Week 102 Email: 2 weeks and a Homecoming

From: Christian.garcia@missionary.org
Date: Monday, May 29, 2023
Subject: 2 weeks and a Homecoming

Bonjour tout le monde!!! Woah, c'est la fin d'un chapitre de la vie... bizzare haha. Let's hop into these past few weeks shall we?

Okay so I know that the email that I sent out last week wasn't for that week but this week I am going to try and make up for it by kinda focusing on some fun highlights that happened haha. 

2 weeks ago we had our last interviews with President and Sister Proudfoot. They go home in July so this was the last time for everyone and it was a kind of sad but sweet experience too. I have really loved them as my mission leaders, thankfully I still have 1 more interview right before I head home with them haha.

The day right after interviews Elder Okyere and I ended up getting lost in our sector and then we chose a direction to go in and well that just made us even more lost until we got to the beach. And well the beach isn't in our sector haha, we ended up in the sister sector of our district so we ended up taking a loooooonnnnng detour to our rendez-vous. We still got there on time though, so that was great. It was really pretty too, we were still in the city but I felt like I had been transported back into the village. It was a little "tender mercy" to be somewhere that reminded me of the rest of my mission. By the end of that day though our legs were just not having it haha. So we just called ahead some food so that neither of us needed to make food to eat. It was great. 

Last monday we went and joined another district in the zone to play basketball. It was a really fun time because there were members from Agla that decided to come and play with us. I was able to see Elder Johnson again too and got to say "bye" to some people until they get home haha. 

So to get on with this week... we had a ot of rain this week. To the point that one day we were basically trapped in the apartment. I felt like I was in Kpalime all over again haha. But Elder Okyere was great and we were able to go out to sector to teach a few lessons. 

Recently we have been woring with a few families and groups of people that are progressing together. When we go to talk to them I always end up loving the lesson and conversations that we have after. We could be explaining something and one of the people doesn't fully understand so then everyone starts explaining it to them and at the end, eithout a doubt every time, someone says 'idiot" and then they tell us we can continue with the lesson. Beninois are built different y'all haha. 

We have these 2 amis that we are teaching too. One of them we found by going out contacting and the other comes from a member in another sector. Fr Ulrich is a really cool guy, he's a barber and my comp says that he knows what he's doing. I wouldn't know but if an African tells me he's good then I guess I'll have to accept it haha. He is absorbing the lessons and is trying his best to understand everything that we are teaching. The only thing is that he doesn't understand French all too well so then we are kinda pantomiming things and using lots of images to get the message across. I bet that people when they walk past his salon tihnk we're just crazy or something but it seems to be working so we're going to be sticking with it. Our second ami that we are working with is Fr Audrey, he is an absolute legend. One day when he was at work he saw one of his collegues with the book of mormon so he went over and asked what it was and then asked if he could have a copy. So the guy gave him one and then Audrey started to read it... and has been reading it everyday since that day. His collegue was talking with him and then we got his number and found his house nd started teaching him. We haven't started with his wife yet because she is always busy when we go over but hopefully we can start that soon because it would be great. If you guys could keep them in your prayers so that they can continue to progress it would be very much appreciated :)

We also had Stake Conference this weeked too! I think this is only like the 2nd or maybe even the first one that I have been able to go to on my mission so it was pretty cool. The church here is so young that being able to see the Stake Conference was cool because it was lead like the church back home. And there was a choir so the hymns were sang beautifully in French. They talked a lot about ministering to others and helping to build the church as members. It was really great to see all of the other missionaries and members that I knew as well. I got to say some goodbyes and get some pictures too!! Overall it was a really great day. 

Today we went and played games as a combined district activity. It was supposed to be going to see this massive Amazon statue buuuuut the rain came down and the floods came up haha. It was still a good time tho, we were able to all play together and it was an absolute vibe. Imagine playing mafia or secret Hitler with a big group of friends and you can get the picture. 

Overall it has been a good last few weeks and an AMAZING 2 years. Thanks yall for tuning in to the last email... below is the homecoming information:

When: June 11 @ 10:30am 

Where: 5623 West Mirabella Drive, HERRIMAN, Utah 84096 United States

P.S. there will be a gathering afterwards at my house

Hope to see y'all!!! 

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