Getting a car is definitely on the list of things I
want to do when I
get back; but we will see how thing work out. Everyone out here asks;
"what are you doing when you get back?" And my response is always
"Working to make a bunch of money so I can prepare for school!" good
thing I’m learning to work out here cuz within the first week back I’m
getting a job.
Maybe if I do buy a car I can get an old 1990 Toyota van; put an
unsafe number of homemade benches in it; paint it blue with yellow
vanity stripes; and have a friend or Maya and Gabbie hang of the side
yelling "Fon tie-tie! Fon tie-tie! cent francs fon tie-tie". That
will
help me remember Africa and I can start a bus business haha.
I’m glad you got the flight plans, I really hope all the siblings and
dad can be there at the airport. Did you see the pit-stop in some
Arabian country or the 6 hour layover in Germany? I love traveling!
Now to the work. Despite the closeness of the end, I’m proud to say I’m
still working hard. Don’t worry I’m not checking out yet. It’s nice here
because there are so many lessons and so our days are always filled.
it's also nice because I don’t really have to worry about learning the
sector, because I’m here kinda on passage I just get to tag along to
teach and focus on the amis - no others worries! We had a baptism this
week. It was for a young man named Wernel. I taught him maybe 3 times
before Saturday, so I kinda just helped make sure he was totally
ready.
It's really nice here as well because Sunday we teach ALL the lessons
at the church! So we do studies and then go to the church from 11 am -
7pm. we go to church and then have fun teaching people who came.
General Conference is this weekend! I’m sure y'all haven’t forgotten. We
will be watching the priesthood session on Monday with all the other
missionaries. This week I’ve been studying extra hard all the talks
from last conference. Here are some suggestions I learned from a talk
by Elder Anderson and personal experience about how to make conference
better:
1 - make sure you know the names AND faces of ALL the members of the
quorum of the twelve and the first presidency. We hardly pay attention
to people we don’t notice, learning who these people are is a good way
to make it easier to focus. An idea to help is go onto
LDS.org/prophets and read the biography about these men. You’ll get a
kick out of learning things like Elder Bednar played as a quarter-back
in high school. And especially President Uchtdorfs military photos!
2 - Can you tell me the subject on which each of the above brethren
spoke about in the last conference? If we didn’t pay attention last
time, you probably won’t this time. if needed go on to LDS.org and look
up the talks of each person that you couldn’t remember; read a talk or
two a day and you'll be ready for Saturday. This also helps us see
repeated messages by single apostles and groups as well; example, in
the last conference Eyring, Nelson, and Ballard all talked about
sustaining the prophet.
3 - Most importantly, can you tell me of something you changed in your
life thanks to counsel from one of these men? By far this is more
important than the others. If we have acted to change before, we will
probably change again or more. If you can’t think of something, I
encourage you to find something and change for the good. Trust me,
even Elder Johnson will be looking for things :) a good way to do this
is have a piece of paper with all your questions written on it. Things
like, "does god exist?" or "how can I fulfill my calling as a
____?"
Or "what should I do with my girlfriend?" (On second thought I think
a
better question would be "what should I do to GET a girlfriend?"
haha)
I promise every question will be answered. Maybe not by what is said,
but by what the spirit tells you.
Enjoy conference! I love listening to the prophet and apostles. I also
love you guys. Keep working hard and I’ll be back to add my help and
cheesy missionary jokes soon enough :) I love you, thanks for all the
support and sacrifice.
PS - I successfully made African beans by myself the other night. I
call cooking the first week home so you guys get to taste what I’ve
eaten for the past two years: African food and badly cooked American
food haha.
