A Whole Lot of Changes

So this week was a week of a whole lot of changes.
First of all my new companion is called Elder Harmon. He is from California in the Sacramento area. This is his second transfer so I am finishing off the new missionary training program with him.

On Tuesday we spent the day going all over the place saying goodbye to people and doing some important things. I really hate saying goodbye to people. I have grown to love the people in Iganga so much and it was almost worse than leaving AK to come to Uganda! Sorry, mom. I honestly felt at home in Iganga. The members are amazing there and I will especially miss the families we were teaching. It was a hectic day trying to say goodbye to as many people as possible. There were even a few that we didn't see. :(

Wednesday was transfer day. I finished up packing in the morning and then we left at around 10:00. We made a quick stop in Bugembe so I could say goodbye to the Elders there and to Mpumudde to pick up an Elder who was transferred. Then we were on the way to Kampala. It was weird knowing that I was driving to Kampala for the last time! After reaching the Ntinda house I had like 10 minutes to talk to some other Elders, then the zone leaders for the Kololo zone needed to go. I quickly threw my stuff in their truck and we were gone. It happened soo fast! I was dropped off in my area with Elder Harmon at around 3:00. It is only he and I in the house; the rest of our district stays in a different house. The District is 6 elders. Our house is sooooooo nice! I feel like I am in a hotel. There is a real shower, sliding doors that go out to a balcony thing, a nice pantry in the kitchen, good water pressure, etc.. I have been in the village for too long! The area is really nice as well. There is soo many people. I can guess probably hundreds of thousands of people in our area alone. We live kinda close to a shopping mall called Acacia Mall. We went in there today and I was shocked out of my mind. It was a real mall with a parking garage underneath, elevators, nice little stores inside, etc. They had a food court at the top with nice fast food restaurants. We went there to eat. I felt soo extremely out of place. My mind was lost and I kinda felt a little sick to my stomach. It was soo strange and foreign to me.

Another crazy thing was church yesterday. The Kololo Ward meets in the Stake Center for the Kampala sSake. It is a beautiful church constructed building. As we showed up for church I expected the chapel to be normal tile on the floor with soft chairs. Haha, well that is normal for Uganda. My mind was blown away as I walked in and saw nice CARPET on the floor and BENCHES. Whoa!!! Carpet and benches were so foreign. I forgot how good it feels to walk on carpet. Haha. Church was amazing and organized and run the proper way that it should. It was so nice for me because most of the Branches I have been in rely a lot on the missionaries because they are so new. I was just there enjoying all of the lessons with no worries at all!

Now I am sure everyone who is reading this is probably laughing their heads off right now. But honestly all of these things are soo foreign to the village life that I love and miss.
We also have to walk every where because we don't have a vehicle! Last night we went to visit a family that took us 1 HOUR to walk to! It was soo far and the rest of the area is massive so we walk a ton!

The lesson in Elders Quorum was amazing and I was inspired. We went through a story from the OCT 2014 Liahona called "Upon the Top of the Waters". It is amazing and inspirational stories about trials in life. The author tells about some personal struggles he has and then finds strength from the story of the Jaredites in Ether chapter 6. The Jaredites had to cross the ocean in barges. The waves and the wind would be so intense that sometimes they would submerge under the water for a while. Then after faith and prayers they were able to come back to the top of the water. An interesting incite is about the wind and the waves. It says that the wind never stopped blowing them towards the promised land. If the wind was not there they would never have reached the promised land. We can compare the wind and waves to our trials in life. Sometimes we complain about our situation and ask God to take away our trials; but for the Jaredites would have never made it to their destination without the wind. For us, we will never make it to our destination of being a true son or daughter of God and to live with him without our trials. So instead of complaining and praying for our trials to go away, we should pray for them to come and for the strength to endure. We cannot grow and progress in life without things going wrong a few times. I love the way the author ends the story. He says "But if and when the tempest returns, I will call upon the Lord and be thankful, knowing that calm seas don’t carry barges to the promised land—stormy seas do." I just felt like sharing that with everyone. Personally it was a life changing lesson. :)

Kale bassebo ni bannyabo. Tulabagana next week! :)

Elder LeCheminant