November 3

My salutations are about to change to Lingala - I'm being transferred!  I'll tell you where in a minute...

We had quite the week. Again.  I admit things are going by a lot faster than they have been the last couple weeks.  I can't believe it's already November...on Tuesday we had the biggest rain storm since last May.  The worst part is that we decided to leave early so we could see some of our investigators before school, so we were in the rain literally all day.  Jhostavie came to work with us, too, poor guy.  His phone was ruined, but God will bless him so much.  When we showed up to our first rendezvous, she wasn't even at the house. 

It was too early for us to go to our next appointment, so we went down the railroad tracks to see Charly, our inactive friend who's been coming back to church!  He happened to have come home from work 15 minutes before we showed up, and then when we sat down with him it started to dump rain.  It was so loud that we had to shout-teach him.  I think the Spirit was there, though...it was kindof hard to tell haha.  It died down enough that we could talk like normal people after a while, and he was really thankful for our visit.  He was like, "Wait you can't go back out into the rain! You have to stay!"  But we just smiled and told him that's how we do, and stepped out into the storm, singing "Called to Serve" at the top of our lungs as we walked down the tracks.  It was pretty sweet.    

Across the tracks, our next rendezvous was literally in a house surrounded by a moat of water.  There was an unfinished wall of an unfinished house (welcome to Africa) that we jumped on to get closer to their land, but then we had to scale another wall, jump onto a corner of mud, and then his grandma came over and pulled down the metal sheet fence so we could come in.  Then we had to duck under a fallen shelter, jump on some planks of wood, and THEN we were at the house.  He was surprised to see us, but happy to have us come talk to him about obedience and reading the scriptures. 

On to our next rendezvous way back on the other side of KM4, but we stuck to the main road and grabbed tree branches to dump rain on each other.  We already soaked, now we were having fun with it.  People probably thought we were crazy.  Since we left early, we took a break for lunch and sat down in a bar with some old guys sharing a few beers and ordered chicken gizzard brochettes with kwanga.  One of the old guys was like, "You eat manioc...?  Hey!  Give him another one on me!" haha it was awesome.  I've grown to love casava...I wonder if I'll even find it in the States.  I guess we'll see in a month or so.

From there we went out to see another friend, who didn't end up being home.  We went to her parents' house deeper into the quartier, and that's where we started having problems.  People were setting up toll bridges to get across inaccessible parts of the quartier due to flooding.  We didn't have money for that, but when we would approach the bridge other people would come up and be like, "Come on, let them pass!  They're doing work for God!" and they would rip on the bridge guys until eventually they let us pass.  At another bridge further away, the guys absolutely refused to let us pass for free.  Someone tried to pay for us, but the bridge troll was really mean this time, so we tried to go around.  After an HOUR of trying different routes and alleys and backtracing, we were obliged to dive in up to our shins in the water.  It was uncomfortable, to say the least...I tried not to think about the countless microbes and critteres swimming around my toes as we went off to see Stanny in OCH.  They were so happy to see us, and though we were soaking wet they let us in their house.  The plastic chair I sat in quickly formed a pool of water right under my tush, so that was nice.  I was just happy to see them happy!  Plus, after asking God who should baptize and confirm him, Stanny had a dream that I baptized him, so that was pretty sweet.  We saw some more people, but that was the most tired I've been at the end of a day than I've been in a long time.  It was sweet and sour, but worth every minute.

At 4 in the morning I woke up to the flashlight tricking my brain into thinking it was already daytime.  Elder Sperry has no idea how it got turned on...so that was weird.  I got to sign up for all my classes 3 hours later, and they all went through as planned.  I only have class Tuesday, Wednesday night, and Thursday.  Perks of being a senior!  Then while we were making lunch Sister Bailey knocked on the door telling me my flight plans came in.  I may have ran down to their house.  To my surprise, my day's been moved up even further - I leave the 17th of December, a week before Christmas, to come home around 4 p.m. the 18th.  What was the most surprising was that my first flight left from Brazzaville, not Pointe-Noire...I wasn't sure what that meant, but I planned on asking President Monga during his visit for the weekend.

We went out to district meeting, came back and had studies, and then went out to teach.  Daniele wasn't home yet, so while we were waiting I gathered a group of kids who came to admire us and had them sit down, and then I proceeded to teach them the Restoration in Kikongo.  That was a blast.  I just asked them a bunch of questions and taught them about Christ and what He did for us.  It was really fun.  After Daniele's we went out to split at Grande Mosquee, but on the way we saw a semi truck load that had fallen off and literally pancaked a taxi on the road.  We don't know if anyone was in there, but we're hoping it was just parked...anyway, it was pretty crazy.  Lots of people were there to take pictures, but no one was helping anyone with anything.  Classic.  That night I had risotto and sweet and sour chicken with the Foucks elders and slept like a baby on Elder Johnston's box spring bed.

On Thursday I had the pleasure of working with Elder Naughton in their sector and got to do an interview which  turned into a birthday party.  We had cake and yoghurt, which gave me heartburn for the rest of the day.  It's ok though because it killed my appetite and I wasn't hungry when we were supposed to eat lunch and didn't have time.  I got to see a recent convert that Elder Sperry and I taught, Fall, out in the sticks.  He's still doing awesome, so that made me happy.  Another friend of theirs, Atchou (yes, like the sneeze), offered us some soda when we came over.  We finally came back to the apartment for "lunch," but only ended up eating a cookie.  It was awesome to just hang out with Elder Naughton and to teach with him.  He's a great missionary, and he'll make a great difference in Gabon when he gets his visa.  He's one of those guys I could hang out with and never get tired of haha.        

I've been learning how to bite my tongue recently.  It hasn't been easy, but I definitely feel a change in my heart towards the people who mock us.  It's been great.  I hope I can practice that back home. 

On Friday we met a guy who was in contact with my trainer, 3 years ago, and wants to come back to church.  He was born in Jamaica and raised in Liberia, so his English is pretty hilarious.  Sister Bailey gave us popcorn balls for Halloween, and to pay her back Elder Sperry and I went Trick Or Treating in African maman garb and gave them a plate of cookies.  They laughed pretty hard at our outfits.

We welcome President and Sister Monga on Saturday morning on our way to out, and then we went out to the baptism.  It went super smooth, both Stanny and Daniele.  They were so happy! :) 

Sunday was stressful, however.  A million people were there, and though sacrament was first there were lots of people.  After church President asked us to set apart 15 branch missionaries.  Then we had to see a bunch of investigators, and more people were asking me to solve all their problems that I don't know anything about.  It's nice to feel important though...I've just been here for too long haha.

