Christian in Africa

Each week I wonder what my call will entail when it comes to talking with missionaries. And each week I am always surprised by something. This week was no different. Not in a bad way or a good way but just surprised. Here are some key moments from this week with Elder Garcia - Transfer news has come and gone. Elder Garcia will be staying in his same apartment, with the same group of  Elders, and will have Elder Mulamingo as his companion. No news and no change is good news in my eyes! Elder Garcia seems happy with this and is looking forward to the next 6 weeks. - Elder Garcia has ami's that are progressing and would love a chance to be baptized but paying a marriage dowry holds up SO many of them. It is this that intrigues me so much. There isn't a set price but one that the family itself chooses. Even if it isn't paid the guy can take the girl out of the house and essentially live as though they are married, have a family, etc. Seriously...blows my mind - This last week w...

Dead lizard stuck to the wall behind the bookshelf  

To: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Saturday, May 28, 2022 Subject: Rainy again here Well, we had 90 + degrees for one day this week and today we are a high of 61 with so much rain. I am certain it will be snowing by the time we get to the cabin this evening. :/ The weather is so unsure of itself right now and I don't know even how to feel. How has your week been? How have things been progressing all around? Here we are into another week and so glad to see it done. Tyler has been working hard on the driveway to get it sealed, B got through her last full week of school, she is officially done with daily accutane, and got her wisdom teeth out yesterday. She did really well and her recovery so far has been good. She is only slightly swollen but she is sore. She had a hard time waking up and does not remember much of anything which I am sure grateful for. I had a conversation with Rodney and basically told him it was time for me to be done in my calling. The stress an...

It's the little things, like stuffed dogs, that count  

Some 'sector' clothes..all jokes though  

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Monday, May 23, 2022 Subject: Collective Baptism Bonjour tout le monde! Ça va? I forgot about probably 80% of what happened this week so I'll try and write down what I do remember haha.  I went on an exchange within an exchange within an exchange. So let me explain. We had the Zone Leaders come up to our sector to do baptismal interviews for us but we had to split up the time between 2 companionships because of how many there were and how little time we had. And so we did a mini exchange. I went with Elder Hansen and it was pretty great. But because he's a ZL there were other districts he needed to do them for too, so we went to Kegue and there we did another exchange and I was with Elder Oler. His companion went with Elder Hansen to do an interview at this persons house and Elder Oler stayed behind to do interviews for his district. Well he hadn't done an exchange with one group of elders in his district yet because ...

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Monday, May 23, 2022 **Reply to Mom's email** I'm doing better than I was on Saturday... I'll fill you in when I call about that. But other than that everything was alright this week. I did an exchange and another baptismal interview for a kid (which president doesn't necessarily like) but her parents are coming to church and want to get baptised it's just the dowry situation so hopefully soon. I did a little exchange with Elder Hansen as well and then we did one within that one so he could go to someone's house while I waited with the other elder so he could do some interviews and then we did another one so they could do a little exchange... it was walk but really funny at the same time. This week we got rained on a couple days and so the past few days have been in the low 80's and it feels great. I got to talk to him about that stuff last week in interviews and it was great. That stuff regarding the p...

From: Mom Date: Saturday, May 21, 2022 Subject: Love Hey How was your week this last week? How are things moving in your mission world? How are things with your companion? Were you able to get some clarification with President Proudfoot on how to get goals within the branch met as well as goals within the mission? This week was a lot of processing for us here at home. Tyler's cousin losing his 10 year old son has been super hard. There have been lots of questions surrounding all of it and it has opened up a lot of doors to discuss hard things between us here at home. We went to the funeral today and to say that it hurt is an understatement. I don't even know Dawson. I barely know his parents Nate and Jaime. But as I listened to his Uncles talk today and as I watched the emotion from the Bishop and Stake President who were in attendance, it was clear that Dawson emulated 'love'. Not just love but Christlike love in all things he did. There were countless num...

This week with Elder Garcia wasn't a very long call but part of it falls on me as I was running around a bit this morning trying to help get Brooklyn out the door for school and then I had a few things on my schedule that were happening earlier than later. That didn't stop us from being able to touch basis and for him to recap his week for me though. I love being able to get even just a quick call and being able to see and hear him.  - Elder Garcia is still on track for his Zone wide baptism date of this Saturday the 21st. Right now they have 10 total ami's that they are working with and had planned to have all of them there but 1 is not legally married and hasn't paid the dowry while 3 others just aren't 100% ready and would like a little more time with the missionaries. That leaves six (6)! That is still such a big number and Elder Garcia is really looking forward to that. - Elder Garcia had interviews with President Proudfoot this last week. He learned a lot abou...

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Monday, May 16, 2022 Subject: Interviews and highlighters Bonjour/bonsoir tout le monde!! J'espere que vous allez très bien!! This week was filled of a lot so I'll add a few highlights for y'all.  -We put 3 more people on a baptismal date for this coming Saturday!! - We (sadly) now have bikes again so catch a pic of me looking like a highlighter with the comp below - Got contacted by an old ami and got fed a pretty good smoothie and muffin - This week we did lots of baptism prep with all our friends. If you could keep them in your prayers that would help lots - Elder Mulamingu (my companion) speaks A TON of English so we did a lot of planning in English this week and it's probably safe to say that my english has gone down hill haha - We had interviews with President and Sœur Proudfoot this week!! I always lo e getting to talk to them about my questions. Very insightful responses too - My companion and I got to give a ble...

