August 26th

Hello again!

We had another slowish week because of work that they’ve been doing on the apartment and requiring us to stay there to make sure they didn’t steal anything.  We would split up the afternoon and the evening so we could each teach at least some people, but either way it made things pretty difficult for us.  I did get to trade a tie with a member though, so now I have a really sweet African tie that I’ve been dying to have since I got here.

Fidelis, the Anglophone who’s been showing us around Bonabéri for the last couple of weeks brought us more fabric, so I made him a skinny tie and I’ll make another one for my companion.  We got lost on Saturday just looking for a shortcut home and it brought us straight to the river at a point where trash had been flowing into the water, and sitting on top of everything were a couple sacks full of different dresses and shirts that some big mamas had thrown away but made for some sick ties, so I’m currently wearing a really sweet blue and orange and white butterfly pattern. 

I keep getting calls from my converts in Akwa and it makes me so happy to hear from them everytime.  I finally took an hour or so to call all my friends and it gave me a sort of spiritual high haha. I couldn’t get over how happy I was talking to them, and it’s only been like 3 weeks since I left.  I can only imagine how it will be in 18 months when I’m home and get a hold of them.

The guardian of our apartment is from the north and speaks this cool pateois that’s related to Toupuri, that kindof sounds like Arabic, and he’s been teaching a little of that to us.  It’s awesome, but not as cool as Douala.

We had another great district meeting with the Gaileys and talked about the origins of Preach My Gospel and we went over a lot of different quotes from the different prophets and Sister Gailey shared these toffees that she found who knows where that were delicious. 

Elder Massé and I walked an hour to get to a member’s house, which was crazy.  I love those walks though because it allows us to just talk and get to know each other better.  You really to get to know someone when you’re with them 24 hours a day haha.

One of the most fun days of the week was Friday when we got to work with Dekoumé, a 12 year old member who loves going out to teach with us.  He’s such a funny kid, but he’s also a great teacher.  He answers questions correctly and clearly.  We barely have to say anything!  Plus people yell at us less, so that’s nice.

It’s been raining all week.  Some of the shortcuts that we take were completely flooded, so we would have to turn all the way around and come back another way, which was still usually covered in water.  Basically I was soaked every day, and some kids broke my umbrella sooo yeah.  Haven’t bought a new one yet, but the rain is actually kindof nice.  It’s a change from the 290 degree weather that’s coming up in the next couple of months.  Hooray!

That day that we got lost we ended up contacting a table of drunk guys who at first condemned us for being polygamists, but after we explained that we weren’t they started saying, “well why not? The Bible says nothing against polygamy!” and went on to defend it.  Some people just want to fight for no reason haha. 

They replaced the light bulbs in our apartment, so now we don’t have to cook with a headlamp or read at night with a flashlight!

Fidelis gave me an Andrea Boccelli CD, so that took me back to being in 5^th grade when my teacher would play that to us as we read and did other quiet stuff. Mi piace bene.

We had a pretty great Sunday, but a lot of people were missing from church for whatever reason.  We came home and made tacos, and then Elder Massé surprised us with a pack of Taco Bell hot sauce that came in a package from his mom, so we feasted on those all night, accompanied by watermelon Sour Patch Kids. SO. GOOD.  Then Elder Thibault was joking about putting a mattress around himself and letting me kick him as he taught me kickboxing, but I made him do it, and it was awesome.  He taught me different combos and stuff and after an hour or so I decided I now want to be a kickboxer/pilot/author/professor/musician haha. I never thought punching the back of sandals could be so fun! Try it some time, you’ll know what I mean.

That’s about all the news from this week.  I realize my letters are getting a little shorter, but you know that the work is still progressing and the stories are still amazing and they are never ending and I just want you to come be a part of it with me! I dream of showing all my friends and family around the different quartiers here, walking through the shortcuts and meeting all the people we see every day.  I promise it would change your life! I know that the missionaries all over the world are going through similar experiences, even in the States.  No matter who you are or where you are, the work of God is the same and it will one day cover the entire earth!  I love missionaries and I love missionary work.  God has prepared so many people to accept this message, but sometimes they don’t know what they’re looking for—that’s where you come in! Open your mouth! Bear your testimony to anyone and everyone, because what do you have to lose?  True friends won’t reject you for what you believe in, even if they don’t buy it.  You don’t have to force your opinion on anyone, but a simple testimony of the plain and precious truths you know might flip someone’s world upside down. 