Which brings me to my last point - President told me during breakfast this morning that I'm going to Brazzaville to end my mission.  I'll leave next Tuesday or Wednesday.  There will be many changes, but I'm excited.  I'm sad to leave the Baileys and the other elders, but I know the work will go forth here and that people will come to Christ.  Hopefully I'll have more information about my companion and all that jazz next week, but this is my last full week in Pointe-Noire, after a whole year of working here...anyway.  That's it.

Love you all.

Elder Garland

October 27

Well, the Internet for the computer that I'm typing on isn't working,
so I'm using Notebook and praying that eventually I can just copy and
paste this to send home...

We had a great FHE with Darcyne's family last week after writing home.
We went over there and, with the help of Sister Bailey, taught a
lesson on obeying their mom by playing Simon says.  Afterwards we made
a paper chain of different tasks they could do around the house to
help their mom and then when they're done they can clip off the chain.
They loved it.  I just hope they keep going without us...

Tuesday was pretty normal, except that we watched two 1940's style
fighter jets land at the airport.  You know the kinds that have the
mouth and teeth painted on the front?  Yeah, but Congolese so it was
extra intimidating.  When we went out to see our new investigator
Nathanael he told us about how he'd already read all of 1st Nephi.  It
was amazing.  He's probably through Mosiah by now.  I can't wait to
ask him tomorrow.  He's stellar.  He's the first vegetarian I've met
in Africa, if I haven't said that already.  He also blinks a lot,
haha.  But he grows his own cabbage, so that's cool.  We're looking to
help him farm some time for a service project.

We finally got to see Dieu-Merci at home.  His mom hasn't been letting
him go to church because she consulted a witch doctor and they told
her the church was evil and sacrifices young men :( we're hoping that
through visits from the other young men and us that her heart will be
softened and all will be well.

We met up with the Pointe-Noire elders at the hospital the next day
and sent off Elder Sperry to babysit Elder Bybee at their apartment
house.  He's still recovering from his surgery, so he can't do too
much unfortunately.  Meanwhile, Elder Johnston and I went out to do
some interviews for our upcoming baptisms.  We ended up having a
couple extra minutes before our first interview, so we went out to see
Loic, another friend of ours, and then we went out to see Hermeland.
Well...he wasn't there.  And when I called him he had apparently been
called into work on an emergency, so that was frustrating.  He was
willing to do just about anything the next day to make up for it though, and
fortunately the Pointe-Noire Elders were in the area getting Elder
Bybee's bandage redressed, so they were able to take care of the interview then.

Before, however, we were walking on the rails to Josna's when we were
stopped by this very professional man who said he'd found an
insufficient amount of information on Google about the Church and
wanted a Book of Mormon.  We were very happy to give him one.
Unfortunately, he doesn't live in our sector, but I'm sure the other
elders will love teaching him.  Afterwards we went out to do Josna's
interview, and that went pretty well.  She's the one that's been
studying with the Pointe-Noire elders but just barely moved into our
sector.  We went out to see Daniele, but en route ran into her older
sister who told us she'd left for the hospital earlier and wasn't at
their grandma's house where we'd planned on meeting.  Instead, we
walked together to see if she'd be at their house, but she wasn't.  I
gave her sister our phone to call her grandma and see if they were
anywhere near, and turns out they were on their way but didn't say how
much time it would be.  We left in hopes of coming back to find her,
but right as we were walking out I heard, "Elder Garland!!" and it was
Daniele, just getting back.  So she aced her interview and then we
headed out to the Foucks apartment to change up again.

I don't know if I ever told you about Evangelist Destin...he's this
really crazy preacher guy who roams the streets of KM4 and la Base and
we always run into him.  He was the first person we saw on Thursday,
and it was just comical.  He always quotes a scripture at us and then
says, "God bless you" and peaces out.  What is his purpose in my
mission I wonder?!?

Down by Josna's house we were sitting down with the 14 year old cousin
of a member.  Her name is Willvie, and we'd given her the Book of
Mormon the other day and told her to pray about it.  We said that when
she finishes praying though, she shouldn't just get up and go about
her business, but that she should give God a minute to respond to her
questions.  When we went over to her house on Thursday she said that
she did as we told her, and that as she listened to her heart she felt
like God was telling her that it was true.  It was a very humble
testimony, but it touched my heart as well and I knew that what she
was saying was true.  How cool that God will speak to ALL of His
children who search in honest desire to know the truth!  I'll always
remember that.

After weekly planning we split with the Mpaka elders.  I went over to
Mpaka and Elder Tripp came over to l'Aeorport.  I always enjoy going
back to Mpaka.  Elder Ralison wasn't feeling great, so Elder Naughton
and I made 500g worth of spaghetti and tackled a half a kilo of beef
for our sauce.  It was most excellent.  The sweetest feeling was
sleeping in the ice box with a big, cozy blanket.

I followed the others around the next day in my old sector and got to
do a few interviews for them.  The best part was seeing a recent
convert of mine who'd kinda disappeared - Arian.  He looked good, and
he was really happy to see me.  That made me feel good.  Now I just
hope he keeps going back to church!  The good news is that he was
sitting down with Elder Etherington and Nkulu and getting an earful
from them.  That's always motivating for Africans.

On Saturday the Young Women were having an activity but couldn't
figure out how to work the oven, so they asked me to save the day.  I
was happy to help in return for a piece of the cake they were learning
how to cook, haha.  We had been out to see Lovely, but she wasn't at
home.  Neither was Elsa, who we were hoping would teach with us.  We
had to go back to the church to meet with Paco for coordination
meeting, and on our way we called and invited several other members
who we thought would be called as branch missionaries.

Hermeland's baptism went off without a hitch.  He'd asked Paco to
baptize him, but had only met him once and couldn't even remember his
name haha.  Classic.  He bore his testimony afterwards and I guess it
was really nice - Elder Sperry and I regrettably had to leave to go
teach the Preach My Gospel class that we decided to start for the
branch missionaries, but at least the class went well.  There's been
some parachutists training right above the church, so we got to see
some on Saturday.  It was pretty cool.  I hope I get to go skydiving
some day...just a side thought.

We had another 24 investigators at church.  They just keep coming...5
of them were new, and 2 live in the Mpaka sector.  One of them was a
girl who told us at the beginning, "Oh I was invited by a brother..."
and by the end confessed that the "brother" was actually God.  God had
invited her to come pray at our church.  That's a pretty good start to
a testimony! :)  One brother gave an incredible talk about what makes
the church true.  He talked about how if you let a blind person touch
an elephant and have him describe to you what an elephant is, though
he's not lying about what he can feel he won't be able to give you the
whole picture.  The Church is the elephant...there are good churches
in the world who preach the Gospel of Christ - they're telling the
truth!  But there's something missing that doesn't make it the whole
truth.  In the Church we have the WHOLE truth!  What a blessing it is
to know that.

