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

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, but sadly he got called into work. 

On Friday, we had a couple of appointments in this neighborhood called Bonabome (boh-na-boh-may), which is entirely made up of dirt pathways and concrete and wooden homes and is easy to get lost in. After our appointments, Elder Mbaya wanted to go back a different way. I was a little hesitant; I didn't want to get lost. But I trusted that it was for a reason so we did it. Not 2 minutes after we decided to turn off our regular path, we run into this lady named Dorcas. She immediately started asking us questions, like if we believed in hell. Turns out, she thought we were JW's. We got into a little conversation about what we do believe about the life after this life, and we told her we'd be back next week. She seemed very excited to talk more.

SCRIPTURE/SPIRITUAL THOUGHT OF THE WEEK 

Moroni 10:19:

"And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that all these gifts of which I have spoken, which are spiritual, never will be done away, even as long as the world shall stand, only according to the unbelief of the children of men."

This verse from the last chapter of the Book of Mormon stood out to me as I finished the Book for the 3rd time on the mission. I love the doctrine that God will always be God, and all His attributes of love, all His gifts, spiritual and otherwise, that He gives us, never cease. God will never stop communicating with His faithful children. He does so through His chosen prophets, from Adam to Isaiah to Joseph Smith to Russell M. Nelson, and to every faithful Saint who comes to Him in prayer, looking to receive personal revelation. What comfort and joy this doctrine gives, that there is a God, and He loves us, and wants and will communicate with us, no matter when or where we live.

Je vous aime tous, et bonne année encore!
Elder May

Pics: a tag pic (hadn't ever really taken one) and a selfie.





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 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