Week 20 in Douala: I become a vampire (April 11, 2022)

Bonjour amis et familles!

Can't believe I'm writing another weekly. This week just flew by. But here we are. Let's get started:

WHEN IN AFRICA

Disclaimer: I don't know how unique this story is to living in Africa, but it did happen.
I had bought a glass jar of salsa that I found at the supermarket for breakfast burritos. I found it hard to open. When I finally got it open, the contents exploded all over me. I looked like a vampire with the salsa that was on my face. Hence the subject line. Sadly, the effects were only temporary.
Also I saw a leashed monkey this week. 

MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK 

We had an awesome lesson on Saturday with this lady named Mirabelle. She told us she believes that the Book of Mormon is the Word of God, that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the only true church. Neither me nor my companion were ready for her to say these things, as it had only been the 3rd time teaching her and we hadn't even officially taught her the Restoration. Turns out, she has been reading the copy of the Book of Mormon we had left with her husband and has really developed a testimony in the process! She's quite far away from the Church building, but she told us she would start coming. This lesson totally made the 2-hour walk there and the 2-hour walk back worth it. (traffic was so bad, taxis refused to take us).

On Sunday morning, we got a call from an unknown number (which really is usually the case) at 6:06 am. We let it ring and woke up at 6:30, like we're supposed to. But we quickly called the number back. On the other line was this lady who asked us where church was because she wanted to come. We had never talked to this lady before.  Apparently, she was talking with one of our other friends about wanting to find somewhere to worship. That friend gave her our number. We told her where to meet and when. She didn't show up right at 9 AM for sacrament meeting, but she called us around 10:30 saying she was there at the roundabout. We went and found her, and she enjoyed the rest of second hour. We had a conversation/lesson after church with the Elders Quorum President even, and set up a time to meet later this week. Her name is Naomie and she even texted us that night expressing her appreciation and thankfulness for meeting us. The Lord truly prepares people to embrace the Church.


SCRIPTURE/SPIRITUAL THOUGHT OF THE WEEK 

"When we struggle—for any reason—that does not mean the plan isn’t working. That is when we need the plan the most!"
- Elder Adriàn Ochoa

I haven't yet watched or listened to all of General Conference yet (no spoilers!), but I did listen to this talk. Elder Ochoa's remarks were given the title, "Is the Plan Working?", the 'plan' being the Plan of Happiness. Many people have the misconception that if they are struggling, that means God is angry with them. Or, if we are following the Gospel, we should be exempt from struggle. Neither is true. It is in times of struggle where we need God the most, and when He is most willing to help us. The Plan of Happiness works in our lives as we rely wholly on God, with faith that He is there and will help us. It is through this attitude that we can find happiness amidst any trial. 

Je vous aime tous,

Elder May

Photos from Zone Conference, a member family with a cute 6-year-old, my salsa-vampire face, Mount Cameroon (finally stopped hiding from me for 5 months), horse.













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