December 9

Hello world!

Life is wonderful.  It's a little difficult now that I went up for a
rebound playing basketball and came back down on my ankle and now it
looks like a grapefruit, but nothing is broken so here goes week 6 of
my first transfer in Congo.

I made myself a sweet tie last Monday, which will inevitabally go to
Elder Brockbank when we part ways.  He, in return, made me a sweet
belt out of plastic rope we found in the marché.  We're the best of
friends.  Elder Lundberg came over to dine with us that night on
splits, and I made more peanutbutter cookies.  As I put the first
batch in the oven the generator ran out of gas and since there was no
more gas cans left we spent the next 2 hours in the black and miracles
exist because that first batch of cookies turned out perfectly and
warmed our little hearts as we ourselves cooked in our beds.

It's ok because the Bybees came to the rescue (the next day) and
refilled our gas cans and then on Tuesday we got up and left early to
see people who go to school in the afternoon, and I learned a lot of
kikongo and bought a cup of mashed mango which SURPRISE was salted
beyond edibility.  So unfortunate.  The best part is that we had
grenadine sodas and chocolate bread and that night I made
CHEESEburgers with a block of white cheddar that we bought on Monday
because we all miss America.  After dinner and ripping my body apart
a.k.a. exercising I was taking a shower and hello the generator ran
out of gas again.  I figured the missionaries would fill it up again
and start it which, thankfully, they did, so I just stood awkwardly
sudsy until the lights and water came back on.

Wednesday was fun.  Every day is fun, but it's not every day that we
get fed.  One of our less active members gave us a giant pot of saka
saka again, which we saved and made in a peanut sauce that night over
rice.  Delicious.  Before we got to her house we noticed a car that
had tanked into a sand bar (just kidding the whole road is one sand
bar but this car was actually bottomed out this time), so we dropped
our stuff to help.  When white people do any sort of labor it becomes
a national event and everyone crowds around to watch.  Not to help,
just to watch the mundele work.  So here we are, digging in to the
sand with this poor taxi driver and huffing and puffing as another guy
tries to start the car to no avail, and eventually they're really
thankful but tell us they'll just call a tow taxi and sent us on our
way.  People seem to be embarrassed to ask for help, but are super
thankful when you do.  I love random service opportunities.  We're
always on the watch.

I received a Congolese name on Thursday - Masala, which means, one who
works hard.  I conveniently learned how to ask and give your name in
kikongo, so all day I was saying to little kids "kwiza munu mbote ! wa
faso ? muke bien. kumbia nghe nani ? kumbia munu masala, muke na
kilengi mingi." proceeded by bursts of laughter and cheers from people
standing there listening to the white guy speak their language.  They
absolutely love it, and so do I! Learning more every day...

I also noticed that there are tons of foosball tables in our sector.
Instead of actually playing soccer (because they don't have balls to
play with) they play "baby foot" next to the bars.  It's really funny
to watch, because they're actually really good.  One of those things
you never expect to see Africans doing, ever.  Right along side with
rollerblading.

On Friday we had an awesome time with President and Sister Cook who
came through our mission stopping in all the cities to see the
missionaries.  We learned a lot about being "quick to observe" and the
difference between being agents and objects, teaching with the Spirit
and by the Spirit.  It was really cool.  I love meeting with them,
they're always a blessing and boost to our moral.  In normal missions,
an elder could see his president several times a week.  We're lucky if
we see him once a month!  Anyway, we shared some Christmas videos as
we did interviews, and after we ate a fantastic meal prepared by the
Bybees.  We had leg of lamb, steamed veggies, potatoes, pomegranate
salade, mixed juices, and for dessert homemade muffins with a fruit
medley and homemade whipped cream.  It was divine.  Without the couple
missionaries we would suffer dearly.

Sister Cook also brought us ties from their stake back home, so I
ended up with an awesome stained glass looking tie that I love.  It
was a great day.

Saturday was pretty great too.  We stopped by a less-active member's
house to say hello, and it turns out he was going the same way we
were, so he offered us a ride in the taxi that he'd already paid for.
It was so nice.  I love these people.  We had a baptism at the church,
and of course the baptismal font wasn't filled and the water wouldn't
turn on, so Elder Brockbank and I started filling it - one bucket at a
time.  An hour later, the Bybees showed up and told us there was a
magic switch that got the water going, so 3 cheers for the senior
couple!  Everything went really smooth after.

Church is always fantastic.  It's a little discouraging when there's
no one there because of torrential downpours that happen the night
before, but we kept our hopes up.  Our branch president gave us this
hilarious accordion talk for like 30 minutes when the 3 other speakers
were finished in seriously 15 minutes.  Then the Bybees gave us our
transfer letters and I found out that my trainer is going to open the
country of Gabon and I couldn't be more proud!  I wouldn't send any
other missionary in his place.  He's seriously the most outstanding,
hardest working missionary out there.  I love him, and I feel super
blessed to have worked with him for as long as I did.  He's the best,
and Gabon deserves the best.  I'll be staying at least 6 more weeks
with Elder Brockbank, and we're both really stoked about that.  It's
been an awesome transfer with not a single problem between us.  We's
like peas and carottes.  Then we came home and the Bybees helped us
get more gas and gave us a keyboard that had been at their apartment
forever that apparently used to be at our place before, so now my
companion is teaching me how to read music and play piano like you're
supposed to, instead of cheating by looking at how other people play
and learning like that.

Anyway, it's been an incredible week.  I love you all and I hope you
have as much fun as I'm having.  I believe fun exists even in America,
even if you're not a full-time missionary.  So go have some fun!  I
forget that it's cold back home, but I'm sure you can figure something
out.  While you're at it, help a random neighbor with some random
chore, see if you don't become the best of friends! :)

Elder Garland