Transfers, Street Lessons, anxiety, another robbery, Sister Missionaries, a gift

Elder Ray has gone, and he'll be a zone leader in Entebbe zone. He'll be training a new zone leader named Elder Moss from Colorado who came in my group. Transfers are on Wednesday, and they're sending me to Nsambya to also be a zone leader with Elder Mabaso from Zimbabwe. Even Elder Dube, who I trained, is going to be zone leader here in Jinja with Elder Metemi. Elder Dube skipped the whole district leader and went straight to zone leader. That's the first time I have ever heard of that. He's powerful.

This week we did something I called, "Serious Street Lessons." We put a big table in front of the church by the main road and did some street contacting. We invited many people into the church to take a tour of it. Kind of like "open house" style. But the goal for me and Elder Krueger was to stop a car and invite them to church. It's a pretty busy road. It's the main road for traveling from Kampala to Jinja. But we both managed to stop one car each. Goal accomplished. Unfortunately, we didn't see either one at church.

Saturday was an anxious day. Basically this was the setting. Everyone was pretty sure that I was going to be called as a zone leader. They continuously told me. Now the only reason I would get transferred would be to be a zone leader. And if I was going to be a zone leader, the mission president would call and inform me before the official announcement Saturday night. He usually makes those phone calls Friday night. Well, he didn't. All day Saturday, no call. I just assumed all the speculations were wrong and I was staying. And that was fine. I like my area, especially my companion. But then at 8:00 p.m. the phone rings, one hour before the official transfer announcement. It's President Christensen. He asks me about my area, and my district. I tell him as much as I think is relevant. He then says, "Tell me about the situation you had a few weeks ago." I was a little confused, and as I tried to get an idea as to what situation, the signal died, and the call was lost. Then I realized, he knows about the "prank gone bad." He called back. We talked about the prank... I explained the situation, realizing that he was concerned that it was a form of hazing, and told him that we were stupid and we're very sure we're not going to do any more jokes and that we learned our lesson. He said, "Well said. Now I'd like to call you to be a zone leader in Nsambya." And then just before we hung up, he says, "Thanks again for handling that situation and resolving everything." I like President Christensen. He's pretty straight forward with a gentle laugh. Looking back, I wish I had been a more straight forward with him about the whole situation. But it feels good to have it all out in the open now. And apparently he still trusts me. That's good.

Polygamy is very common here. It's a traditional thing. Well, I should say that it was common. I meet very many people that are products of polygamy. But not too many polygamists themselves. So I guess you could say that it's becoming old fashioned.

For calling on Christmas, check something online called SKYPE.com. It's very cheap. And yes, I wouldn't mind getting another pair of basketball shorts. If you get into my stuff, you can just send another pair that I already have. Don't worry about buying another pair. Brownie and cookie mix is a good idea! If you send Mac n' Cheese, don't worry about sending powdered milk.

Since Elder Ray left last Tuesday, we've been in a threesome all week. Last Monday we were in Kampala. It was nice. But when we got back we realized that we were robbed again! Elder Krueger had $70 stolen from him, and Elder Metemi had his 1GB flash disk taken. Me and Elder Ray were lucky. After much confusion we finally realized that they were coming in through the roof. They were lifting the tiles and crawling down through the attic. So we locked the door that goes back into the hallway where the rooms are and put all our other valuables in the main room. We put tape on the attic door and realized that he came back two more times during the week, but didn't take anything! Weird thief... But on Saturday we did something completely stupid. We left the back door coming into the kitchen unlocked... When we walked in that night, Elder Krueger said, "Elder Wright, where's your speakers?!" I had just bought a 2.1 speaker system, which for Uganda, was pretty expensive. Well, they took that, my CD player, and Elder Krueger's small portable speakers. But they left his CD player! I really don't understand this thief. We had a lot of things sitting in that room.

Being the district leader over the sisters has been fun. It'll be nice to go back with just elders, but being with the sisters has been irreplaceable. Naturally, it's hard to get close enough with them to truly understand them. They kind of just do their own thing.... ...I don't know if it's a gender to gender understanding, or if guys truly are just easier to deal with. But I think that's one of those never ending arguments within society.

Ben sent me some hemp (string). I made a necklace for Sister Forbe's. She loves it! She told me that no one ever made anything for her, not even her children. She said that she has had plenty of bought gifts, but never a hand made one. It was a gift that I think might have truly touched a heart. The power of hemp necklaces...

Have a great week!

Elder Wright