Eric's email of November 25th, 2010-Thanksgiving!

BON….  THANKSGIVING !  I don’t know what to say in french.

So this past week was an eventful one.  Oh, and before I forget, we got an email from the senior couple in Douala today.  And they said, since it is the holidays, the postal service people in Douala charge a whole lot of money for customs, and they even said they put armed gaurds there and such, so they said right now they charge too much for packages.  They said it would be a good idea if no one sent anymore packages until after the holidays.  So I forgot if you said you already sent a Christmas package or something, so don’t send it if you already haven’t.  And when any package gets sent make sure not to put it in a box, but those big envelope things, just a reminder.

But in lieu (honor) of the holiday, we played football this morning!  I am happy Thanksgiving is on pday.  We played American football this morning.  Personally I didn’t do too much on offense, but I did have 2 interceptions, ran 1 back for a touchdown.  And my team, the Bastos district, won in the college football style overtime.  One of my interceptions was while I was guarding Elder Lamb, who was a running back at BYU.  It was mostly the quarterback’s fault, but still.

I forgot to tell you last week, but we moved apartements.  I didn’t really want to, because we lost our whole Friday moving stuff, and we still have to go back on Monday to finish it.  I think we moved because the apartement had become more expensive and our water kept going out and such.  But then, our new apartement barely had any water until yesterday we they came and fixed a bunch of things.  I took a warm shower for the first time in 2 months maybe.  Our new apartement is nice, but a little bit smaller.  It feels like a hotel, though.  And for some reason the washing machine is leaking all over.  And there is a school right next door, and also a café resto (restaurant) that plays annoying music during the day, but thankfully we usually aren’t there.  But its nice, I’m just glad we got all the moving junk out of the way.  (For pictures of the move, see Elder and Sister Thompson's blog listed on the left sidebar.)

On Sunday I played piano during the sacrament meetings for Bastos 1 and Bastos 2.  During Bastos 1 I played for the primary program, which actually went very well.  During the sacrament meeting it went better than any of the times we practiced it.  And then during Bastos 2 we came back so that I could play the piano for Elder Thomspon and a young man while they sang “Beautiful Zion”, pg. 44 in English.  I’ve gotten pretty good at sight reading hymns.

Elder Acorda and I did have a nice lesson with a recent convert named Brigitte.  We had been struggling what to teach her this week, because she knows everything already.  But Elder Acorda decided to share something in D&C 137 or somewhere around there, and then Soeur Brigitte told us she found an answer to a question she had had for a long time.  It was about what happens to small children who die before being baptized and such?  Where would they go?  And she told us how happy she was to get that answer.  Blessings of the Restoration!

On Sunday we were invited by a new investigator named Samuel to go to this prayer-group-church-thing that he attends on Sunday evenings.  So we went, and it was people of different churches and such, but they all spoke the same language.  We got there late, but they still let us say a few words.  But the most interesting thing, was the one person shared a dream he had had.  In this dream, he saw a white hand, then a less white hand, then a black hand all reach and out touch each other.  But he said that that evening was the accomplishment of the that dream, when Elder Acorda (the less white hand) and me (the white hand) came to their meeting.  So it was cool to go to their meeting, and we did get 2 coordonnées, which was our goal.  1 of the guys we took contact with was the one who had the dream.  On Tuesday we even saw him again and taught him the Restoration.  We won't be able to go back this Sunday, (to the prayer meeting) but if we do, we plan on presenting the Book of Mormon.  I’m interested to see how they would react.

So we found about 5 more inactive members to see this week.   Seriously, if a good chunk of the inactives that are in Yaoundé got reactivated, Bastos 1 could have a fully functioning branch and then create a whole new branch.  Its kind of sad how many people have gone inactive, and also frustrating.  Our teaching pool has gotten so filled up, that I think for at least once a week from now on we will have to go on splits.  Tomorrow we will be doing so to increase the number of people we can see.  One person will be Frère Patrick, who I worked with last week.  I don’t want to say that we shouldn’t contact any new people, but we have to just be very selective on how many new people we begin to teach regularly.

