months and I will be home! Crazy!!

The week was good. A bit of a slow week but all around things went okay. My update will probably be a bit short this week. We didn't have much success unfortunately so I really don't have many new things to talk about.

Nsambya as an area is amazing. I love the members and the ward with all my heart. It is such a high functioning ward and everyone magnifies their calling extremely well. It makes the missionary work a lot easier and allows us a lot more time to focus on finding, teaching and baptizing. Normally in the branches and wards here we are constantly filling in for people who miss, teaching lessons, escorting, giving talks, etc. But here we are a bit more free, especially on Sundays. We can devote our church time to sitting with investigators and helping them. It is really nice.

The work is going well. It has been better before in the area and lately our companionship has been struggling with on and off sicknesses. It seems like we are always getting slowed down by it. This week one of my companions was struggling with some stomach things. It put us down here and there so that is why the week was a bit off. But we found 2 new investigators. One is named Patrick. We just contacted him on the street and invited him to church. Sunday rolled around and poof he was there! So we shared small with him. Funny enough, before sharing anything with him at all he sat through two lessons, Sunday school and elders quorum. The lessons were a bit "meaty" for him. Sunday school was on the Word of Wisdom and elders quorum was on temples. So the first things he learned were that we don't drink coffee and tea and that we baptize for the dead! To our surprise, he loved it! Hahaha.

The other new investigator was less serious. He just wanted a Book of Mormon because he found a pass along card of ours on the ground. He was suspicious of us and refused to enter in the compound. We just shared a little outside and then set an appointment for another day. Yeah... We have a few other investigators doing well. Prisca is progressing as well as her sister-in-law Teddy. So that is about it for the area right now.

22 months I have been on my mission...... Fooooosshhhhhh that is wild. It seems like it has gone incredibly fast yet I think back on it and it is as though I have been doing it my whole life! 2 fast Sundays left! That is crazy.... It is almost more like one too because my last one will be days before I get home. It seems so weird. I am just keeping my head fixed and working the same. I am excited to come home but also really love it here and would love staying. Uganda is the best!

That's it for the week. Hope everything is good back home. Have a good week!

Love,

Elder McLain

Let me tell you about Elder Henriksen.......EVERYONE should be this happy about the work!

Hey Everyone!

It was a good and hot week here in Nsambya. Right about now it gets really hot and it doesn't rain much... Ah! So I am getting a bit red and my shirts are getting a bit..... brown. Hahaha. I have actually been one of the better missionaries around when it comes to keeping my shirts white. I don't like brown ones so I use a bit of bleach in my washes. It works great! The work is still going well. We had many tender mercies this week worth noting. I will tell you about them in a bit.

I did get my itinerary! It was crazy to see that. Probably the first time on my mission where I have realized that I am on the later end of it. I told them to email the pdf copy to you guys back home for you to see. I guess I will see you guys face to face on the 10th of October! 

I also saw the itinerary for coming back to Uganda! I am SO excited about that. I look forward to returning. 

Anyways, the area is doing well right now. The whole area of Nsambya is slowing down a bit with missionary work. All 4 companionship's are struggling to find and teach like we were when I was here in the beginning. This is really common for areas in our mission. Often times they will explode for about 6 months and then die down for 6 months. It is just a cycle. When i first came on my mission, Nsambya was a struggling area. Now it is one of the most fruitful in the mission. For our companionship, the 3 of us, we are doing really well. Like I said we are struggling but equally we are finding great people. This week we found 7 new investigators. Not all of them are the most serious or powerful people ever but a few are really promising. Two are referrals from a member that stays near us in Gogonya. It is a nephew and his friend. They are eager and excited to learn and  we are excited to share with them.

One of my companions is named Elder Henriksen. He is a wild guy. Just loves video games and stories and everything. Probably couldn't quote a specific scripture if his life depended on it but if you ask him to tell you a story from the scriptures he can probably tell it in more detail than even the Bible does. It is awesome! He is the type of Elder to duck under signs, jump over logs, slide down dirt hills while we are on the way to appointments. If there is an easy route, he takes the more courageous and difficult one. There is a swamp river that runs through a slum near our house. It is literally sewage and used water from washing and cooking. He tried to jump it last week and fell in. For no reason... hahaha. It is just a wild time 24/7 being with him. Anyways, lately he has been writing a million pass along cards every morning and carrying them with him. As we walk he will throw them over fences, through gates, on cars, piles of trash, everywhere. It keeps him entertained while we travel and also makes us laugh every now and again. A funny thing is that the other day we got a call. The man on the line said he found a card and needs a copy of the Mormon book we have. He sounded so interested and even set up a time to meet with us and learn more. We did absolutely nothing! He called, set the time and the day and even asked us to teach him about it when we meet. It was soooo awesome! That was a tender mercy of the week! (By the way, that's Elder Henriksen above throwing  pass along cards over the gates.)

