Hey everyone!
So this week was a lot slower then the last couple, we only taught about 31 lessons but man everything is still so crazy. We were able to confirm 5 people this last Sunday and it was awesome. They are so curious in the gospel, one of the recent converts is trying to dive into really deep doctrine with us, like things I don't even know, but his desire is great.
My companion went easier on me this week which was really nice. I've really appreciated his help with lessons. We have a translator during some lessons. It’s a little frustrating when we will say something and then the translator member will get ahead of us and teach the whole lesson. I won't know that he has gone ahead with the lesson but my companion knows since he understands the language better. So I will continue to talk and tell them stuff that the member already told them and it just confuses the investigator.
My companion doesn't like stopping for breaks during the day. On a typical day we wake up at 6:30 and exercise for 30 minutes, eat breakfast, have personal study, apartment study, companion study, and then get ready and leave at the latest by 11:00. We never stop for lunch, part of the reason is because we never know when people will feed us, and if someone feeds us here they feed us A LOT. So I am still losing a lot of weight. We have a lesson planned every hour of every day basically until 8:00 at night.
The pace slowed down this week since we just had 5 baptisms this month. We already have 3 more investigators with dates! Two are a father and a son named Christopher and Michael. Michael is 16 years old. They are doing really well. We love teaching them because they are so accepting of what we teach. The other investigator committed for baptism is a girl named Joyclene. She is very open with us as well and we've had some very spiritual lessons with her. Some of the things she shared with us are very personal so I won’t mention them, but watching her feel the Holy Ghost and seeing how the atonement is working in her life is a real treat.
Anyway those three people were what really made this week. So to answer some of your questions, Aywe is a very hard language so I only know how to say, “how are you”. They speak similar to the french and use their tongue in a very strange way so it's difficult. We don't have Ipads here. They are too valuable for this area so they would just be stolen. Plus the power is off most days so there isn't really a way to charge them. Even today the power was out so we went to another city to email. We bike everywhere so the mission provides a bike. If we break it or it is stolen and it was our fault, then we have to pay for the replacement. Every mission apartment has a mosquito net for each missionary.
Yes, I will be washing all my clothes by hand for the rest of my mission. Today the power is out so our water pump isn't on. I have no idea how to get water to wash my clothes so this will be interesting!
We usually eat out at member’s homes about four times a week. We have a sweet woman who makes the missionaries tons of food every Saturday. The meals we make ourselves are just like making a lot of stew at the beginning of the week and then we eat it with rice for the rest of the week. Sometimes it lasts two weeks, It's a lot of the same food. I had kinke for the first time this week and man was it nasty! The rice cooker works when power is on, but it never makes enough rice for my companion and I so we just use a pot.
I tried to send more pictures but my camera died and I can't charge it because we have no power today. So sorry I only got one picture out this week. These are some kids around a member’s house that always come running out to meet me.
So this week was a lot slower then the last couple, we only taught about 31 lessons but man everything is still so crazy. We were able to confirm 5 people this last Sunday and it was awesome. They are so curious in the gospel, one of the recent converts is trying to dive into really deep doctrine with us, like things I don't even know, but his desire is great.
My companion went easier on me this week which was really nice. I've really appreciated his help with lessons. We have a translator during some lessons. It’s a little frustrating when we will say something and then the translator member will get ahead of us and teach the whole lesson. I won't know that he has gone ahead with the lesson but my companion knows since he understands the language better. So I will continue to talk and tell them stuff that the member already told them and it just confuses the investigator.
My companion doesn't like stopping for breaks during the day. On a typical day we wake up at 6:30 and exercise for 30 minutes, eat breakfast, have personal study, apartment study, companion study, and then get ready and leave at the latest by 11:00. We never stop for lunch, part of the reason is because we never know when people will feed us, and if someone feeds us here they feed us A LOT. So I am still losing a lot of weight. We have a lesson planned every hour of every day basically until 8:00 at night.
The pace slowed down this week since we just had 5 baptisms this month. We already have 3 more investigators with dates! Two are a father and a son named Christopher and Michael. Michael is 16 years old. They are doing really well. We love teaching them because they are so accepting of what we teach. The other investigator committed for baptism is a girl named Joyclene. She is very open with us as well and we've had some very spiritual lessons with her. Some of the things she shared with us are very personal so I won’t mention them, but watching her feel the Holy Ghost and seeing how the atonement is working in her life is a real treat.
Anyway those three people were what really made this week. So to answer some of your questions, Aywe is a very hard language so I only know how to say, “how are you”. They speak similar to the french and use their tongue in a very strange way so it's difficult. We don't have Ipads here. They are too valuable for this area so they would just be stolen. Plus the power is off most days so there isn't really a way to charge them. Even today the power was out so we went to another city to email. We bike everywhere so the mission provides a bike. If we break it or it is stolen and it was our fault, then we have to pay for the replacement. Every mission apartment has a mosquito net for each missionary.
Yes, I will be washing all my clothes by hand for the rest of my mission. Today the power is out so our water pump isn't on. I have no idea how to get water to wash my clothes so this will be interesting!
We usually eat out at member’s homes about four times a week. We have a sweet woman who makes the missionaries tons of food every Saturday. The meals we make ourselves are just like making a lot of stew at the beginning of the week and then we eat it with rice for the rest of the week. Sometimes it lasts two weeks, It's a lot of the same food. I had kinke for the first time this week and man was it nasty! The rice cooker works when power is on, but it never makes enough rice for my companion and I so we just use a pot.
I tried to send more pictures but my camera died and I can't charge it because we have no power today. So sorry I only got one picture out this week. These are some kids around a member’s house that always come running out to meet me.
My allergies are not bad and I’ve had no congestion. We have a fridge but it only works when we have power. This last week our compound was out of power for four days because someone messed up the wiring. A lot of our food spoiled.
Last Sunday the mission president surprised us at our ward. President Heid told me my MTC companion ate something bad and has been sick the majority of his time here. He's been in the hospital for a while. The only person i've seen from the Provo MTC is Elder Fesolai, He is from Australia and is way cool. I got to know him really well on the flight over. We are in the same zone so I see him every once in a while..
I'm actually starting to really really like banku and fufu. As long as the soup stays hot while you eat it, it is really good. Especially when you are hungry! And none of the pictures on my missionary blog are of Banku, they are all fufu. Banku isn't inside the soup it’s in a plastic bag and you pinch a piece off the ball and then dip it in the soup. Fufu is just inside of the soup. It's not hard to eat because you don't have to chew it. Once I got down the whole not chewing things and swallowing them whole, it made it a ton easier.
I love you all and tell Taryn good luck this week if she ends up having the baby!
Love Elder Smith
Last Sunday the mission president surprised us at our ward. President Heid told me my MTC companion ate something bad and has been sick the majority of his time here. He's been in the hospital for a while. The only person i've seen from the Provo MTC is Elder Fesolai, He is from Australia and is way cool. I got to know him really well on the flight over. We are in the same zone so I see him every once in a while..
I'm actually starting to really really like banku and fufu. As long as the soup stays hot while you eat it, it is really good. Especially when you are hungry! And none of the pictures on my missionary blog are of Banku, they are all fufu. Banku isn't inside the soup it’s in a plastic bag and you pinch a piece off the ball and then dip it in the soup. Fufu is just inside of the soup. It's not hard to eat because you don't have to chew it. Once I got down the whole not chewing things and swallowing them whole, it made it a ton easier.
I love you all and tell Taryn good luck this week if she ends up having the baby!
Love Elder Smith