Week 49 Email: Collective Baptism

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 he got sick so we did an "exchange" with them when I was there. It was pretty funny by the end of it because I just got thrown around and around in circles haha. 

The day after the exchanges I did an exchange with Elder Proffit in my district haha. We went and I met some pretty cool people! His sector is great and there are some great members that help them out. I went and did an interview for them and had to have a translator but by the end it all worked out, and she passed. We played some card games with a few kids for a hot second and then helped their family in their garden for some service opportunities. I also got to talk to their DMP (designated missionnaire de paroisse; designated ward missionary) and hes a rm and super cool too. He gave me some advice about how to help some people here with the dowry situation. I'm hoping that I can help with that. 

We also had a collective baptism this week... and that was a fiasco to say the least. An entire stake, during rain, with people that aren't always on time. It went great haha. I'll try and add some pics below. (p.s. I'm not in them because of the rain and our taxi driver haha) but we had 4 people make covenants with our Heavenly Father and it was soooo cool! And then we got food afterwards so I wasn't too stressed by the end of it. But the drive home was interesting. 8 people plus the driver in a little Toyota corolla in a massive rain storm = lots of uncomfortable bumps for Elder Garcia and praying that we don't slide anywhere. Because these people must not know about hydroplaning because they seem to want to go FASTER when there's 2 inches of water on the road. Best roller coaster ever I say haha. 

This week was pretty great though. My companion and I are going to be staying here in Sanguera for another 6 weeks so that's going to be really fun. Elder Mulamingu is seriously awesome. And I get to help him with English too... if he really needs it haha. The guy speaks it already just don't understand everything. But he tries and it's fun. 

Something that I have thought about a lot this week was baptism and why it's so essential to returning to our Heavenly Father. When we are baptised by the priesthood and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost we make a covenant with out Father in Heaven to follow in the footsteps of His Son. To continue to exercise our faith in Him, to repent each day, and to endure to the end through all things. Watching the smiles and the joy from all the amis this week is something that I will never forget. I know this church is true and I know our Father in Heaven loves you. 

Thanks everyone for reading this far if you've gotten here haha. Like I said I forgot a few days but I feel like I got all the important stuff down. Thanks for all your emails too. They make my days and my weeks. 

Until next week! Love y'all!!

~ Elder Garcia 

Photos:

Baptism 

Our amis who got baptised 

Elder Hansen himself