May 5

Hey everyone!!!

What a week.  I made a million cookies on Monday after getting our
groceries and then I told Elder Etherington all about Elemearth and
the Elering series, so that was fun.  I think I'm going to hire the
BYU Animation program to create something based on all that jazz.  I
have way too much time I guess (which is so not true...).
Anyway We had a short day on Tuesday because I had to go to this zone
mission council thing where we went to the Baileys for breakfast, and
then we Skyped with the mission president and all the other zone
leaders in Kinshasa and Brazzaville.  We couldn't really hear anything
unfortunately, but we got some key words here and there.  I got to see
Elder Baker and Elder Gélinas and Elder Lavering in Douala and Gabon
and Yaoundé respectively, so that was cool.  We stayed for lunch, and
then went out to teach Josué on the rails.  He's an awesome kid, and
is definitely ready for baptism this next Saturday.  Armel and Elvis,
the two friends we saw after Jos, are also going to be baptized on
Saturday.  It's going to be a great time.
I convinced Elder Wright that we could just work out in the apartment
and that way we'd have more time to do other stuff in the morning
(opposed to going out and running for 15-20 minutes) so we joined
Elder Johnston in his work out schedule.  Unfortunately we started
with probably the hardest leg work out I'd ever done in my life.  At
the time of course I felt solid, but about 5 minutes after I almost
fell getting out of the shower/tub because my legs almost collapsed
under me.  Well then I had to walk down a flight of uneven stairs, and
then walk around the sector all day.  It was incredible.  I'd never
felt that sore in my entire life.  Thank goodness I have God to ask
for strength!
Richman, one of our less-actives that we're seeing, didn't blow us off
this time, and we had an awesome lesson on the sabbath and how to keep
it holy.  I think he got the message!  We went out to see Darcine and
her family, and Darcine told us how she's brought cigarettes down from
25 to 10 in just 2 weeks.  Amazing.  Then I thought about how crazy it
is that I'm walking around telling people they should stop drinking
and smoking, and then how to do it.  Like, who am I to get people off
an addiction?!  I have no experience except the scriptures to
share...it's crazy, but it works so why the heck not share it with
everyone!
Then we met a taxi driver named Garden, so that was nice.
On Thursday we went on splits so I could interview some of the other
team's baptismal candidates and so Elder Johnston could interview
ours.  I went with Elder Wright into his sector and got to teach some
of the same people that I did last time, so that was cool.  Claude and
Yves, the two brothers I interviewed were both really great.  They'd
had some great experiences that made both of them believe that this
was the true Church.  I had a blast talking to them about it.  We
walked around looking for a recent convert, but he ended up not being
at the house.  As we were walking around these two girls walked by us
and said we were both very handsome, soooo yeah.  We got out of there
real quick like.
Sister Bailey brought us papaya/banana muffins on Friday for district
meeting.  That woman is a saint.  Then Elder Johnston taught an
awesome district meeting lesson about the Book of Mormon and how we
can use it to answer objections to the Church.  Basically it all comes
down to whether or not Joseph Smith was a prophet.  Either this is the
true Church, or it's not!  It's black and white, and there's only one
way you can know for sure - by asking God.  What a cool message we
share with people.  "Hey, if you wanna know if our church is true,
just say a prayer!"  Who else does that?!?
On the way to our last appointment on Friday I asked le controlleur if
I could do his job, and he let me.  So for the next 10 minutes I was
doing the kissy noise and with my head out the side window waving my
hand towards the airport calling out "aéroport ! aéroport !"  It was
so fun.  I think I got about 147 people to die laughing on the side of
the road, not to mention the driver and his partner.  It was great.
This part-member family gave us some frozen bisap (or in Cameroun it
was "folléré," which is hibiscus flowers dried up, boiled, and mixed
with pineapple chunks, an abnormal amount of sugar and a little
strawberry or banana flavoring) on saturday.  It was a great start to
a great day.
Our investigator Parfait (yes, that means "perfect") was baptized
around 16h00.  He asked me to baptize him, and that was a huge honor.
The day before the baptism I was thinking about how wild it was that
this 40+ year old man would ask me, someone half his age, to
accomplish this saving ordinance for him.  That wasn't all, because
the next day he asked me to confirm him, too!  I just couldn't believe
it.  The more I think about it the more crazy it seems.  I really love
the man.  He'll be an incredible example for this country.  This is
the same guy that when we showed up to meet him for the first time he
had told us that after 4 days of locking himself in the room and
reading the Book of Mormon he decided it was true.  If he didn't have
to go through the missionary lessons I would've baptized him that
afternoon!  Since then he's quit smoking cold-turkey and done so many
other awesome things.  Now we're teaching his nephew and sister and
they're both progressing as well.  What a great blessing it is to
teach families.  There's a special spirit there in the home as
everyone learns together.
After the baptism we talked with our recent convert Van, and he's
doing great still.  We prepared for our fast by making a delicious
pizza.  We fasted this Sunday for the families of all the missionaries
and for the smooth transition of the new mission division.
We had 20 investigators come to church on Sunday.  It was wonderful.
We haven't gone under 20 in weeks...blessings of working hard!!!
Unfortunately we now have 0 time to see our recent converts...we're
trying our best, but it's just not feasible.  That's why members are
so important!  We were able to address that in branch council on
Saturday, but we're hoping that something takes action.  After
confirming Parfait, President Caillet asked us to stay on the stand to
help him in a baby blessing, so that was really fun.  The baby behaved
perfectly.  We stayed after sacrament to speak with Darcine's daughter
Maya, and then the Baileys drove us back to their place to break the
fast together.  They're so nice.  We had minestrone without the
noodles with bread, butter, honey, and papaya smoothies and ice cream
for dessert.  I love it here.  It hardly seems like Africa sometimes,
but then we go out and walk around in the sector and it brings me back
down to Earth.  We live in mansions compared to the other shacks we
visit.  Count your many blessings - you live in a country where the
power is on ALWAYS.  The water is ALWAYS running.  You have carpet and
dish washers and washing machines and dryers and refrigerators and
freezers and so many THINGS.  If I've learned anything out here it's
that we don't need all those "things".  We need the Lord, and we need
each other.  We need to love.  That requires no amount of money.  When
I was walking around with Elder Wright this guy stopped us and said,
"Why are you wasting your time here?  God left Africa.  He's in Europe
and America."  For the next 7-8 minutes we just stood there and told
him that God isn't going to ask for $10,000 at the gates of heaven.
All he requires is a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and you can't
buy that with money.  Christ Himself said that His kingdom is not of
this world.  After we were done the guy kept his eyes low, nodded his
head and said, "I understand..." and walked away, solemn and pensive.
If we could only get everyone here to understand that...God doesn't
care about money.  He cares about us!  His kids!  His work and His
glory is give US immortality and life eternal!  The only person who
ever had to pay any kind of price for that gift was Jesus Christ,
through His infinite Atonement.  What kind of sacrifices do we have to
make or prices to pay that are even close to comparison?  If we can
just accept God's will and submit ourselves His work...how much
happier could we be?  After all, "men are that they might have joy!"
I love this Gospel so much.  I wish with all my heart and soul that
you could witness the work that is being done in Africa, especially in
the Congo.
Some day Africans will lead the world in Church membership.  That is for sure.
I'm so excited to keep tabs on the growth here.  From branches to
wards to stakes to missions to temples!!!  Eternal families, one
"Parfait" investigator at a time :)
All my love,
Elder Garland