From: Mom Date: Saturday, May 14, 2022 Subject: 1/2 way through May Happy Saturday! How was your week? How did things go with your ami's and with your companion and also District? How are the goals coming along? What was the best part of your week and where did you find that the Lord showed His hand in making sure His work progressed among those you are working with day in and day out? This week for us was fine. It was mostly spent with Tyler working on the pool draining and getting the pavers cleaned so he could get them sealed up. This pool has proven to be nothing more than a pain in his rear for the most part and I think most days he probably cursed a lot under his breath for even having it done. After seeing how much work it took to get it to where it is today, I can't say that I blame him. It took almost 4 full days to drain, then he power washed it to get all the blossoms and garbage out of it, they came and acid washed it, and then it was time to fill it up...

An ami  blessed us with a banana avocado smoothie and some homemade muffins  

When the bikes aren't broken we become human highlighters  

Listening to the photo explanation Because of the explanation  

Today was a good day listening to Elder Garcia talk about what is going on in his mission, how he is working and learning as a District Leader, and mostly just to hear that he seems happy and that life where he is at this moment really is very sweet. As a recap, here are some key moments we talked about: - Elder Garcia gave his first ever baptismal interview. He said he was super nervous going into it and was unsure of how to actually ask the questions but he was pleasantly surprised when the Spirit took over and overall he had a very good experience. - Elder Johnson left the apartment on Tuesday and a new Elder from the Congo has joined them. His French is coming along, he is a super nice guy, he is a bit shy as he is just out of the MTC, he is 22 years old, has done quite a bit of his schooling to be a teacher, and is still trying to get comfortable around the other Elders in the apartment so he hasn't fully opened up about family details, etc. - The meeting that was supposed to ...

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Monday, May 9, 2022 Subject: Exchanges and Forgetting a week...oops Bonjour tout le monde!! J'espere que vous allez tres bien! This week was a week of a lot of work and many tired days but it was all worth it 100%. On Tuesday we had our first District Council and that was great! The sisters are very insightful and I learned quite a bit. We were viited by the Zone Leaders and they gave us a training on finding people and teaching and how we can teach as we find and we can find when we teach too! I love the Zone Leaders and my district. I am very excited for the rest of this transfer and what it is that I can learn from the members of my district. I went on  an exchange with Elder Hansen and that was a party! Elder Hansen is seriously so hard working and I learned many leadership qualities when I was with him.  On Wedesday I was still in Agoe with Elder Hansen so we finished up our exchange and taught many lessons and walk...

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Monday, May 9, 2022 **Reply to Mom's Email** Hey mom! This week has been good! I feel like this past week and this week to come will be a very learning kind of week haha. This last week I gave my first baptismal interview and that was really cool. I gave the opening prayer, just simple asking for the Spirit, and during the interview all I felt was calming and reassuring feelings. It was like I knew what to say to help without even having to think about it. I also understood everything the ami said perfectly. It was a really good testimony strengthener for me to feel that way. I was nervous going in that maybe I wouldn't do it right or maybe I would somehow mess it up and not understand and a whole bunch of other ways but that wasn't the case haha.  The meeting was great! It got changed so it was for all missionaries of the Tokion Stake and we all got to talk together how we could work better with our wards/branches. I...

To: Christian.garcia@missionary.org Date: Saturday, May 7, 2022 Subject: Happy Saturday Hey, How are you? How was your week? How did your big meeting go that you had scheduled for today? Is that something your companion goes to with you? What are the biggest things you took away from there today? How have your ami's been this week and what kind of numbers did you guys add to your bucket with new ones? I am hopeful that tomorrow at church you will have a good number of turnout. Things here have been fine. Brooklyn started the rise tests this week and she also started her private volleyball lessons. She did great on the first week of tests even though she dreads this time of year. I get it. I remember being in school and May was always the month I dreaded most. I was always so ready to be done with school but it was the big testing month and the last month to really get anything done to make my final grade one that I would be happy with. She is doing great though and bef...

These are bees!...  

 

 

 

Elder Garcia is doing well this week. He seems to be getting the hang of being a District Leader and is learning new things each day. He spent a lot of time at the apartment this last week because his companion has been under the weather but he didn't seem too discouraged on that and instead made the most of the time that he did get outside. Some bullet points from this weeks call are: - Elder Garcia was on an exchange with Elder Hansen this past week. Elder Garcia likes him a lot and they have a lot of fun together. Elder Hansen is just from Riverton so hopefully this friendship will stay for years to come. Elder Garcia said that while on exchanges, Elder Hansen taught some really great lessons and he really enjoyed being a part of that with him. - As a whole District, all is going along well and they continue to find and teach lots of ami's as well as help those they are working with to progress - There is an immediate transfer taking place today in the apartment. It doesn...