Bonsoir (encore) tout le monde!
Donc, j'ai commencé à étudier seulement en français. Je lis mes écritures en français maintenant pour mes études personel, avec "Prêchez Mon Evangile." C'est interessant d'apprendre une autre langue et finalement le comprend. Je n'ai pas maîtrisé la langue, mais je m'ameliore toujours.
This week has been fairly interesting. We are seeing some progress now in the work we've been doing. We have an investigator who is progressing really well. Her name is Penelope, and she has a baptismal date all set up. She comes to church every week and loves the Book of Mormon. It's funny how some investigators end up contacting you rather than the other way around. Penelope showed up at church one day and asked "Hey, you two are the missionarries? And you have the communion (sacrement) here every week, and it's available? Why don't we talk sometime this week so you can tell me about it?" There are people out and about who are just so prepared to receive the gospel. It's a great experience finding and teaching them.
We have another named Sarah who does not yet have a baptismal date set, but she will soon. Sarah is the neice of another member. Sarah is actually straight out of the village. When we first met her (Elder Tingey and I) she didn't understand english or french. She only understood patua (her dialect; there are like 200 different patuas in Cameroun alone. In Congo-Brazzaville there is only one: Lingala) and so we didn't teach her. Now she understands english super well, and she is learning the gospel very well.
As far as studies go, what I've been thinking about most this week is this: what knowledtge is the most valuable to know, and why? The "why" is really what I'm aimed at understanding. Ultimately, I figured that the most valuable knowledge is that that is most applicable to the greatest number of situations. After being out here for about 7 months, I've discovered that it is the gospel that is most applicable to the greatest number of situations. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, that is faith in Our Lord and in His Atonement, repentance, baptism by immersion for the remmission of sins followed by the Gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end, is the only way to ensure salvation in the next life and peace and joy in the life we have here. A teacher in sunday school the other day gave this really awesome lesson about the difference between happiness and joy. We ultimately came to the conclusion that joy comes from following the Gospel, of which perfects you (see Moroni 10). That is joy comes from a perfection of oneself, while happiness comes and goes according to your circumstances. Very interesting.
Turns out we have 10 more missionarries entering the field soon. Right now we have 11 who are leaving in the next two transfers (including this one) and then there will be 10 more coming in. There is a pretty good chance that I will be training. We will see how all that goes.
And that's it for this week. Je vous aime.
- Elder LaFleur
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Yuppers Feb 13, 2012
Bonsoir, tout le monde!
It is the start of a new transfer and.... I'm staying here again. Surprise! It seems pretty likely that I will be staying in the same branch that I was trained in for about a year, just like the two other missionarries behind me (Elder Tingey, my trainer, stayed in Bastos I for a year, and before him Elder Palmer stayed in the same branch for a year). Elder Buck goes home at the end of this transfer, and after next transfer the n00bs are coming in and I'll probably end up training, due to lack of seasoned pros (there is a group of nine who are leaving just after Elder Buck). We will see what happens at the end of this transfer.
Frank is still holding up. He has had a lot of trials, but is still hanging in there. I love him so much. He is awesome. I never thought I would have friends from a completely different continent, in a different language and in a completely different culture.
I taught a guy from Belgium this week, and his french was awesome! I thought that the Camerounian accent wasn't so bad, but after hearing him talk, wow! His name was George (not really) and is married to a sister of a recent convert of ours (recent convert's name is Josephine, and her sister's name is Elizabeth). I met Elizabeth with Elder Tingey way back in the beginning of my third transfer (maybe earlier; now I'm thiking second) and she said she really wanted to hear more of this message, but she was getting married in Belgium and wouldn't be back until Christmas. So I hung onto her phone number for freaking ever, and sure enough, one day we walked into Josephine's house and Elizabeth was there, with her husband.
Turns out Elizabeth has been going through some tough times right now. It's kind of strange, really. I don't know what her trials entail, but to any other Cameroonian woman, she is living it up right now! Her husband is white (meaning he's got money) and she should be all happy and rich now, right? It goes to show that we shouldn't be so quick to judge someone else's situation, because I could tell through her tears that nothing was going well in her life. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, and then invited her to read it, and promised that she would learn how to overcome each of her trials as she continued to read the Book of Mormon.
Her husband ended up being a really nice guy. All the white people here I've met (more particularly the Europeans) have been kind of snobby. They don't talk to us nor to other blacks. They don't ride in taxis and when they do, it's only a dépot (rent the taxi rather than renting a spot; see appendix one). When we got there and started speaking french, George said "Your accent.... American?" Elder Buck and I looked at the floor in disappointment and just said "Yeah..." He believes God exists, but he doesn't see that he needs to do anything about it. He doesn't really support organized religion, nor does he really have faith in much of anything, but he ended agreeing to read a brochure. We'll see about prayer, and we will see what happens as we talk with his wife.
