Christian in Africa

District Activity  

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Monday, January 31, 2022 Subject: To sum up this week... Bonjour tout le monde! J'espère que vous avez passé une bonne semaine. This week turned out to be one of my most favorites of my mission so far! Tuesday Elder Meline and I went to district council and on on way there we couldn't find a taxi so we just walked but we had left at 9:30 so it gave us plenty of time to get to the church in bé-kpota by 10. In our district council we had an amazing lesson all about christ-like attributes and how we can apply them into our lives DAILY! We had to search for scriptures in the Book of Mormon to find examples of people living like Christ did and it was so cool! You can find anyone in any chapter basically, all you have to do is pick one haha. That afternoon we didn't have any rendez-vous so we went to Adakpame and started to just talk to people. We ended up going to a boutique of a member and found 2 new amis there within 10 ...

I received this message today from Elder Meline's Mom via the Facebook Messenger. I love that things seem to be going well with these two Elders being together and I love that Elder Garcia is making good things happen as a trainer.  Keep up the good work Elder. Love you Mom

Laughing at Sister Garica's tan lines on her feet Another week of a combined call This week's call was a WILD one. I thought being home in Utah and waking up at 4am was early but this week I was in Kauai so I was up at 2am since the time zone change thing put Elder Garcia 10 hours ahead of us and Sister Garcia was now 7 hours ahead. :/ I actually was late to the party so I jumped in on their phone call as they were talking.  Elder Garcia is loving his companion/son, Elder Meline. He is from Idaho and it sounds like a total rockstar. He is wanting to jump in and embrace all things Africa and is doing really well with the language. Elder Garcia said that he got some sound advice from Sister Garcia in how to address the English/French barrier so that they are comfortable but that he is doing all he can to teach too.  Elder Garcia is thrilled to be back in Anfame and is loving being able to share his love of this sector with Elder Meline. Elder Garcia and Sister Garcia continued t...

La paat avec sauce d'arachide  

A 'nicer' part of Anfame Dad and son out in the world  

From: ME! <3 To: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Friday, January 28, 2022 Subject: It has been a week. Hey! How are you? How is your week going? How are you and your companion getting along? How is his French coming along? What has this week looked like with your ami's? I loved being able to see some new pictures this week, thanks for sending them. :) Things here at home have been a little too much and I won't lie that I am sure looking forward to getting on a plane to go to Kauai! The weather this week has been weird..Utah weird. We have been in the low 40's, no snow or rain so the crappy inversion has set in. The sun tries to come through but it is such a haze and so gross that it mostly just tries. :/ We are taking Brooklyn along on this trip with us as well. I am not entirely sure she is thrilled about it but I am hopeful that she will enjoy her time and I am looking forward to her getting a reset on all things right now and to take in some sunshine...

View from the roof Outside a Voodoo Church...we didn't go in though (way too sketchy) You can call me Chef Boyardee  

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Monday, January 24, 2022 Subject: I'm a dad?!? Bonjour mes chers amis! J'espère que vous avez passé une bonne semaine!! To start off this week I woke up at 5:30 and then a hour later Elder Kouadio packed up my bags into the car and we headed allllll the way down to Lomé so that we could go to Anfamé. When we got to Anfamé we spent a solid 2 hours cleaning the apartment because... let's just say gross. And then when it came time to go out to sector nothing to do and no members to help us Elder Kouadio and I went out into the world. We ended up passing the time by visiting people that I remembered and just talking to people. Then we went to the Adakpamé church and followed the institute class there. I had never been to an institute class before so I was kinda expecting seminary where nobody wants to participate but it was actually 100% the opposite. Everyone had their hands up at the same time, all with really spiritual ...

Wowza...today was EARLY. Like so early I was messaging these two missionaries on the floor in my office curled up because trying to sit in the chair and type on the computer screen was hurting my eyeballs I was so tired. :/ But...I wouldn't change any of it. I love being able to catch up with them every Monday. Elder Garcia is happy this week and is happy to be back in Anfame. He is indeed training his new companion, Elder Meline, who is from California and things seem to be going really well. He and I talked some about the tricky things that could come up from having an American companion, especially when it comes to the language. Elder Garcia is 100% responsible for whatever French Elder Meline is going to get right out the gate is going to be what Elder Garcia gives him. I reminded Elder Garcia what his first companion experience was like and to do his best to 1: not let that happen for Elder Meline, 2: work his hardest to ensure that Elder Meline doesn't walk away from his ...

