June 11th 2012

Hey Friends and Family!!!

I guess I should probably catch up on things. Recently (May 19th) I "turned" one year old. As a missionary this can be a great mark to hit, not only to know that you are on the down hill slope, but that you have endured this long and you know that you can endure the rest. When I say endure I don't mean stick it out, I mean stay strong, work hard, teach by the Spirit all the rest of the way. As runners will tell you, the last half is the hardest, which is why the most effort must be put in. In the last few weeks since turning a year I have had an increased motivation to work harder and a greater desire to have the Spirit always. My understanding of the Gospel has increased so much in the last year and I hope to use that knowledge effectively in the year to come.

One thing about the week is that we had a rough time finding new investigators. I could not figure out why, we were tracting, street contacting, asking for referrals and EVERYTHING we could possibly do to get some new people to teach. This Saturday I looked over the week and the numbers which came in. In our missionary planners we have two columns for measuring the day's progress. There is a column to measure the actual work done, but there is also a column to set goals at the beginning of each day. As I looked over the goals columns, we were seriously under-achieving in the goal setting columns, and it was affecting our "actual" column. This Saturday we set a goal to have 7 new investigators, which for those of you who have served missions know can be somehow of a challenge. As we went about our day I prayed for the Spirit to help us meet our goal and God placed people in our way. We met several people as referrals from a Recent Convert, and we tracted into 3 families. Because we set worth while goals, then depended upon the Spirit and our effort to achieve them, God allowed us to have 7 new investigators on that very day. I have a new respect and understanding of the importance of setting and achieving goals. I know that when we set low goals, we will have low performance. A goal is something which must stretch us, make us grow. If we set a goal to get out of bed every morning at 8am and do 2 push-ups as our exercise routine, we will have a 2 push-up a day body. If we stretch ourselves however and say we will start with maybe 20 push-ups a day then steadily increase, we will see the great blessings for our effort.

Today for our "transferly" zone activity we went to a place called Wonder World. It is a small amusement park in Kampala and was actually a lot of fun for these "thrill starved" Elders and Sisters. The greatest temptation was the two water slides which they had in the middle of the place. I can't tell you how much missionaries (especially American missionaries) come to miss swimming. As my top three "worldly" things to do when I get home, swimming is number 2. Ahead of that is flying, (I think you probably all could have guessed that one...) and number 3 is to eat a big Subway sandwich with a large Chocolate Frostee from Wendy's.

By the way...one quick thing I need to mention. Speaking of temptations, I had an incredible temptation which I want you all to know about because it was sooooooo coool!!! So as I have mentioned, or probably not mentioned...Kajjansi here has their own airfield. It is a small dirt strip which can accomodate C-208 (Caravan) and Twin-Otter bush aircraft. I have come to be pretty good friends with the owner of the operation, an American who came here to fly bush planes as his dream. Well...on Saturday, as we were stopping in to see him, he pulled me aside and said: "I have just finished the repairs on my Stinson and will be taking it up tomorrow, you wanna come along?" Now, for those of you who are not so much aviation addicted as myself, a Stinson is one of the most classic bi-planes in the world, and here I was sitting with an offer to go up in one, free of charge. I have no doubt in my mind that if I had been able to go up I would have been able to wrap my hands around the stick and take control of that magnificent aircraft. But, as a missionary, we must follow the mission rules. One of our rules is that we cannot fly in personal aircraft, so I had to refuse this irrefusable (totally butchered the spelling on that...) offer. I pray that God will see my sacrifice and bless me for my devotion in keeping the mission rules. ;P

Thanks for taking the time to read this update.  If you have any questions you would like answered, please email my Mom or Dad (or whoever sends this to you...they will get the question to me and I will do my best to answer it.

I love you all, have a safe week, enjoy the Summer vacation!!!

Love,
Elder Winters



Bumper cars at Wonder World







Slide Tower at Wonder World