January 6

Mbote beno !!! Afaso ??

Muke bien.  This week has been relatively uneventful, despite the
craze that is New Year's in Africa.  Not New Year's Eve, mind you,
even though the branch tried to throw a party.  We agreed to come, but
since we were predicted a late start we still had a couple rendez-vous
in the morning.  We showed up 2 hours late...STILL hadn't started.
When they did, our branch president was like, I'd like to take about
20 minutes and then we'll move on with musical numbers and games and
stuff.  FIFTY minutes later it was already getting dark and we had to
go home.  It was pretty sad.

To celebrate, we made fufu and eggplant/sardines ourselves and it
was...sub par, despite the fact that we ate the exact same thing at a
member's house and it was the best thing I've had in months.  The fufu
was actually really easy to make, so you can all look forward to me
preparing that when I get home (can you find casava flour back in the
States...?).  Elder VanAusdal made it up for it by making the most
delicious apple pie which we topped with ice cream.  Then for dessert
Elder Brockbank shared a package of Oh Boy! Oberta terriyaki beef
jerkey with us.  It was a heavenly night, but we were in bed at 10:30
and didn't watch the proverbial ball drop.  We even slept really well
because turns out people celebrate the actual New Year's Day rather
than the night before.

So we premeditated a day of service at the church to avoid getting
ratéd all day.  The gardner had even left the church, so we got
another guard to find us machetes, which we used to edge the
basketball court and one of the trees growing in the church lawn.
Turns out my hands have been soft for too long, so I walked (crawled)
away from that project with 8 blisters on my right hand.  They're
better now, a week later, but for every hand shake that week I bit
back tears.  We shake a lot of hands.  A lot.

Anyway, we left the church and went straight to the Bybees for
burgers, which were of course delicious, and baked potatoe fries which
were also top notch.  I love being over there.  We talked to Elder
Bybee about his studies in Syria and all the artifacts and ancient
Christian temples that are shockingly similar to the temples today
(coincidence? yeah right!).  Driving home, there were crazy people on
the road telling us we were all number one!  They used a different
finger than normal though, but it must be an African thing.  Then we
worked out and realized that we don't have water so we took ice cold
bucket showers.  Happy New Years! :)

On the 2nd we gave a blessing to this really, really old African maman
who doesn't even know us, but recognized that we were doing the Lord's
work.  Needless to say, it was an incredible experience.  Blessings.
They'll never get old.  Neither will the barbecue chicken pineapple
tacos we had that night, holy tolido (do people actually say that
still...?).  Still no water.  Bucket showers and stacks of dishes.

Friday was pretty sweet.  We asked one of our 11 year old
investigators how she feels at church and she said, "I feel really
good!" and we said, "now why do you think you feel good?" and she
said, "because the Lord is there!"  It was so cool!  I just love that
even kids can feel the Spirit testify to them of the truth.  It's
awesome.  God is awesome.

Then, we were walking to another rendez-vous when a guy stopped us and
asked if we were Neo Apostalic, to which we said "no, it's the Church
of Jesus Christ-" and he said "yeah! I have one of your books!" we
were like, yeaahh you and everyone else, blah blah blah he probably
has us mistaken for some other church when lo and behold he pulls out
a ratty copy of "Our Heritage"!  He was like, this is your church? I'm
behind everything in the book. Come teach me!  WELCOME TO AFRICAN
MISSIONS.  It was classic.  And the fun continues.

We were standing under a flagpole waiting for a member to come find us
when we were asked to come over to a house, and then we got called
over to talk to 8 guys hiding from the drizzling rain. People contact
you.  Always.  When we did get to the member's house, his baby brother
was naked and came over to jump on us.  Thankfully he waited until
after that to pee all over the front porch, including the sandals
which his mom put on 5 minutes later.  We said nothing.

We walked another 45 minutes down the way to talk to some more people
and then came home and ate bbq cajun chicken pasta that Elder Baker
made that tasted something just short of heaven.  I eat so well
here...who'da thunk!

On Saturday we were stopped by a captain in the Navy who owns a
"beautiful countryside" with "many fruit trees where birds stay when
they migrate down from Europe."  He invited us to teach him on this
beautiful countryside.  Then we found a lost convert of Elder Davis'
and it was a great experience.  I taught English class that evening
and had a blast talking about phone numbers and giving the time.
Career possibility...?  We came back that night and water was finally
back on, but then power turned off.  Baker did the enormous stack of
dishes while VanAusdal made beef stroganoff while Brockbank and I took
a taxi with 4 25-liter tanks to fill up at the gas station and come
back an hour later.  The generator was finally back on, but didn't
last long. So I had one of the worst night's rests of my mission.

We had church switched to 9 a.m., which was beautiful.  We had a bunch
of new people come to church for the first time, so we talked with all
of them and not a single one lives in our sector, so we had to give
all their numbers away.  Sad.  It was cool though.  We were sitting in
the back on the wall, and so many people were getting up and coming in
and out during sacrament that I got up to bear my testimony and ended
up chastizing the entire branch.  I was shaking at the pulpit, but I
got a lot of thank-yous from members and the branch presidency.  I've
never done that before, and never though I'd ever be able to, but it
just happened so fast!  I'd like to say no one got up for the rest of
the meeting, but there were still like 3 kids who came in and out.
But at least none of them were adults!

Anyway, we broke fasts with sweet and sour chicken, after which I took
a short (hour long) nap, and then I made us chocolate/oreo/banana
shakes which were quite tasty.  Then I didn't sleep.  We were planning
on going to this reserve/forest today, but the Bybees called at 4 in
the morning to tell us it was cancelled because of rain.  Too bad,
maybe next week...?

So actually, this week was pretty eventful!  I guess I forgot haha.  I
hope you all had a wonderful New Year filled with many goals that you
will actually keep throughout the year.  I've made a few of my
own...I'll let you know how I do myself!  If not, there's always room
for repentance.  What a great gift!  And it's free!  All we offer is a
broken heart and a contrite spirit, and God will literally forget all
of the sins we confess to him.  How easy is it to enter into the
kingdom of God, and yet how often do we find ourselves pleading for
forgiveness.  Don't forget to ask the same from your neighbors!
Forgive them, while you're at it.  Even if they don't ask!  It's
always worth it in the end.  I'm so thankful for a Saviour who knows
and loves me and is always calling me back to Him.  He's calling for
you! Listen!  There's the ring!   Pick up!

Elder Garland