Anyway, what a wild week. I forget to mention that last Monday we
woke up early to watch an AirFrance plane land on the airstrip right
in front of us. It was so cool! We were literally 20 feet away. So
impressive. We got home after writing emails and my dear companion
went with Elder VanAusdal and bought me the most delicious pair of
bright orange LaCoste shorts. They are so awesome (the elders too!).
I wear them around the apartment all the time.
Tuesday was cool! We tried these little yellow berry things I've been
seeing everywhere. Turns out they ship them in from the village.
They're called mingyengye and are very sour, so they sprinkle salt
over a big stack of them and sell (or give for free if your curious
white missionaries) them to you for 10 cents. They taste as good as
they cost! Next time you're in WalMart and see mingyengye, go ahead
and skip over them. We also saw a white nun...so that stunned us for
a while. Every sighting of a white person is a celebration for us.
When you work in the middle of the quartiers it's extremely rare to
see another white person. No wonder we're always the center of
attention.
We went to visit a man on Wednesday who prayed to know if the church
was true, and the first night got nothing. Well, the second night, he
had a vision of a temple (which we'd never shown him) and was welcomed
in by some white guy wearing white clothes and they went and prayed
together and he felt awesome the whole time. His interpretation? The
Church is true! I hope I'm not making it seem like these things
aren't special...they happen all the time, but they blow my mind EVERY
time!!! It's as incredible as when we found out that people carry 155
loaves of bread on their head and just walk around like no biggie!!!
#
Anyway, we went on splits on Thursday, and I got to visit the other
side of Mpaka with Elder VanAusdal. It's funny because the last time
I went with him it rained ALL day, and this time was exactly the same.
Literally from morning until that night it just rained. I gave my
umbrella to an investigator in need, so I was soaking wet after about
10 seconds. We walked for two and a half hours and got ratéd twice,
so that was unfortunate. It allowed us to meet this really cool guy
from Brazzaville. When you knock on a door here, everyone walking by
stops to see what happens. If no one answers, even though it's none
of their business, they always ask you who you're looking for, or if
you're looking for someone. It's the funniest thing. Like, nahh
we're knocking on doors to make noise, that's all! Haha what do they
expect?!
We got to help an investigator pull the cell wall off of the stalks of
these leaves he was going to eat (no surprises there), and while we
were at it we went ahead and taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It was awesome. Later, a member gave us a ride home so we didn't have
to pay for a bus (which would've taken 15 minutes, but the car ride
ended up being over an hour, but we were thankful). We were all
freezing cold that night. For the first time in my mission, I made
hot chocolate to drink with dinner. So good. The power went off, but
I slept like a baby and even used my sheet! Blessings for having
walked in the rain all day, I think.
Friday was pretty sweet too! One of our investigators told us this
story about how he was working on this fishing boat when one of the
lines snapped, thus completely dividing another fishing boat (canoe)
in two. The same line hit him, but only left a small scratch. He is
convinced Jesus Christ himself protected him because of his faith, and
says that if it wasn't for us teaching him, he surely would have died.
So he was really grateful to us.
Another investigator had a vision when she was younger about this
golden lion, the same color of the sun, running across the sky. Then
she had another dream where mermaids visited her and it was really
creepy haha. It's ok because she's an all-star.
Saturday was incredible. We helped a less-active member do his job -
make little books of paper using cardboard, glue, and string. It was
actually really fun. We just cut out cardboard for a while and talked
about church, it was really nice, and now I know how to make a book of
my own! On our way to the church we talked with our taximan Yves who
is actually from Cameroon, so we got to talk about that for the next
hour. We realized it was probably the longest anyone would talk to
him all day. Well in the end, he gave us back 300 francs (of the 1000
we paid him for the ride, which is about $2) so we could buy lunch.
Such a nice guy.
The best part of the day was our baptism. We met this guy Arian on
Valentine's Day. He came to a member looking for work because he lost
both his parents (he's only 21), and was thrown out of school because
he didn't have any more money to pay. So this member (Gaston) took
him under his wing and started teaching him about computers, and then
we showed up and started teaching him the Gospel. After our second
meeting with him we were talking about baptism, and he agreed to be
baptized, and we decided to ask him when he wanted to do it, thinking
some time in april, and he says, "March 1st." We didn't know what to
say, since it was the next week and we'd only seen him twice! Well we
kept working with him for the next week, and by the time Saturday
rolled around he was super ready to be baptized! It was a miraculous
event. A 15 day conversion story. Incredible. He absolutely loves
the church. This is the same guy that said, after his first time,
that it was "perfect." He's so awesome. He told Elder Baker, who did
his interview, that he wanted me to baptize him, even though we all
encouraged him to pick Gaston, so I was super honored to perform that
for him. It was an amazing day. The service went as smooth as
unsalted butter, which is actually just as smooth as half salted or
salted butter, depending on the temperature. Anyway...it was a
beautiful day. Coming out of the water, he just stood there as water
tumbled off him and was staring straight ahead, and he couldn't let go
of me. It was a deep moment for him. It took a couple seconds for
him to let go and wipe off his head and start going towards the
bathroom. I knew it was a significant day for him. Later, we talked
to him about fasting, because yesterday was fast Sunday, and he spent
the rest of the afternoon by himself just walking around the church
yard pondering on what he needed to fast for. Great guy.
The next day he was confirmed, and even though it rained and even
though he didn't have money he walked over an hour to get to church.
We got to meet with this guy after church who is super excited about
the Gospel. We didn't get to see as many people as we wanted to, but
we got to catch up on our weekly planning and now our area book looks
real nice and clean. Then we realized that our apartment has 25
doors. There's 10 in Fouks, 10 in Bonaberi, 10 in Ekounou, 6 in
Bastos, and 3 in Bonapriso. Incredible.
Today we got transfer letters. Mind - blown. I was called to be a
co-zone leader with my good friend Elder Gélinas in the aéroport
sector in the other apartment (Fouks). It's crazy...I only got 1
transfer with Elder Hatch, so I'm super bummed to leave him! He's an
awesome missionary though, so he'll be great. He already knows the
sector....pretty well haha, but I'll give him some more tips this week
and he'll be just dandy. I can't believe it though! What a change of
pace...it's a lot of responsability, but God prepares those He calls,
so here goes nothing! I have a lot of studying to do to be able to be
the best I can be. Crazy.
We're going to Ship Wreck Beach later to enjoy our last P-Day with
Elder Lundberg and Elder Morin. I've been with Elder Morin for the
last 9 transfers, and I worked a lot with Elder Lundberg. It will be
really sad to see them go on Friday. They're the same generation as
my trainer Elder Zurcher, which makes things even more crazy. I'll
miss them a ton. They're the oldies in the mission, and it will be
weird to have them gone. Next is Elder Baker and Lavering, the
Gelinas and Masse, and then me and Hatch! Ah!!! Gotta stay focused,
there's lots still to learn and lots of people to teach! All in all,
the mission just keeps getting better and better. I imagine by the
time it's time to go home they'll have to take me kicking and
screaming. This is truly the best work in the world.
I love you all.
Elder Garland
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