Week 46 Mbote na bino!

 Bonjour! 

Another good week in the congo!

The highlight was definitely the baptism of Frère Gérald! Fr Gérald, or Papa Gérald as he likes to be called is an amazing man with an amazing story.

Fr Gérald is in his fifties, and a year ago his wife passed away. They both used to go to a church regularly but after he lost his wife he stopped going to church for a year. 

A year passed and Fr Gérald decided that it was time to go back to church, but he knew that there was something more out there. He had a lot of questions about why there were so many churches today and which church was true and so began to pray to find out which church he should join. He had been praying when he received a vision that told him that two doves would show him the way to the right church. Doves are white. 

One day Papa Gérald was walking when he saw two guys in white shirts who also happened to be white 😆

He called us over and told us that he wanted to talk to us. So of course we changed numbers and set up a time to come by. 

In our first lesson with him, he told us about his story. He had lost his wife a year ago and lost his daughter a week prior. We taught him about the plan of salvation and he knew then that he had found the true church.

We invited him to be baptized. 

A week before his baptism he got the news that his son got poisoned in DRC and passed away. He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to be baptized. I explained to him that the trials he was having were part of the adversary trying to stop him from being baptized and the blessings that come from being baptized. And he was baptized on Saturday! 

We had a wonderful service and it was a special day! Also it was my birthday! I'm still the youngest missionary here :)

Pics from the baptism below!

Elder Rodriguez, Gerald, and Elder Hillam

Week 45 Sango nini?

 Ça fait longtemps! Its been a while!

Don't worry I'm still alive, the malaria hasn't gotten to me yet :)

Everything is still good here in Africa! Elder Rodriguez and I have been working hard and have been teaching some great people!

My French has gotten better. And my lingala. Ozali malamu?

Thats one of the biggest challenges we've been facing. Everyone speaks lingala, but not everyone can speak and read in French. Often the parents of families can't speak French which makes it hard to teach them. So you really got to find those who are truly ready for the gospel.

Papa Gerald who we've been teaching will be getting baptized this Saturday! We're excited for him!

The top of a mountain here

Papa Gerald

Ate dinner at the bishop's house (it was awesome)

The street chicken we love to eat 😋

Émile, a town in our area

Kids

Good view of our area

Food from bishops house

Week 41 2 Mundelés in Africa

 Bonjour!

This week zoomed by. Started this week with my new companion Elder Rodriguez. Showed him around the area and we got to work! Even though our French isn't the best we've been working hard and have had some awesome lessons with some amazing people!

We had two friends get baptized! Fr Beni and Fr Vann. Super excited for them! They are awesome.

We also had zone conference this week in downtown Brazzaville. We talked about miracles we saw, being obedient and practiced our teaching skills.

Super excited for this week and what it holds!

Me in Kintele

Congo River

Some kids wanted to take a picture with us

The Elders of our apartment 

Had dinner with Elders Quorum president 

Baptism of Fr Beni and Fr Vann

Week 40 Guess who my new companion is?

 And it's Monday again!

Well, this week was pretty great and crazy as usual! 

We had some great lessons with two of our friends who will be baptized this Saturday! Fr Vann and Fr Beny! We also started teaching Fr Beny's older sister, Sr Shekinah this week. We also had a great lesson with Sr Nelly's family also!

The weather's nice and cool here. It's the best! Time goes by so quickly here 😫 always got to make the most of it. 

We finally are back to 2-hour church here in congo. My first time going to elders quorum.

So on Thursday, the assistants told us that there was going to be another big transfer and we'd find out about it in a couple of days. So come Saturday I still hadn't heard anything when I got a phone call from Elder Rodriguez. For those who don't know, Elder Rodriguez is from Atlanta Georgia like me. While I was doing online MTC he had his mission call to go to Congo as well. We got to meet up and hang out. He's an awesome Elder! He has been in Pointe Noire for this entire time so I haven't been able to see him since November. 

Anyways he called me and asked, "Have you heard the news?"

"No, what news?" I replied

He said, "I'm coming to Brazzaville and we're gonna be companions!"

"NO WAY!"

So tomorrow Elder Nsaka will be in Nzoko, a town in Brazzaville, and Elder Rodriguez will be my companion! Super excited! 

Elder Dewey will stay here too and be getting an African companion. It's gonna be fun.

 Kintele

Climbed a mountain today

Some of Fr Beny's family 

Sunsets are crazy cool here!

Week 39 Joyeux Jour de l'Indépendance

Wow, this week flew by as always! 

Really been enjoying the weather here in the dry season, it hasn't gotten above the high 80s at all here which is the best. Makes me not so excited for the hot wet season again.

I had a great week here! I had some great lessons with some families here. One family who called out for us to come to preach to them while we were walking down the street has been progressing pretty well! We've been teaching the mother Sr Varelle and her husband Fr Symphorien as well as their daughter Sr Shekinah. Sr Shekinah has been progressing the fastest out of those three and came to church yesterday! 

I also had a great lesson with Sr Nelly's family. Sr Nelly is the mother who asked me about the Book of Mormon I was holding in my hand on a bus. We taught her kids and their friends and it was great!

I really love teaching about the principle of agency. Agency is the gift that God has given us to be able to choose for ourselves and it is crucial to God's plan for us. But from this great gift comes great responsibility. Agency allows us to choose to follow God or not. When we receive knowledge and revelation we have the responsibility to act on it. As missionaries, we teach people about how they can receive answers to their questions through revelation. But after they receive an answer it is up to them to choose to act. 

If there is one thing I have learned here, is how thankful I am for the USA. We are super blessed to live where we do because we are much freer to choose in America than elsewhere; we can make more choices for ourselves and choose to follow God. This is one of the reasons the gospel was restored in America.

Elder Hillam and Elder Nsaka

A river we found in a valley

Lesson with Sr Nelly's Kids

Just the main road of Kintélé

Week 38 Piano and Practice

 This week went by quick! We had some lessons with some new people that we found this week and the week prior! 

On Sunday, we got to talk to Fr. Vann and Fr. Beny. Fr. Vann is in his 20s and Fr. Beny is 14. We have been teaching Fr. Vann for about 2 weeks now and he is now preparing to be baptized! Fr. Beny is the younger brother of Fr. Josué Caleb who was baptized last month.

We have some other great friends who are super close to getting baptized as well!

On Sunday I played piano for the ward. It was fun! It was the first time the ward has ever had a piano to sing along to.

My French is getting better as I practice and study each day. I am able to understand more and more! 

This last week was very cool. In the 70s for a couple of days! Right now we're heading into the  cool dry season here or "saison sèche"-- it's pretty nice!

I'm so thankful for the opportunity to serve here in Africa at this unique time and I see so many miracles every day.

Piano set up at the church

Elder Nsaka and Elder Hillam

Week 37 Bonjour and Mbote!

This week was great again!

We had a decent amount of lessons this week but it was a little slower due to many people being busy as it is the last couple of weeks of university and school here!

This Saturday Frère Arolde got baptized! It was an awesome service, and he will be an awesome member!

This week we will be working to have Frère David and Sr Honoria, Jeade and Grâce ready to be baptized this week!

Fr Arolde!

Elders of the Makabandilou Ward