There were 5 million people who wanted to talk to me after church,
which is what makes church stressful, but it always works out in the
end.  We chatted with the Mpaka elders who came afterwards, and I got
to do another interview for them, but eventually we had to go out to
see Josna.  Unfortunately, she wasn't at the house.  We walked all the
way back passed the church to Raoul's house to meet his friend that
came to English class who happens to be living at his house.  Well, he
wasn't there either.  We took advantage of being with a member though
to teach Desty, who once again wanted to walk with us.  We had to go
home after that lesson, and the Baileys were kind enough to invite us
over for dinner - we had some homemade vegetable soupe and bread.  The
ensemble was good, but the thing that touched me the most was the
salted butter.  I have never had a bar of salted butter in my fridge
in the last two years.  It was amazing.  My tongue rejoiced.

Now I'm just preparing my course list for this winter at BYU.  It's
weird mixing secular needs into the mission...like I shouldn't be
thinking about these things but am obliged to.  Maybe it's God's way
of easing me back into the real world.  Lord knows I'll need as much
help as I can get!  Not that I'll abandon my missionary habits, but
living in a 3rd world country for 2 years has an effect on you.
Coming back from 1st world France and going to Wal-Mart the next day
was hard enough!  Anyway, I'm excited to go back to school.  I'm
excited to stay busy.  For the moment, however, I still have 7 more
P-Days, and I plan on making most of every day in between this and the
last!

I love you, I pray for you.

Elder Garland

October 20

Hey sports fans,

This week was really fast and slow at the same time.  So if that makes any sense, we'll get started.

Elder Sperry and I decided to live more heathily, so we started making more smoothies, which are delicious.  So don't be concerned about this whole ebola thing - I have bananas and red currants to protect me. 

I finished reading the Miracle of Forgiveness, which is kindof a bummer because I was hoping it would last longer.  I have to find another book to read by some General Authority, they're always so good.

Poor Elder Ralison, our Malgash friend was send to Brazzaville to get his kidneys checked out because there "happened" to be a specialist in town that very day.  We had many prayers sent out for him, so I'm pretty sure the Big Man upstairs heard and was looking over him too. 

One of the eggs in our shelf exploded of its own free will and proceeded to fill the apartment with the most foul, rank smell you've never welcomed into your nose.  It was so awful.  I think that's why people back home refridgerate their eggs...?  I have no idea actually.  Why do you put eggs in the fridge???  I also haven't even seen a white egg in months, so...

This week was huge for teaching, though one of our investigators called us and told us she was moving to Brazzaville, so that was too bad.  We have a few new investigators despite our overloaded program, and we saw one of them on Tuesday - Nathanael.  He's a cool dude, the first vegitarian I've met in Africa.  He's straight up, serious, but sincere, so we appreciate that.  Looking forward to talking more in depth with him tomorrow!

Elder Naughton, waiting for his visa to Gabon, took the role of district leader in Mpaka and gave us the lesson on Wednesday about our role as missionaries and how we can accomplish that role.  It was a great reminder.  We sat down with a girl who told us about how she used to lead a pretty poor lifestyle but blamed it on a demon that entered into her and that her mom had to call the local pastors to cast it out of her and then they found a ring in the back of her mouth.  So she's more obedient now.  Thank goodness. 

We went to teach a younger girl (the sister of a member) about the 10 commandments, when in the background "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree" came on full blast.  It was so hard to concentrate.  Elder Sperry and I looked at each other, and both did the bell shake and bass line intro.  Come on...it's a classic.  Thankfully we were able to pull it together and make a good lesson out of it.  We had to see them early in the morning, so we didn't get to eat lunch until later.  Along the side of the rails there's a bunch of shops, bars, and grills, so we stopped at this one mama and asked for a couple brochettes of chicken gizzards with kwanga, and of course they thought that was hilarious, as did the guys next to whom we sat.  We answered a lot of questions, and ended up teaching the restoration to some guy who was curious about why we were there.  We might eat out more often...the whole thing only cost us $2.  Probably because we mostly just ate the knuckle parts of the chicken leg...but it was grilled, so hey.  Delicious chicken knuckles with mayo and onions.

I got a surprise phone call from President Monga on Thursday asking for the airport I would fly into, telling me he was working on my flight information.  I wasn't expecting that, so that was a little nerve-wracking.

We had a full Friday, and after our bus ride out to Mayinga I got off and totally forgot to pay the controller (the guy who sits on the inside of the big sliding door and calls out the stops and makes kissy noises to people on the outside and bangs on the roof or the side when someone calls a stop or wants to be picked up).  Elder Sperry reminded me after I took a couple steps, but when I turned around he was like, "nahh it's ok!  You guys are missionaries!"  So that was really nice. 

Archilley, the girl who was possessed by a demon but thank goodness is better, told us that her dad just got back from China and that he was home.  Well when we got to her parcelle there were probably 6 people all sitting aroud in chairs listening to music from a car parked nearby, and while she was getting chairs for us I asked, "So which one of you just got back from China?" All of them just stared at me, so I asked the question again, "Did one of you go to China recently...?" And one guy answers, "She went inside to get chairs."  I was like, "Oh yeah, I know, I just...ummm..."  "She's getting chairs."  "Yeah..." that's when we walked away and sat down with our friend.  It was so awkward.  But when people don't want to listen, they don't care how you feel haha.

ANYway, our last rendez-vous on Friday was with our young friend Joseph and his mom Nadege, though she didn't get there until much later because she was caught in traffic coming back from Grand Marche, looking for ingredients so she could make us a big salade.  We were supposed to go pretty much right when she got there, but she was really insistent and we didn't want to offend her, so by candle light we helped cut cucumbers and wash lettuce as she threw together this delicious African salade for us, complete with baguettes.  It was mighty good, and surprisingly filling.  The best part is that on Sunday she came to church with her son for the first time, and was super well receieved by the other sisters.  I was proud of the Relief Society that day, but I'll get to that later.

On Saturday morning, Sister Bailey fell sick and wasn't able to go out with Elder Bailey, so he asked us to go with him to Foucks to bring them their 80 pound gas can.  It set us back an hour, but it ended up working out like it always does.  We came back, studied and ate lunch, and went out to get Paco so we could have our coordonation meeting and talk about the baptism on Saturday for Hermeland and an investigator from Pointe-Noire's sector who just barely moved into our zone.  After our meeting, we went to Mpaka's baptism for the two I interviewed last week, and it was wonderful.  Frere Mabiyala announced me to give the talk on baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost without telling me before, which is always fun.  It's like God testing you if you're ready to follow the whispers of the Spirit.  What happens is you stand up, walk to the stand, turn and look at the crowd, open your mouth and out come the words!  It is truly miraculous when the Spirit takes over and you no longer are giving YOUR talk but the Lord's.  When you align yourself so completely with His will that His words come out, not yours.  I LOVE THAT.  It's quite the rush, and so satisfying to know that God is using you as an instrument.  Not to say the talk was amazing or anything; it was just a normal baptismal talk.  But to feel like I was running off the Spirit...it was refreshing.