I love you and I know God loves you. 

Have a great week!

Elder Garland

September 2nd

Bonjour à tous !!!

What a crazy week.  It’s officially September, and I don’t even know where the time has gone.  In 5 weeks I will turn 23.  What the.  There are some really awesome things that happened this week, but  one of the number 1 contestants is the batch of 50 cookies that we made after writing home.  They were very nearly what I would find back home, so we had a pretty good nostalgia trip all night.  The cookies only lasted until two days later.  More to come tonight…

Another awesome thing happened the following day when we were led to an African book store by an investigator to find some kind of book that went from Douala to French so I could practice more efficiantly, but unfortunately it turned out to be a library that you needed to pay like 10,000 CFA (about $20) for the year to access.  Since we never know how long we’ll stay we decided not to subscribe.  The lady who offered us the tour in English was an Austrian with a thick accent and when we told her we were missionaries we got the first look of “seriously?” and she proceeded to tell us how she was Catholic and wanted to stay Catholic.  It was just funny because we’ve never run into anyone who was openly against being taught or knowing more about us.  White people. Pff. On the way out, this Prince who founded the book store/library walked in the door with a TV guy on his heels, and I heard him speaking Douala so as he was leaving I said “wala bwam!” which is roughly translated to, “have a nice day!”  That got his attention, and the TV guy next to him, who told us that he wanted to interview us the next day and we could tell him all about our mission and say some words in Douala and it would be fun.  I was so excited.

It never happened.

We had an awesome district meeting and Elder Gailey taught this wonderful lesson on faith, charity, and dilligence, but the way he teaches blows my mind every time.  I wish you could meet him.

Other than teaching so many cool people on Wednesday and Thursday nothing else really happened.  We got to go coconut hunting on Friday, which was super fun.  We climbed a really sketchy ladder about 10 feet up this tree, and then you use a 6 foot rebar pole with a bent hook in the end to reach up and hook the coconuts and pull them down.  Right onto your face.  It was actually really hard.  The coconuts didn’t wanna come down, except when Elder Massé was up there.  He pulled down 4, and I only got 1, but to be fair, 2 of the ones he pulled down were ones that I had loosened…EHEM.

On Saturday, we all got together to do the Helping Hands day of service throughout the church.  We met at the church and walked over to a bilingual elementary school to help scrub floors, draw water from wells, scrape off mold from walls with a machete, etc.  It ended with several bottles of folléré and sandwiches for everyone there.  When we left, we went to a member’s house only to continue in service as we diced up coconuts and took a wheelborrow out to get water from a nearby well.  As we were walking the wheelborrow, this group of teenagers took pictures of us with there cell phones.  I made sure to pause to lift up my sleeve so they could get a better shot of my muskles.  HA.  More like my big ol’ farmer’s tan.

We had great and bad news on Sunday at chuch.  One of our all-star investigators told us that she was moving back to Tiko to be with her kids during the school year, which started today, which is just wild.  But! She also said she would be coming all the way back to Douala every week to come to church, so she’s getting baptized on Saturday!  She also told us about this story of how, after we taught this big lesson on repentance and forgiveness, she called her ex-husband who abandoned her and her kids and moved back to Congo to tell him that she forgave him.  She tried describing the weight that came off her and the joy she felt but she just started crying.  It was beautiful.  I love this work!

Today is P-Day. I love P-Day.  The Bonapriso elders came across the bridge to play more soccer with us, and it was probably the most fun I’ve had since I got here.  We didn’t even win, but it was just us missionaries and 2 other members, so we played 6x6 on a small field and we were able to have fun and laugh about all the silly things that would happen instead of taking it way too seriously which happens 98% of the time when you play with the locals.  And I scored off a chest trap, one touch, upper right 90 soooooo no big deal but it was ESPN status.  Then we lost and I was humbled :(

It was just awesome to see the other missionaries.  I miss them a ton, but I’m really glad they’re not too far from us, and that I’ll get to see them again on Wednesday for zone conference!  President Cook is coming down with Elder Cook, the first councelor in the area presidency, and we’re going to have a blast. For 6 hours.  And then afterwards President asked me to translate for his wife as she taught the Relief Society auxiliaries, so that’s exciting. It will last all day, and I’ll be really tired, but I’m excited. 

