Elder Ethan May's Missionary Adventure

  Bonjour amis et familles! This was a very busy week and a lot of cool stuff happened that really furthered the work. Let me explain: MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK As a district this week, we did a 'blitz' - where all 8 of us went to one of the 4 areas throughout the city and just contacted and handed out brochures. So we did that Tuesday through Friday - one area per day. It was super successful and we've already taught 2 people that one of the other companionships found for us.  We also had another baptism! The wife of the guy in the mission presidency took the plunge on Saturday! I didn't teach her after the Africans came, but I did get to be in the pictures they took, since I was part of the process. Baptisms are always spiritually amazing and this one was actually better attended than the one last month - there were about 30 people there (just under COVID restrictions!).  As if the work couldn't move fast enough, we actually ended up putting someone on date f...

  Subject line isn't very creative this week, I apologize. Bonjour amis et familles! This week was very, very long. It was very much a week of adjustment and figuring out how far I can or should push the envelope in learning how to work with my companion, and vice versa. But, here are some highlights from this week: WHEN IN AFRICA Sometimes the water just stops working for a couple hours. No idea why. Maybe someone drove over a pipe and punctured it (I use 'punctured' because you'll see just bunches and bunches of rubber water lines on the sides of the road.) When it rains, it's so humid that the car windshields fog up and cannot get unfogged. It follows that being in a taxi on these roads here, where there's no sense of right-of-way, and you can only kind of see where you're going, is a very stressful experience.  MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK I had my 2nd zone conference of the mission this week (I would have normally had 4 or 5 at this point, but a varie...

  Bonjour amis et familles! This has been a crazy, crazy, week! The big turning point/highlight event was that there are now 14 missionaries in Gabon! 7 Americans and 7 Africans, who all arrived Wednesday afternoon. So now, I have an African companion! His name is Elder Utshudi and he's from DR Congo. He knows very little English. WHEN IN AFRICA Nothing too crazy this week, which is good, because that means I'm adjusting to living here a bit. We did get followed by a crazy guy but it's fine. It's mainly just been adapting to the culture of the work that the Africans have brought with them, which  really isn't a 'when in Africa' thing, but more of a 'every missionary does it a little differently - especially if you're from another continent' thing.  MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK   A fun addition to the Africans arriving was that I technically switched areas. Now Elder Utshudi and I are over the 'PK' area, and all the progressing people El...

  Bonjour amis et familles! This was another great week. Productive lessons, crazy cultural logistical moments, and General Conference! Let's get the ball rolling... WHEN IN AFRICA We had the most stressful 'when in Africa' experience this week by far. We almost ran out of power. You see, in Gabon, you have to pay for electricity by individual kilowatt-hours. As a rule of thumb, the counter shouldn't get below 50 kwh. But, through a series of unfortunate events, by Saturday, this counter was at 11, and we couldn't find a vendor who would sell us any more (we tried like 3 places). What happened was nothing short of a miracle. Through not turning any lights nor AC on, and a couple of other cautions, we were able to conserve the energy while still being able to watch conference using a church-owned projector. Once we were sent a code from a member in the morning that would get us more power, the counter read 3.5. Now it's at a way more comfortable 340.  MISSIONARY ...