Answers to Mom's Questions

Dad,

Thanks for the NFL update. The other day I had a nice little surprise as I walked into a local supermarket and saw playing on the TV a collage football game from 2010. It was the first time I had seen any football on TV in about 11 months. It blew my mind.

Thanks for the money as well it is well appreciated.

I'm training for the 2nd time in a row now. My new "son" just gave his father your email so you might be getting an email from his sometime in the future.

Mom's Questions:

Tell me are you in a new area or are you still in Seeta?

1- Still in the same area. I kinda wish that I had left though, I enjoy change.

Do you still have someone to do your laundry for you?

2- Yes I do

Tell me something interesting or funny that happened to you or your companion this week?

3- Kind of a funny story: so this week I was skipping along and I tripped and fell in a nest of wild honey badgers. After they ripped off my face I befriended them and they all came to church and got baptized. Hope they didn't get baptized for the wrong reasons.

On a spiritual note what did you learn this week?

4- I don't know what I learned this week but I know I've learned a lot!

When are you going to send us pictures on your card?   We will send you a new card for the camera if you let us know what kind you have that needs replaced.  Are you taking many pictures? I know you probably don’t take it with you every time you go out for fear of it getting stolen.  Glad you are having fun on your p-days.

5- To be honest my Camera and the card in it got stolen last week. During Church I left my Camera on my chair while I went to help out one our branch members for a few minutes, then when I came back it was nowhere to be found. I was pretty upset. But don't send me money to buy another I don't want you guys to go broke!

What are the holidays that people there celebrate that are uncommon in the U.S.?  What do they do to celebrate these events?  As you know Halloween is coming up and all the craziness that comes with that holiday.  I’m sure they don’t celebrate Halloween, do they?

6- October 9th was Uganda's Independence day, so a few people celebrated it but not many people. Oh! and There was a Muslim holiday this week. It's called Eid al-Adha (you can look it up). I met a Muslim family this week and they invited us to celebrate with them. We wanted free food, so during our lunch time we went and chilled with a Muslim family ate their food and then ran off. My companion and I called it Eid day for short.

Are you still working out every morning with your companion?

7- Yep, I use a jump rope every morning.

We are planning on sending you handwritten letters and photos of the family for Christmas, what else do you need or want in the package? Would $ be the best or is there a little something from the U. S, that you miss and would like for Christmas?

8- Money is awesome, but getting a box full of American Chocolate and Candy is also really, really, really, really, beautiful. Either one will make me happy.

Are you good to take your malaria pill consistently? Be smart and be consistent okay?  No more scares like that! 

9- Yes I take the pill everyday

Tell us about the missionary work/teaching pool and how many investigators you have right now and how they are coming along.

10- Missionary work is going well. Things are looking good right now. We have a little over 20 investigators with a baptismal date and a little less than half of them are progressing. The thing that we are really focusing on is getting people to fellowship. I'm not sure if it's because the church is new or if it's just because of Ugandan culture but people aren't great are being friendly to new people who come to church. Lots of times I have to specifically tell people "hey there's this guy sitting over here, it's his first time to come to church. Can you go and greet him and make him feel welcome?" I've learned to make sure that I tell at least 5 members to do that to each of the investigators that come to church. If I don't make the members greet my investigators, sometimes no one talks to them (other than us missionaries) and then they have no desire to come back to church the next time. Forging friendships is something that I am really pushing members to do with investigators. It can be difficult.