HEY! I LOVE YOU! I hope you have an incredible week.  I hope you can find it in you to forgive those who have offended you.  Can you even imagine having the same experience that my soon-to-be-convert had?!  I promise that you can feel that, and that there’s nothing that God can’t fix in your life if you’ll look to Him for help!  Especially forgiving others.  Christ made it possible for us to be forgiven of our sins, but you can’t ask for forgiveness without forgiving others!  Try it out.  You’ll see the difference, and you’ll love it, and you will remember that moment and feeling forever.

Elder Garland

September 9th

Happy 8 months everyone!

I’ve officially been on my mission longer than I was in France, which means I’ve completed a third of my mission.  How crazy is that?! Time is no longer something I am even trying to understand.  Transfer letters come on Saturday already.  How the…I don’t even know anymore.

We had a great week.  All of our lessons went through without a hitch for 3 days in a row.  During one lesson on Tuesday a baby started crying hysterically across the little dirt path that separates the two house/shacks.  My companion was trying to read a passage in the Book of Mormon, so I bent my head and closed my eyes and started saying one of the most fervent, sincere prayers of my life that the Lord would comfort this poor baby.  Almost immediately, the screaming slowed to a whimper, and then was completely silent within maybe 10 seconds.  It was a huge testimony to me of the power of prayer, and that God does hear and answer us (sometimes immediately, sometimes on His own time ;) ).

 Wednesday was incredible.  We had the opportunity to meet with President Cook and Elder Cook of the 1^st Quorum of the Seventy !  We talked a lot about the importance of building a firm foundation of members here in countries where the Church is still in its infancy, and worked a lot through Preach My Gospel.  It was a great experience, and we ate homemade mac n’ cheese, fruit salad, 5 layer bean dip, and had fried ice cream for dessert.  When I’m at the Gailey’s I forget I’m in Africa.  We talked about how we can make our teaching more effective, which was great.  Six hours later we were meeting again for a little fireside among the two branches of Douala, which meant that I got to see the members of Akwa for the first time in about a month.  I was so happy to see everyone.  It meant so much to me to see my recent converts there participating actively in church activities.  That’s the most important thing for us missionaries—knowing that we can leave converts strong enough that they don’t need constant visits like before.  I was very proud that evening to see nearly all my converts there.

The rest of the week went by pretty uneventfully until Saturday, where we had two baptisms, one in Bonabéri and one in Akwa! Ortance, the Congolese woman who had an incredible conversion through the power of forgiveness, was baptized in the morning, and many members were there to support and also eat sandwiches and drink folléré afterwards.  We left to Akwa, where Elder Massé and I helped clean the church before the next baptism for an investigator of mine since April named Lolita, and then a woman and her grandson were baptized at the same time.  It was a beautiful thing.  We ate right after, so we had a double mangez-vous on Saturday which is also beautiful.  Throughout the whole day we had nothing but pure sunshine for the first time in months, and I got a wicked tan.  How many beautiful things can happen in one day?! Lemme tell ya.  Lots. God is wonderful.

On Sunday I confirmed Ortance a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and we had an awesome lesson with her after church before she went back to her home in Tiko, this city about an hour away by bus.  I may or may not have taken a two hour nap after we got home while my companions prepared dinner.  I am a living witness that miracles DO happen. 

Every day I am whipped to near death with fatigue, and if I didn’t pray to have strength to make it through the week I know I would just fall day at the end of every day.  It’s so hard sometimes, but God lifts me up and uses me as an instrument in His own hands to do things I could never do on my own.  I’ll be a sad soul when I come back into the real world and take off my badge.  You’ve known some weird return missionaries? Wait till I get back.  Oh my hecky, I will rock your world.

