Phone Call Home: Monday, August 30, 2021

Well...today was a hard call home for Elder Garcia and even harder for me as his Mom to take! Elder Garcia is super duper homesick! There were oodles of tears and I won't lie, I wasn't sure this week would end on a positive note. It was awful and heartbreaking to not be able to just sit in the same room and hear him out and then be able to hug him and tell him that everything would be okay! This gig as a Missionary Mom is seriously SO HARD!

Elder Obeya is still proving to be a tricky companion for Elder Garcia along with the use of the pamphlets to teach. Elder Garcia is for some reason stuck on the Preach My Gospel and is unwilling to put that aside for now and embrace the pamphlets. I tried to encourage him to see how he could add his own twist to the pamphlets to have them tie into what he has studied in his Preach My Gospel handbook. Hopefully something here will mesh together and between these two missionaries this piece can move forward. One of the tricky things with Elder Garcia's companion is that Elder Obeya is a new member himself. He has only joined the church 2 short years ago and prior to becoming a member, had never heard of the Church so he essentially is out teaching others about something he is probably still learning a good deal about himself. I believe as a missionary you write a new conversion story but in Elder Obeya's situation it is almost like he will write his original conversion story as he serves. This I am sure has to be tricky for Elder Garcia to maneuver around but I am certain they will be able to.

As I was talking with Elder Garcia, Tyler came in and was listening. He is always interested in what the kids are doing and experiencing each week. This week he had some words of advice for Elder Garcia to perhaps make something positive out of the frustrations he is working through.

- Voice your concerns with your companion. But then you have to be open and okay with what his response is.
- Discuss together/serve one another/find a common interest, even if it is just 1 thing
- GO TO WORK! Get out and serve the people. You will find love as you get lost in service
- Take a little time out of each day to have some fun

Some of the ami's (friends) that Elder Garcia is currently working with:

Seveira: He was on lesson #3 when Elder Garcia arrived in Africa. He is progressing really well but there is a hold up on that he is living with the mother of his child and they are not married. That obviously will hold him back from being able to be baptized.

Jules: Elder Garcia enjoys him a lot. He says that he is the one friend that will totally call Elder Garcia out on his French and the lack of being able to speak it well. Elder Garcia takes it well and respects Jules and I think it will be beneficial for him to be pushed some

Two Brothers, Doji and Aplete: Elder Garcia loves to work with these two. They are progressing really well and recently asked about baptism so we will wait to see what comes of this set of brothers.

Freeman and Jenifer: These two are also progressing really well. (I secretly love that one is Jenifer and the other is Freeman!) Jenifer is also a local seamstress and Elder Garcia has picked up some African fabric and asked her to turn that into a couple of hoodies for him (go figure!).

Elder Garcia said that on Sunday they had 9 total ami's attend church. They had 3 kids and 6 adults. 4 of these were first timers so that was super exciting! They had a couple of visitors from Nigeria and that was fun for Elder Garcia to interact where he could. In total, Elder Garcia and Elder Obeya are currently working with 17 ami's. All of them hail from Kpalime.

2 newest friends: Wisdom and Paul. They are like low key cool friends. They carry their own American style around I guess. Thinks like a fanny pack on the shoulder and Birkenstocks on their feet.

Other things that Elder Garcia filled me in on this week was that he can easily get bananas so he has been making a lot of banana pancakes. :) He says they are so so good. He also had a pineapple this week and he said that it was way better than any pineapple he has ever tasted...even the ones in Hawaii! Elder Trenum is another American Elder that Elder Garcia has been lucky enough to cross paths with. So much so in that Elder Trenum has been able to score American peanut butter and Nutella for Elder Garcia! So funny that something so simple can make someones whole day. :) Elder Trenum is from Virginia Beach and will be attending UVU when he is finished with his mission. He even wants to study the same as Elder Garcia so perhaps their paths will stay crossed.

I learned that where Elder Garcia is at in Kpalime, it is the furthest North in all of his mission and it really isn't that far North. In his zone there are a total of 11 pairs of missionaries and for all of Togo, there are 44 total missionaries is all. That is such a small number for the sheer size of Togo but it is a testament that it is a super new area that is growing in the Gospel. It will be so fun to watch over the course of the next 2 years to see how many missionaries end up where Elder Garcia is right now.

I learned that there is something called the 'sexy 6' in missions. When the Elders hit their 18 month mark they start to panic that they only have 6 months left until they head home. In that last 6 months they watch what they eat and they start working out as much as they can in order to get home in the best shape they can be in. I don't know why this was so funny to listen to but I was giggling pretty good.

As we got ready to hang up today, the call had been a little more positive than it was in the beginning. Tears were gone and there were even some small glimpses of smiles. I was able to suggest that Elder Garcia read his patriarchal blessing when things got tough or he was missing home. I reminded him to always hit his knees and to include the Lord in those hard times. I hope that Elder Garcia will remember how capable he really is and that this part of 'hard' will pass and one day soon we will be able to look back and see the growth that took place because of it.

I have you in my prayers and am proud of you. I love you,

Mom