Elder Ethan May's Missionary Adventure

Bonjour amis et familles! First week in my new area went pretty well. The area name is Texaco, like Texaco gas. Haven't figured out 100% why. Me and my new companion, Elder Makashi, took the short week and found 4 new people! Let's meet some of them: MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK So 3 of these 4 new people is a daughter, a nephew, and a friend of said daughter of a member of the branch. I had success in teaching kids of members last transfer, and it's looking like these kids could get baptized pretty soon - at least the daughter. But all 3 of them have been quite fun to teach. They're quick to understand, love to learn, and are excited to answer questions. And they're overall pretty cute. We had a lesson with an Anglophone named Bernard on Thursday. It was my first opportunity to teach and testify in English in a while. He had questions about Joseph Smith. I didn't know how much the last set of Elders had taught, but I decided to go ahead and give my witness of...

  Bonjour amis et familles! Another transfer is in the books. As it'll turn out, my only transfer here in Bonapriso over the New Bell Branch. I'm transferring one area over geographically into the Village Branch. I'll be with my 14th companion of the mission. More on those details next week.  MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK   Elder Moma and I worked with the over-zealous Branch Mission Leader on Friday. He is unafraid to share the Gospel with anyone and everyone! We were able to get quite a few new contacts and new people to teach. We also had some pretty good lessons with him. We got this one lady that Elder Moma and I had found super excited to start reading the Book of Mormon. And we had a cool Plan of Salvation lesson with Casimir. He told us we had explained some things that he'd always had questions about, and never got a good answer from any other church. That's something we hope every friend we teach realizes - the Restored Gospel really has all truth! We had...

  Bonjour amis et familles! FULL DISCLAIMER: HE IS FINE. But here's the story: Elder Kearley, the other American here in Bonapriso, and our District Leader, Elder Kodiemoka, got hit by a car crossing the 'autoroute' (big old highway) while on splits last Saturday and have been recuperating together at our DL's apartment since Tuesday. This means I got to stay with 3 Africans in my apartment for most of this week. It's been a little lonely but mostly fun and ever since, all my dreams have been in French. There's your  WHEN IN AFRICA  for the week.  Also a group of kids called me 'Mr. Bean' this week and I've never had so many mixed emotions at once.  MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK  We had a fun contacting story this week. A little bit of context: I hate straight contacting people on the street. No one ever truly taught me how to do it well and I never developed the skill. But this time, I got the courage to ask this lady sitting on her porch how she w...

  Bonjour amis et familles!  I'm 87 weeks into the mission. Y'all should know what's about to go down here. I'm tired of making a unique intro every week. MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK  We had the baptism of the 3 kids - Brayan, Marina, and Fred - on Saturday! I was chosen to perform the baptisms for the second time in the past month. All 3 kids were so cute; I could tell Brayan and Marina (the younger two) were pretty nervous once they got into the font, but it all went well. They were happy. I was happy for them. I couldn't not be happy for them as I was there in the font. Helping others come unto Christ and make that baptismal covenant, no matter their age, is what fills me with the most joy as a missionary. There were a few complications on Sunday and we sadly weren't able to get them confirmed, but we hope to get that sorted out so they'll officially be members of the Church!  We had a fun finding experience this week. We arrived at our friend's bo...

Bonjour amis et familles! This was a cool week. We were able to realize most of the goals we had set, including our goal for number of baptismal dates. More on that later. I'm still really liking living in such an urban area, and I'm starting to really find my way around. It's been fun. MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK  Okay, I normally don't include stories like these because they aren't the cool 'bringing others to Christ', 'super inspiring' ones. But we had the stupidest, most laughable bash this week, I've got to share it. We wanted to teach this guy about the Gospel of Christ. How he can apply the principles to his life. We started with faith. Before we could get to repentance, he stopped us and said, "I want to talk more about faith." He asked us if we thought Jesus had faith that the fig tree he cursed was going to have fruit. He asked why Jesus would even curse the tree in the first place, since it wasn't fig season. And he wo...