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH! If you’re on the right path, stay on it! If you’re not, get back on! Life seems easier on the escalator, but if you always take the stairs you won’t have problem when the power goes out ;)

Elder Garland

September 16th

Lapia everyone !

As this week comes to a close, that marks the end of my fifth transfer.  My last companion, Elder Lundberg, is going back to Congo, but he’s the only one leaving.  It’s sad because he’ll most likely end his mission there, so we won’t get to see him again.  Otherwise, Elder Massé and I are excited to continue working together for at least another 6 weeks!

Every day seems to be more and more like the day before, so not a lot to note this week…on Tuesday, the most interesting thing that happened was that as we walked out of our second rendez-vous it started pouring rain, so for the next 30 minutes as we walked we got drenched.  And then it rained for the rest of the day, so by the time we got back we were soaked to the bone. 

On Wednesday I gave the lesson during district meeting about the importance of bearing testimonies, and then I cried so that’s normal.  We walked from there to meet up with a less active member an hour and a half away.  We thought we were lost, but every time we asked the place we were going everyone would just wave in the direction we were already heading and say, “just keep going!”  Finally we decided to give the guy a call so he could look for us at this landmark of a building that was a really cool Catholic parish/school, but as we were explaining where we were we ran out of credit. So we kept walking.  Finally we found the place, and paid a woman 100 CFA (like 20 cents) to use her phone for 15 seconds. 

On our way back home that evening we stopped by a recent convert’s house on a whim, and when we heard music blasting from his house we decided it would be funny to go in through the back door and scare him.  Well the joke was on us, because when we snuck inside he was standing in the middle of his living room butt nekked, drying himself off with a towel.  Lesson learned.  He said he saw us as we backed out of the house and thought we were robbers and he was going to get his “gun,” which was an “AK-47,” which we asked him to show us which was actually just a machete haha.  Anyway.  I’ve seen way too many naked people here. Don’t worry, the Church is still true.

We left our apartment two hours earlier than usual on Friday, and when we got back to eat and do language study I passed out for an hour and a half until my companion woke me up to go to our last rendez-vous.  I didn’t sleep that night.  Lesson learned.  So many lessons…

Last week we made cookies again, but I ruined it by not adding enough sugar, and when we realized that it was because we were measuring with a metal cup instead of an actual measuring cup it was too late, but we added more sugar anyway.  Then throughout the week we made batches of cookies and I ruined almost all of them by forgetting that they were in the oven.  So we took an exercise band and took the rock hard cookies and slingshotted them out the window into the field next to our house to help fertalize the soil of course. 

Sunday was a bit of a rollercoaster.  We were ecstatic to see our most recent convert still coming to church, and this time with news of bringing her sons soon.  We gave her 4 Books of Mormon and lots of brochures.  After church we made dinner and I was honored to give a blessing to a member who is starting school today.  Blessings get me every time.  It’s so cool to just open your mouth and listen as the words come out.  I love it.  He gave me a big hug, and not long after he left the other elders from Bonapriso came over to stay the night so they didn’t have the traverse the bridge in the morning traffic to come play soccer.  We ended up playing night soccer in this little patch of grass in front of our apartment building as it poured rain.  When we went back upstairs we realized that no one had extra clothes and we didn’t have towels, but we did our best with the fans we had to make everyone a little more comfortable.  They’re real troopers.  It’s always a blast getting see those guys.  It’s a breath of fresh air.  We played this morning, and this time I had a sweeettttt left footed, cross body flying volley off a cross that drilled the back of the tiny net.  Oh baby, it was slick.  African ESPN.  There were some people who came to watch us play (not every day that you see a bunch of white guys playing soccer in your neighborhood), and they were all imitating the goal after and smiling and laughing and it made me feel like a million bucks. 

The Gaileys came to watch us play for a couple minutes, then they gave out the transfer letters.  We were all shocked that Lundberg was being split with his trainee Elder Beutler.  Usually they stay together for two transfers.  Elder Nyom, the Cameroonian branch member that’s been living with us for the last six weeks is finally going back across the bridge to Akwa, and he’s being replaced by Elder Davis from Yaoundé.  It’ll be weird living with four Americans again, but I’m excited.

