Christian in Africa

Lil Tommy He gone We seriously ate so much food  

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Monday, December 27, 2021 Subject: Joyeux Noel et Bonne Annee Bonjour Bonjour tout le monde! I hope that your Christmas festivities were fun and full of snowy days haha. Down here there's no such thing as snow so it's a little weird to think that back home there's a lot of snow. It also doesn't feel like the end of the year because it's definitely not cold. And a Happy New Year at the end(ish) of this week! Super crazy that 2021 is over already but I guess that's that's happens when you're doing something you love... time flies by.  Since I didn't write an email last week I am going to try and summarise everything. To start off the week we had an exchange up here in Kpalime with the Zone Leaders and it was great. Because of how the companionships are set up though the entire Agoe district came up so there were 6 of us partying up here Monday night and Tuesday. I went out with Elder Ntumba and E...

It was another early Monday morning in order to be able to steal a few minutes of time from our Elder in Africa. :) We didn't have much really to talk about because we literally just talked 2 days ago but some of the highlights of our call are: - Elder Garcia hasn't thought much on the goals he is hoping to work on for the New Year that is around the corner from us so he promised he would put some time and thought into that. - Elder Garcia said that he for sure wants to learn how to play the guitar when he gets home - Elder Garcia is feeling better. He sounded so much better today than even just 2 days ago when we talked on Christmas. I am so grateful for this! - He has Frere Stanley super excited about his upcoming baptism. He says that it is kind of weird to have him on date only because he worked with him the first time he was in Kpalime. I love that he will be able to see him baptized! Elder Garcia continues to work hard and continues to find those that the Lord needs him t...

Today was wild and weird as we woke up here at home and it was Christmas morning. I was up bright and early so that I could talk with Elder Garcia via the Facebook Messenger. The house here was quiet and I wasn't sure what time Brooklyn would be up and moving but I was loving the one on one that I was having with Elder Garcia. So peaceful and fulfilling to know that even though he is in Africa and I am here in Utah, we got to spend Christmas morning 'together'. Elder Garcia is under the weather right now. He has what he says is a 'wicked cold'. He isn't sleeping well because he can't breathe at night and he says that he can feel in his lungs the gunk that is blocking it all. He described it as bubbly. :/ I asked him if being able to obtain medicine is an option and he said they have stuff in their apartments but it is Africa medicine so it just isn't the same. It is times like this that I wish I could get a humidifier and some NyQuil and DayQuil in the m...

Merry Christmas! The bikes...hate them but hey its CHRISTMAS  

To: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Friday, December 24, 2021 Subject: Merry Christmas Merry Christmas 2021 to you! It is still technically Christmas Eve here at home but at 8:30pm I thought I’d write a quick email and let you know how our week went here. I hope you have a chance to keep me updated on your week too. Not much happened and I am sure a lot of it is because it’s the week of Christmas. B had an Ortho appointment and a dermatologist appointment on Wednesday. They were going to take her to 2 pills a day for accutane but she doesn’t weigh enough so we still are doing just 1 a day. Her face already looks so much better and I think she is starting to feel a lot better about it too. Tyler and I went up to the adult ward Christmas party at the Balls on Wednesday night. There is one word to describe it and that simply is ‘pathetic’. A total of 21 people. That includes the bishopric and their wives, all of my presidency, and a small handful of others in the ward...

Welcome to the branch party and Christmas in Africa. My comp goes "My guy...this is a wedding"  

Hard to believe it has already been 6 whole months that Elder Garcia has been a missionary. Time is flying by! Elder Garcia continues to thrive and is loving his time in Africa. Any and all apprehension that he had in regards to being back in Kpalime have been squashed and he is enjoying his time there and also his current companion.  I am so proud of all that Elder Garcia is doing and the perseverance and hard work he is putting in each day. A mission is not easy and yet he continues to pass each day with a smile on his face. I love being able to visit with him on our phone calls and not just see the happy in his eyes but hear it in his talk and voice. He is falling more in love with the people he is serving amongst and embracing the culture he is living in during this time of his life. Crazy that the only time we have left with him on his mission is the full term of a mission that Kaitlyn is serving. Hers has flown by so I am sure that his next 18 months will do the same. In the ...