One of the inactive members is an Anglophone named Gillorine.  I have never met any one else in the world like Gillorine.  The first question he asked me, is what is the Urim and Thummin, and then what is a breastplate?  He got baptized and taught by Elder Ternieden and Elder Parsons when they were together here in Yaoundé.  But according to Gillorine, he got discouraged and such and stopped paying tithing.  But he came to church last week, also with a friend, and we went and saw him on Tuesday.  Lets just say that he is very challenging to work with.  He sometimes has really good questions, then has really off topic questions, mostly about where to get “the breastplate”.  I think that the best thing he will be able to do to get answers to his questions is to read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover.  Tuesday night, I literally thought my head was about to explode.

Yesterday we also had our zone conference.  We played scripture golf, where each person takes a turn reading a chapter heading, and everyone else has to guess which chapter they read from.  I don’t know why its called golf, because the highest score wins.  10 points if you get the book and chapter, 5 points if you got the book and are within 5 chapters, and 1 point if you just get the book.  And it was only from the Book of Mormon.  We went around twice, and I got 2nd both times, 65 points then 67.  But anyways, we actually learned about the Book of Mormon.  I have learned about that a lot recently, because Elder Kesler gave a lesson on it a few weeks back, Elder Acorda and I have been reading about it in PMG (Preach My Gospel) Ch. 5 in comp study, and then that was our subject for Zone Conference.  Basically, the Book of Mormon is the key to everything.  Part of me wants to just carry around a Book of Mormon all day and nothing else.

I hope your Thanksgiving goes wonderfully, and if no one besides Dad eats the yams, you can send me some!  And know that I am thankful for this Church, this mission, and of course for all of you!

Je vous aime,

-          Eric

(To Mom)

Hey Mom,

So for dinner tonight we are actually going to eat at our new apartement.  So thankfully we got the water issue fixed.  I really don't know what we are going to eat, but I do know that Sister Thompson is going to do chicken and some kind of pie.  Elder Acorda knows lots of food kitchen stuff, so I'll probably just go and help him with whatever he decided.  But they told me candy yams would be too hard...

So when you go au champ-ing, you use your hands or a machete type thing.  That's about it.  Or a shovel thing.  And I think we were planting manioc, or cassava.

And just so you know, I have been wearing my hat a lot more, and we will be going au champ-ing with Maman Natalie again Saturday, so I'll be sure to bring it.

(Can we send some money to help with the customs?)  And don't worry about the package thing, but it might just get left in the post office for a while.

Je t'aime,
- Eric

(To Dad)

Yeah, I told Mom the Thanksgiving plans.  Which was, I don't really know, except there will be chicken and pie by Sister Thompson.  Next year I want to eat a whole pan of candied yams by myself.

I'll ask the Thomspsons if they have a blog at dinner tonight.

I also remember that I suggested cranberry, but no one said they knew where to get it.  So I don't know how this dinner will be.

Just so you know, I might have cried if the Utes lost again, so thank goodness.

Je t'aime,
- Eric

(This one was to Scott who felt compelled to tell him that Katelyn, who Eric traveled to Provo to date while attending SUU, had turned in her mission papers.)

Hey nut, I knew Katelyn was going to turn in her mission papers ever since we dated in college.  So sorry, but no shock to me there.  The mission is seriously the best thing ever, and I hope to death that you are preparing to go on one yourself!

Je t'aime,
- Eric

Eric's email of November 18th, 2010

Alright, so this computer was not letting me get on myldsmail.net, so I at least wanted to send you the email I wrote. We'll see if later I can login on and see what people sent me.

We have been doing a lot of service lately, since that's what the Thompsons told us what President Headlee wants us to do. And I think the past few weeks we have done more service hours than the missionary
handbook really asks to you do. But each time we have done service so far, it seems to be the same thing: going au champ or to the field and pulling up weeds or planting and stuff like that. We did it again today
with la Soeur Therese, who is a recent convert. She was a coordonnée (referral) that got given to Elder Acorda and me by another investigator. But she got introduced to us because she had won the American lottery to go live in the United States.  She had everything except the money. Due to some recent problems of some kind she had to use the money she had saved. And she told her friend, who introduced her to a couple of Americans. So when we talked to her, we said we can't directly help her with her American lottery problem, but that the Gospel would help her both spiritually and temporally. So she lived over in Elder Kesler and Elder Lamb’s sector, they went and taught her, and about 6 weeks later she was baptized! So that makes me happy, because I realized that anyone, even if they are a coordonnée from a weird person or looking to go to America or whatever, has the potential to receive and accept and practice this Gospel.