The rest of our investigators are doing well. Some have been dropped and others have been picked up. A former investigator named Aisha just showed up at church on Sunday with a friend and said they both need to keep learning from us. That was great news. Others are still progressing. I don't know if I mentioned Prisca before. She has been learning but requested a 2 week break during her exams. We respected the request and stopped meeting with her. We still call and invite her to pray and she even came to church on Sunday. Some more great news, Flavia, our recent convert, got a calling in the Primary on Sunday. She was excited about that. And Joseph was interviewed for the Priesthood and should receive it next Sunday! Lots of great stuff happening.

Well I am going to wrap up for the week. Hope everyone is doing well. I love you all. Have a great week! 

Be HAPPY!

Love,
Elder McLain

 Me and my little friend Shamila

 Broken glass

We found frozen yogurt!

BYU professor visits Colby!

Tim's friend and fellow BYU colleague, Chris Mattson, coached a team of BYU engineering students in the design of human-powered drill for drilling water wells in the developing world. The drill is called the Village Drill and it is produced by a non-profit organization called WhoLives.org. The drill is being used in developing countries around the world. Chris is currently in Uganda doing more research on water wells and was able to connect with Colby. Below is his letter to us. 

For more information about the Village Drill, see this BYU News story: BYU Village Drill brings water to thousands.


Hi McLains,

I met up with Colby and his two comps today. He seems to be doing awesome. We talked for a bit about what life is like in Uganda and east Africa. He has some amazing experiences under his belt. I asked him about his experience with water and what he sees in peoples homes. It was quite helpful. He and his comps told me that people are receptive to the gospel, and that they love the mission. It was so good to see him and them doing the work. I asked him what he wanted to tell you guys and he said “I’ll see you soon”. They were all quite into the bags you sent I heard one say “...tons of sweets...” 

Cheers, 

Chris

Chris visits Colby in Uganda

Chris and Colby in front of the church

I finally have an official release date!

Hey Everyone!

Another week down and it was a fast one too.  It was a bit of a weird one. 

We merged our area with another companionship's and I am now in a 3some with Elder Barnum and Elder Henriksen. So we are just adjusting to that life! But things are going good for us! I am still enjoying Nsambya. It is probably my most favorite area I have served in. 

It was fun to meet up with Chris Mattsen! It was weird to see someone I know somehow decent here in Uganda. Others I have met I haven't seen before but to see him back home as well as here was a bit strange! I enjoyed it though. He had some questions about the water we see people using every day. I told him about my future plans. He mentioned that you had told him you had a son who wanted to do this but he never connected that it was me. So he was happy to hear that and said to call him when I get home to talk more about it. I look forward to that! We talked for about 5 minutes and then they had to head somewhere. But we enjoyed it. Plus my packages were great! Loved the Swedish Fish!!!! Thanks so much for everything in there!

The area is doing well. We started working on Wednesday. We combined our area with another set of missionaries. One of them was transferred to Rwanda and the other came to be with us. So I am working 3 strong now. It isn't my favorite but it works. We received a few investigators from them. The majority of the week was spent tracting, knocking doors and street contacting. Just looking for more people to teach. We want to start off the transfer with a good teaching pool. We had a little bit of success in our finding efforts. I don't have much to report on right now as far as investigators go. By next week we should have a better update.

Health wise I am doing A okay. Right now the parasite is gone. The knee is okay. Still just there but no real problems. I am still a bit skinny but feel healthy. Just usual I guess.

A side note, Elder Corbridge who is Noah's really good friend is now serving in my area as my Zone Leader. So I see him everyday. Small world!

I am sorry to hear about Grandma Sharon. It sounds like things are going better though. I will pray for her. Tell her I lover her!

I finally have an official release date! I fly home the 9th of October. I believe that means I will reach Utah by the 11th of October or 10th in the evening. We will see. I do know the evening of the 9th I fly home.

Welllllll Happy Pioneer Day tomorrow! And happy birthday to Rorie too! I always love the Pioneer Day parade in our neighborhood. Take some pictures of it if you go! I wanna see some faces in the ward. 

There is my week. Thanks for all the emails and love! 

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder McLain

The 3 some

Elder Barnum's hairline is the same shape as my ring...