Week 25 in Douala: Shwarma, Chawarma, and more Shawarma

 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 least 4 more this week. Let's rundown how we found them:

We had 2 lessons with a lady we met at the giant Carrefour 'hypermarket'. Her name is Catherine and she was super interested in Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. We talked about all her questions a lot and she told us she was going to start reading it to 'discover' what it's about. For the moment she is flatly against coming to church, but we hope the Book of Mormon will help with that.

One day, we arrived at this house to teach someone who apparently was sleeping. His daughter who greeted us started asking about who we were, and we started an impromptu lesson with her. Eventually, the original guy we'd set up the lesson with joined in, as did his wife. We got mostly through a Restoration lesson with the 3 of them, and they all expressed interest in coming to church. Now all we need is to plan our 'follow up' lesson with them.

The last fun finding opportunity came on Saturday when we visited the family the DMB introduced us last week: Vèronique and her daughters, Love and Mirabelle. We had an awesome lesson with them; the 2 daughters had read from the Book of Mormon copies the DMB had given them, and they accurately and excitedly recounted for us the First Vision and the translation of the Book. They seem super ready to learn more, and their mom is excited for them as well, even if she didn't join them at church the next day.

SCRIPTURE/SPIRITUAL THOUGHT OF THE WEEK 

1 Nephi 20:10-11: (en français!)

"Je t’ai mis au creuset, je t’ai éprouvé dans la fournaise de l’adversité.
C’est pour l’amour de moi, oui, pour l’amour de moi, que je vais faire cela..."

In English, verse 11 uses the phrase 'for my sake'; in French, it's 'for my love.' God refines us ('mis au creuset') and has us go through the 'furnace of affliction' because he loves us! He wants us to grow and change and become like Him, and that won't happen if we aren't tried and tested. Being proved through our trials helps us develop divine attributes that will qualify us to achieve that eternal goal. 

Je vous aime tous,

Elder May

*P.S. Who knows the correct spelling of shawarama anyway?









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