Afterwards, we had branch council for the first time since I was with Elder Etherington several months ago.  We missed English class, but sat down with a friend of ours after.  When we got home, we made mac an cheese and smoothies and sat out on the porch (it's the best when the power is out because it's really dark and quiet and peaceful) to drink them.  I was banking on starting up some deep conversation about life with Elder Sperry, but as is often the case we ended up talking about Starcraft and other nerdy stuff haha.  I believe there's a time for temperal talk on your mission, and that was definitely one of them.  We grow closer every day, sharing new stories and sometimes recycling old ones because that's what happens when you're together for too long haha.  Anyway.  I loved it.  We laughed a bunch.

Sunday was mint.  We had 22 investigators at church and gave 2 Portuguese Livro de Mormon to Belna (our recent convert who grew up in Cambinda) and her mom (who came for the first time), and they were thrilled.  Sister Doretta told us she was pregnant, and then Remy, her husband, pretended like he didn't know, which was hilarious.  Then Sister Bailey came to church because she felt a little better and told us that she had brought the guitar that had been promised to us several weeks ago.  It was the most happy Sunday haha.  President Caillet talked about abandoning tradition - something this people desperately needs. 

After church we went out to see some of our investigators, and invited another one to teach with us.  He did great, and his testimony of the Book of Mormon is wicked awesome.  The missionaries gave it to him a few years ago, and then he prayed about it and had the coolest feeling in him and says it was the first time he'd ever believed that God actually existed. Incredible.

We disciplined ourselves when we got home to eat lunch, and do all our studies before playing guitar.  It was so nice, but my fingers are torn to shreds...typing hurts, haha.  But it's been great to jam with my new simplified hymn book which gives guitar chords for various hymns.  It's great!  Plus Elder Sperry's been teaching me new blues chords, which has been really cool too.  I just missed playing guitar really bad.

That's about all that's happened this week!  It rained a little this morning, but we're still waiting for the first big rain of the season.  In the meantime, the weather is getting hotter, and hotter, and hotter. 

I love you all, and I pray for you always.  Time is getting shorter, but I've got my head up and I'm focused, so no worries.  Have a wonderful week, take your vitamins and do your sit ups :)

Elder Garland

October 13

With 30 minutes left I will do my best to sum up the week in a blurt of scenes!

Last Monday night we had FHE with the Baileys again, but this time we shared the lesson, and afterwards they threw me a surprise birthday party between the 4 of us haha, it was adorable and much appreciated because we wouldn't really have time to party on Wednesday.  Sister Bailey had made Wendy's frostees and we had cookies to go with them.  I got a pack of Peach O's that I'm still snacking on a week later and they're still delicious.  I also got a sweet, new pillow case with lions and monkeys and elephants, so I'm pretty much a happy camper.

We spent the better part of Tuesday helping an old friend of mine, Doretta, move into her new place in Mayinga, not far from a handful of new investigators.  On the way, Paco told me that another old missionary friend of mine, Elder Andriamamonjy said hello through Facebook, so that made my day.  He's married in the temple and life is continuing for him.  Incredible.

Elder Sperry woke up half an hour early on Wednesday to make me a birthday breakfast of fried potatoes and onions and French toast.  I woke up at the same time as him and couldn't fall back asleep because it smelled so good in the apartment haha, but I was super thankful and it was delicious.  I also took advantage of the new blender that we got and made us some banana smoothies.  Tasty goodness.  I got calls from the Mpaka elders and the other ones in Foucks, so that was really nice of them.  We had a couple ratezvous in the day, but got a few numbers out of it, so that worked out pretty well.  God always knows why someone doesn't make their rendezvous.  My trainer taught me that a long time ago.  Sister Bailey gave us a small papaya when we got back, so that was the cherry on top of a great birthday.  24...I remember being a lot more excited to wake up on my birthday haha.

On Thursday I had the special opportunity to assist a mission council with the rest of the zone leaders throughout the mission by way of Skype.  It was a really great experience, and it turns out that we're all having more or less the same difficulties in our zones, and through the wisdom of President Monga I took several notes to pass on in zone conference on Saturday.  I learned two new expressions in English.   Yes. In English.  "I'm doing good like a baby on a mama's back, or as good as a lollipop on a tongue."  I'm totally bringing those into style when I get back.  It must be big in Nigeria or Ghana...

We had a rough start on Friday, but it got a lot better after a couple hours.  Paco came out to teach with us, and while we were heading to Mayinga this taxi was stuck in the sand, so we stopped to push him out and he offered us a free ride which we were originally just going to walk, but he saved us probably 20 minutes, which was nice.  We went out to see this maman who I've had to set rendezvous with in kikongo because she doesn't speak much French, so that was cool.  She just talked with Paco the whole time about stuff she asked us about when we met the first time last week.  I understood most of it, and threw in my 2 cents when I could.  I will have to look for all the Congolese people living in Utah when I get back so I can keep up on my obscure African dialects haha.   

Sister Bailey served us a heavenly breakfast on Saturday to kick off our zone conference, but I wonder if it wasn't detrimental to the attention of our zone haha.  Just kidding, it was fine.  But seriously...after French toast, buttermilk pancakes, and potatoes...everyone was pretty much out.  Good thing we took a 15 minute break before the meeting even started to digest haha.  It went really well.  I had a couple days to prepare, and it all worked out in the end.  We addressed some universal issues as a zone, and I worked out individual issues by making it general and having them solve it themselves.  That probably doesn't make any sense, but I'm in a rush and don't have time to make sense haha.  After the meeting Elder Sperry and I left to participate in Pointe-Noire's first ever viewing of the recently deceased Papa Kizimbou - Alain's dad.  It was a really great meeting, organized by President Caillet despite persecution that he had from other members because they were worried about people thinking it was creepy and sorcery.  Well a ton of people showed up, and they brought in the casket but never opened it, so it was quite normal.  They all left in buses to go bury the body way far away above the city.  We stayed to teach a ancient investigator who had come back and English class.

Sunday was more or less normal.  We had less people at church because of a small rain that fallen in the morning (still waiting for the first big rain of the season - the sun is already out and beating), but a lot of people who used to come are coming back!  Afterwards, I got to do a few interviews for the Mpaka elders, which is always special for me.  They were wonderfully prepared and ready for baptism.  Amazing.