Me and Elder Meline (my son haha)  

To: Christian.garcia@missionary.org From: Mom! Date: Saturday, January 22, 2022 Subject: 7 months... Holy crap! 7 months! Where has this time gone already? I couldn't believe it as I looked at my calendar just now to see what we had in store for us this next week. Can you believe it? Do you feel like time is flying by? Now...talk to me about a new companion? I saw on the mission Facebook page it looks like 7 new Elders arrived? All Americans it looks like too? And you are training right? How are things going? I know they just arrived and you met up on Friday so not a ton of time to catch up on but still wondering how you are doing and what your days look like for now. :) This week was low key. Home school all week for Brooklyn. She crushed it. I never doubted her. She does miss the social part of being at school pretty bad so Monday will be good for her to be back to her normal. She had a dermatology appointment and we are now doing 2 accutane pills a day instead of 1....

Brooklyn had a hot second to jump in on this weeks call! Elder and Sister Garcia chatting with Mom (in bed at the cabin) This week was so fun to get to chat with both missionaries and because it was a holiday, Brooklyn was off of school and got to get in on the call too. We were up to the cabin with the Miller family and the WiFi at the cabin isn't the very best so we took advantage of the time that we did have.  Elder Garcia got transfer news this week and he is indeed headed out of Kpalime and will be going back to Anfame. He is thrilled! He really loved his time there and was so sad to leave. He will also be training as well. Sounds like it will be an American and so he will be tested on his language really quite heavily.  It was sure fun to sit by and just listen as these two missionaries talked with one another. Sister Garcia had some great sound advice for Elder Garcia in the whole training an American and having to teach them a language that you aren't 100% solid in. I ...

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Monday, January 17, 2022 Subject: A Circle?!? Bonjour! Comment vous allez? Me? I'm doing great and this week was definitely a week that came and went.  Tuesday we had our final District Council of the transfer and that was actually pretty good. We got to talk about what we could do this transfer to become better disciples of Christ. For our lessons we kinda got stood up again, I'm not sure why we kept trying with these 2 people because it's been 6 weeks but we had a good feeling. Turns out we were wrong but that's okay. Ya live and ya learn. We did end up having a pretty great lessons with a family though and I seriously loved it. This family is why I live Kpalime as much as I do. They are so interested and understanding and they ask the most amazing questions.  Wednesday was just a lot of contacting. Frère Tigi (who normally helps us in lessons) disappeared so it was up to us to find people. That didn't go wel...

From: ME! To: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Friday, January 14, 2022 Subject: Happy Friday! Good morning from home but good afternoon in Africa. ;) I still cannot believe that 7 hours is what the difference is between the two of us. I think about it and it blows my mind. Most days when it hits me I am in the early afternoon around 1 and it is usually when I am my busiest with stuff at home or running around. All the while I am reminded it is roughly 8pm where you are and instead of running around you are getting ready to close out your day. Then as we sit down for dinner it is even more crazy because you would be in bed. I tell ya...time zone changes are NUTS! Anyways...how was your week? You anticipating a t-text here tomorrow yeah? I am excited and anxiously waiting to hear what is in store for you next. Any last thoughts or feelings on what you think will come through? This week at home has been full of stuff that I am sure looking forward to finishing out and c...

The lagoon shrank... Waiting for some food  

Notice the circle of 'buffering' Elder Garcia was up and at them today and ready to fill me in on all the things from this past week. We had a little difficulty staying connected the whole time so when the buffering would kick us out, he would try to call back. Needless to say, Kpalime is a tricky spot to try and have a solid consistent phone call from. :)  Some highlights this week: - Elder Garcia is anticipating transfers next week. He was told when he headed back to Kpalime that it would last only one transfer so he is hoping that that is indeed the case. He has enjoyed his time being back but he is hopeful for something new. - The baptism they had with Frere Stanley was awesome! They went into the service a little wary because the water had stopped working but somehow they were able to get the font filled and his baptism was a success. This gentleman has been ready since the first time Elder Garcia was in Kpalime so to have his day take place I am certain was just more than...

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Monday, January 10, 2022 Subject: A week of trying and failing to turn on the brakes This week went by quickly. That didn't stop me from trying to slow it down though... On Tuesday we had an awesome District Council through Zoom... it wasn't great we were actually cutting out and then couldn't hear and let's just say that Zoom is the worst. And then to top off that when we went to sector there wasn't anything to do and all of the people that we had made arrangements with decided to dip or just not respond. So what did we do?? We turned to the old fashioned route and left the bikes with a member and then went and tried to find people. We were successful of finding Casper and he says to tell everyone hi. Tuesday just wasn't our day I guess. Not a big deal though, just keep the grind going.  Wednesday went better. We went out to sector with a member in the morning and we actually found 2 new people to teach and...

Waiting for the font to fill Frere Stanley's baptism Baptism group Lunch with the  mission clerk, 1st counselor for the mission president and his wife, and the couple missionary  

It's only 6 months late but welcome to Africa!! Street Market + Badge + From from Kaitlyn