Sad news - the baptism did not happen this
week. We talked with Regine and Beldin Tuesday and it turns out that their dad
in reality said no. He would like for them to wait for their mother to return
to Cameroon - but currently she is doing something out in Thailand, so baptism
probably won’t be happening anytime soon. But hey, it was still a good week!
In thinking about this week, I can’t remember
that much that was monumental. Kampoy and I are teaching and finding to our
best efforts. Some investigators have returned Book of Mormons and pamphlets
(which is a first), others express a desire to have priesthood power without
becoming members, just some interesting situations.
Jean Victor is an awesome investigator, he has
been coming to church and meeting with us for 3 weeks and he has embraced the
gospel! This week we had a lesson with his whole family, which is the first
lesson I've ever given to an entire family. Normally, only a few are interested
at a time - or the fathers tell us that they want to scope the church out
before their family. But anyway, back to the story, first we took a taxi to the
edge of the city. We decided that we wanted to show the restoration video
because it would keep everyone interested. As we prepared the dvd player we
learned that Jean Victor's dvd player only read the music and image from the
dvd, not the commentary. So kampoy and I got creative, we narrated the video
ourselves. Kinda rough, but the coolest part was citing the first vision with the
video and music behind us. We would cite the vision while the Mormon tabernacle
choir was singing on the cd - it might not sound too cool but the spirit was
super strong and it was the coolest rendition of the first vision I've ever
given.
As it is the Easter season, Africa blew up in
celebration (mostly just flashy hypocrisy). But some lady out of Yaounde
claimed that JESUS CHRIST came to her home and was waiting for everyone to come
and visit him!! Apparently that was
legit enough for the general population, because within hours thousands of
people were going to the house. New channels arrived to film and report on the
situation. Since Thursday, we have not had a day pass without being asked if
it's true. So in case you are wondering, Jesus decided to return to the earth,
and his entry was in a shake in a town unknown to the world. Lol Along with this Easter tale, our branch
president forgot it was Easter so the talks were not “Eastery” in nature,
actually one was on Joseph Smith.
But I had a thought on Sunday, I was sitting in
church and I thought, "Today is special because we get to remember the
atonement of Christ. Wait! We do remember his atonement every week anyway with
the sacrament, right? So why would this Sunday need to be any more special than
the other Sundays? Hey! Easter isn’t really an extra special occasion to remind
ourselves of Jesus because we are already remind ourselves of Christ every
week!" I’m glad I belong to the
real church of Christ! : )
Next week we will be listening to General
Conference! I guess conference weekend
is a week late for us here, but I’m sure it'll be awesome.
The news from home sounds awesome. I am so
proud of Kaleb and Maya for working so hard this school year - way to be! Sorry
y'all were sick; here people get sick but it's always chalked up to be malaria
(even when it’s just a headache haha). In fact, I had a cold as well this last
week. Finally got rid of it Saturday, so I'm back to tip top shape. Speaking of
sicknesses…. reminds me that a recent convert died here due to an infection. She was a 30 year old sister who had just
finished after baptism lessons with us and had been called as an instructor in
the relief society. Sad, but also happy because she was so faithful for her
whole life :)
I think that was all the news I had for this
week. Thank you for the continued encouragement and chastisement (I guess it’s
my turn the be the one receiving the counsel in the family haha but I truly
appreciate it!) I especially liked the Lorax quotes!