Anyways, today we went to her house at 9 AM to clear out plants and weeds in front of her house. I’m not sure exactly why, but we chopped up everything with machetes, and they will let it dry up and then they will burn it. So I guess that’s not a bad way to get rid of weeds, especially when you have as many as she had. And then after, she fed us “indolay”, which is one of my favorite Cameroonian dishes. I also went on a comp exchange twice this week. Tuesday I worked with a member of Bastos 2 named Patrick. I worked with him because Elder Acorda wasn’t feeling well, and ended up sleeping at the Thompsons’ all day. But Patrick has been a member for 4 years now, he was the first from his family to join, but now there are many relatives of his in the church. He speaks really good English, but he prefers to speak French to the missionaries to make them learn their mission language, which is a good thing. It was nice to have a francophone companion for 1 day again. But during the day, we were all over the place. We took a 20 minutes bus ride, and I only had to pay 100 francs for each of us, so that came out to be about 40 cents, if you can believe that. But the lessons we taught ended up being just so-so. With one investigator we had been talking about baptism a lot, even from the first appointment. He did an ok job of keeping commitments, even had a baptismal date. But
on Tuesday at the end of our Plan of Salvation lesson, I asked if he had been praying about baptism at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or at his other church. And then he told me that last week he got baptized in his other church. Ha, I didn’t really know what to say, it was kind of weird. And I felt like he felt awkward telling me that or something. It was interesting.

I also went on a exchange yesterday with Elder Lamb. First off, he let me borrow this blue Hawaiian tie that matched perfectly my pants. It was nice. (The first indication that Eric is paying attention to his wardrobe.)   But I went into his sector. We ended up having over have of our appointement fall through, which led to a lot of contacting, and still got 8 lessons in during the day, as well as district meeting and eating lunch during the day, which does not happen that often. But Elder Lamb has been out a bit over 6 months now, his French and everything is coming along. But I really liked teaching with him, and learned how if
these principles are taught simply and if we bear testimony sincerely and talk of blessings and such, and just smile and get along with the people, missionary life seems to go very well. We did a lot of contacting, but I do not remember one single person telling us to go away or be unhappy to see us.

Elder Acorda and I will also be planning a priesthood lesson with a less-active member for the first Sunday of December. His name is Frère Ndzana. Ever since we got in contact with him he has been at church and such. But one thing that seems to frustrate him a bit is a lack of training for priesthood holders. He suggested to us to make little pocket-size things with instructions for blessings and such to give to holders of the priesthood. And so we thought about it in weekly planning, and we proposed to Frère Ndzana and then the elders quorum president to do a priesthood training. That way we would give something to do to Frère Ndzana. So Elder Acorda and FrèreNdzana and I will plan it, and also make some pocket-size thingies like he suggested. And so I hope most of all that this gets him actively active in the Church.

Last big event, is from last Saturday. With our new branch missions plan (did I ever send you a copy of that?), we wanted to start having more activities that would help people make friends with other members. So on Saturday we did les Jeux Olympiques, (Olympic games) like we did in Bonabéri. We didn’t get the same
turnout, it basically turned into a youth activity because they were pretty much the only ones there. But we did stuff like egg-on-the-spoon race, musical chairs, water balloon toss, water balloon volleyball, and a few other things. So Sister Thompson will put up pictures from that activity in the church building so that everyone can see how much fun they missed. But we are still trying to think of better activites that will get people to come and make friends.

Elder Kesler and I have gotten back into the groove of running in the mornings. Tuesday and today it rained on us. Today when we got to our half check point, it was raining so hard that it kind of hurt, especially on the face. People had been telling me that rainy season was almost over, but I think the rain just switched from the afternoon or evening to the early mornings when Kesler and I run. But I prefer that over heat.

