Week 39 Email: Monkey Business

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org
Date: Monday, March 14, 2022
Subject: Monkey Businessonjour tout le monde! J'espère que vous allez bien!!

So this week Elder Meline and I got to watch some spectacular moments with rain and baptisms and just people haha. Let's get into it...

Tuesday we had Districr Council with our new district. The first of the transfer and it turned out o be really focused on Faith In Christ. Elder Ipatutele challenged each of us in the district to find something we can do everyday to focus on our Faith in Christ. So I am extending that invitation to you as well. Each day find one way to exercise or focus on your Faith in our Savior. 

Wednesday was a day of member contacting. We didn't have any lessons with amis so we went and found people but then ended up with members hoping that they could help us. And it paid off in all honesty hah. We found quite a few people this week just from members alone. It was great. 

Thursday was a day of what I would call miracles. We had nothing scheduled in the morning and left the apartment with the intent to find and teach. And by the end of the day we saw rat we actually had lessons and they were all with members! Normally members are there but not during the week so it was cool to see that they were able to help us. The Bishop of adakpame sent us a friend and helped us and bore his testimony of the restoration and it was super powerful. After that we went and the ward clerk from Adakpame fou d us and took us to 2 new people and holy crap! Both of these men must have been prepared because they came into this lesson with a bunch of questions. So Elder Meline and I followed the Spirit and we were able to answer their questions. And then Fr Thierry had a baptismal interview and passed!

Friday was normal planning again but I lead it this week and it's safe to say that I still cannot sing in any language haha. Thankfully that doesn't matter to the Spirit. We went out to sector in Anfmae with a member too! That was a first for me and it was really powerful because Fr Thiery, different from Fr Thierry in Adakpame,  translated and helped teach the Plan of Salvation for us. The people here have some seriously strong testimonies. I didn't understand all but the parts I did I just kept thinking "dang, that's 100% the truth." That evening Sr Landryne passed her baptism interview too! And then it POURED Friday night. Like absolutely dumped rain. 

Saturday the baptism was at 8 am so we got up and ready to go but the roads were flooded, so we walked in some water. We'll nobody was there because they figured it was cancelled. So we waited 2 hours and rhen everyone showed up, after having called them to make sure they knew it was still a go. Sr Landryne and Fr Thierry were able to make the first covenant with our Heavenly Father and it was amazing. I love baptisms, it reminds me of Christ and how He is there for all of us even in the most difficult situations and times in our lives.

Sunday we got to see a lot of motorbike crashes... like a lot. People are always I a hurry but Sunday was something else. It was like everyone wa slate so they just flew and collided and yeah... super scary. But from everything we saw there wasn't any serious injuries thankfully. Church was great and I got to have my Éwé put to the test because everyone who gave a talk did it in the native language. It's safe to say I understood absolutely nothing but hopefully in time and with practice I am going to be able to get a jist of it. 

This past week Elder Meline and I focused a lot on Hope in our studies and I thought that I would share something that I learned with yall this week. I was reading in Hebreux 6:15 and I sat and thought a lot about that scripture for a minute. "And so after he patiently endured, he obtained the promise." I realised that Hope isn't just saying "yeah, I want that to happen" sometimes it requires us to be patient while still doing and working and enduring for us to receive the promise of the blessing of the thing thag we were hoping for. This last week I started to write things that I am hoping for. The Lord has provided us with lots in our lives to hope for. I invite you all to turn to Him in your everyday lives and to find that Hope in Him and to exercise it. 

I love you all and I hope you have an amazing week! 

Beaucoup d'amour, 

~Elder Garcia

P.S. If you send me an email I promise I will try to respond. I might take a week or 2 though :)

Pics:

Baptism (apparently I can't find the right camera)

Flooded streets

I FED A MONKEY!!!