  Bonjour amis et familles! So, if you were super worried that you didn't wake up to my weekly yesterday, worry no more! My p-day was simply moved to Tuesday because we had a special meeting with someone from the missionary department yesterday. I know you all have been itching for an update so here it goes: WHEN IN AFRICA One perk of living downtown is the concentration of restaurants and other eateries. More specifically, the plethora of available shawarma stands. I even tried chawarma* from two stands across the street from each other on separate nights. I haven't found a stand I haven't liked yet. Also, we went to one of the largest open markets in Central Africa yesterday - Douala Central Market. It's quintessential Africa and it's an amazing cultural experience.  MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK  We had quite a bit of success finding people this week. We met our goal of 3 people by Thursday and we have enough 'potential' other new people to have like, at...

B onjour amis et familles! As you might be able to cleverly infer from the subject line, I've been transferred, though just within Douala. I'm now right downtown in a neighborhood called Bonapriso - the teaching area name is Bonapriso 2. My new companion is Elder Moma (much easier name to learn than Balanganayi!). It was hard to leave Bonaberi 2, especially its newest member, , but she and the branch are in good hands.  Some highlights from this week include: MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK On Thursday, Elder Balanganayi and I did get to visit Naomie one last time before Friday's transfer. She was definitely upset about the news, but she eventually brightened up as we started taking souvenir pictures with her. She started taking the pictures herself and even asked us to take a video of her giving her testimony. The video was 14 minutes long, and it was amazing to hear how much the Lord has been with her and has influenced her conversion. It was quite the blessing to experien...

Bonjour amis et familles! This is going to be an email you're not going to want to miss. Listen up: MISSIONARY MOMENT OF THE WEEK I'm dedicating this whole email to Naomie and her story. This last week, I had the privilege of baptizing her. She is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and as of 3 weeks and change ago, I hadn't even met her yet. Her story is a miracle start-to-finish. Everything went almost perfectly this week in preparation for her baptism. We taught her all the rest of our lessons, she had her baptismal interview, and she showed up early to her 11 am baptismal service on Saturday. She was a bit late to sacrament for her confirmation on Sunday, but not too late. She is the epitome of the scripture I will share shortly. She is so happy to have found the Church and she knows that in His love for her, God has shown her the way she should go. I'm beyond excited to see how the Church and the Gospel influences the rest of her life. ...

Bonjour amis et familles! It's Elder May back at it with another weekly. I know you all have been anxiously waiting for my report, so without further ado: WHEN IN AFRICA One night, the outlet in Elders Knight and Mpoyi's bedroom started smoking briefly. In its last hour, it took out the outlets in our bedroom with it. Stripped of our ability to use fans in an apartment without AC, we slept in the living room, where the circuitry had not been damaged.  MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK  We had 3 lessons with Naomie this week, preparing her for her baptism. It all went swimmingly. She loves everything we teach, accepts all of it, and is overall super ready to serve God for the rest of her life. A highlight came on Wednesday when we taught the Word of Wisdom with the help of a member around her age. She talked about how she already didn't drink or smoke or anything, and said she had a hard time finding friends because of it. She then turned to our member, Chanelle, and said, ...

Bonjour amis et familles!  Another week has come and gone. I officially have less than 6 months left on my mission as of yesterday. That feels so weird to type out. What's new this week, you might ask? Also - the subject line is in Tshiluba (the language the Congolese Elders know) and roughly translates to 'it is what it is/no worries.'  WHEN IN AFRICA Had a pretty cool one of these this week. There was a YSA activity for the District of Douala at our branch on Friday that we went to. There were many different faith-promoting presentations about staying on the covenant path and marrying in the temple. There was also a cultural presentation where people dressed up in traditional tribal clothing and danced. One lady even had a big shield and her face was painted. I'll see if I can attach a picture. MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK  So remember Naomie from last week? We had an amazing lesson with her on Friday. She talked a lot about her desire to find and serve God again, a...