April 7th

Oh man did I get humbled running with the XC team yesterday. They did top ten most brutal workouts I have ever experienced. I was hobbling afterward.

After running I logged some time working on a website and ate lots of Ugandan food at the on-campus restaurant. Then Andrew (man who is heading on a local mission in about a month) and I split the elders. A few minutes after leaving the church it started pouring rain, so we stopped in a house. Talk about a captive audience. One problem, no one knew English, including my companion. Since we didn't really want keep walking in the rain, I tried to teach in Luganda. It was pretty bad. "God loves us. We can love people like God loves us. God wants us to choose the right. This is a true book (pointing to the book of mormon). You will be happy if you act like Christ..." Nothing flowed. Anyway, let's just say I was happy when the rain stopped and my companion said we could go.

That evening we had a meeting focusing on the retention of the Mukono ward. We generated some awesome ideas. Instead of splitting into pairs, we are going to do "inactive blitz" where we find inactives in groups of 6+. After stopping by, we will invite them to come, visiting more inactives. We also thought that we should have the bishop write a letter to each inactive member so that we can deliver them personally. They are thinking that the bishops leadership position will have more sway than ordinary "laymen." (a testament to the value placed on leadership positions in Ugandan culture) If the members aren't home, we leave the note, making us unstoppable. Then we are going to have ward activities focused on reactivation. Instead of eating food at the church (the extent of a normal activity), we are going to take that food to the less actives. I'm really excited to see how these ideas turn out.

Today my mother and I spent the day at a clinic in Kyambogo, a tiny village in the middle of no where. The nurses, two of them from Utah, saw patients and tested for HIV. The women showed up en masse, all decked out in traditional dresses and head wraps. Out of the 86 tested, 11 were positive. Three of those were kids. Because of the remote nature of this area, ARV's (anti-retrovirals) aren't really available, meaning a HIV+ reading is no beuno. Anyway, Mom and I talked to the patients as they waited to be seen. I got to do triage and vitals for a long time. I'm really really hoping I could spend a week working at this clinic... It would be so much fun.

I love getting out to the villages! It is so relaxing. No zooming cars, no loud speakers, no crowded streets, just a lot of tranquility. The people so so chill. I'm guessing the average wait time for the clinic was 4 hours today. You just catch up with friends and meet new ones, no one seems to be in a rush. I keep thinking of that billboard on I-15 for Mountainstar with the current average ER waiting time. Not sure that advertising would be effective here.

I'm still trying to get used to the fact that every one breast feeds publicly, sometimes starting mid-conversation. One lady opened her dress up to show me massive oil burns all over her chest. I'm guessing that 20 people were in eyesight.

Ok, kind of a shallow post. I'll have to save more deep reflection for next time.