Elder Ethan May's Missionary Adventure

Bonjour amis et familles! 'Twas a great week here in 'icky and sticky'-ville (according to Travel Planet or whatever that tourist book series is called). Let me tell you all about it! MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK   We have been teaching this man named Francisse, along with his wife, for a while now. They live a little far away, and the wife has been wanting to come to church for a while but the husband's been impeding her and seemed to not want her to go. We had a lesson specifically with Francisse on Wednesday where we bore testimony about how we believe the Gospel and church attendance will truly benefit his life and his family. We'll, something must have clicked because he came to church yesterday! His wife wasn't there with him, for some reason, but it was great seeing him come.  Also to bury the lead, we had a baptism! Arthur got baptized! I've failed to mention that we had actually moved his baptism up to this weekend, and it was an awesome service. ...

Bonjour amis et familles! I've made it through half a transfer here in Douala, and yes, it's still too hot. It was 86 yesterday but with the humidity it felt like 97. We did so much walking this week. There was only 2 days where we took a taxi anywhere. I'm exhausted but 'twas a great week! WHEN IN AFRICA  Some quick statistics: Kids who hugged me: 3 Goats seen fighting on their hind legs: 2 People who yelled out "White!" to me: Lost track Miles walked: Don't even wanna know MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK  We had some fun member visits this week, which I hadn't done since getting here. We visited this one family all 6 of us over the branch, where we had what is called Ndole, a green pasty concoction served with fufu. It looks like something Ron Swanson would say 'I am not a rabbit' to. Elder Mbaya was saying that the leaf they make it out of exists in the DRC but kids are told it will kill them if they eat it. Given these 2 descriptions, it was...

Bonjour amis et familles!  2 full weeks down here in Douala. This week was really busy, as we had a Zone Christmas party and Zone Conference on Thursday and Friday, as well as some preparation earlier in the week for that. It was pretty fun and inspiring. Let's get into some great stories from the week: WHEN IN AFRICA So, Elder Mbaya and I were almost an hour late to Zone Conference because our driver took the traffic jam route and then ran out of gas. We had to walk 20 minutes to get another taxi and then we were at the whim of the driver as he took the 25-minute route as opposed to the 15-minute one. It was nuts. Our Mission President waited for us to give his presentation, though.  MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK   So we had a really great lesson with Arthur, who came to church for the 3rd straight time. We felt prompted to move his baptism up - he really is more ready than I first thought. He has great questions and desire - he'll make a great missionary someday. It's ...

  Bonjour amis et familles!  I've got one full week in Douala under my belt now and it's been quite the eventful one. Elder Mbaya and his previous comp did a good job with leaving the area in great shape. I think we've taught 12 different people, some of them multiple times. 6 of those people came to church!  I'm still not used to the heat, and in the words of a member, I will never get used to it (sub. line). But the work is going forward at a great pace! MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK  So you know that kid Arthur? The orphan who got taken in by a new member of the branch? He's on date for baptism now! January 8th! We had a great lesson with him after church on Sunday and I invited him to be baptized. He said he wasn't ready now, but I'm confident that he'll be ready in 6 weeks!  We had a fun visit with this lady who's been taught everything, and would be ready for baptism, but some events in her life have caused her to miss church for the past mont...

Bonjour amis et familles! I have safely arrived in Douala! And boy, does it have a different vibe than Yaoundé! The second I stepped off the bus, I was blasted with that wonderful hot, wet air. Humidity is something I haven't missed at all being in Yaoundé. I also found that while Yaoundé is hilly and green, Douala is flat and a lot more urban. My area, Bonaberi 2B, is in the suburbs but there's not as much greenery. Cool bodies of water though are something I missed - Douala is on the coast and my area is separated from the rest of the city by this cool river thing.  Let's get to all that happened this week! MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK This isn't like an active finding or teaching thing, but we actually had an Apostle visit our mission! Virtually! But still, Elder Ronald A. Rasband gave us a devotional as part of his trip to the African continent. We all gathered as a zone, and although there were connection issues and a blown-out speaker, it was still really cool t...

