Week 29 Email: Happy New Year

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org
Date: Monday, January 3, 2022
Subject: Happy New Year

Well this week was interesting. Besides killing a goat and eating sooo much food there was still A LOT of time to do missionary work. 

This week I spent a lot of time down in Lome doing an exchange and then we did a district activity and we also had interviews and let's just say that those were interesting haha. 

For our exchange this week I worked with Elder Hansen and Elder Dje. Elder Hansen is from Riverton and he's pretty cool. He's like a mountain in the form of a human being. Elder Dje is from Côte D'Ivoire. I've worked with him before and everytime I get the chance to I take it because he's great. He knows how to cook really really good food too. So that's a plus. I also got to walk and it's probably safe to say that I missed that quite a bit. 

So to start off this Tuesday we did an awesome District Council and then talked about our exchange and plans to party for New Years with the Zone Leaders. And then we went out nto the sector to teach and for d out we needed to get everything ready to leave on Wednesday morning. That included picking up my goat I bought. 

Wednesday was great! We had interviews with the president and I guess I'm going to be traning and maybe it's going to be an American?!? Yeah that was a "holy crap" moment. Talking with one of the Zone Leaders though, he told me to just rust in the Lord and it'll work out. So we're going to cross our fingers. After interviews I went to Agoe and started my 4 day exchange with Elder Hansen. He's from Riverton and is an absolute beast. I am seriously so grateful that I got to work with him, I learned so much of how to be a better missionary. 

Thursday was a day of working in the sector all day and coming back tk the appartement for 20 minutes because we got to have a bible bash with someone... those srnt fun when they don't listen to the white guys though so I was pretty bored. That and the guy just didn't understand anything he was saying, it just goes to show that there's only one true church on this earth and I am happy that I have the opportunity to help people know of that truth. Then we went back ot to sector after our little break and bought some more food and got to wait at the bank because the ATM actually ate Elder Hansen's card. It was crazy. And when we got back to the appartement I got to help kill a goat... it was probably one of the weirdest things gs I've done sk for on the mission but that's the mission. Learning something new everyday

On Friday we had weekly planning that was actually all 6 of us just making our goals together and then a few of us going out to sector while 3 stayed back to cook food for the night. We stayed out for almost all of the day and then came back and we ate some pizza... and for was pretty decent. The cheese here is a little too fermented but other than that it's pretty alright. We stayed up until midnight and then at 12:30 we went to bed. I have no idea how I stayed up that late. It was seriously so late. 

Saturday was a day for the sick. All but 2 Elders were sick so everyone stayed back at the appartement so that we could take care of them. It was a pretty slow day. I played some card games and solved a rubies cube a lot and then had some scripture study to help me focus on the new year. 

Sunday was weird. We went to church and it was yet another fat and testimony meeting at church. I still don't newsstand how those feel like they're every other week. The branch president announced rhag the new couple missionaries are going to be up in Kpalime from Forday to Sunday so that will be fun because that means they're going to come out to sector with us annnnd get to be apart of our baptism on Saturday!! Speaking of which Frère Stanley is looking forward to it and said to me that it's about time that it's here haha. He's seriously so great and I know that he will be such a great memebr and he is going to help so many people. I was still pretty tired from our festivities this past week so when we came back for lunch I took a 30 minute nap and then we decided to go and visit people. And if I'm being honest I was still tired but all in a days work amiright? And for some reason everyone here is sick after the partying. Literally everyone. We didn't have a single ami on Sunday that was "healthy" or awake enough so we just did service for then and it was probably one of my more favorite days of my mission. 

This week I wanted to touch on the New Year. Something that I think I remember from Lion Kng is that the monkey guy says "the way I see it you can either run from it or learn from it" talking about the past. And that's true. In this past year there were lots of things that happened in each and every single one of our lives. We have a guide in the scriptures that the Lord gives us but it's up to us to follow that guide and rely on him. This week I taught a lot about the Plan of Salvation. We are here to learn and to grow. The past year we have learned and we have grown so let's keep it going.ets not let life hit us so hard we can't get back up. Learn from it not run from it. That's my New Yesrs invitation for you this week and year I guess. I know that I am going to be trying my best to learn and grow and to keep going. And I know that through the help of the Lord that we all can do it.

Sorry, still getting the pictures from this past week. If I get them all up and ready then I'll send em next week but I make no promises. 

Thanks for reading this far if you got here. I love each and every one of you guys. I'll catch ya next week. 

Elder Garcia