November 18

Ok so I have 30 minutes to write about the week, which usually takes
me an hour, so here we go...

I made yogurt and hamburgers Monday night, and they both turned out
delicious, not bad for my first time!

On Tuesday we had a full load of people to see, which was a great
change of pace from working in Douala.  I love it.  Elder Brockbank is
a really hard worker, which I love.  We bought ourselves a mango off
the street and got yelled at by a few people for standing in the shade
to eat it.  Apparently that's rude, but only if you're white haha.

During one of our lessons I had a heart-wrenching experience where I
was talking to a woman who was sewing and not really paying attention,
and then right outside a child starting screaming as his mother
mercilessly wailed on him with some stick or another.  My heart sank,
my stomach churned, and though my mouth was producing words I was
silently praying for the poor soul.  It's one of those culture things
that I don't think I'll ever be ok with or ever get used to.  I
absolutely hate it.  Anyway.  Needless to say we didn't spend much
more time at that lesson.

Wednesday was nice because the Bybees brought us these oat-flour
muffins that were actually quite tasty.  They don't eat chocolate or
sugar or white flour, but they're awesome and have the greatest
stories about working in Kinshasa as the Public Affaires couple.

We walked about 45 minutes down these railroad tracks to get to one of
our sectors, it was crazy.  I'm learning so much Kikongo so fast.
It's different here because EVERYone speaks it.  In Douala there were
like 20 different languages, and you never know where someone is from.
 But we call our taxis in kikongo and order food and do a lot more, so
it's been really fun.  I'm loving it.

That night Elder VanAusdal made this delicious sweet and sour chicken
and fried rice that I died for.  Chicken is something that you can't
find in Cameroon for cheap, and here it's the cheapest meal.  We eat a
lot of chicken.

We had a great district meeting on Thursday, and then went out for the
day.  On our way to our first rendez-vous this maman holding a table
on her head with one hand and holding a giant water jug in the other
hand made a B line for me and started yelling at me in a mix of
incomprhensible French and kikongo.  She shoved the jug in my face and
was very upset but I had no idea why.  We just kept walking while she
yelled threats at us over her shoulder.  It was one of my more fun
moments.

During another rendez-vous the investigator took a picture of us while
we were talking, and then we heard the very obvious CLICK of her phone
as she took another one while we were praying.  It was hilarious.

I started exercising again, but not like I used to.  My companion has
this daily program that ressembles something like P90-X so it's been
really intense and let's just say I didn't have the easiest time for
the first two days haha.

The only thing that happened on Friday was that we sat down with a
friend of an investigator or turned out to be a Jehovah's Witness,
and...we all know how that ended.

We had two baptisms on Saturday, so we had a great day.  We also teach
English on Saturday nights, and it's been a great experience so far.
It reminds me of teaching in France, but with the intelligence of
teaching my students at BYU.  I've loved it so far.  I hope I continue
to love it.

Sunday was as awesome as it always is.  We had a lot of people at
church and then we went home and planned for the week and ate
pancakes.

Now it's Monday and I won when we played bump during basketball so I'm
kindof stoked about that.  I do miss playing soccer though, so I hope
I can motivate everyone to play next week.  I'll keep you posted!

The Congo is awesome.  There are enormous piles of trash everywhere.
I walk around on beach sand everywhere.  The taxis are blue.  The
people are hilarious.  The food is delicious (saka saka, cuanga,
bisap, etc.).  My companions are incredible missionaries.  The work is
progressing at an unprecedented speed.  We literally do not have time
to see all the people who want to learn.  I miss you all, but I am so
busy here that I've come to learn what it means to lose yourself in
the work.  Whenever I hear from you it lifts my spirits and reminds me
that there is still a life for me after I get home, but I'm not
exactly looking forward to it.  Maybe it's because I know my time
isn't nearly close to being up.  I love it here.  I have seen miracle
after miracle after miracle.  I can say with assurance and pure
conviction that God exists.  He knows you.  He loves you.  He cares
about you.  Pray to Him and tell Him how you feel about Him!

I love you too, even though that might have a little less impact haha.
 Be nice to your brothers and sisters and parents and I will see you
soon enough! :)

Elder Garland