Bonjour amis et familles! Had a very interesting last week in Yaoundé (spoiler alert). A lot of lessons were cancelled, I had 2 really fun exchanges, and a bird flew into our apartment and refused to leave (hence the subject line). We eventually got him out by catching him in a mosquito net. Anyway, MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK   I had some fun lessons with Elder Harward down in his area on Wednesday. One of them turned into a pretty funny object lesson. I had bought a soda that I hadn't closed tightly enough, so it had soaked all my papers and scriptures in my bag (everything's adequately dry now, ne vous inquiétez pas). Elder Harward compared the spill with sin, and letting everything dry with repentance. Even when something seems like it's too wet to be able to dry, it never is! The 2 ladies we were teaching really liked that quick thinking!  FUNNY QUOTE OF THE WEEK   "I would bathe in your hand sanitizer but someone beat me to it." - Elder Caldwell. I swear ...

Bonjour amis et familles! This week felt super quick. We didn't have too many things going on this week but we still had cool finding opportunities and lessons and the like. I do want to explain the subject line before I get into the spiritual stuff: so Elder Sadiki got super sick Sunday night, so Elder Caldwell and I had to run get him something to knock out his fever. There's a pharmacy right next door to our apartment so we didn't think it would be a hassle. But it was closed. The other one 5 minutes away was closed. The one next to the supermarket was closed. The one that Google Maps said was open didn't seem to exist when we went down there. We eventually had to go all the way down to Bastos (basically downtown, a good 20-minute taxi ride) to find an open pharmacy. Eventually we succeeded and got what Elder Sadiki needed. But it turned out to be quite the adventure! MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK  Elder Caldwell and I have been contacting a little in neighborhoods ...

Bonjour amis et familles! Don't have much time this week but let's get into some fun quick stories: WHEN IN AFRICA  It's back! Everyone's favorite but forgotten segment! Honestly nothing much about living here fazes me anymore; that's why I haven't done one of these in a while, but this story was just so legendary. We were contacting in this really dense neighborhood in these tiny alleys and we get to this house where about a 3-year-old kid was standing on the porch. Without saying anything, and before I could react, this little kid just runs full speed at my leg and gives it a big hug! He was so happy to see white people! It was about the cutest thing I've ever seen if I'm being honest. MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK  We had a couple great follow-up lessons with people we met last week through contacting  (including the lady from the downpour from last week). So that was great. Message or email for more details and I'll get back to you probably next...

Bonjour amis et familles! Elder Caldwell and I have had a really good week filled with awesome member visits, first-lessons from contacting, and friends bringing other friends to sacrament! 'Twas in fact quite miraculous. I'll be delighted to tell y'all about it! MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK   We had a couple awesome outings with Frère Junior from the branch where we visited other members that we hadn't ever visited before. One of which was his mom, who's this awesome lady who is basically the Cameroonian equivalent of my grandma (wears hats to church and everything!). We had a great deep-ish doctrine conversation that was thought-provoking and faith-promoting. She also fed us this awesome peanut sauce and 'couscous' (it's not what you're picturing, I promise). I love meeting these members and getting to know them more. It's one of the best parts of the mission, to see and meet these faithful African saints.  On Friday, we had 3 lessons planned...

Bonjour amis et familles! Comment vous allez? Je vais très bien moi-même. I had kind of a slow week since for the first time in almost 8 months, I got some African tummy troubles and had to stay home all day on Wednesday feeling absolutely terrible. But we still got some great lessons in over the course of the week, and had a very edifying Zone Conference. Let's get into some details! MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK   Elder Caldwell and I went up to Soa on Tuesday for a follow-up lesson that I'd met with my previous 2 companions almost 2 weeks ago. It went really well. Her name is Sylvia and she's been super receptive. I couldn't tell how much of the Book of Mormon she'd read in those 2 weeks, but I could tell she was well into 1 Nephi. She had questions about the book, as many people do, so we taught her how the book came to be by teaching her the Restoration of the Gospel. She liked it. She had some other questions that were kind of tangential, but we answered thos...

  This is so funny. For the first time ever, I sent my weekly from my companion's account! If you want to read from my account, here it is. I also added some exclusive pics! Bonjour amis et familles! So, first things first, transfer news! They happened on Friday, and both my companions left me. I am now with my 4th American companion that I've had in Africa - Elder Caldwell. He's from Missouri and has been out a transfer, so I'll be finishing his training. So now I'm more of a legit 'dad' in mission lingo than I was with Elder Wheeler. I'm also still the District Leader - for my 4th transfer in a row. It's a new district though of only 6 Elders. Should be fun. MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK  We had a pretty cool couple of lessons that me and Elder Mutombo and Elder Wheeler taught on Wednesday - my birthday. One of them I want to especially highlight. We had a lesson with a Facebook reference who barely lived in our area. He had liked the page 'Go...