What a nice guy!

October 24 2016

Okay, I had quite the week this week. First off we visited a less active member and we asked, basically, "Are going to Church this week?" and she said "No, my heart isn't there." To make a long story short she claimed that it was God telling her not to go, then my companion went to 2 Nephi 32:8 and told her those feelings were of the Devil, then he asked her if she was going to Church and she said... no. So then Elder I bewilderedly asked her if she wanted to follow the Devil. It was... interesting. I also fell in a hole in the sidewalk at night and scraped up my arm a bit. That hurt but no infections, so that is good. Lots and lots of ratez-vous this week, seems like everyone is busy. We did get to teach Fr B P, a recent convert who we haven't seen in months, that was cool. Sr C is still coming to Church, though we didn't teach her this week because she found work at a hotel (doesn't work Sundays though!). Even so, now she has money for transport and her family. I went on splits with Elder T this week, and the first lesson was English (even though I had spoken French when I called the investigator) and Elder T didn't understand a word of it, so that was a bit awkward. The investigator's name is S and he had some very relevant questions about prayer, baptism, sin and such. I responded to the ones about prayer and sin and when he asked about baptism I said, "Next time" because we were already late for our next appointment, who wasn't there. Fun times. I've had lots of good study's lately though, so at least that is going well. The examples of the people continue to inspire me, like Alma the Younger. He takes the judgement seat but when he sees his people in iniquity he leaves everything to go preach. A great example of faith. Oh, I don't remember if I mentioned but Elder Christofferson will be coming to Yaounde in November, I'm pretty excited. And we lost our telephone and had to buy a new one (fortunately not that expensive) and do stuff with SIM cards and whatnot to have the same number.

Give my congratulations to Bailie! I hope she will be happy also.

As for the cat, I had no idea it was cat when I ate it. It was afterward when someone mentioned that it was good cat that I found out. We Elders are doing fine. I did buy stuff to make no-bakes this week, though I'm going to try replacing chocolate powder and peanut butter with something like nutella (because choco powder and PB are EXPENSIVE, around 4000 Francs each, so I would be using 2/7 of my soutien for those)

"Maman" basically just means mama, though it is usually used with older ladys. Like in Tahiti, the older men and women are often called "Papie" and "Mamie" respectively.

Je vous aime tous tellement (a lot)!

Nous ne craignons personne!

Elder Russell

Me with Elder T

Pictures of my battle wounds with the ground. You can see that my desk doesn't always stay organized.

Our new telephone (Elder T also gave me a pair of pants. What a nice guy!)

I can SEE!

October 17 2016

This week was a great, if unexciting, week. One highlight is that we saw Sr A again this week! That was great, it had been so long and it was very wonderful to see that she is still trying to live the gospel and ready to renew her covenants when the opportunity comes. She went back to the village today so we're not sure when we will see her next, but she said it will be soon. Sr C was out of town for this Sunday, but she said she will be back next week. A one year contract was signed for a building in our sector. I hope that helps at least some people come to Church again (I know it will help one Maman who has lots of children, she comes when she can. I also totally forgot her name) Sr S is interesting. We've noticed that she is very focused on people. This last lesson we tried to help to realize that the people don't matter, God matters. We're not sure understood entirely. We had a meeting with President Monga Sunday at Bonaberi which was awesome. He definitely helped me realize that most things rely on our efforts as missionaries. Working with the members, progression of amis (up to a point. I can't force anyone to get baptised) and lots of other things. Sr H, an older Maman we teach came to Church this week! That was great.

As for Fr P and Sr P; Fr P is out of town a lot and We haven't gotten hold of Sr P again. We have a return missionary who we call (Fr N B) because he is the one who presented us to her and her number doesn't go through. We hope to teach them both this week.

The new glasses are nice. I can SEE! You never realize how bad your eyesight is until you get new lenses. As for food, We don't get many Manger-vous (mahn jay voo. Where you eat at an appointment) here, though apparently, they are common in Yaoundé, and practically non-existent in Brazzaville. I've had Ndole, Fou fou (fu fu?), Coq, gumbo, plaintain (like a banana, but kind of bland) oh, and it turns out cat tastes pretty good and I'm not allergic to the meat. That was in a sandwich from a lady who sells stuff near the apartement (Sr N, actually. She stopped taking the lessons a bit after our arrival). I am looking forward to the Calls coming back!

Je vous aime tous!

Nous ne craignons personne!

