Week 32 in Douala: The Joys of the Vineyard

Bonjour amis et familles !

This week was filled with many joyous (hence the subject line) moments that made me reflect on how amazing my time here in Cameroon really has been. Let's get into it:

MISSIONARY MOMENTS OF THE WEEK 

First, we had Zone Conference on Tuesday. Compared to other ZC's in the past, this one was quite the refresher. Nobody tried to convince President Miner that they were exempt from following a certain rule (yes, sadly, this happens). Everybody just let all the presenters edify everyone and it was awesome. I wrote down some fire notes to take me through the last 3.5 months of my mission. I got fun pictures with me and Elder Harward, one of the 3 remaining Gabonese 7. And a large contingent of the zone met up at Cold Stone afterward so that was fun too.

On Friday, we met a member who lives out in Yassa. I automatically fell in love with Yassa. It's a 30-minute drive east of our apartment, which means 45 minutes out of downtown, and then to get to the member we walked for another hour. It looked like I was back in Yaoundé because it was so hilly. Peep the pics below. And the member was fun. She obviously has a strong testimony of the Gospel and wants to help her husband see the light of the Gospel. She lives so far away that coming to church is so impractical, which is hard. We told her how she could keep her family strong in the Gospel and have faith in miracles. 

On Saturday, Love and Mirabelle got baptized! When I left them in Bonapriso to come here, I would never had guessed that within 3 weeks they'd be ready to be baptized. Their mom, Véronique, did not take the plunge with them, but was there and super supportive of her daughters' decision. Throughout the service, I couldn't stop smiling with that sense of joy. I couldn't be more proud of their choice to accept the restored Gospel and be a part of the Kingdom of God on Earth. Love said in her testimony after that she could sense that her life was starting anew in a great and important way. She is right. 

SCRIPTURE/SPIRITUAL THOUGHT OF THE WEEK 

D&C 42:16:

"And as ye shall lift up your voices by the Comforter, ye shall speak and prophesy as seemeth me good"

This is something that happens when you just open your tryptic randomly and read. You come across these gems. 
There are times in D&C where the Lord tells someone to do something, and then says "as seemeth you good," meaning the Lord does not care how it is done (see 60:5, 62:5). This is not one of those cases. The Lord cares how I teach. It must be through the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, or it is not of God, but of me. I must rely on the Spirit to guide me on how I teach and speak and testify, and then the Spirit brings with it the convincing power unto the children of men!

Je vous aime tous,

Elder May 















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