"Absolutely Nothing Like They Taught Us in the MTC"

Hi momma!

This keyboard really sucks a lot so sorry if I can't type very well.. but yeah, this week has been so so so so SO SOS SOSOSOSSOS crazy. This place is so different. holy crap. I get here, and everyone is staring, I see a bunch of guys with guns, and I've already soaked my shirt in sweat. Ahhh... where do I even begin? So we went from the airport,  when Pres Chatfield picked us up, and stayed a night at the AP's residence. I was freaking out. so many bugs, and everything was green. But yeah, the driving here is the most insane thing I've ever experienced. Basically no rules, and everyone just passes whenever they want to. There are like, millions of bodas everywhere, and i already hate them. so freakin much. haha so yeah, lots of driving. The next day, we went and had orientation at the Chatfield's house. It's a NICE house. Seriously. They are such great people. Really nice. Pres Chatfield is a total cowboy haha. But yeah, we sat there and got lectures on the mission and all the safety stuff. talked about a bunch of mission things. We then went to the mission office, had interviews, then some of us stayed another night at the AP's place. I was driven straight to Masaka though. This place is so different... haha. I had a good two and a half hour drive to get here. So I drove down with Elder Reed and Elder Plant (he's the one from Murray). really cool guys. I wish you could all see it here. it's incredible. Such a huge place, and there are so many plants EVERYWHERE. so I got to my new house, and the guard let us in through the gate. We have barbed wire around the walls, so no one is gonna break in.. hopefully. dumped all my stuff off, and went to go meet my comp who was out and about. we found him walking. Good ol Elder Ramiaramanana. Call him Rami for short. he's such a goondi. He's from Madagascar. and he just started learning English a year ago... it's hard sometimes haha. Lets see, he is a really nice guy, and has a great testimony. He was actually a convert. His brother is also on a mish, and his sister is about to leave. The other elders in my district are Elder Kapalenga and Elder Morris. Morris is white, so its good to have someone I can actually understand haha. If you walk out our door, there is another house like, 3 feet away. The senior missionaries live there. Elder and Sister Holyoak. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met. They are always there to talk, and have helped me with a lot of things. I can tell we are going to be really good friends. ahhhhhh man! So as soon as I met Rami, we went out to teach. Our first lesson was with Bro Jeremiah, very smart guy. He's a recent convert, so we taught about the priesthood. We have to walk to every appointment, and our area is HUGE. So tons of walking and it just takes it out of you haha. When we walk home it is pitch black, and I can't see where we are going, but eventually we get home. So we really just do a TON of teaching. Lots of really simple lessons, and it is absolutely nothing like they taught us in the MTC. Very different teaching here. I think I am slowly getting used to it. The hardest part of teaching, is the language. People mostly speak Lugandan, and some speak Swahili, but most speak English. They have a super thick accent so I can't ever understand them. They switch all of their R's and L's. The worst is when they say, 'the Hory Ghost' or call the Holyoaks the 'Horyoaks.' I find myself talking really simply now. it's weird. Ahhhhh.... We have taught so many lessons, already around 50 for me. The members come with us a lot to teach too. Brother David and Brother Nelson are about our age, and come with us a lot to prepare for missions.

So. Living conditions. Not TOO bad. We have hot water, but all the water pours slowly out of things. We have electricity sometimes.  Lots of cockroaches everywhere. Mosquito nets don't really do much for us. but yeah, it's really awesome haha. We still have one of the better apartments. We just blast music on Elder Kapalenga's speakers that he has. Most of the music he has is either Motab, or like, pioneer trek Zion country music. Total hickville, but it has a good message I guess... We have to spend a lot of time cooking haha. The stove doesn't get hot fast, and we have to cook everything. We go to the market on Fridays and buy fruit and vegetables for the week from people. They just set up all their stuff on a street and we bargain for everything. For all our other food, we go to a supermarket. Not really very super though. They have a lot of stuff from home, but that is all way expensive. So we get random stuff. I stocked up on pasta, and bread. The bread here is amazing, and really sweet actually. haha It's funny, they take logos from random American things and put them on stuff here. I will try to send a picture, but the bread has a chuck-e-cheese logo on it... fun stuff. But yeah, food really isn't too bad. The bananas are amazing, the pineapples are heavenly, and we bought a giant jack fruit. Google those. They are huge, and they taste really strange haha.