That’s about it! Time is still flying by.  In less than a month I’ll be 23.  Then it will be Halloween, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and then I will have already been here for a year.  Oh man. 

Don’t forget that I love each and every one of you and that I pray for you every day!  Sometimes it’s hard, but I promise that this mortal life is but an instant in the eternity that you have left to live!  Live it up while you’re here, but keep in mind that you have so much more to live for that comes AFTER this life that will depend on how you lived here on Earth.  Anyway, I know we’ll all end up in the Celestial Kingdom eventually, so I’m not worried :)

Elder Garland

September 23rd

Une fois de plus—bonjour !

I have this weird habit of forgetting my planner on the day of transfers and not having any notes from the last week, but I’ll do my best to sum up the week as the guy next to me very unsubtly half sings, half mumbles the words of the song he’s listening to.

It was definitely a week of service for us here in Bonabéri.  We spent two hours one day shelling these pumpkin-like seeds that they call “pistache” and filled about half a cup with the small grains that came out.  They use it to make a light sauce or a thick paste that they wrap around a piece of fish or meat and cook in a banana leaf for several hours.  Apparently we needed to shell about four times what we did to get the amount needed for the paste dish.  Good thing Africans have all the time in the world to prepare their meals!  We got to draw water from a well for a family so we could do their dishes.  I can’t imagine how easy it must be to have  dish washer...having running water at the apartment is nice enough, but these people have to get bucket after bucket out of a communal well just to wash themselves, let alone their dirty plates. 

We offered to help a less-active member fill the potholes in his driveway, to which he agreed, but when we showed up at his house the holes were filled, but he said he still had work for us to do.  And work we did.  For six hours we split up and remodeled his front “yard”.  He had me pull out, one by one, the tiny weeds pushing through the rocks.  And that’s what I did the whole time.  Meanwhile, my companions were busy trimming bushes and whatnot.  At the end, he made us omelettes and mashed plantains, which were actually delicious.  The whole time we were working he helped me pull weeds (but his weapon of choice was a machete instead of using his fingers), talking to me about how he would love to have me come back to visit him in his village where we could go fishing and all these other cool things.  So if you’re a girl and you’re interested in vacationing to a village in Central Africa, let me know...after I get back of course. 

Our branch missionary and apartment alarm clock, Elder Nyom, finally had to go home as he was replaced by Elder Davis from Yaoundé.  For his going away present, Elder Massé and I prepared fish!  It was the first time I’d ever scaled and gutted a fish and it was actually surprisingly fun.  Must be those natural man instincts.  Beat fish dead. Scrape skin. Pull out guts. EAT.  Anyway...it turned out really good after we steamed it and fried ripe plantains and cooked rice.  Elder Nyom was really happy as well and congratulated us on our preparation. 

On Saturday I felt a little funny all day, and it wasn’t until after we got back from working all day that I started feeling a little light-headed and decided to take my temperature.  I clocked a 101.8 and asked my companions for a blessing, and then immediately after at 8:30 I called it a day and went to bed.  Notice that I didn’t say “went to sleep”.  I laid in my bed for the next 10 hours, tossing and turning and soaking my bed and blanket in sweat.  It was the worst night’s sleep I’d ever had.  I woke up and still had a fever, so I took some more ibuprofen and had to stay home from church in the first time in over a year.  I thought I’d just lay there until a fell back asleep, but my body disagreed, so I just got up and walked out into the living room and plopped down on a chair and poured myself a bowl of cereal.  The weird thing was that I had a fever, but still had an appetite.  By about 11 my temperature dropped back down to normal and I was feeling much better, so I thought I’d catch up on my sleep. Nope! As soon as I walked into my bedroom I had uncontrollable chills.  I laid in bed thinking they’d go away as I heated up the bed, but to no avail.  I resolved the situation by crawling into the bath and pouring hot water over my head for 45 minutes.  Eventually I told myself that I should probably get out and take more medicine, which I did whilst covering myself in my favorite African shirt, my sanja (African skirt), and my blanket.  Another hour later and I was getting hot again, so I took it all off and checked my temperature and saw that my fever had spiked again to a mission record-breaking 104!  I took more ibuprofen, then acetametaphin, then laid down and stuck a frozen dish rag on my forehead, which quickly melted to the form of my head, for the next five or six hours.  It was THE longest day of my life.  I hadn’t slept the night before, but was awake the entire day as Elder Massé babied me by swapping the rags and giving me more medecine, etc.  I’m super thankful for the charity that he showed me that day.  My fever went down eventually, and I even ate tacos for dinner.  By the time I went to bed I was back down to a steady 99, and slept like a baby. I was super grateful for all the prayers and to receive two visits from members who had heard that I was sick and came by to check up on me.  I’m surrounded by and incredibly loving people who want nothing but my well-being.  

