2.3.14

Hello again.
This week was pretty fantastic! We taught like 24 lessons. The most we have had here in Entebbe. For Uganda that is actually extremely low, but for Entebbe its way good. I remember back in Mukono we would have like 50 ish lessons a week. Anyways,

On Tuesday in the morning we went and did some service. We went digging in a member's garden. That was fun. I was sweating so much that when I tasted it there was no salt. Tooo much sweating!! It actually wiped me out because I haven't done anything physical work like that for several months. I am soo out of shape its ridiculous. When we go digging we get a hoe and go and dig up the ground so it can be ready for planting. Its a popular thing in Uganda because most of the people grow their own food. After lunch we had a great day and taught 7 lessons.  They are all awesome people and have huge potential.

Wednesday morning we had DDM. That is our district meeting. We did a fun activity. In the Preach My Gospel at the end of the chapter on Christlike Attributes there is an Attribute Activity. We did the whole thing. It was a great chance to look into myself and see how I am with all of the Christlike attributes. I highly recommend doing that activity. It helps you really see what you need to improve on.

Thursday we had another 7 lesson day. On the way to one appointment there was a young boy carrying two jerry cans of water. I asked where his home was and he just pointed up the hill. So I took the jerry cans and started walking. After 5 minutes of hiking uphill I asked him again and he just pointed up. 5 minutes later the same thing. We finally got to his house at the top of the hill like 20 minutes later!! Holy cow it was way to far for a kid to carry water. Even though he was like 10 years old it felt good to do that small act of service. His mother was very happy that we did that for him. We even taught her a lesson. It was a great seed planting lesson. There was basically no way we could set a time to go back because she is always busy with stuff at her church. But when missionaries find her again she will be ready.  Our last lesson was with a less active called Samuelson. He has the Conference DVDs for Oct 2004 and April 2005. They are super old but he loves them and really wanted us to watch a talk. So we picked a talk from Oct 2004 by Pres Hinckley about the women in our lives. It was an amazing talk about the importance on women and how men need to treat the women. I recommend going back to that conference because there was even a bunch of other powerful talks by other General authorities.

Friday was pretty good. We taught Tony about the Priesthood. He was preparing to receive the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday. So we talked about the priesthood and how it all works and even got into some deep history with the priesthood. He was just so amazed the entire time. Then I showed him my Line of Authority. That just blew him away! He was glued to it for like 10 minutes just completely amazed. The Line of Authority is an awesome thing. There is no other church in the world where you can trace authority all the way back to Christ himself. It was fun to see Tony get all excited about receiving the priesthood.

Saturday in the morning we did some service again. We helped another member called Afiman make some papyrus shades. They are really difficult to describe, but its like strands of papyrus strung together and people use them to cover their little shops or fruit stands. That was fun. Then when we finished we went and helped him herd some goats. He gets paid to take care of some peoples goats. So we took the goats and tied them in a grassy area where they could eat. Later in the afternoon we went to church for PEC. Unfortunately it didnt happen so we just spent some time with the members there.

Sunday was awesome! Church went great. Tony bore his testimony during sacrament/testimony meeting. It was awesome to hear him give his testimony of the truth he has found. Then in priesthood meeting he was ordained a Priest. After church he came and told me that it was his birthday and he invited us over to celebrate. So at like 4:00 we went to his house to celebrate. His wife Teddy made a pretty good chocolate/lemon cake. She works at some German tourist place so she knows how to bake and make a ton of good food. The cake was delicious and even they gave us the best rice and beans I have ever had. Teddy put some black pepper and other things in it. It was some good old rice and beans.

Today, before we came here to email, Elder Wanlass and Mkutswana came over to our apartment. We made some delicious chips! Basically french fries but here we call them chips. At a market I found a big bag of potatoes for only 3000 shillings! That is soo cheap and I had to buy them. Our chips we made were amazing. Then we played cards. Elder Wulfenstein has some Book of Mormon cards. We played Memory and then Old Maid. It got pretty intense and was lots of fun! Those classic card games are the best.

Congrats for finishing the green room! I want some pictures. Thanks :)

Holy Cow I am now kinda sad and depressed from hearing the bad news. I can't imagine how everyone in Palmer is doing. Its always terrible to hear of people passing away. Here in Uganda everyone has some family member or close friend who has died. It is mostly from the wars and rebels in Uganda's history. It is a time where you get to seriously think about the Plan of Salvation. These experiences can be used to strengthen our testimonies of the truths we know. I love the Gospel and I love the Plan of Salvation. I know it is true without any doubt. Let it give you hope and be a light in your lives. It can seriously change any bad situation into something where you can learn and grow and become a better person.

Mom, we get the Liahona every month. Other magazines we don't get to read. So if it is in the Liahona then just let me know which article. That would be good if you sent me some printed stuff. Thanks :)

Have a fantabulous week everyone!!

Love Elder LeCheminant