Other than that, it's been another week of preaching the gospel. Je vous aime, et j'espère que vous aviez une bonne semaine!
- Elder LaFleur
APPENDIX ONE ------- HOW TAXIS WORK HERE
In Cameroon, you don't rent a taxi like you do in the states. You just name where you want to go and how much you are going to pay, and taxis either accept it or reject it. You only pay for a place, and there are 5 places - 3 in back and 2 in the front seat. There are no seat belts, so accidents can get pretty nasty. Surprisingly enough, I haven't seen any. I guess when you drive in chaos, you know how to handle chaos, unlike the States.
It is the start of a new transfer and.... I'm staying here again. Surprise! It seems pretty likely that I will be staying in the same branch that I was trained in for about a year, just like the two other missionarries behind me (Elder Tingey, my trainer, stayed in Bastos I for a year, and before him Elder Palmer stayed in the same branch for a year). Elder Buck goes home at the end of this transfer, and after next transfer the n00bs are coming in and I'll probably end up training, due to lack of seasoned pros (there is a group of nine who are leaving just after Elder Buck). We will see what happens at the end of this transfer.
Frank is still holding up. He has had a lot of trials, but is still hanging in there. I love him so much. He is awesome. I never thought I would have friends from a completely different continent, in a different language and in a completely different culture.
I taught a guy from Belgium this week, and his french was awesome! I thought that the Camerounian accent wasn't so bad, but after hearing him talk, wow! His name was George (not really) and is married to a sister of a recent convert of ours (recent convert's name is Josephine, and her sister's name is Elizabeth). I met Elizabeth with Elder Tingey way back in the beginning of my third transfer (maybe earlier; now I'm thiking second) and she said she really wanted to hear more of this message, but she was getting married in Belgium and wouldn't be back until Christmas. So I hung onto her phone number for freaking ever, and sure enough, one day we walked into Josephine's house and Elizabeth was there, with her husband.
Turns out Elizabeth has been going through some tough times right now. It's kind of strange, really. I don't know what her trials entail, but to any other Cameroonian woman, she is living it up right now! Her husband is white (meaning he's got money) and she should be all happy and rich now, right? It goes to show that we shouldn't be so quick to judge someone else's situation, because I could tell through her tears that nothing was going well in her life. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, and then invited her to read it, and promised that she would learn how to overcome each of her trials as she continued to read the Book of Mormon.
Her husband ended up being a really nice guy. All the white people here I've met (more particularly the Europeans) have been kind of snobby. They don't talk to us nor to other blacks. They don't ride in taxis and when they do, it's only a dépot (rent the taxi rather than renting a spot; see appendix one). When we got there and started speaking french, George said "Your accent.... American?" Elder Buck and I looked at the floor in disappointment and just said "Yeah..." He believes God exists, but he doesn't see that he needs to do anything about it. He doesn't really support organized religion, nor does he really have faith in much of anything, but he ended agreeing to read a brochure. We'll see about prayer, and we will see what happens as we talk with his wife.
Other than that, it's been another week of preaching the gospel. Je vous aime, et j'espère que vous aviez une bonne semaine!
- Elder LaFleur
APPENDIX ONE ------- HOW TAXIS WORK HERE
In Cameroon, you don't rent a taxi like you do in the states. You just name where you want to go and how much you are going to pay, and taxis either accept it or reject it. You only pay for a place, and there are 5 places - 3 in back and 2 in the front seat. There are no seat belts, so accidents can get pretty nasty. Surprisingly enough, I haven't seen any. I guess when you drive in chaos, you know how to handle chaos, unlike the States.
Yup Feb 6, 2012
Bonsoir, tout le monde!
This week has been interesting. It's felt a little long for me, but whatever.
We have been meeting with an investigator named Rita. Rita just showed up at church one day - and that's how we got to know her. It's a little wierd having an investigator contact you rather than the other way around. She showed up at church a couple weeks ago and said "Hey, you two are the missionarries, right? Tell me all about your church. What's this Book of Mormon? Can I have a copy?" Anyways, we are teaching her, and she is awesome. She is loving the Book of Mormon, thoroughly enjoying church every week (which is tough for some investigators) and progressing really well.
On the downside this week, we had to drop an old investigator. She had been an investigator for over a year, and she hasn't read the Book of Mormon, come to church, or really did much of anything for months. I feel bad because we told here straightforwardly "We can't teach you because you aren't progressing," but at the same time, she has had over a year to decide. And just because we aren't teaching her right now doesn't mean that she can't come back. I just feel bad that it had to come to that.
