January 20

Hey everyone!

Just your average week in the Congo, so a billion crazy things
happening every day.  I wouldn't rather be anywhere else in the world
except maybe another crazy place in Africa.  I love it here.  Every
day is an adventure, even if I don't write about all the things that
happen to me every day.

On Tuesday we had to do all our shopping for the next two weeks
because it was raining on Monday when we went out and not a soul was
on the street selling vegetables and all the stores were closed
because it was late.  It was a short day, but we still had a blast.

We were walking along the road when this older man stopped in front of
us with his little posse so we couldn't go passed, and then he squints
down at our badge and says, "ohh they are servants of Jesus Christ"
gives us the biggest smile and asks if we can come visit him when he
gets back from Brazzaville this next week.  Welcome to just about
every day of my life.  We're excited to teach him and his family!

Here's his address -  keep going until you pass the Senegalese shop,
turn right and go down till you see a red roof, cross the giant puddle
and step across the railroad tie bridge that is rusting away, duck
under a bushel of sakasaka leaves and you're almost there! All that's
left is a few yards of beach sand, climb the trash pile that also
serves as part of the road and look for the lady who sells safou in
the left.  There's a hair stylist right in front of her.  Behind the
hair stylist is a man who sells piles of charcoal.  Where he sits is
to the right of a shoe repair man.  The shoe repair man's daughter is
our contact's daughter, so we just need to find her and she'll guide
us the rest of the way through the mango/palm trees and around the
black sludge that was once a friendly sandy road!  Ok that was a
little exaggerated...but it wasn't far off most of the people we
teach!  I didn't even talk about kwanga, lozay, or trois pieces.

Anyway, Thursday was one of the more crazy days in my life.  We were
on splits so our investigator could do her baptismal interview with
Elder Baker, so I went out with Elder VanAusdal into his sector.  We
spent the day in Ngoyo, this growing part of town that used to be the
village until recently.  To get there you go down to the gas station
where they load of busses of 20+ people and drive through the most
crazy routes you can imagine.  Oh, also, it was pouring rain all day,
from the time we left the apartment to the time we got back.  The
driver of the bus to get out there put on an incredible show of
navigation skills.  He worked the giant stick shift and clutch like
someone who'd been driving stick since his exit out the womb.  We were
driving through 2 feet trenches of mud, whipping around corners and
going through tiny alleys between huts, and at one point we went
across this bamboo bridge that was maybe 5 feet long, but had two
separate pieces for the tires to follow.  We were sitting in the front
seats, so we thought we were going to miss it and dive head first into
this big ditch, but then we just flowed right on by and I swear it was
a miracle.  Later in the ride, which I would have happily paid $10 to
go through again and yet only cost us 50 cents each, someone had put a
car door in the path of the bus to get it to stop and demand a toll.
Our bus driver hesitated for about half a second, and then rammed
through the door and continued on his way.  It was awesome.  We
finally got off the bus, got ratéd by our first rendez-vous, but
decided to go see the second guy and come back later.  Well, we walked
probably 30 minutes to get down the road to meet this guy so he could
show us his house, and he didn't have an umbrella.  I gave him mine,
and spent the next 30 minutes walking back the same direction where we
came and was completely soaking sopping wet by the time we got to his
house.  It was raining so hard.  We sat on his floor and he told us
this awesome story about how he'd met missionaries here in
Pointe-Noire, but couldn't get baptized because he was living with his
polygamist father.  So he moves all the way to Ghana, joins the church
there and studies English for the next year and a half, goes to the
temple and is just an incredible man.  On his way back to the Congo,
however, he leaves his church materials with his brother in Benin in
hopes that he'll get them back, but his brother loses them.  Well the
guy kinda gets off track and starts following the Buddhists for the
while, but ends back up in Pointe-Noire and immediately looks up the
church to get back on track.  He came to the church in hopes that he
would run into the missionaries there, without knowing that the
missionaries never actually go to the church.  It just so happens that
the elders were ratéd by someone and decided to go the church to meet
with another investigator, but instead they found this guy who
randomly decided to sit at the church for 20 minutes and met the
elders and gave them his information and there I was listening to this
story KNOWING that God exists and knows us and hears our prayers!!! It
was so cool!! The Spirit was so strong, and all he wanted was a Book
of Mormon to read.  He's such a stud.

Anyway, when we finally left his house it was still pouring, and the
guy's lot had filled up with water all the way up his stairs.  We
dumped probably 2 cups of water out of our shoes, only to put them on
and walk up to our shins down a flooded street.  At least I got my
umbrella back!

The guy we didn't get to see was there when we went back, and he
already has a testimony of the church and has only barely started
reading the Book of Mormon.  We invited him to be baptized and he
accepted, of course!

Then we went to see this wonderful family and talked to the daughters
about their doubts and concerns and committed THEM to be baptized too!
 It was a crazy day.  So much Spirit.  So much awesome.  So much rain.

Our bus home was packed with people who were hating on us the whole
time in Kikongo (the more I learn the more I understand how much
people bad talk us...), except our bus driver who was ripping on them
for being hypocrites and it was great.

On Friday we got to meet the new missionary couple the Baileys, who
are magnificent, at a zone teaching we had, couple with a little
dessert party with coconut cream pie and rhubarb pie and bread and
cheese and fresh fruits and strawberry pinwheel cookies and it was all
so good.  We then went back out to Ngoyo with Elder Bybee and Elder
Bailey, having packed their truck with a bunch of grates for windows
for a house, as well as 30 foot sheets of metal for a roof of a house
that a recent convert is building right next to the beach we went to a
couple weeks ago.  The house is for his two smallest children for when
they grow up.  How unselfish can you get?!  He has sent hundreds of
thousands of dollars, let alone CFA, just for his kids.  I love him.

Elder Bailey said that the baptismal service we had on Saturday was
worth his whole mission to the Congo.  Carlovie, an 11 year old girl
who's been coming to church with us for the last several weeks changed
into her little white jump suit, came into the relief society room and
sat down and just started smiling and crying at the same time, she
couldn't contain herself.  For Africans to show emotion is quite the
exerience, because it's super rare.  I've probably written about that
before when I saw someone cry over the pulpit for the first time.
It's really a special event, even for kids.  So she eventually is ok
and we take pictures (of course no one is smiling but the
missionaries), and then I asked her what hymns she wanted to sing, and
of course she picks "Joy to the World" and then as we start singing
she holds the hymn book up to her face the whole time because she was
crying again haha.  I was leading the music and I had to look away
from her so I wouldn't choke up.  The baptism was perfect, no
problems.

Sunday was great even though not a lot of people came to church
because it drizzled a little in the morning haha.

Today we got transfer information! My dear companion is leaving me to
go to my old sector in Bonaberi to work with my old dear companion
Elder Massé!!!  I get to work with Elder Hatch, who is also super
awesome and came out as the same time as me.  We actually met in the
MTC, and he's actually cousins of a friend of mine from my sophomore
year ward at BYU!  And he's actually 6'6 so that will be great.  I'll
miss Elder Brockbank though, he's been an incredible companion.  He
works so hard EVERY day without fail.  He also loves the people and
everyone here loves him.  It'll be hard to see him go, a lot of people
will miss him sorely, myself included.  I'm sure we'll run into each
other again though, probably in Yaounde!  Until then...

I love you all too, and I miss you!  I'm excited to see you all again,
but I know I'm needed here right now soooo I'll just keep doing what
I've been doing and you'll do the same and we'll meet up halfway
around Christmas and half a ball together :)

Elder Garland