We walked out to see one of Elder Johnston's baptismal candidates who moved back home into our sector for the school year, sat down with a guy I've been teaching since February, walked out to say hi to God-Thanks' mom and then we walked home for lunch and studies.

Our recent convert Helena (who is also the new Young Women's President) gave an incredible talk on dating.  I told her right before she went up that if she looked down to read out of For the Strength of the Youth or look down for any reason we'd never come back!  I was kidding, of course, but she did a great job.  People were dying laughing and she got many congratulations afterwards.  I cannot stress enough the importance of giving a good talk...the members just need a little training, and they will blow the socks off of their fellow brothers and sisters every Sunday.  I wish I could do a class or give a talk on giving a talk haha.

Anyway, I love you all so much and love the Gospel even more (but don't be offended).  It's changed my life, and though it's taken 21 months of missionary service to finally let it take control of my life, I'm glad it was earlier than later.  The principles He taught were and ARE true!  Do you ever take the time to study them?  They're all in the Bible, AND the Book of Mormon!  We have modern prophets and apostles to teach and train us.  We just had General Conference.  Did we really pay attention?  These are living scriptures!!! May we all let the Gospel into our lives in the same way they have.

Have a wonderful week,

Elder Garland

October 6

My companion and I are both wiping our noses and sniffling as the beginning of the incredibly hot, rainy season starts here in Pointe-Noire.  In exactly one month I will have been here for a year.  Crazy.  We've both had a cold for the last couple days, but it's getting better.  We just push and power through it, and the Baileys have been nice enough to provide us with some glophenicine and benydryl.  Who knows if I spelled those right...

Anyway, what an incredible week.  We kicked it off last P-Day at the beach!  We played some volleyball, went down and set up some wood and started a fire and got out the hotdog roasters and cooked FIFTY, brought them back up to the little restaurant/dock where we sat around munching on Sister Bailey's homemade hotdog buns and banana bread/cake and no-bake cookies and dying of delicious.  We got to run around on the beach for a while, which is always a blast.  Elder Sperry and I got a nice picture of us jumping off a small sand cliff holding hands, which we are mighty proud of.  What no one was proud of was the animosity we felt towards this pack of kids that followed us around on the beach and hung around our fire while we were cooking hotdogs.  Everyone was feeling like our privacy was being invaded.  Everyone except Sister Bailey, who just wanted to give all of them hugs and give them a half a hotdog.  It wasn't until afterwards, when we were home reflecting on the day that we started feeling really bad.  So we repented in sackcloth and ashes and told Sister Bailey she was right and we'd work on being less annoyed by the kids who aren't actually trying to annoy us.  It was a great day for learning.

Otherwise, we had a pretty busy Tuesday.  We learned that our recent convert Mirian (a.k.a. God-Thanks) was moving away to Sibiti, and that our golden investigator Wisdom (Sagesse) was moving back home out of our sector for the school year.  That was sad, but we picked up some new investigators at the same time, which was awesome.  God always has someone for us to teach, no matter who is coming or going in the sector.  It gives me hope that the sector will hold its own even if it gets white washed.  The members bring so many people to church anyway, missionaries could work on that alone, not including recent converts and less-actives. 

We took the world's longest detour to get one of the places we were going to on Tuesday, and I realized that I don't think I've ever talked about that.  The taxi drivers are so funny.  They will go off road, deep into the quartier, take turns and corners and come up about 100 feet later on the same busy road in hopes of moving up a few cars.  I literally watched as the car in front of us drove passed as we were waiting to get back in line on the same road we left 30 minutes earlier.  No one seems to realize how big of a waste of time and gas it is to get out of line - only to get back in line in the same spot, if not further back.

Anyway, we had another experience helping an ancient maman walking through the quartier carrying a huge bag of stuff on her back, tied up to her forehead.  I stopped and pulled the bag off her back and was surprised at how heavy it really was.  She starts laughing through the 4 or 5 teeth she had left and is calling us "ba banna ya munu" (my children) and clapping her hands, praising Nzambi and Yeezu (God and Jesus).  She was the cutest little dinosaur of a woman you've never met.  We had a great chat in Munukutuba as we walked her to her parcelle, and as we approached, her grandkids (or great grandkids, I don't know) were outside and went running back in yelling about the mundele helping mémé, it was so funny. 

On Wednesday we decided that on Sunday we were going to fast for Bintu, so she could get out of this house she's living in and get baptized.   We also met a bunch of new people to teach and that's always great.  In one of the quartiers we had to walk into the sticks, and you could tell that the people there probably hadn't ever seen a white person in real life, judging by the looks on their faces.  We walked into the parcelle of a new friend of ours and had a similar reaction as to when we were helping that old maman.  Kids screaming, older kids laughing, adultes cheering; it was great.  That's my every day though, so forgive my lack of enthousiasme haha. 

In another parcelle down the road we were teaching the nephew of a member who was baptized in France forever ago, and his grandma with no teeth came to pray with us, and as we were leaving gave us a big bag of beignets and peanuts.  So nice, and so good.  The old people love us haha.

We had a going away party/devotional for Elder Masse on Thursday evening.  We gathered around to eat lasagne and cheese cake topped with raspberries, and then we shared our testimonies.  It was really special, and I didn't even cry.  I think it's because I'll actually see Masse in the next couple months (at least on Skype), which is nutso.  He shared a sincere testimony about being truly converted to the Gospel, which I am a witness after having worked with him a year into his mission and again at the end of his mission.  He left a great legacy in the mission, and he'll be missed dearly! 

The party didn't end there.  On Friday, after having a rare James Nehemiah sighting on Pemba whilst walking towards the church (he pulled over the taxi he was in so he could get out and say hi - it had been literally 6 months since I'd seen him), we came back and were about to start weekly planning when we were invited to share a parting dinner with Elder Massé and the Baileys at the restaurant in front of the airport.  It was my...4th or 5th time there haha, it's super delicious.  I got chawarmas because hey, I don't know if I'll ever head back up to Cameroun.  We sent off a sad Massé with all his bags packed and his tie perfectly tied, shirt perfectly ironed, and hair perfectly coiffed.  He looked like a missionary, true to the blue! I was proud to have been with him one last time.

We had some sad news on Saturday morning - the Kizimbou family's papa passed away after struggling through medication and eventually giving it up.  Alain bore his testimony on Sunday and said he was there when he died, but that it was in his sleep and it was peaceful, which was a happy ending.  We went by the house anyway to give them our condolences, and we ended up grabbing a torn up couch seat to help them scrub down the outside paint job from the last several years' worth of dust and dirt.  It was a small geste, but they really appreciated it and brought us out a table with raw peanuts and nkaba, which is basically casava roots.  Delicious.  And I got all the peanuts because my companion is allergic :)

We didn't have a baptism ourselves this weekend, but the Mpaka elders did, so we supported them in their success and got to wish a sweet, young woman congratulations on her decision.  Afterwards, I taught English class and then we headed back home.  Drained from having woken up sick and spent the whole day sniffling, we weren't very motivated to make anything fancy for dinner, but we ended up going out anyway to get bread so we could make egg salad sandwiches, which ended up very tasty, if I do say so myself.