We have been finding a lot of new and excellent investigators. We have a student named Abraham (not his real name; Rita wasn't her real name either, fyi) who got the Book of Mormon and has been really enjoying it. He has been asking legitimate questions and shows a desire in what we are teaching. We have another investigator named James, who actually has dual citizenship with the United States and Cameroon. He has a PhD, is wicked sharp, and is stuck in Cameroon because his passport got stolen while he was in Nigeria. So we're teaching this great guy. He is trying to make an alliance between as many African countries as possible to ask the USA not for money, but for technology and schooling, which is really just money going somewhere, but whatever. He's a great guy, but his only preoccupation is that if he joins this church, he doesn't want to be persecuted. We are trying to help him see that this is true, and that supporting and living the truth is of far greater worth than any persecution any man can bring (see "History of the Church," like all of it).
I went on splits this week with my District Leader, Elder Hansen. We worked in his sector, and it was a lot of fun. I got to remeet Jean-Pierre's family, and his wife. His wife refused to be baptized for a long time, and then after my first transfer, she finally decided she wanted to be baptized. Elder Tingey, my trainer, had the interview with her, and she said this: "I know I don't speak or understand french very well, but I know that this stuff is true. This stuff is good stuff!" I got to speak with her and her family on Friday, and I love that family. That family is an incredible family. I really lucked out going on splits with Elder Hansen and get to know them.
Frank, the convert I baptized last month, is still moving strong. He is awesome. Right after his baptism we told him about how now that he has made the decision to be baptized, Satan is going to try to mess it all up for him (see Moses 1; notice how Satan shows up after Moses sees the Lord). He is taking every blow in stride. His wife, as it turns out, is one of those "I was born Catholic and I'll die Catholic, and if you change from Catholicism, y'er of the devil!" types, and has been bothering him a lot about his change of religion. After I ordained him a priest, the mother of his two children has taken them away from Frank until he pays money for them back. That's how disgusting people are here - they make their kids suffer au village and won't give them back to someone who genuinely cares for them and wants whats best for them unless they pay an outrage fee that they just can't pay.
Regardless, Frank is still active, still coming to church, still reading the Book of Mormon and loving it, and is still doing what active members do. I love Frank so much. He is awesome. It's funny how you serve a mission trying to serve others and help them come unto Christ, but instead you find that as you try to help others, their incredible examples and faith only serves to strengthen you.
Anyways, I don't have much more time. Au revoir!
- Elder LaFleur
This week has been interesting. It's felt a little long for me, but whatever.
We have been meeting with an investigator named Rita. Rita just showed up at church one day - and that's how we got to know her. It's a little wierd having an investigator contact you rather than the other way around. She showed up at church a couple weeks ago and said "Hey, you two are the missionarries, right? Tell me all about your church. What's this Book of Mormon? Can I have a copy?" Anyways, we are teaching her, and she is awesome. She is loving the Book of Mormon, thoroughly enjoying church every week (which is tough for some investigators) and progressing really well.
On the downside this week, we had to drop an old investigator. She had been an investigator for over a year, and she hasn't read the Book of Mormon, come to church, or really did much of anything for months. I feel bad because we told here straightforwardly "We can't teach you because you aren't progressing," but at the same time, she has had over a year to decide. And just because we aren't teaching her right now doesn't mean that she can't come back. I just feel bad that it had to come to that.
We have been finding a lot of new and excellent investigators. We have a student named Abraham (not his real name; Rita wasn't her real name either, fyi) who got the Book of Mormon and has been really enjoying it. He has been asking legitimate questions and shows a desire in what we are teaching. We have another investigator named James, who actually has dual citizenship with the United States and Cameroon. He has a PhD, is wicked sharp, and is stuck in Cameroon because his passport got stolen while he was in Nigeria. So we're teaching this great guy. He is trying to make an alliance between as many African countries as possible to ask the USA not for money, but for technology and schooling, which is really just money going somewhere, but whatever. He's a great guy, but his only preoccupation is that if he joins this church, he doesn't want to be persecuted. We are trying to help him see that this is true, and that supporting and living the truth is of far greater worth than any persecution any man can bring (see "History of the Church," like all of it).
I went on splits this week with my District Leader, Elder Hansen. We worked in his sector, and it was a lot of fun. I got to remeet Jean-Pierre's family, and his wife. His wife refused to be baptized for a long time, and then after my first transfer, she finally decided she wanted to be baptized. Elder Tingey, my trainer, had the interview with her, and she said this: "I know I don't speak or understand french very well, but I know that this stuff is true. This stuff is good stuff!" I got to speak with her and her family on Friday, and I love that family. That family is an incredible family. I really lucked out going on splits with Elder Hansen and get to know them.
