Another hard working
week down, in fact that makes 16 month’s worth of work as of today! But in
those 16 months there have been plenty of laughs and fun moments. The week
started off with a sickness for Elder West. I have now been pushed to wonder,
why are my companions always the sick ones? Ahh, probably just Ebola, he’ll be
okay……
Just kidding, Cameroon
has closed all its borders, we are safe. The whole ebola thing is just a
running joke for us missionaries out here. Well, Elder West was a trooper and
worked anyway with a bad headache, so in reality we started off the week
correctly. Nothing too special about the lessons, but I did notice a change in
our recent convert, Emerique. Before his baptism, he challenged everything we
presented. “This is the only true church”, he got upset. “Thomas S Monson is
the prophet we follow”, doesn’t like that. Etc, etc. But since he has been baptized he has become
much more accepting and even testifies of these things. I don’t know if he was
just playing devil’s advocate to test us; but I honestly think taking that leap
of faith to be baptized changed his testimony. I think after his baptism the
Holy Ghost really solidified his beliefs because he trusted in his impressions.
Ever since then, our rendezvous are uplifting and spiritual every time. It’s
pretty neat to get to see that change in someone. Just a perk of being a
missionary.
The rest of the week
was filled with bouffing quesadillas, teaching, joking, bouffing more food. On
Saturday we taught a less active family. As usual we were inspired to do so.
This time it was my companion that received inspiration. Elder West wanted to
see them, when I really saw no reason to go out and visit them. The family
lives out in “village”, a good 30 minute taxi ride, past the airport. Well, eventually
I consented and fixed a rendezvous with them. 5pm, we head out there and then
listen for 2 hours! 2 hours, just
another perk of being a missionary. haha! Complaining about how evil the branch
president is. You know there is a problem when the first question the member
asks you is, “Does the church change?” Basically, the 2 hours was filled
talking about a lot of little errors and faults with the branch president, who
is a newlywed 25 year old I might add. In the end there was little we could do,
but they committed to come to church. The inspiration from West was in the fact
true. That morning the good Sister had told her children that the next day they
would go back to church one last time. She told us how she hadn’t washed the
white shirts (church clothes) for weeks, and thought about just getting rid of
them. But that morning she felt motivated to wash all the clothes. Not 30
minutes after gathering the white shirts, we called her!
I learned a few things
from that lesson. One, a lesson I’ve learned multiple times, the spirit
inspires us to help others. Two, I will never be offended at church. Three, if
I am ever a church leader, I will try to be personable with everyone in the
ward. Happily, that family was at church Sunday.
This week gave birth
to a new game. Called, “Slap-face”. Here’s how it works, anyone that wants to
join is free to participate. But after jumping in there is no jumping out. For
the missionaries that are playing, you lightly tap or “slap” them on their
cheek. Now it’s not hard enough to hurt or leave a mark, just a friendly tap.
At this point the missionary will chase you down if he wants revenge. And then
begins the hand to hand combat. haha. For a solid 5 minutes you will wrestle,
run, hide from, and combat each other until enough revenge is dealt out from
both sides. The fights started out kinda childish but have now become full on
advanced CQC! Some of the highlights are when Elder Bacera got me in a lock and
scored like 20 hits in a row. Or my aerial attack, when I jumped off my
bunk-bed at night, landed next to Bacera and scored a hit; quickly scurrying
back up to bed before he got me. Or my epic fail of lying under West’s bed for
10 minutes, trying to get a hit, only to be discovered before I got the chance
to strike. It sounds like, a childish game, and in reality it probably is – but
hey, it gets some good laughs between us. I think my journal entries this week
where interrupted like 3 times from this game! Well, for now it entertains us
and keeps us smiling. : )
I’m as happy as a clam
with this district, my companion, and the work! I haven’t heard anything from
you guys in two weeks, so I hope all is okay and life has been treating you
well. I heard from Nanie that Ferious might get a job advancement! Sick Bro.
Let me know about any other news from home. Also, I’m going to email dad and
wish him happy birthday, but if he doesn’t get it, let him know I love him and
wish him a happy birthday in my stead.
Julius is on the right in both these pics.
Hard to tell since West is a mini me of Julius.