A million people came to church on fast Sunday, despite the pitter patter of rain.  So it begins...in the next month we will have torrential downpours.  I can't wait.  Loic, our friend in the sticks, brought his family to church, and some more people came for the first time.  22 in all were there as non-members.  It was nearly a quarter of the entire congregation, if not more.  I can't get enough of it.  I just wish the same people would come back week after week.  We had some great testimonies, and then we had to go back so I could start doing personal interviews with the elders.  Elder Sperry gave me this great idea during one of our companionship inventories, and I decided that I could try to pull it off without it being super awkward, especially since this weekend we'll be having zone conference, and I wanted to have something to teach that was applicable to our zone, instead of just going over the things that we'll be learning during mission counsel on Thursday.  It actually went really well!  I finished them this morning, but there seemed to be a theme of things that all the elders think we can work on, so that will be great.  I'm really excited to be able to do something more as a zone leader than just sending in numbers to the assistants haha.

Anyway, we tried watching the Priesthood Session of General Conference with the elders at the Baileys, after enjoying a most divine corn chowder and Texas sheet cake, but it was glitchy and we only got through Elder Cook's talk and then Elder Christensen, before we cut it.  They were both super good though.  I'm excited to get the Liahona and pour through them for real. 

I've been LOVING Spencer W. Kimball's Miracle of Forgiveness.  Only a prophet could bring out so much from one word.  I would sincerely suggest that you all read it.  It makes you feel worthless at first, but then a million bucks by the end.  And I'm not even at the end haha.  Seriously though, the Atonement is real!!! Try it out.  Ask for forgiveness - but don't just do it haphazardly.  Put some thought into it.  Abandon your sins.  Turn your life around!!! There were so many quotes that I've written down already. but one of my favorites has been "following the path of least resistance makes both rivers and men crooked."  Struggle goes with strength!!!! By our trials we can overcome and BEcome strong!!!

I love you.  Have a great week :)

Elder Garland

September 29

What a week.

Last Monday, after writing home, we got ready to have FHE at our friend Doretta and Remy Kizimbou's house for fried fish, sakasaka and rice, where they also invited a friend of theirs to come participate.  He loved it, so hopefully we'll be able to keep seeing him!  We also had some new friends in the apartment, though they weren't exactly invited.  We set two mouse traps up in the kitchen, and went 2 for 2 the next morning.  It was...awful haha, I couldn't help but feel bad for the poor little guys.  I'd rather just bag them up and zip em over the gate into the giant trash pile in front of the house without worrying about where the landed. 

Anyway, we had to split so Elder Johnston could interview some of our baptismal candidates, Chrystalle and Maman Jeannette.  I went out with Elder Bybee and Hughe, our recent convert, to teach some of the same people that I saw the last time I went out with Elder Johnston.  We also sat down with this 76 year old man who, while you're talking to him, falls asleep nodding.  It was sooo funny.  The best part is that he snaps back up with something to say in response to your question.  I don't know how he does it.  Years of practice probably.  We had a few minutes on our way to Parfait's, so Elder Bybee took me to this beautiful lake that borders a primate reserve set up by Jane Goodall herself.  Unfortunately there were some kids swimming (naked of couse) or I would've taken some pictures.  Imagine this big tropical tree line sloping up and overhanging flat water (except for where the naked kids were swimming - don't imagine that).  On our way back to meet with the other missionaries I saw a guy wearing a Seattle Sounders shirt with Subway on the back.  Dual nostalgia.  It's been a while since I "ate fresh."

I sat down during the week and wrote out a Munukutuba version of "I am a Child of God" and "Love One Another," had them reviewed by a couple different members, and apparently they're good!  That was really fun.  Now I just need to work on others, but I'll probably just do one verse per hymn.

On Wednesday Elder Sperry and I were back together for a while.  Long enough to see Darcyne, Hermeland, do our weekly planning and then see Euraste before running out to Fond Tie-Tie to meet up with Elder Masse and his Congolese companion Elder Nkuklu.  We saw a big convoy of what I estimated to be 40 police trucks come screaming down the road, but they went around this round about and came back on the other side of the street and we counted - 24 haha.  I have a problem with exaggerating I guess.  Anyway, Masse and I walked back to the apartment in Mpaka and got to chat for a while about him going home next Friday among other things.  I can't believe it's his last week already!!!  Elder Ralison made this incredible chicken curry in rice, and then Elder Tripp completed the experience with brownies.  It was a great night, except for one thing.  Well, there happened to be a giant funeral procession right in front of our house.  They played music so loud ALL night.  Literally until 6 in the morning when I was finally able to take the pillow off my face and put it on the back of my head, right in time for the alarm to go off.  By some miracle, God granted us the strength to get up and get goin. 

I realized during the day that it was the first time I've actually sat down and taught with Elder Masse since I left Bonaberi a year ago. The last time we were together in Mpaka I was only there to do a baptismal interview.  Needless to say, we had a blast actually teaching together.  It was awesome to see how much the last year's worth of experience had worked on him.  He is a great teacher and really, truly loves the people he's teaching.  It was nice to be able to sit back and let him drive the bus.  It's been a while since I was in a backseat situation, and it was nice.  Being a senior missionary really weighs on you...there's a lot of pressure to teach and speak and act perfectly, so it was nice to be with someone who's been on his mission for longer.  Masse's been a great example to the this whole zone in how hard he's been working until the last minute.  Sometimes missionaries get lazy or they just stop caring because they're so close to going home anyway.  He's been diligent and working super hard this whole time.  I hope I can emmulate his example!  The man I was there to interview was an 64 year old man who was very wise and very kind.  I loved sitting down with him for the time that I was there.  

I still can't get over the fact that someone 3 years older than me would look to me for spiritual advice and take every word I say for inspiration.  People all throughout the world are doing that with the missionaries.  Somehow though, I'm confident in what I say and know I'm on an errand for the Lord and that it's not necessarily MY counsel or advice I'm giving people, but His.  It's a curious thing, to be strictly alligned with His will.  There's a sort of spiritual strength that drawns from that.  I can't imagine how Christ felt, being perfectly obedient.  EVERYTHING He did was God's will.  It's no wonder he could say, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father!"  They were perfectly united.  If only every missionary was like that !!  I suppose I should start with myself !