Frank, the convert I baptized last month, is still moving strong. He is awesome. Right after his baptism we told him about how now that he has made the decision to be baptized, Satan is going to try to mess it all up for him (see Moses 1; notice how Satan shows up after Moses sees the Lord). He is taking every blow in stride. His wife, as it turns out, is one of those "I was born Catholic and I'll die Catholic, and if you change from Catholicism, y'er of the devil!" types, and has been bothering him a lot about his change of religion. After I ordained him a priest, the mother of his two children has taken them away from Frank until he pays money for them back. That's how disgusting people are here - they make their kids suffer au village and won't give them back to someone who genuinely cares for them and wants whats best for them unless they pay an outrage fee that they just can't pay.
Regardless, Frank is still active, still coming to church, still reading the Book of Mormon and loving it, and is still doing what active members do. I love Frank so much. He is awesome. It's funny how you serve a mission trying to serve others and help them come unto Christ, but instead you find that as you try to help others, their incredible examples and faith only serves to strengthen you.
Anyways, I don't have much more time. Au revoir!
- Elder LaFleur
All Your Base Are Belong To Us (again) Jan 30, 2012
How are you gentlemen. All your base are belong to us.
So first, a quick apology. Sorry I haven't sent a whole lot about what's happening out here in Africa. I have been answering a lot of emails and stuff, which I'm very thankful for, but nonetheless, I felt like I needed time to sit down and send something to all of you.
I looked up an old missionarry's blog (elderpalmer.blogspot.com) and my friend's blog (elderschmid.blogspot.com) and discovered that my blog emails need some serious improvement. And so this week, I'll go through each day of the week and talk about what I did that day and stuff.
Monday was P day. We made a district (apartment) rule to ensure that all of our shopping is going to be done on P day. It's really awesome sharing everything with another companionship. I really like the other two Elders in my Apartment (Elder Hansen and ElderGraham) and it's nice being able to work together nicely as a district.
Tuesday we saw a less active member who is currently working in a bar. Her husband went super inactive years ago and she ended up seperating from him (but not divorcing him). She was worried about how the church would feel about that, and so she just hasn't come back. She wants to come back now, but her work schedule just isn't matching up with church. We also saw an older investigator named Sampson (not his real name) who knows the Book of Mormon is true, and now is searching for every possible way to claim that the Church of Jesus Christ wasn't an organization and that it isn't our church, despite the fact he knows the Book of Mormon (which is exclusive to our church) is true. It's kind of frustrating sometimes. He can't seem to let himself connect the dots and understand that this church is true! He just isn't willing to give up what he has now to get salvation (which is a serious bummer). Nonetheless, I'm sure he will come back one day. I may not be the missionarry to see it, but I really think he will come back one day. I just hope he doesn't have to be super humbled for it to happen.
Wednesday we saw Frank (not his real name) who I baptized a month ago (see pictures from last email). He is doing awesome. I warned him after his baptism that Satan was going to do everything possible to make his life hard, and he is. Most importantly though, Frank is totally taking it all really well. His wife is all like "I'm catholic and you were catholic and catholocism is the only way; you're destroying our family, blarg blah blah." Then the mother of his kids took his kids and expects him to pay to see his kids. I was floored on how tough things are for him now, but he is still reading the Book of Mormon and he is still hanging strong. I'm so impressed with the faith that these people have.
Here's another example of incredible faith that happened on Saturday:
We met an anglophone from Baminda, who heard that our church offers a lot of Humanitarian aid, particularly in Africa (true. Look it up at www.lds.org). He has two kids and was a moto taxi man, got in a nasty accident and now his right hip is completely destroyed. He literally has no hip at all there. It's excrutiatingly painful. He is signed up as a disabled person through Cameroon and everything. This guy was in serious need of medical assistance, but due to lack of funds that is so rampant out here, he can't get what he needs. Us as missionarries are obligated to not give money (it's in our rulebook; "The Missionarry Handbook of Instruction" I think is the official name). I felt awful having to tell him that. When most people pester us for money, they always follow it up with a comment like "Oh, the whites can't share any money with us blacks who suffer" or something like that. This guy though, he just looked us in the eye and said "It's all right. I know that your prayers will do so much more than any sum of money."
Like I said, the faith of people here in Africa is really impressive. I even thought to myself "Man, this guy needs some serious cash that I can't give and he just doesn't have." This man totally showed his faith by responding and having such an attitude like that towards prayer.
