Phone Call Home: Monday, September 19, 2022

This week was a good week for Elder Garcia. He was able to experience a mission tour this last week and he said he really loved it and loved having everyone together as a whole mission! Elder Kyungu is from the Congo, he served as a Mission President, and now serves as Inter-region of Africa West. Elder Garcia says that anytime there is any sort of 'authority' that comes to the mission, most missionaries are on high alert. It brings them a lot of worry and anxiety. Elder Garcia says obedience is a big issue for a lot of them and so he thinks that is probably why. 

Elder Kyungu stressed BECOMING during his time with these missionaries in Togo. Elder Garcia said basically it was to not stress to much. Let the Lord assist you in becoming who you are meant to be and who you are in the process already of becoming. This was not just a lesson for missionaries but for everyone. Elder Garcia really enjoyed the lessons taught and he said he took a lot of notes to look back on. Another big highlight with this mission tour was that Elder Garcia was able to see Elder Meline again and catch up. Elder Garcia said that the companion that Elder Meline has is a tricky one and it was good to be able to be a sounding board for Elder Meline as they caught up.

Some other highlights of this week from Elder Garcia are:

- 2 of the Elders in the apartment are out until Wednesday this week. One (1) of the Elders had not yet taken out his endowment so he was off to the temple to do that. Sadly it was just for those that had not been through the temple so the other Elders had to stay back. Elder Kamata headed into the other portion of the sector to keep missionary coverage there which left Elder Brunt and Elder Garcia together in the apartment until Wednesday. Just another week of shuffling that still baffles and blows my mind! :) 

-  Transfers are coming up again and Elder Garcia says he feels like he will be leaving this sector of Sanguera that he is in. He will get news this week and transfers will be next Tuesday. It is interesting with each transfer with Elder Garcia. There is always SO much chatter about callings. Callings of District Leaders, Zone Leaders, Office Elders, AP's, etc. It's like a fixation of their minds and Elder Garcia brings up being a Zone Leader quit often. He will say in one breath that he doesn't want to be that but then in another breath he says he engages in conversations about if he does become one. I was having a hard time with it so I asked him about it. We discussed that being a missionary is hard and having the responsibilities of just that is a lot. If you add on a calling as a District Leader or a Zone Leader the responsibility is even greater and you almost get lost in being able to just be a missionary. As much as I tried to encourage just going to work and being the best missionary you can be, I am not sure still if it is something that won't be a main topic of conversation or not. I pray that even if a calling is not extended to Elder Garcia, he will know that being a missionary is good enough. A calling doesn't define and he can serve a successful mission by being called to being Elder Garcia. 

- Elder Garcia and Elder Kamata have an ami they put on date for baptism. She is one that they happened upon out of the blue and have worked with her so he is really excited about this. He knows he may not be in Sanguera for this with transfers coming up but he is thrilled for this ami and her choice.

- Elder Garcia has really enjoyed working with Fr Patience again as well. Fr Patience progressed so well when  he was in Kpalime and right now he is looking for some kind of sign from the Lord that the Church is true. Elder Garcia said he was able to not just share his testimony but he also told Fr Patience that he believes that the Lord put him in Sanguera to meet up with Fr Patience again as a testament that this is indeed the true Church. Their paths crossing again was a blessing for both of these gentlemen and I will continue to keep Fr Patience in our prayers here so that hopefully one day he will be able to come to know the truthfulness and goodness of what this Gospel is. 

This week was fun to listen as Elder Garcia talked so excitedly about the mission tour and being able to be all together. It is clear that he enjoys the social part of his mission and I love that for him. But with the mission tour it also meant that rendezvous appointments with ami's had to be shuffled so he will be busy as he heads into this week. It also adds some tricky with having two of the other Elders in the apartment out until Wednesday and transfers looming as well. I don't think it will be too much for Elder Garcia to handle but I will keep him in my prayers as usual. :) 

Keep up the good work. I am excited to hear what transfer news will bring as well as to hear how the temple visit was after you get the four of you back together. I love you and am so proud of you.

Mom