Week 19 in Yaoundé: I finally see some dang monkeys

 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 'God has a plan,' and we had an awesome Plan of Salvation lesson. He believed that the Fall of Adam was already a blessing and a good thing! We shared some scriptures from the Book of Mormon, which he was super interested in. Halfway through, his friend joined in the lesson and he had a bunch of Restoration questions, so we taught that as well! They were super cool to talk to and seemed super  interested.

On Sunday, Zazie came to church! Without us even asking Saturday night or anything! We hadn't met with her in a couple weeks, so I was delighted to see her sitting there when we walked in. Something that was Al awesome with her was a text we got earlier in the week - she told us that she was "convinced that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true Church of God." You love to see people's testimonies grow like that! 

FUNNY QUOTE OF THE WEEK 

"...So you can, ya know, preach, idk..."

This was a text we got from the Muslim girl we had that lunch with last week. She told us she had a friend we could meet, and she gave us this reasoning for referring her to us. She knows English so this was exactly how she said it. She even shortened 'ya know' to 'yk'. 

SCRIPTURE/SPIRITUAL THOUGHT OF THE WEEK 

"[The world's] philosophies 'justify in committing a little sin' or even a lot of sin, but none can offer redemption."

- D. Todd Christofferson 

Elder Christofferson has evolved to become one of my favorite Apostles. At least his Conference talks have become my favorite. (I don't know if it's the best to have a 'favorite Apostle.') I love this quote from his talk this last conference. The attitude and worldview that there is redemption for sin, that we can hope and have faith in a Savior, who is Christ, is so much more fulfilling than the ignorant worldview that, as Elder Christofferson describes, "sin does not exist or that if it exists, it ultimately has no consequences."
Using the gift of divine repentance, acknowledging that sin exists and we need divine help to overcome it, brings lasting joy that such worldly philosophies cannot offer. I testify of that. 

Je vous aime tous! Vous êtes tous formidables!

Elder May

PICTURES:

Birthday burger dinner, last visit with Branch President of Messassi's family, and we went to the zoo today for pday. Finally saw myself some monkeys! Also someone tell me what the heck that raccoon thing is.











Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 15 in Douala: The old Ice Cream <=> Restored Gospel exchange (March 7, 2022)

Image
  Bonjour amis et familles! This week was highlighted by interviews with President and Sister Miner and Zone Conference, and lowlighted by the news that I have developed athlete's foot. But I'm keeping a good attitude and it's been a good week regardless! MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK   So a little bit of contextual background here: there's this lady down the street from us that serves soft-serve ice cream from a machine. Over the past little bit, my comp and I have been frequenting her machine at least twice a week. By creating this friendship (and enjoying some decent soft-serve ice cream), we have now started talking about the Gospel with her, and we even had a little lesson on Saturday with her. She seemed interested and asked us some good questions. We now have an official appointment with her next week. SCRIPTURE/SPIRITUAL THOUGHT OF THE WEEK  Alma 24:27: "...thus we see that the Lord worketh in many ways to the salvation of his people." I love this so ...
Read more

Week 6 in Douala: Some new friends for the New Year! (Jan 2, 2022)

Image
Bonjour amis et familles!  Bonne année! Happy New Year! It's 2022! Whaddya know about that? We had a pretty good  week  to ring out the old year and start the new year. Some new people with a bunch of potential. Some fun meals to celebrate the New Year. Let's get into some details: MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE  WEEK   I had an exchange with Elder Knight, a newer American in the mission who I lived with for a  week  and a half at the beginning of this transfer. As we were trying to teach this guy at his haircut place (we kept getting interrupted by customers and stuff), a customer came and started talking to us. He became more attentive than the guy we were actually teaching, and started asking questions about the Restoration pamphlet we gave him. A couple of days later, we had a lesson with him, Paul, and his wife, Annetta. It went really great, and I could tell they felt the Spirit during our lesson. He called us the next morning wanting to meet again, b...
Read more

Week 9 in Douala: Welcome to the Brain (Jan 24, 2022)

Image
  Bonjour amis et familles!  To anyone who noticed, yes, the last 2 weeks have both said 'Week 7 in Douala.' First time I've actually done that (and I've been on the mission for 69 weeks now!).  This week was pretty good. Got off the spiritual high of all the Elder Sitati conferences and got back into the grind of everyday missionary work. Let's get into the thick of it: WHEN IN AFRICA: Elder Balanganayi claimed to see a water snake as we were crossing a bridge while contacting. I agree with him. This thing's head was too skinny to be a duck. It was probably at least 2 feet long. Sadly I don't have good pictures.  MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK  We've been trying to get a second lesson with Paul and Annetta, who we met 3 weeks ago, ever since that first one and we just weren't connecting. But we were able to have lessons with both of them this weekend, in the most unexpected way! First, after trying to set a day and time that would work with Paul...
Read more