September 16th

Lapia everyone !

As this week comes to a close, that marks the end of my fifth transfer.  My last companion, Elder Lundberg, is going back to Congo, but he’s the only one leaving.  It’s sad because he’ll most likely end his mission there, so we won’t get to see him again.  Otherwise, Elder Massé and I are excited to continue working together for at least another 6 weeks!

Every day seems to be more and more like the day before, so not a lot to note this week…on Tuesday, the most interesting thing that happened was that as we walked out of our second rendez-vous it started pouring rain, so for the next 30 minutes as we walked we got drenched.  And then it rained for the rest of the day, so by the time we got back we were soaked to the bone. 

On Wednesday I gave the lesson during district meeting about the importance of bearing testimonies, and then I cried so that’s normal.  We walked from there to meet up with a less active member an hour and a half away.  We thought we were lost, but every time we asked the place we were going everyone would just wave in the direction we were already heading and say, “just keep going!”  Finally we decided to give the guy a call so he could look for us at this landmark of a building that was a really cool Catholic parish/school, but as we were explaining where we were we ran out of credit. So we kept walking.  Finally we found the place, and paid a woman 100 CFA (like 20 cents) to use her phone for 15 seconds. 

On our way back home that evening we stopped by a recent convert’s house on a whim, and when we heard music blasting from his house we decided it would be funny to go in through the back door and scare him.  Well the joke was on us, because when we snuck inside he was standing in the middle of his living room butt nekked, drying himself off with a towel.  Lesson learned.  He said he saw us as we backed out of the house and thought we were robbers and he was going to get his “gun,” which was an “AK-47,” which we asked him to show us which was actually just a machete haha.  Anyway.  I’ve seen way too many naked people here. Don’t worry, the Church is still true.

We left our apartment two hours earlier than usual on Friday, and when we got back to eat and do language study I passed out for an hour and a half until my companion woke me up to go to our last rendez-vous.  I didn’t sleep that night.  Lesson learned.  So many lessons…

Last week we made cookies again, but I ruined it by not adding enough sugar, and when we realized that it was because we were measuring with a metal cup instead of an actual measuring cup it was too late, but we added more sugar anyway.  Then throughout the week we made batches of cookies and I ruined almost all of them by forgetting that they were in the oven.  So we took an exercise band and took the rock hard cookies and slingshotted them out the window into the field next to our house to help fertalize the soil of course. 

Sunday was a bit of a rollercoaster.  We were ecstatic to see our most recent convert still coming to church, and this time with news of bringing her sons soon.  We gave her 4 Books of Mormon and lots of brochures.  After church we made dinner and I was honored to give a blessing to a member who is starting school today.  Blessings get me every time.  It’s so cool to just open your mouth and listen as the words come out.  I love it.  He gave me a big hug, and not long after he left the other elders from Bonapriso came over to stay the night so they didn’t have the traverse the bridge in the morning traffic to come play soccer.  We ended up playing night soccer in this little patch of grass in front of our apartment building as it poured rain.  When we went back upstairs we realized that no one had extra clothes and we didn’t have towels, but we did our best with the fans we had to make everyone a little more comfortable.  They’re real troopers.  It’s always a blast getting see those guys.  It’s a breath of fresh air.  We played this morning, and this time I had a sweeettttt left footed, cross body flying volley off a cross that drilled the back of the tiny net.  Oh baby, it was slick.  African ESPN.  There were some people who came to watch us play (not every day that you see a bunch of white guys playing soccer in your neighborhood), and they were all imitating the goal after and smiling and laughing and it made me feel like a million bucks. 

The Gaileys came to watch us play for a couple minutes, then they gave out the transfer letters.  We were all shocked that Lundberg was being split with his trainee Elder Beutler.  Usually they stay together for two transfers.  Elder Nyom, the Cameroonian branch member that’s been living with us for the last six weeks is finally going back across the bridge to Akwa, and he’s being replaced by Elder Davis from Yaoundé.  It’ll be weird living with four Americans again, but I’m excited.

That’s about it! Time is still flying by.  In less than a month I’ll be 23.  Then it will be Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and then I will have already been here for a year.  Oh man. 

Don’t forget that I love each and every one of you and that I pray for you every day!  Sometimes it’s hard, but I promise that this mortal life is but an instant in the eternity that you have left to live!  Live it up while you’re here, but keep in mind that you have so much more to live for that comes AFTER this life that will depend on how you lived here on Earth.  Anyway, I know we’ll all end up in the Celestial Kingdom eventually, so I’m not worried :)

Elder Garland