"I have a pretty good testimony of fasting now."

Momma,

Hey homeslice! Wow! I'm sorry you had to spend your birthday at the hospital and at work! I'm glad Lindsay is doing okay. That's scary that there were a bunch of complications. Bleh. I will definitely keep praying for her. That sounds fun to have had Taylor, David, and Janna up. I miss all of you guys! Gah! haha I'll be there for your birthday in a couple years, don't worry. I miss cupcakes...

This week has been a really good learning experience for me. We've been REALLY struggling lately. No new investigators, no one would keep commitments, and just tons of bad stuff like that. We decided to hold a fireside for the members, and we presented some plans for them to go and bring a friend to church, and we talked about the importance of member missionary work. It really is important now because we have to find the elect. But yeah, I think that was actually really effective because a lot of members brought friends to church yesterday. But last week, we had a fast as a district. We just wanted to get the work moving along. As soon as we ended our fast, we got a phone call from a guy that invited us over to help answer some questions, and now he is a prime investigator. So yeah, I guess you could say I have a pretty good testimony of fasting now. Just these past few days have really been looking up. We got 4 new investgatiors, and lots of lessons in, and we are just getting a lot of success. Me and Rami really are improving. We've never been able to just have a chill conversation, but we are becoming friends. I made it a goal last week to get the mindset where I would miss having Rami as my comp, rather than be relieved if one of us gets transfered. It's getting there. We are really starting to hold each other up, and get more work done. So, it's good. We have French class every night. I got a French Bible that I'm reading from. It's really fun haha.

Francis. Ugh. We haven't been able to meet him for 2 weeks, but I got to see him just yesterday when we were on splits. He's just really busy because final exams are coming for his students. But yeah, we are trying a different apporoach. Befriend him rather than convert him. We are helping him build a house next week. Service is huge around here. It really is a good opportunity to gain trust from people. Chris is moving along. He works at a radio station as a DJ so we are trying to get a commercial for the LDS church to kind of counteract some of the nasty rumors that are going around. I won't go into detail with those because I don't want to worry you! hehe.

Yeah, we got to watch priesthood session 4 times, but the rest only once. It's okay, I took good notes for once haha. I really think it would be awesome to go to Rwanda. I hear great things from around there. It's really clean, and they don't even have to wear shirts and ties. They just get to go in a t-shirt and jeans to teach. I'm trying to stay away from the crazies. They are super funny sometimes. This one guys stops us every day and asks for money. I just give him a pass-along card and he gets super excited.

Down time. We cook. Eat. Read stuff. Haha oh and I'm getting really good at chess. I'm also learning a bunch of fun card tricks. I might just be a magician when I'm home. Sites... Not really. Just some memorials for dead folks. Lots of civil wars happened around here, so a lot of buildings have bullet holes in them. I'm trying to eat healthy. We go to the market on Fridays for fresh fruit and veggies. Nice stuff. But a lot of things rot really fast with the humidity, so you have to eat them fast. Pineapple. IT"S SO GOOD. Juss sayin. I found a little English to Luganda book. I'm only learning like, greetings though haha. I am focusing on English only. We aren't allowed to teach people who don't speak English anymore. Apparently I have like, 4 packages waiting for me in Kampala. Awesome, right?!  I will send you guys a card sometime soon. I need more than just a bunch of 2 gig cards though... I can't fit all my pics on them... I would buy another card here, but a 4 gig is like, 100,000. I'm trying to take good care of my things, and hold on to them so they aren't stolen. You can never be too careful around here!

I love you all so much, and I love the support from everyone. It really does help. Oh, and I love to get pictures from home, so send a lot in the mail, or on a card, or even email. Oh.. and when you send another package, could you send me a good headlamp, and a jump-rope? My flashlight is really screwy, and it isn't working very well. Thanks. I hope you all have an awesome week. I am praying for you! Stay amazing, and remember that you are nothing compared to God, but you are still everything to him. He loves us all so much.

Much love,

Elder Beardall