Week 58 Email

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org
Date: Monday, July 25, 2022

Bonjour tout le monde!! Comment vous allez??

This week was a great week full of miracles! We had an exchange, Zone Conference, a little sickness... all the normal stuff you know? Here's some highlights

• We started off the week with Zone Conference... and wow what a spiritual high I was on after! We talked so much about our own faith and how that's a key factor for each one of us whether we be a member, missionary, leader, friend or investigator. I always love Zone Conferences, this time it was a little different because the zone's split into 3 and that was a little shocking but it all worked out and we were all able to share and learn. 

• I was able to do an exchange this week with Elder Proffit! He is such a cool ad chill guy and I very smart and very helpful in teaching me in how I can be a better missionary and person. We were teching this new convert and her daughter when her daughter said that she was Muslim, and forme I knew that was going to be somehting that I would be dealing with on the mission buuut I wasn't very prepared. But Elder Proffit was gentil and made sure that she realised that we believe some of the same things that they do. It turned out to be one of my more favorite lessons of the day and the week. And then when we were done for the day (after being able to use the bikes!!!) we went and stopped at this little resturant and got some spaghetti. This wasn't any normal spaghetti though, it had pima (little peppers) in it. It was really funny to watch us eat that I bet because it has been a while for the both of us since we have eaten them and we didn't think that they were very spicy but our bodies obviouslly thought that we were going to die because they started sweating for no apparent reason. That was a good way to end the exchange and the day. 

• This week it got hot too. Africa is always hot and that is a normal part of the day but there used to be rain that would fall throughout the week and that has stopped so it's weird because now I feel like I am entering into just heat. I don't know the actual heat of Lome at this time of year either because I was up in what missionaries call "paradise of the mission" for my training a year ago. So it is going to be great to see what it is that we have in store these next few months.

• This week I got a little case of food poisoning too. Now I don't actually know what it is that I ate but I know that whatever it was it hurt. I had some crazy vertigo and I felt like I was on that spining saucers ride at the carnival that your friends say is going to be fun so you get on. But then once you get off you feel like doing one thing only and that's not going to get a double-bacon cheese from American Burgers. Thankfully it only lasted for a day but that was not fun. Being sick isn't fun but it is even more not fun when you are on a mission. 

Throughout this week I have been listening to a lot of Hank Smith talks, and I have been drawn towards something that he was teaching. (I am sorry but I forgot which one exactly he talked about this in) In this devotional/fireside Hank talked about our faith in the Lord. But he talked about something a little different. As we know, faith is to hope or beleve in things that we cannot see but we know that they are there. Hank said something that caught my attention and it was something along the lines of believing Jesus Christ. Not believing 'in' Him but believing Him. It got be to thinking about so many stories that I have read in the Book of Mormon and I started to reflect on my own life and where I stand with that. Then we can go backwards to Zone Conference and I remember that President Proudfoot talked about this same principle. To believe in Jesus Christ is to believe that He is there, to believe that He has risen, believing that He can do many thing in our lives. But to believe Jesus Christ is a whole new difference. To Believe in Jesus Christ is to do anything that He says, to trust Him enough to not ask questions and to just go and do. And to follow Him just like He invited the fishermen on the shores of the sea. This week and for as long as you want, I invite us all to look at our lives and to really truly Believe Jesus Christ. I know that there are many blessings that are jsut waiting to some pouring down for all of us. 

You made it through another email! Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed

Beaucoup d'amour,

Elder Garcia

Photos: not in any specific order 

The last pic with grandpa before he dies :(

Zone Conference 

Mangez les gars! 

Some tacos... tasted alright. Not worth the $ tho