That’s honestly about all that happened this week! I can’t believe I’m already in my sixth transfer in Africa.  I’m taking advantage of every minute I have to bear my testimony and invite everyone I can to come to church and experience what marvelous changes they can have through this Gospel, and it’s been the most enriching time of my life.  I would encourage you all to serve your neighbor, regardless of his or her faith or ethnicity or whatever!  Charity a delicious pie that is the true love of Christ.  It is an infinite delicacy and and everyone deserves a slice of it ;)

I love you all and think and pray about you every day. 

Elder Garland

September 30th

Good day to you all! How do you do?

This has been an interesting week.  Towards the end of our time at the internet café I started getting really bad chills, so I finished the rest of my emails really quick and headed home.  The walk was awful.  My head was pounding the whole time and I was freezing.  We got home and I checked my temperature—103 !  I laid down on a mattress in our room and Elder Massé started the process of putting ice clothes on my face for the next several hours.  I also noticed that I was developing a rash along my sides and stomach, which wasn’t too bad at first. 

A couple hours later the fever went down, and right when I got up a dear friend knocked on our door to find out how I was doing.  It was Romeo, and after hearing about my fever he came all the way across the bridge with a bag of African remedies to help with what everyone thought was malaria.  He shucked the leaves off this branch as he explained how it was very rare and if I wasn’t better by 8 p.m. then he would be very surprised.  We boiled the leaves with two golf ball-sized lemons until there was just enough “juice” to fill two cups.  He wanted to make sure I drank it before he left, so to please him I started drinking what was probably the most bitter cup of liquid I’ve ever put in my mouth.  Elder Massé took the next cup and added several tablespoons of sugar to ease it down.  It was pretty bad.  I showed him to the door, thankful for his kindness and charity.  Almost immediately after he left I stood up and couldn’t decide if I wanted to go to the bathroom or throw up, so I did both.  I hadn’t thrown up in years, but I had a nice go with the medicine in the bathroom sink.  Twice.  I proceeded to spend the rest of the night and most of the next day in the bathroom.  It was only then that Romeo called Elder Thibault to tell him that he forgot to tell me that I would be in the bathroom all day.  Thanks for the heads up!

I woke up the next day with a fever of 101.6, and my companion and I had a long talk about life and stuff as he gave me ice clothes and made me a delicious spaghetti omelette.  What made me think that it wasn’t malaria is that I had an appetite every day I was sick and never threw up other than that one time because of the leaves.  Anyway, that was how we spent the rest of the day.  My fever went down and then came back up in the late afternoon, so I kept taking ibuprofen and acetametaphin and doxycycline.  

On Wednesday I woke up with another 101.8 fever, but according to my body’s newly established schedule it broke before 10:30, when we had district meeting with the Gaileys.  They left, and my fever came back as a 103.5, so I laid in the living room for the next 4 or 5 hours with cold compresses until it broke again.  For dinner I had a cup of plain rice.  Yum.

Woke up on Thursday with a 101.4, ate stale Frosted Flakes for breakfast, and went down with the Gaileys to the clinic to get checked out.  They took my vitals, the doctor checked out the rash (which had gotten progressively much worse), and then they drew my blood (I carefully watched where the needle came from), and I gave them a cup of pee to enjoy while I suffered.  We came back to the apartment, and not long after my fever went back up, and we repeated the now very annoying process of cooling me down and stuffing me with drugs.