So that's some goings ons here. I hope you all are having a wonderful winter, of which I don't have to deal with (hooray for tropical climates!). Alors, j'espère que vous auriez une bonne semaine cette semaine.
Bonne soirée!
- Elder LaFleur
So first, a quick apology. Sorry I haven't sent a whole lot about what's happening out here in Africa. I have been answering a lot of emails and stuff, which I'm very thankful for, but nonetheless, I felt like I needed time to sit down and send something to all of you.
I looked up an old missionarry's blog (elderpalmer.blogspot.com) and my friend's blog (elderschmid.blogspot.com) and discovered that my blog emails need some serious improvement. And so this week, I'll go through each day of the week and talk about what I did that day and stuff.
Monday was P day. We made a district (apartment) rule to ensure that all of our shopping is going to be done on P day. It's really awesome sharing everything with another companionship. I really like the other two Elders in my Apartment (Elder Hansen and ElderGraham) and it's nice being able to work together nicely as a district.
Tuesday we saw a less active member who is currently working in a bar. Her husband went super inactive years ago and she ended up seperating from him (but not divorcing him). She was worried about how the church would feel about that, and so she just hasn't come back. She wants to come back now, but her work schedule just isn't matching up with church. We also saw an older investigator named Sampson (not his real name) who knows the Book of Mormon is true, and now is searching for every possible way to claim that the Church of Jesus Christ wasn't an organization and that it isn't our church, despite the fact he knows the Book of Mormon (which is exclusive to our church) is true. It's kind of frustrating sometimes. He can't seem to let himself connect the dots and understand that this church is true! He just isn't willing to give up what he has now to get salvation (which is a serious bummer). Nonetheless, I'm sure he will come back one day. I may not be the missionarry to see it, but I really think he will come back one day. I just hope he doesn't have to be super humbled for it to happen.
Wednesday we saw Frank (not his real name) who I baptized a month ago (see pictures from last email). He is doing awesome. I warned him after his baptism that Satan was going to do everything possible to make his life hard, and he is. Most importantly though, Frank is totally taking it all really well. His wife is all like "I'm catholic and you were catholic and catholocism is the only way; you're destroying our family, blarg blah blah." Then the mother of his kids took his kids and expects him to pay to see his kids. I was floored on how tough things are for him now, but he is still reading the Book of Mormon and he is still hanging strong. I'm so impressed with the faith that these people have.
Here's another example of incredible faith that happened on Saturday:
We met an anglophone from Baminda, who heard that our church offers a lot of Humanitarian aid, particularly in Africa (true. Look it up at www.lds.org). He has two kids and was a moto taxi man, got in a nasty accident and now his right hip is completely destroyed. He literally has no hip at all there. It's excrutiatingly painful. He is signed up as a disabled person through Cameroon and everything. This guy was in serious need of medical assistance, but due to lack of funds that is so rampant out here, he can't get what he needs. Us as missionarries are obligated to not give money (it's in our rulebook; "The Missionarry Handbook of Instruction" I think is the official name). I felt awful having to tell him that. When most people pester us for money, they always follow it up with a comment like "Oh, the whites can't share any money with us blacks who suffer" or something like that. This guy though, he just looked us in the eye and said "It's all right. I know that your prayers will do so much more than any sum of money."
Like I said, the faith of people here in Africa is really impressive. I even thought to myself "Man, this guy needs some serious cash that I can't give and he just doesn't have." This man totally showed his faith by responding and having such an attitude like that towards prayer.
So that's some goings ons here. I hope you all are having a wonderful winter, of which I don't have to deal with (hooray for tropical climates!). Alors, j'espère que vous auriez une bonne semaine cette semaine.
Bonne soirée!
- Elder LaFleur
A letter to the Haven Ward... Jan 23, 2012
Here is a note for Haven Ward:
"Dear Haven Ward,
I wanted to write a brief note to all of you thanking you for the help you have given me. There is an old African proverb that says 'It takes a village to raise a child.' It's also a cliché, but nevermind that. Growing up in the village I did prepared me for the kinds of experiences and problems I would face here on my mission, and later in life. I would like to thank all of you who helped me grow into the person I am today, and giving me the tools necessary to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Sincerely,
- Elder LaFleur"
"Dear Haven Ward,
I wanted to write a brief note to all of you thanking you for the help you have given me. There is an old African proverb that says 'It takes a village to raise a child.' It's also a cliché, but nevermind that. Growing up in the village I did prepared me for the kinds of experiences and problems I would face here on my mission, and later in life. I would like to thank all of you who helped me grow into the person I am today, and giving me the tools necessary to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Sincerely,
- Elder LaFleur"
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