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| Andre is on the left with his trainer Elder Tingey next to him |
Today we visited the Gorilla park and got to see a bunch of gorillas and stuff. They are on a reserve here in Cameroon, and, well, it's a zoo dedicated to gorillas. You can get pretty close to them though. There was a time where we got to walk through a dense portion of jungle. It was really neat. Probably (and surprisingly) the funnest part was walking on this trail next to one of the enclosures of gorillas, and trying to dodge the poop they throw at you (yes, throw at you. Elder Shmid got hit a little).
There was also a really gigantic tree there (as you can see in the picture). I'm not sure how big it really was, but one thing is certain: I really want a treehouse in a tree that big and tall.
I had my first baptism baptism this week. I baptized Valerie. She is the daughter of another investigator we have named Daniel (I used his bathroom a couple transfers ago). She has been attending church regularly for a couple months, and has heard all the lessons plusiers fois, mais (translation: several times, but) she only accepted baptism recently. She got baptized with her cousin, who Elder Tingey baptized. Brother Daniel was so excited about that. He jumped up and hugged us when he heard the news.
I got to play piano for sacrement meeting a couple times. I can't play - at all, really. I can play the melody in the right hand and then play chords with my left. It works out okay - we have a super watered down hymn book thingy here. The way the name the chords and stuff in French is different than in English (they use solifege, but "do" is always the note "C." So there are chords that say "Si b" and that trips me up a bit. I tend to think of it all abstractly).
We caroled people this week. I just took a guitar around and played chords around a couple of hymns and sang with people. It was fun. I got to really brush up on my guitar playing, and it ended up being really useful! Don't ever tell your children that playing guitar or anything is stupid (mine didn't; they encouraged me playing guitar, just for the record). It ended up being really valuable. People really liked having the guitar with us.
Elder Tingey is getting transferred! After being in the same sector and Apartment for a full year, he is going to Douala. Elder Buck will be replacing him here. Elder Buck is from Douala. I only met him in passing once. He trained my friend Elder Nash, and now Elder Tingey will probably be finishing his mission there in Douala.
The other day we bumped into a white guy, and I felt really akward talking to him. It was the strangest thing ever. Here is a guy from the states, speaking my native tongue the way I speak it, and I couldn't hardly look at him in the eye without feeling really akward. It's kind of fun to be so completely enveloped in a culture that it feels strange to interact with some other part of the culture I was originally used to back home. In the states, just talking to another white guy wouldn't faze me (obviously). Now that I have lived here for a couple months, talking to anyone who doesn't belong to Cameroonian/Central African culture, in appearance, language and mannerism, is completely foreign to me. It's strange, but it's fun to be able to say that I am now comfortable with another man's culture.
A brief explanation: there are only three areas in my mission where I can serve: Pointe Noire in Congo Brazzaville (Republic of Congo), Douala and Yaoundé in Cameroon. Those are the only cities that are safe for whites to live in. There are a couple of other places to serve in my mission, but I will never see the DRC, nor the other side of Congo Brazzaville. The gospel is not yet in Gabon, Central African Republic and Equitorial Guinea. Gabon might be opening soon, but their argument is "Well, we have over 300 churches in our country. Why do we need yours too?" Well, if you have 300, 301 isn't quite such a big difference, is it? We hope that Gabon is a little bit more receptive soon.
I hope you enjoyed more anecdotes and pictures this week. I love you all and I hope you have all had a merry Christmas!
- Elder LaFleur
Okay, I don't have a picture of the giant tree he was referring to, but I'm sure that will be coming soon. Andre says Elder Buck is from Douala, but he is not a native to Cameroon or Africa. I'm not sure where he's from just yet, but I'm certain its from the States. Andre did mention in his Skype conversation with us that he may one day have a companion from Africa, of which he truly hopes to get that chance. His French skills are soaring right now. He's probably at where I was when I was a year out....which is no surprise as I always struggled with French and it seems to come easy to Andre!
ReplyDeleteAlso, for those non-mormons, Andre mentions P-day which actually stands for preparation day. Its a day when the missionaries can do their laundry, their shopping, email/write letters to family, and even do a little sight-seeing. Usually, Pday is not all day, but lasts until 6pm. After that, they are to be back at work until 9pm.
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