Elder Davis stayed home with me on Friday because we decided that Elder Massé needed some fresh air.  Fever was at 101.6 again, but it died around the regular time and didn’t come back until probably 6.  I found myself back in the bathroom all day though, so that was pretty unfortunate.  It was really cool getting to talk to Davis though; he’s a really cool guy. 

 To pass the time for each day I usually did something like this—study scriptures while my fever is broken, eat lunch, go back to sleep for a couple hours because I usually had an awful night, wake up and watch Mormon message videos and conference talks and other church videos, play guitar, read the Ensign/Liahona, or my favorite—lay there doing nothing, just staring at the wall or ceiling. 

Friday was a little more eventful.  Another 101.6 fever in the morning, but I had an early visit from Elder Gailey and President Cook, who was in town to interview branch members and whatnot.  They brought me the results from my tests at the clinic, and turns out I had nothing!  No malaria, nothing.  Comforting.  They gave me this really powerful antibiotic though that I’m supposed to take only 5 times, once a day.  Hopefully that’ll kill whatever has tried taking advantage of my weakened body within the last couple of days.  Our friend Conrad came over with a sack of oranges and swept our living room and did all our dishes as I laid there totally helpless.  Such a nice guy.  He tried explaining to us that it’s actually better to just use a cloth that is only a little damp and that will bring my fever down.  Bless his heart, it didn’t work at all, but we love him.  I shaved my head first into a sweet eurohawk for fun, then evenly for real.  Then I got in the shower and found out the water was shut off.  Half an hour later I was done with my bucket shower and THEN the water turned back on.  I also started to develop this nasty cough that makes me light headed and probably annoys everyone else, but when Elder Gailey asked if I should get cough medicine I said no because it really wasn’t that bad.  REGRET.

I was determined to go to church on Sunday, even if it was for just sacrament.  I woke up with the lightest fever yet, only 99.9 !  A few drugs later and I was right as rain, so we walked to church and I soon discovered that I wasn’t as good as I thought I was.  I got really light-headed and we left church after Sunday School, so I came home and slept for like two hours until the other elders came home.  President came over finally to do interviews with us, and it was nice just to chat with him for a few minutes about life.  He’s a really great guy, and his wife is hilarious.  So jolly haha.  As soon as they left, my fever went back up to 100.1. 

For the first time in over a week, I woke up on Monday with no fever!  There was a big election that day so nothing was open, so we decided to go try teaching, but when we got to our first person I could feel that it wasn’t going to be ok if we kept going, so after seeing him we went back home, where I fell asleep for FIVE hours.  I woke up and dinner was already ready.  I then had the second worst night’s sleep of my mission as I watched every single hour pass by in the night.  The last time I looked at my watch before I finally passed out was after 12, and then I woke up at 1:40, didn’t fall asleep till well after 2, and it went on like that for the next 4 hours until the alarm went off and I was exhausted from having tossed and turned all night.

BUT! I still decided to go out and play soccer, which probably wasn’t the best idea.  We showed up and there was already a couple teams playing, but they told us to lace up so we could play with them.  They called me out first, and after I got shoved face first into the ground after like 45 seconds of being on the field I was already huffing and puffing.  I didn’t do much, and it was actually more fun when they subbed in my companions and the rest of Bonapriso showed up and we all got to play together like normal.  I got super tired super fast, so I sat out and drank water for the next half an hour until they ended the game.  I was just happy to see the other elders.  It was my last time for Elder Lundberg before he goes back down the Congo, and the first time I saw Elder Christensen since he came up from Congo.  He’s my branch president’s grandson from the MTC.  Fun fact.

Anyway, here we are!  Even though I didn’t go outside 95% of the week, it was pretty eventful.  I hated it, but I’ll find that I learned something out of this experience eventually.  Just know that next time I say I’m sick but it’s going better, it might not be the end ;)  

Either way, I love you and I’m glad you’re still reading this.  What an adventure to read about a sick guy all day haha.  Please don’t get malaria (if that’s even what I had), it’s just not fun.  It’s much better to be out preaching the gospel, I promise.  That’s about as inspiring as I can be for now, I still have a headache annnddd yeah.  Have a great week!

