Phone Call Home: Monday, December 20, 2021

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 sees the missionaries using it.
- Elder Garcia is headed into Lome tonight to participate in the big multi zone activity tomorrow (Tuesday) for Christmas and is super excited for that
- Papa Felix is an ami that continues to test missionaries. :) He has been taught by several sets of missionaries and is simply just not interested in the end. Elder Garcia really enjoys spending time there and enjoys him as a person so this is super hard for him. There is going to be a day where the missionaries will have to drop him to focus on someone who is interested in learning about the Gospel.
- Elder Garcia did some weeding this week only it was a garden of herbs and not vegetables so it was tricky to make sure he didn't pluck the wrong thing out! The people in Africa use herbs to make all of the sauces they use to cook with and eat. That would be tricky to try and avoid an herb leaf vs a weed if I were the one doing it!
- Elder Garcia and his companion have moved their baptism from December 25th to January due to the substantial cost for the Zone/District leaders to come to Kpalime from Lome for that. The baptism they have lined up is Frere Stanley who is 17 years old. He is totally cool with waiting a little longer and fully understands why. :)
- Elder Garcia said a huge change for him is that he and his companion do nightly comp study. He absolutely LOVES that and says he can definitely tell a difference for sure
- Elder Garcia is a bicycle guru at this point as well. I am certain he could build a bicycle from start to finish and have it be better than any bicycle you could purchase at a local store. :) He is hilarious to listen to talk about the amount of work he does on those things and the things he knows about in order to make them great.
- I think the most funny thing that came from our call today was this...Elder Garcia was busy studying one evening when his phone rang. It wasn't a number he recognized or had saved as one of their ami's so he answered it. (Missionaries answer all calls unlike us here at home who choose to just ignore unknown numbers) Turns out it is a girl from Anfame calling to basically express her undying love and affection for Elder Garcia! She tracked down the missionary phone number for where he is in Kpalime!! He ended up blocking that number but then she tried to call from a different number. He blocked that number as well. Third time she called from her Mom's phone and Elder Garcia's companion took the call and basically just told her that Elder Garcia is a missionary and if she truly 'loves him' then she needs to let him focus on his time serving. What the heck?! Oh and to top it off?? She is like 20 years older than he is and her Dad is in the Bishopric in Anfame!!! I was dying to say the least. I had tears streaming down my face while he was sharing this with me. Crazy that in Africa he is finding ladies to swoon over  him. :) 

Elder Garcia is also really interested right now in the Abrahamic Covenant. It is going to be my goal to see if I can't find a study guide or something that he can use while on  his mission for him. This will be a tricky find but I will sure do my best to accomplish that for him. 

All in all this week was another positive and happy week with him. He is thriving and really enjoying his time back up in Kpalime. I am sure proud of him and all the changes he is making each day and for embracing what is right in front of him. He wasn't happy at all about being back up there but I am sure grateful to see that even in places he isn't thrilled about, he is keeping his head high and going to serve each and every day. We will get a chance to talk again on Saturday for Christmas and I feel spoiled! I love this phone call home thing a lot and am glad that we will get to have him in our home even if it is just through technology. 

I love you for forever,
Mom