Anyway,  we accompanied Francois (the guy I interviewed) to the church for his interview avec President Monga, and then changed back into our normal companionships to see Dorcia and then our new English speaking friend Maleke.  When we went home, we started closing out our day when the Baileys came back.  We went downstairs to see how everything went at the church, and found President and Sister Monga with them.  They invited us in to dinner (chinese chicken salad - delicious on all accounts), and then I had my interview with President.  It was awesome, as always.  He talked about how we need to keep our eye single to the glory of God.  He gave me some insights to the upcoming transfer, which I'll get to later :)  All in all, it was really great just to be able to talk with him for a few minutes one on one.

We had a weird start to our day on Friday, when we were ratéd multiple times one after the other, but we were able to double check with Jeannette and Chrystalle and make sure they were both ready for their baptism, which went as smooth as butter!  Saturday was awesome.  We saw Charly, our less-active friend for a couple minutes before heading over to the church to help the Baileys get ready for our baptism of 14 people!  On our way, we had to go over this little foot bridge that we cross all the time.  This time, however, there was a group of kids that had barred the route for some reason and were demanding a toll.  We didn't have any money on us, but when we got closer to the bridge there were these two really old mamans standing outside a house, and one of them called out to me, "Yina me buta na Chicago!" which means, "He who was born in Chicago!" It was an old maman that I'd met outside the Beri's parcelle a week or so ago and chatted with in kikongo for a while, and she just loved it.  It just so happened that she was there in front of the bridge, so we went over and said hi to her and her friend, who of course was surprised to hear a mundele speak kikongo, and so they just laughed and laughed and asked where we were going (people ALWAYS ask that).  We explained that we were going across the bridge but we didn't have any money, so they both started yelling at the kids to let us pass.  It was awesome.  Kikongo for the win!

All four branches got together to welcome people into their respective congregations, and despite the amount of people there it went super well.  Paco was directing the whole thing, and all the baptisms went well, no problems.  Maman Jeannette was beaming the whole time, and got up afterwards to testify in front of everyone her thanks to God for her special day.  It was really sweet.  I was a proud, in a good way.  Interestingly enough, there's two words in French for "pride," one is good and the other is bad.  It's a lot easier for me to say, "j'étais fier" and not have to worry about people thinking other things.  Anyway.  French is great.  

I got to teach English class again afterwards, but our friend Nani didn't come so instead of teaching her we went into the kitchen and kicked out the Relief Society and did the dishes for them.  They still don't believe white people know how to clean anything haha, so it took some convincing amidst "Oh no no no, you'll hurt yourself!" and "You'll get dirty!" but eventually we got to do some service.   

              

Yesterday was pronounced "ville morte," or "dead city" because of local elections.  That means there was no circulation except authorized governmental vehicules, and no churches were allowed to hold reunions.  President Monga in an attempt to protect us from being mistaken as rebels who are trying to convince the people not to vote by going around house to house etc., told us not to go out on Sunday.  So...Elder Sperry and I got together with the Baileys for breakfast (buttermilk pancakes, sausage links, and potatoes made me feel like I was at Denny's), and then we had our own little Sacrament meeting, followed by a 5 minute talk each.  We talked about virtue, patience, the Atonement, among other things.  I cried during my talk on the Atonement, if you can imagine.  Basically from start to finish.  But that's normal.  Alas, the rest of the day was as follows: write scholarship essays for 2 hours, make a tie, make bread, read the Miracle of Forgiveness and the Bible, practice piano, eat leftovers for dinner just to pass the time (neither of us were even hungry, we were just incredibly bored), played Guesstures, read some more Miracle of Forgiveness, played some more piano, and finally wrote in my journal.  It was the longest day of my life, but it was kindof nice at the same time.  What will I do in 3 months when I don't have ties to make or bread to make...

So about transfers!  We got letters this morning.  Nothing is happening except Elder Naughton going to Gabon and being replaced by Elder Nkulu.  That means that President is closing an entire Mpaka sector and leaving that whole, huge apartment to just two missionaries.  It will be nuts.  I don't know how it will work or what they're going to do, but I'm sure it will work because hey, God said so :)  Otherwise, I'm super stoked to stay with Elder Sperry for a third transfer.  I got to spend 3 with my trainer, it's only fair I get 3 with my trainee!  We just get along like two peas in a pod, so it makes everything really easy.  He's grown a ton in the last two months, and I'm excited to watch him grow even more (even though he can only really grow in French, because he's basically got all of the Christ-like attributes down already).  I love my companion.  I wouldn't be mad if I just finished my mission here with him.  Elder Masse leaves us on Friday, along with Elder Gelinas.  Unbelievable.  I don't have enough things to say about those two.  I've been companions with both, I've loved both, I will miss both.  The whole mission will.  If you see either of them, give em a hug for me, will you?  Though I know I'm pretty much right behind...
  

Here we go then, my 9th transfer in Pointe-Noire, 6th in the Aeroport sector, and going home next transfer.  That's surreal. I don't think President will send me to finish in Yaoundé, so I'm sad I will have never worked there, but I'm grateful for the time I've had here and for all the people I've met.  I just need to pretend I have an eternity left here and then it will be ok :)

Love you all, I pray for you all, I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Garland

September 22

Hello to all!

This time next week we'll know what's going on for transfers, which is
crazy because I'm pretty sure it was just 5 minutes ago that I was
writing about starting this transfer.  Such is the mission life.  14
down, 2 to go...

With the end of my mission coming scarily soon, this last week I've
been really stressed with BYU stuff (ecclesiastical endorsement to be
signed, loans to pay, tuition to pay, room and board to find, a job to
find, FAFSA and other scholarship stuff to fill out, classes to
register for, etc.) to the point that I started weighing the option of
not going back to school, but coming home and staying.  When I brought
it up with the Baileys during FHE, they gave me some great advice, and
basically just told me to pray about it.  I remember praying and
instead of telling God that I was going to go home and wait for some
confirming feeling of comfort, I just asked that His will be done and
manifest so that I would know what was the right choice, even though
in my heart I was pretty set on going home.  Well, that's just the
setting for the stage of the whole rest of the week, as all these
things weighed down on me.

Meanwhile, we had a really great week as far as lessons go.  We now
have almost 10 people preparing for baptism within the next month, and
they're all progressing super well and coming to church.

