No Letter This Week

Me and my boy Emmanuel

There was a double exchange planned this week, I would be staying in Africa first with Elder Dyer (legendary Zone Leader/African Elder) and then the next day I'd be with Elder Wenzel (aka Tom Cruise). 

Fun facts about gorilla attacks:

The exchange with Elder Dyer was awesome, we just did service for an investigator, P*****, all day helping him move to a bigger apartment. No one in the ward helped so we called in two other sets of Elders to help us out. The highlight of the day (besides sitting in traffic next to 6 flags for an hour and a half watching everyone have fun) was when P***** was talking about Congo. He told Elder Dyer, "We will go to Congo one day, see the gorille." We werent sure what "gorille" meant and he didnt know the English word so he described it to us, "A man-beast with--" he pointed to his hair, "this all over his body"

By this point we had figured out he waa talking about Gorillas, we told him we had never seen a wild Gorilla before, "

"They are very dangerous friends, very dangerous. If you go into the forest at night they will grab onto your arm and drag you to its den. It will then wait for the sun to come up and then it will kill you."

We were a little surprised at that random fact about gorilla attacks and we didnt know what to say, I kind of felt like this was the African equivalent of Dwight Schrute talking about bear attacks. 

Before we could respond he continued, "Sometimes in small villages, the gorille will find children who are sleeping outside and drag them into the forest." 

I laughed thinking that that HAD to be a joke but he was dead serious. He went on, "The gorille won't let go, no matter what. There is only one way to save yourself and that is by calling the fireman."

"Yeah, I bet those loud sirens scare it off," I said.

"What? No, no, bro* I mean like, uh, FIREman. Fireman use the fire to attack the gorille."

That's right, by "fireman" he meant anyone crazy enough to swing a lit torch at a potentially 600 pound killing machine.

*he calls everyone "bro" thanks to a few conversations he had with an Elder from California 

Title:

The second exchange was something I'd been nervous about all week. I've only been here a transfer and I can barely understand French, Elder Alleman usually has to translate for me. The exchange with Elder Dyer was alright because his French is the best the mission has ever seen (not hard to beat but still impressive). Elder Wenzel on the other hand only knows how to say, "Tu es belle." Which is found on the list of the least useful phrases as a missionary.

I was nervous.

We went to our first French lesson that day and sat down. I had been praying and studying like crazy. Our investigator, T*****, was not happy that Elder Alleman was gone because he knew my French was awful. He started talking really fast in a very arrogant way and I looked at him with shock on my face. Not because I couldn't understand but because I could. 

I surprisee the both of us when I managed to respond in comprehensible French (with a not too shabby accent, I might add). 

We read 2 Nephi 31 with him an invited him to be baptized (he said he'd think about it).

The next lesson was the same, with a man named E*******, we read the Book of Mormon with him and invited him to church. He emphatically told us he would read and that he woukd be at church tomorrow. He did indeed come.

What was happening was nothing short of a miracle The key thing about these two lessons is that the entire time I rested entirely upon the Spirit to speak and understand. As long as I stayed focus on the gospel I could comprehend French. 

I got a little pompous and during the next lesson (thinking I was a French genius now) I tried to lean upon my own understanding of the language, and I could not understand a word being said. I was as lost as a child whose mother had left him in the Walmart parking lot. Towards the end of the lesson, realizing my error, I said a silent prayer asking for help and forgiveness and almost immediately I could (somewhat) understand again. We were thanked for visiting the home, and for preaching the word of God even though it was raining outside. I invited the man to read the next chapter, I bore testimony in French, and Elder Wenzel in English. We then said a short closing prayer and left with the Spirit in the room, leaving them to think about what we said. 

Some of you may think this was nothing special, some of you may gave gone to the MTC and knew enough of the language to get by in a month, you may think that my French should better if God really was showing me a miracle. Others may say that God had nothing to do with it, that it was all me. A few of you may even dare to say that miracles have ceased altogether. 

Here is my response: 

You are wrong. And I am sorry.

Converting to McDonaldism

Me and cat

Pic 1: Me and cat

Pic 2: converting to mcdonaldism

Pic 3: me and my boy Emmanuel