Hello again!
I apologize for the day wait on this letter, we were late getting home from the BEACH. So. Sorry. I’ll explain later.
Anyway, some cultural notes from this week. People don’t believe in lines here. If you’re standing at a window waiting for someone to take your bag, they’ll come up and stand as close to the front as possible, regardless of where you are. I don’t know if they’re just clueless or that’s how it works here, but it was pretty funny as we stood there and watched 3 people come and get in front of us as we were checking bags in front of the grocery store.
Another thing: if you don’t understand right away, they come off as super frustrated and will shout at you so you understand, but they’re not actually upset. I was so confused when I thought I offended this guy because I couldn’t understand what town he was from, so when he spelled it out like really sarcastically I felt like I offended him or something, but then he was laughing about it 5 seconds later. I didn’t know whether to laugh with him or just look really confused or what. My reaction was probably somewhere in between the two.
I started learning another two dialects: Ewondo and Féfé, both of which are completely different. It’s been so fun just asking people about their native tongues. They are really excited to share with you how to say basic things like, “hello,” “how are you?” etc. I love it. It makes a great conversation topic in the taxis.
We learned that one of our investigators used to sing and write music with this famous singer here called Petit Pays (look him up…?), and he knows Eto’o the famous soccer player for Cameroon. I had a dream that we taught him the Law of Chastity, which went really well in my dream actually. He said he would try to start going out with less women. I don’t even know what he looks like.
I went on splits with Elder Morin, and he’s awesome. We just talked the whole day about France and what it’s like to be a professor, and I felt bad because he never wanted to talk about himself. He asked me like a zillion questions, and I was happy to respond. He’s a great missionary, too, and it was super easy to teach side by side with him. I feel so blessed to have such a great apartment of guys.
Elder Andriamamonjy made avocado juice for us the other night – it was heavenly. All you do is blend 2 avocados with a couple spoonfulls of sugar and fill half the blender with water. And it’s so good! Try it!
Elder Zurcher and I got to play with this little monkey at the house where we teach the Tignyemb family. It was so funny because it hated us and loved anyone else who came near it. Basically we think it’s because we’re white. Who knew animals could be racist? It eventually took some peanuts from us, but whenever we got close it would slap at our hands and scream. But it was still really cool to be up front and personal with a monkey! Probably won’t ever get that experience again.
We have this investigator who really wants to be baptized, but her husband was against her meeting with us. We told her that if she wanted to be baptized she needed permission with her husband, and she got really upset and cried and set it wasn’t fair because it was a personal choice, etc. etc. etc., but that she would do it our way anyway and ask him. We told her we would fast and pray so that he would say yes. Her niece/neighbor, a member named Kédi, said he would never yes until his dying day. Well, we prayed that night and got up the next morning to a text from Kédi that said she had had a dream that Marcelle (the woman who wants to be baptized) wanted to go on vacation with her friends but didn’t have the money for transport. She knew one of her friends had money, but she was nervous to ask, but when she asked eventually the friend gave her the money. She thought it was an answer that Marcelle’s husband would say yes, and turns out it was! She asked that same night we talked and he said she could do whatever we wanted. It was a huge blessing. We were so excited that we fasted that day anyway just in thanks. Let’s just say the pizza we made that night was heavenly.
I made a tie! We found this really dirty, nasty dress smashed into the street, but the design on it was pretty sweet. I stuffed it in my backpack in hopes of making a tie with it later. I took an old tie of my companion’s and used the pad that was inside to fold the fabric around, and then I sewed it together. It actually ended up looking pretty dang sweet! Plus it was orange, sooo that’s the best part, other than the fact that I made it myself. New hobby for when I go home…?
We saw this enormous tree that had fallen across the road on a car parked on the side of the street. It was a disaster, and blocked the left side of the road, so naturally all the cars just started forcing themselves onto the opposite side into oncoming traffic. People are pretty much used to that here anyway, so I guess it was normal.
Sunday was fantastic. We had 14 investigators at church, and we were actually missing quite a few others who were supposed to come. It was formidable. I got to bless the sacrament in French for the first time, and that was really cool too. There were two Americans there from the Navy and Army just there on business with their respective branches, and it was great to speak real English with someone other than my companion, but I admit I felt like a social wall in between us. I had no idea how to act around normal white people. I feel much more comfortable slapping hands and throwing around African slang with the natives here than I do with my own kin. What the heck. We also had an investigator walk 2 hours to get to church, so that was awesome. One of those guys that was just destined to meet the missionaries. We love him already.
Ok the most exciting part of our week was definitely going to the beach. We got up at 6 to catch the bus by 7. I should’ve known that African standard time even applies to public transportation. That is to say, we got there by 6:45, the departure time had changed to 7:30, and then it didn’t leave till 8. So we got to the beach town, Kribi, around 11. We drove out a couple miles to the Chutes de Lobé, these falls that pour into a small bay. It was beautiful. Not very tall, but the view from across the bay was breathtaking. I couldn’t take a picture that would justify what I could see with my eyes, as it is with a lot of things here. Anyway, I took a ton of pictures anyway as we hiked up along the tumbling waters, and I’ll throw in a few for your pleasure. We ate lunch at the base of the falls, and as the tide started to climb up the beach, we took out the soccer ball, frisbee, and Nerf football and played for the next hour or so on the beach. I went for a run to see what was on the other side of the bay, and as I was running I just had the craziest realization that I AM IN AFRICA, RUNNING ON THE BEACH, WHAT THE. I just stopped and started laughing because the idea seemed so ridiculous and surreal. I could just see the map of the world, and could place myself right on the cost of Central Africa and it was just so funny to me. I love it here. What am I going to do when I have to talk with white people again…?
Our chauffers didn’t show up to pick us up for like an hour and a half after we were supposed to leave the beach, so by the time we got back to the bus there were people who had been waiting for over an hour to leave for home. While we were waiting back on the beach, however, I got to play a little guitar! It was waaayyyy out of tune, the strings were rusted over 3 times, and it was tuned down about 9 steps, but it still felt so good just to hold in my hands. The guy who it belonged to was really cool too. A Rastafarian who believed in One Love, of course. He loved to improvise singing and was actually wicked good at it. It wasn’t long before we had to leave, unfortunately, but I was happy. We crammed into an already packed bus, and I squeezed in the back with a middle-aged French man. Here’s something to say about French culture: I talked with this man for over 3 hours as we drove home about just about everything. Travel, food, religion, family, you name it. When I got off and we shook hands, I still didn’t know his name. I knew about his girlfriend, his work, what his life philosophy was, what his favorite meal was, where he’d been in the world, and didn’t know his name. Either way, he was so cool. He looked exactly like my friend Baptiste, and acted the same too. It was kindof trippy. Anyway, we climbed up the stairs to our apartment sun weathered, exhausted but totally content.
I love you all! Don’t hesitate to write me, even if I don’t get back to you. I have less and less time to respond, but I can always read. Thanks for everything you do. Stay safe! Laugh, love, and pray often!
Elder Garland
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