So we go out and teach ALL day, obviously. We walk everywhere and the whole time people stare at me cause I am white. All the kids see me and yell 'how are you munzugu!' or 'bye munzugu!'

It's actually quite funny. I feel famous. They really are all so adorable haha. There is also a ton of chickens running around. We went and bought like, 50 eggs from a lady for only 7000 uX. Not too bad. One dollar is 2500 ux (shillings) and they give us 400,000 for the month. You can really bargain a lot of things.

So. yesterday, Sunday. So cool and so strange. The church is a building that we go to all the time haha. Really weird building... but yeah. It's a church haha. It was bought when it wasn't even finished and then they finished it, so it's like different upstairs. But anyways, we had sacrament meeting and there were 112 people there. I was laughing to myself, cause they really do things so different. Gospel and doctrine is the same, but like, no one knows hymns, so I was leading and I basically sang a solo for everyone haha. then they have like, 1 minute talks maximum, the priest blessing the sacrament took 7 tries, and the lady who sang a musical number was clapped for after. We had to actually like, teach people how church is done as the meeting went on. They are truly pioneers here.

So when we teach, the first thing that we do is talk about baptism. Then we set a date. Lesson 2 is the restoration, the the next lesson is all the commandments, then we teach about the plan of salvation. That is way different than in PMG. haha, It is so great, you can just talk to anyone you want and they will stop what they are doing to take a lesson. Almost always they will agree on a baptism date. Awesome. Oh, by the way, I have some great news. I had my first baptism yesterday haha. Brother Karim Sakimanya. He has an amazing testimony. The hardest part of the baptism was trying to convince him that he wouldn't drown. He had never even been under water, or gone swimming or anything before haha. It all worked out, and he is super happy. I have another 2 baptisms set up for next week, so hopefully those work out. Man, the church is growing so fast over here. The people are amazing. So yeah, Sunday nights are amazing for one reason. The Holyoaks make the missionaries dinner every Sunday night. And the ZL's (elder Wulfenstein is with them in a threesome) are staying for a few days at our house! The dinner was so good. We had meat loaf, rolls, mashed potatoes, green beans, and chocolate cake after. Truly a miracle. You won't find any of that food around here. They have to go Kampala to get all the supplies for it. Those people are amazing.

Funny story, while we were on our way to Masaka, this 'nyabo (woman) was crossing the street with a big plate of stuff, and a boda runs right into her. She flies to the ground and breaks the plate and stuff. Boda man just drives off haha. That's just how it is here though. The pedestrians do not have the right of way at all.

We were supposed to go really far on Saturday, so we got some members to let us borrow their bikes. That was super efficient. We taught 10 lessons, and got 4 new investigators. so I got elder Holyoak to call the mission office to see if we could get our own bikes, and they are now going to let us get some. This will seriously save so much time!

Today, our first P-day, we went to the beach of a lake that is fed by Lake Victoria. This beach is awesome. Some nice, really good sand, and just really fun. We flew kites, played pool, soccer, and volleyball. Got some sodas too. Soda is cheap here, and really good haha. I might end up fat. I'm trying to stay away from all the fattening things here haha. like Rollex, that is a dish kind of like an egg burrito, but its super oily and really bad for you haaha. I'm finding things to eat, but its so different. Posho is gross. Looks like mashed potatoes, but it is super hard, like rubber, and has no flavor at all. Just flour and water. No lie. It's a ball of starch. Then there is matoke. Same thing, but it is made out of unripe bananas that are baked. I like it more than posho though cause the texture is better.

I was having a very hard time for a while, but I am working hard and trying my best to stay on top and stay happy. How are all of you? Hope you're great. You are all so amazing, and I hope your blessings are big ones! Love you so so so much!

Elder Beardall