Elder Garland

October 7th

Obusiatchay everyone !

This week was much, much more productive than the last, considering I actually left the apartment every day!  I went from sitting, laying, or sleeping around for the majority of the day to going on splits with Elder Thibault in his sector for a straight 8 hours.  It was awesome.  The change of pace is unlike any other.  I tried imaging coming home and having nothing to do for as long as I was sick and it just hurt my brain.  If I’m not constantly doing something I’ll get so angsty.

Elder Thibault is great to work with.  A hard worker, and always quick to laugh or make an unfortunate situation funny. For example, right before our first rendez-vous together I took out my pen to write something in my planner, and I saw that the tip of the pen was missing.  Then, five minutes later, Elder Thibault noticed that my pen had proceeded to explode all over my shirt right as our friend showed up.  I spent the next long time in the bathroom trying to scrub my shirt and only made it worse, which at first was frustrating, but with the help of my companion I saw the humor in it and just shrugged it off. For the rest of the day.  I got a huge bag of cinnamon Teddy Grahams from one investigator because they knew I was sick before.  It was such a blessing.  Anyway, we just had an awesome day together despite my ruined shirt. 

On Thursday Elder Massé and I finally had a real day together, which was fantastic and happened to be his year mark in the mission.  We got fed some delicious peanut sauce with fish and starchy plantains, got to wash out tons of water bottles for a family of members, and after dinner split an excellent white cake with chocolate pudding layers that the Gaileys made for us.

Friday was just as marvelous as the day before.  We decided to take a random route to get to an investigator’s house and were stopped by some guy who met the missionaries three years ago but wants to learn again.  Later, we were stopped by another baptist pastor who wants to “talk” with us.  In my experience with “talking” with pastors, that always goes…not so well.  You never know though! 

We learned that one of our investigator’s grandpas is the prince that owns that one library that I went to and met the Austrian lady, so maybe I’ll have a hook up to a Douala/French book! In the meantime, one of our members who studied in Russia let me borrow a Russian/French book, so that’s been keeping me busy the last couple days.  Xopowo !

I thought I should mention that the guy surveying all the computers in here just put on Enya for everyone and it’s absolutely ear-candy.

We had an awesome Saturday as well.  It’s just been a week of successive awesomes and wonderfuls.  After a couple lessons and seeing a Blackhawks jersey on some motorcycle driver we went off to the Gaileys to watch the Saturday morning session of General Conference which I LOVED.  Elder Dubé and Bednar and Uchtdorf were my favorites, although all the talks were great.  I’ve never loved Conference so much.  I’m a little obssessed. 

Sunday was normal.  Great day at church, made cookies and went back to the Gaileys for the Priesthood session where Elder Uchtdorf lit it up again.  He is on fire.  I love that man. 

Anyway, that’s about all that happened that was extra special this week.  There are so many things that I leave out because it would take about 29 pages to write.  Each individual with whom we work has their own stories, problems, successes and failures that they share with us nearly every day, and it’s such a honor to be a major part of their lives.  They lean on us in times of need, and we need to be ready and worthy at any second to be able to support them.  I haven’t experienced this kind of support system anywhere else, and maybe that’s just because I never spent so much time and effort in any other organization, but all I can say is that no matter who you are or where you are, there is always a Latter-Day Saint who is willing to care for you, whether that be personally or by phone or whatever means.  The fact of the matter is that we are one big family, with open arms towards all those who are not yet of our faith.  At least, in principle.  I would encourage all members to be a friend in need especially to those who are not members.  They need to see that the pure love of Christ is not reserved only for those who believe, but for all of God’s children!  Be that shining light that your neighbors need and maybe they will want to know more about how they can harvest the light that is already in them!

Anyway, I love you all.  I can’t wait for Halloween.  Also it’s my birthday tomorrow and don’t tell anyone but that makes me the oldest white missionary out here (as soon as Elder Graham goes home in less than a month) sooo Grandpa Garland out here, doin his best, cane in hand. 

Have a fantastic week!

Elder Garland