Week 1 in Yaoundé: 'Cameroon est bilingue'

 Bonjour amis et familles!


Well, I've done it. I've gotten through my first week in Cameroon! And, all in all, it was good. Here's some details:

WHEN IN CAMEROON 
 
New segment(ish)!
Cameroon has a lot different of a feel to it than Gabon. It's a little less green here. It is more urban (Yaoundé's population is over 2.5 million) but it's also a little more brown and dusty. Still beautiful. There's a bunch of hills so there's a lot of fun vistas. 
There's a higher population here of downed wires and cockroaches. So that's fun.
Taxis are yellow and are in a bit better shape than the taxis in Libreville. Also, they love to fit 5 passengers in a taxi (so there's 2 sharing the passenger seat). 
One last thing: 'mototaxis'. Motorcycles that also function as taxis. They're everywhere and I've seen very few helmets being worn. You do you, Yaoundé!


MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK

A lot of the week was focused on some orientation stuff: Me learning how to be a district leader (the leader of a group of 6-10 missionaries), and also how to work in the mission office, something me and my companion will be starting next week. But we also had time to teach a lesson to these kids whose parents are not members, but they're letting us teach them. What's cool is they speak English, because, as the subject line says, 'Cameroon is bilingual'. So I taught in English! It went well and I felt good about it. We wanted to get them to sacrament but their dad refused and we have to respect that. But good nonetheless was the lesson we had!

Speaking of sacrament, Cameroon is having in-person in-the-building church! It was so cool to go to an actual meetinghouse and feel the Spirit of it. I ended up giving a short unprepared testimony, which the Branch President thanked me for. After the sacrament meeting, there was an English class directed by a bilingual member that said member had me help with. It was super fun and I even learned a couple of quirks about French in the process. It also provided a great chance to get to know and have fun with members. That's part of missionary  work too!

FUNNY QUOTE OF THE WEEK 

"Tu es le vieux corbeau!"

Translation: "You're the old crow!" An 'old crow' is a missionary who's been out a really long time. For my missionary friends reading this, it's basically the French equivalent of 'trunky'. I've only been out 8 months, but I'm the oldest in mission age in the apartment. So Elder Dion was quick to make this remark and has repeated it throughout the week. 

SCRIPTURE/SPIRITUAL THOUGHT OF THE WEEK 

1 Chronicles 19:13:

"Be of good courage, and let us behave ourselves valiantly for our people, and for the cities of our God: and let the Lord do that which is good in his sight."

This is what I find when I decide to put my head down and read Chronicles. Even the Institute Manual doesn't cover Chronicles. But the OT keeps giving me these gems.
I really like this scripture because if we 'behave ourselves valiantly,' and keep the commandments, and do all we can do on our end, the Lord will do 'that which is good in his sight.' It might not be the outcome we think will happen, but whatever our reward for persevering through our trials, it will be what the Lord wants for us.

Je vous aime tous! À la prochaine!

Elder May

(a couple of these photos might look familiar...#profilepic #coverphoto)









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