Elder Russell

Ce n'est pas facile, mais, c'est possible

October 10 2016

This week was okay. We all were excited for conference and Elder Z and Elder R downloaded it on Monday. The new Elder, Elder T is from Tahiti, so it is fun to talk to about what we here from the other Elders in Tahiti. He is very happy and a hard worker, he cleaned the living room very well this morning. We received a few amis (short for, "amis de l'église", which is investigators in French) from some recent activities and started to teach them. There is Sr P and Fr P, though we were only able to teach Sr P this week out of those two. We also started teaching the sister of one of the members and she is very ready to learn the gospel. The second lesson we gave her a Book of Mormon. Sadly she lives in Edea but she visits Douala often, so it shouldn't be too hard to teach her. We were not able to teach Sr S this week, as there was conference and she had something going on the time we usually teach her. She was not at church on Sunday :(

Conference was cool, though almost no one came Saturday and we had technical problems at the end on Monday. Also for some reason the branches weren't together... not sure why. I expected at least our branch and that of Village to be together as they are in the same building. Also it turns out that Church has already bought property here in Douala, probably so that they have it when the Church is big enough to build its own building. So that is cool. So basically we have the same thing happening. Investigators you know and love either don't progress or stop progressing, you find new ones and you are always praying so dang hard that they will soften their hearts and accept the gospel fully in their lives. What we like to say is, "Ce n'est pas facile, mais, c'est possible" It's not easy but it is possible. Also, ça va aller! I really liked Elder Shmutz' talk and how he mentioned the necessity of trials, because I think that is something a lot of people often forget.

Je vous aime tous!

Nous ne craignons personne!

Elder Russell

French Word of the Day: Malheur. Sadness or... badness? Opposite of Bonheur, happiness.

Bonheur/Malheur?

Bonheur!

Camerounaise

October 3 2016

This was a pretty slow week for us, but still good. Sr C bore her testimony on Sunday. We had some crazy stuff happen again with the zone leaders and transfers. Speaking of transfers; I'm still here in Douala C. Elder K, Elder B and Elder R are all going to Yaoundé. We are also getting a Tahitian Elder, whose name escapes me. We visited Sr S and I asked if she had really been reading the scriptures. She said that one time she felt prompted to and she found the answer to her question that time. We emphasized the importance of studying the scriptures, even if just for fifteen minutes. She said she would do better and I really hope that will help her to gain a firm testimony. Hopefully this month we will be able to move into a new building. That will make it a lot easier for contacts to come to Church and see how everything goes; that will also help quite a few less-actives.

As for conference, we haven't seen it yet. We will see it this week though, so that is good. I sent a picture of Sr C's baptism last week, but apparently the member taking the picture wasn't too aware of how to use my camera so there are no photo's of me there. And last week I actually said that we were at cyber at the least effective hour to write emails and such. That hour is around 6h because everyone is either in cars, on motos or in a huge rush to get home. Not fun to be going to or from Bonaberi around that time. Elder K bought a cookbook with a bunch of Camerounaise recipes. So that is cool. Tell Aaron hi for me! I'll be sad to miss the chili cook off but I'm on a mission so: ça va! Don't forget to send me pictures of your costumes for Halloween! Also I found a simply way to make a wizard like costume with some stuff I have so I will send a picture of that... next week because I totally forgot to take pictures this week.

Je vous aime!

Nous ne craignons personne!

Elder Russell

we will miss you soldier

September 27 2016

First off, Sr C (I've been spelling it wrong this entire time) got baptised Saturday! It was very cool, even if everyone showed up late and the font hadn't been filled... again. Also everything went haywire this week in the apartement. The electricity went out and we had to by an expensive part to get it fixed and the water went off twice this week. We also had to replace almost all the lights because our electricity problem burnt them out. So for two days this week we ended up doing almost nothing. Fortunately, today we went to cyber after all our lessons at the least effective hour for proselyting, because it is Tuesday and all the cybers lost connection monday. So except for the cool baptism everything was just crazy and I barely remember anything else. I don't have your postcard yet (those come with transfers, and then only if someone is transferred in the same general area, or if Pres Monga is coming by he might bring it). All the missionaries ate at Pres Mbengue's house, it was fish with Ndole and a vegetable mix. That was good and we had lots of fun talking. Also our Branch did an exercise activity and my legs burned for two days after. And some random guy took my glasses and asked me why I was there, but his friends told him to let it go and give me back my glasses. There are some interesting experiences on the mission, no doubt about it. Oh, and one of my dress sandals broke. A sad day indeed, we will miss you soldier.

Sr A is doing well. She says she is continuing to read her scriptures and do everything she can even though she can't get to Church easily. I have no doubt if she has the means she will come, as it was the last time she came. We talked with Fr M again this week and emphasized the importance of reading the Book of Mormon and being ready to act. Sr S is still having some trouble getting to Church, and I think that might be mostly a lack of understanding about what we are inviting her to do. Oh, and unfortunately due to craziness we didn't teach Fr G or Sr S :-( But this week we will! I pray for Aaron too.

I'm doing very well. I keep learning new things every day, many of which I see how it will help me in the future. I am so glad I came on a mission! I wouldn't want it to end right now but if something entirely out of my control made me go home I could honestly say that it was worth it.

Je vous aime!

Nous ne craignons personne!

Elder Russell

Sr. C's Baptism

It's hard to take selfies with a regular camera

we will miss you soldier