Kouadio et Dje Le meilleur district Elder Ntumba et Elder Dje avant l'activite de Noel  

Headed to Lome  

Today was another bright and early day around here! I know I say it every week but the 7 hour time difference is HARD to work with. :) I would live in a life of pure tiredness all the time if I had to though in order to be able to talk with Elder Garcia and see his face. It definitely is the best reward for being awake and out of my bed by 4am Utah time. Elder Garcia is doing really really well and actually enjoying himself in Kpalime with his companion. This is such happy great news! They had Exchanges this past week. He said they made at least 30 pancakes and every last one was eaten! Holy cow! They were with the Zone and District leaders for this exchange, Elder Ntumba from the DL Congo and Elder Owatcha from Nigeria. Elder Owatcha speaks English so Elder Garcia said it was nice to be able to talk to him 'normal like'.  Some of the other key updates this week are: - The kendama toy that was sent as part of the holiday gift is a HUGE hit with literally anyone who sees it or s...

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Monday, December 20, 2021 **Reply to Mom's Email** His name is Papa Felix haha and we didn't go and visit them as much this week because we actually set up rendez-vous with progressing amis so only 2 times this week. He's doing alright though. We helped his family with their garden and that was interesting. Picking leaves rather than a fruit or vegetable and I didn't know if I was doing it right but that's okay. As for baptism... we talked with the District Leader and decided that we would push the date back to the 8th of January because it costs so much to get here from Lomé.  While you guys are suffering of cold I guess I am too. Low 70s at night are really cold. I pulled out my hoodie again this past week because just...cold. but other than that the days have been pretty warm. Not overly hot though which is great and a nice change from Satan's armpit hot. I would have doen the same thing, school got canc...

To: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Saturday, December 18, 2021 Subject: F it is COLD! Hey! How are you? How was your week? How is Papa Diaz? He is the one you go and see and get to do service right? How is your baptism for the 25th looking? This week has been nothing but downright freezing cold. Like barely highs in the 30's and if they hit 30 it is in the lowest of lows 30's. Mostly it has been like 26 degrees...yeah, cold. It snowed a lot. So much that school was cancelled. I honestly was shocked. I didn't think after the whole Covid thing school cancelled would ever be an option but it seems that too much cold and so much ice, it just wasn't safe to ask people to travel to get to the school. The kids had an option to get online between noon and 2pm to talk to their teachers but Brooklyn was just thrilled to not have to worry about school. :) B got her braces off first thing Wednesday morning. We had to drive in the whole lot of crappy snow to get ...

This was actually a lot of food hahaha. Breakfast of exchanges Elder Ntumba and Elder Anwucha Elder Garcia we're gonna take a selfie Les grands chefs Act serious Just chilling on a mountain Conquerors Walk by be like... These flowers had ants in them...there were a loooot  

Ahhhh Elder Garcia is SO good and so happy this week! And he is in Kpalime and feeling this way which makes my whole heart just want to explode!!! :)  Elder Garcia had the following highlights this week: - He is back to biking and boy does he miss walking! - He has exchanges this week with the Zone and District Leaders. Both because the Zone Leaders are not companions at the moment so...Zone and District it is. (So weird by the way...) - It is definitely MUCH cooler in Kpalime and he is grateful for that. He said that he has been grabbing his sheet at the end of the bed and using it at night and not even turning on his fan. What a difference compared to being in Lome - He has a baptism scheduled for December 25. I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas than to have a fresh baptism. How totally rad! - He and his companion have been traveling to the very edge of his area to visit with Papa Felix. He gets to do lot of service there and LOVES it. He didn't do any service th...

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Monday, December 13, 2021 Subject: Did A Full 180... Bonjour bonjour!! J'espère que les semaines se sont bien passées. Jumping right into it I had to say goodbye to Anfame and Adakpame and not gonna lie... I definitely cried but that's the mission. I am going to forever remember those experiences in the 6 weeks rather I was there. And now onto the news. Guess who's back in Kpalime?!?! Yeah, me. Since the area got whitewashed and then nobody came up last transfer and I know the area I get to show my new companion around Kpalime. It's weird being back here but the Lord has his reasons right?? (I did a full 180... or is it 360? Not actually sure haha) My new companion is Elder Kouadio, he's from Côte d'Ivoire and he's awesome. We were in the same district when I was down in Anfame so I know him a little already. He's pretty jacked too, which is a great motivation in the mornings to workout.  Over the p...