Elder Massé gave me the assignment to teach the district meeting
lesson on Wednesday, so I decided to talk about how Christ-like
attributes will be the deciding factor on whether or not the mission
will have been a success.  Because whether or not you baptize 100
people or have 1000 lessons or whatever, if you don't go home having
been converted yourself to the Gospel of Jesus Christ then you didn't
really succeed.  You missed the mark.  So!  We talked about that and
talked about the Christ-like attributes that we appreciate in our
companions.  I talked about how patient Elder Sperry is with me, with
the people, and with the language.  He's really brought a new attitude
into my daily routine.  Instead of getting frustrated with all the
hee-haws that we get in the sector I learned to laugh about it and
instead of making the children run away screaming I learned to invite
them to shake my hand and send them off laughing and smiling.  So.  I
love my companion.  I wouldn't object to him being my last companion!

Thursday was long, but for a good reason.  We went on splits, and I
went over to work with Elder Johnston in his sector.  He had 7
baptismal interviews set up across the day.  It was a really long day,
but so rewarding.  My favorite part was doing the interviews for
Parfait's children.  They're so great, and they all have their own
testimony.  His wife would've had her own interview if they'd been
married, but I'm sure that will be coming up in the near future!

We went out to see Maman Jeannette on Friday, but when we showed up
she had this big bucket of sakasaka leaves that she was about to start
taking off the stems.  We pulled up a couple chairs and started
helping her.  "Oh !! Men can't do that !!!"  But we just kept on
pulling off leaves and she laughed and consented to us helping, and as
we worked we talked about missionary work and how big of a blessing it
is.  Then we got to see Charlie, a less-active member who has been
working towards being able to come back to church.  His job had him
working on Sundays, but he finally quit one of them and moved all the
way across town to be closer to the church.  When we saw him he gave
us a Fanta and some little African cake bites, and as we snacked we
talked about the importance of the Sabbath, and for the first time in
10 months he finally came!!!  It was wonderful to see him strolling up
the path with a huge smile on his face.

We went to see our third rendezvous of the day, but when we showed up,
he wasn't there.  There were some kids making fun of us in Munukutuba
as they filled up some 25 liter jugs of water while we were standing
around our investigator's house trying to call him.  Well, as we
turned around to leave, we decided to help them transport all of their
"bidons" across the quartier to their house.  They stopped making fun
of us when Elder Sperry took a bidon in each hand and I took their
skinny wheelbarrow and we started trekking through the beach sand.  It
was really hard actually, haha, but it was so worth it!  People were
hollering across the way to encourage us and thank us and whatnot, but
it just felt good to serve in spite of the mocking kids.  They were
grateful in the end, and I think we gave them a better idea of why we
were in their neighborhood.

As we saw our last investigator we convinced them to talk with the
whole parcelle, the whole family to get them all to fast this next
fast Sunday for their grandpa who is sick.  I think it will be a great
success, if only to get the whole family united in a fast together.

We didn't have any baptisms on Saturday, but there was a series of
unfortunate turned fortunate events.  First, when we went out to see
our investigator Hermeland, we ran into him in the middle of the path
through the quartier and he told us, "ohhh yeah I'm sorry, I have to
go to the hospital!"  So we didn't get to see him, but while we were
standing there there was this other man, Frank, who walked passed us
and calls back, "are you the Mormons?" So of course we walked over and
got to talk to him and take his phone number so we could chat with him
in the future.  Blessing!  Then, right as we were getting off the bus
to see our second friend, we got a text from them saying sorry, but
they wouldn't be available either.  Well, we decided to move another
appointment up earlier, and got to see them instead, which resulted in
us getting a brochette of divine chicken gizzards which, when grilled
over charcoal and dipped in mayonnaise become quite delicious,
especially when accompanied by a stick of kwanga, or cooked manioc.
Dorcia came and met us at the church with her boyfriend, and we blew
her mind talking about the Plan of Salvation and using the Bible and
Book of Mormon to teach together.  Her reaction was awesome.  One of
those things you can't just describe...but it was awesome! :)  One of
our English class friends actually came to church on Sunday, so we sat
down with her after class on Saturday, and she talked to us about
certain problems she's been having at home.  Of course, we're not to
counsel people as to their personal issues, but we were able to give
her spiritual advice and how she could know what she was supposed to
do through prayer and scripture study.  Classic.  Another person came
to the church by himself just to check up on how everyone was doing.
He hadn't been there in over a year, but he said this time he was
there to stay!  So that was a huge blessing.

The biggest blessing came to me in the morning, when, after having
personal study, Elder Sperry and I came together to confirm plans for
the day and talk about what we'd learned that morning.  He's been
reading through the Doctrine and Covenants, and came across some
verses that he found in the short section 111 that for me was an
answer to the prayers I'd been offering every day since last Monday.
They say in verses 5 and 8, "Concern not yourselves about your debts,
for I will give you power to pay them." and "...the place where it is
my will that you should tarry, for the main, shall be signalized unto
you by the peace and power of my Spirit, that shall flow unto you."  I
haven't had many overwhelmingly clear inspirations in my life.  I will
always remember the first time I felt it, praying to know if the
Church was true and whether Joseph Smith was really a prophet.  I
remember feeling it when President Monson spoke during General
Conference in October 2012 and knew in that moment that I needed to
serve a mission.  I remember feeling cleansing power of the Spirit
when I read myself the opening verses in D&C 112 at the close of a
rough patch in my mission.  And in that second with Elder Sperry I
felt it again.  Distinct, unmistakable, clear as day revelation.  I
knew I was supposed to go back to BYU!  What a relief.  Funnily
enough, all those burdens were still there, but I'm at total ease that
it will all work out, because I am certain of God's will in my life,
and I know nothing will stand against!  Time to put my feet one in
front of the other and keep an eye out for the increasingly
illuminated path before me.

We had 8 new faces in church on Sunday, and 6 of them were brought by
members.  They're doing a great work, and now were overwhelmed with
investigators.  I've said it a hundred times : it's the best problem a
missionary could have.  One of them was Gerlène's friend who, when he
saw her last week in the city said, "oh, you're beautiful.  I love
you." and she said, "well then you have to come with me to church." so
there he came! haha, Africans...others were, unfortunately, not in our
sector, but we gladly gave them to the other missionaries because in
the end we're all on the same team, and we're all looking to the glory
of God!

We were waiting to start our coordination meeting with the branch
missionary leader, Paco, when the branch choir started its first
practice ever.  I couldn't help but make several remarks as an
innocent bystander, and they just happened to come out.  Well, I ended
up directing the choir instead for the next 20 minutes or so, helping
them figure some stuff out, and it was actually really fun!

Otherwise, that's about all the craziness for the week.  I'm looking
forward to another fun-filled week in the Congo.  I don't know if it
will be my last...next week we get transfer letters, and if I'm outta
here then I'll leave on Tuesday or Wednesday.  If all goes as
President made it seem like it would go the last time we met, then
I'll probably be here until the end of my mission.  I guess I'll find
out on Thursday when he gets here, and if not then, till next Monday!

I love you, I pray for you.

Elder Garland