That’s about it, except I seem to be getting really tired lately. It seems like the last 3 nights, after coming home I just crash even before dinner is ready. So today I have some area book and journal catching up to do. Oh, and I also got 2 letters from Bishop Carter and one set of letters from the youth in our ward, so make sure to thank them for me! I hope everyone in school is surviving and even enjoying it a bit, and that Scott and Jacob and Andrea aren’t giving Mom and Dad too many headaches. I love you all and thanks for everything!

Je vous aime,
Eric


Dear Mom,

The the Cleverlys, the embassy couple are American, but brother Cleverly is actually Finnish turned American.  His wife served a mission in Finland, so they speak Finnish some times.  I'm glad that isn't my mission language.

(How are the red dots on your arms?)  So today I can barely see a couple faint red dots on my arms, so its pretty much gone.  I don't know what it was, but it didn't do anything really.

And so you can still send the Arabic Book of Mormon, but Adam, the investigator from Sudan, has moved to a different neighborhood.  And because he doesn't have a telephone and he's kind of far away, we haven't seen him for a bit.  And the neighborhood has lots of Muslisms, it isn't something that we are going to go walk around by ourself doing whatever.  He is supposed to call us sometime soon, so I hope I'll be able to give him it.

Thanks for everything!

Je t'aime,

- Eric

Dear Dad,

So, Felicitations!  (Congratulations!)  That was no way a waste of my pday time, thanks for telling me that.  (Mark's email was a review of the half marathon he ran last Saturday!)  As I've been doing these little whimpy runs I've thought about you every time, and its motivated me.  And I have been thinking about the same thing this week. (Do you want to run the half marathon next fall with me?)  And I've decided that I do want to do the half marathon with you next year.  I know right now I'm a long way away, and I might need to stop drinking so much Nesquik, but I'll do it with you.  (Mark is excited-yet not?)

(Do you have any plans for Thanksgiving?)  We actually talked about Thanksgiving in district affairs yesterday.  Thankfully it will fall on a pday, so we will play football in the morning, and make some kind of special dinner in the evening.  Those are the most important things to me.

(How are you doing with "stuff?"  Do you have everything you need?  Is anything wearing out that needs to be replaced?)  As for "stuff", I can't think of anything that I really need to be sent here... clothes are fine.  I don't really know what else to worry about.  My camera is not stolen.  I'll let you know if I think of anything.

Oh, and one other thing.  Have you thought about my post-mission stuff or college or anything?  Anything notable?  (First real sign that he is on the back side of his mission.)

Je t'aime,

- Eric

Eric's email of November 11th, 2010

Well, today was an unusual pday.  Today our proselyting time was supposed to be service with one investigator, Maman Créscence.  We met her about a month ago when we did service for Soeur Christine when we set up for the funeral for her mother.  Maman Créscence was the lady in charge of the decorating.  We have taught her a few times, mostly she has one daughter who is interested, so that’s why we keep going back.  But she asked us if we could help her set up for a funeral again today.  At first we were supposed to show up at her place at 10 AM.  Then this morning, she called and told us to come at 12.  So we got there around 12, and we ended up waiting another hour because the guy with some stuff wasn’t yet there, so we talked with her daughter on their porch.  Then finally around 1:30 we started working, and there were more hands then jobs to do.  We ended up being a little bit of help, I put lots of staples in the walls to hang up drape type things.  But then we didn’t get out of there until around 5.  Then we waited for a taxi for about 30 minutes, barely any taxis and no one took us.  We walked for about 20 minutes, saw and talked to an old ami de l’Eglise, then by 6 we finally got a taxi.  Then we sat in a traffic jam, got home around 6:30, changed and now we got here.  Thankfully one of the other companionships did our shopping when we asked them or we would’ve been in trouble.  So that was my pday today.

One really good thing is that Elder Acorda and I have started seeing Christine again.  She had a baptismal date, even back for early October, but when her mom passed away, it wasn’t easy for her.  And for a while after the funeral, I honestly thought something had turned her away from the Church.  Each time we would pass, she said next week she would be free.  But we finally saw her with Frère Simplice (member of the branch presidency who originally presented her the missionaries), and she said she wanted to re-prepare for baptism.  So we have seen her a few times, even helped her kids with English class.  And on Tuesday we went and gave her a copy of the Liahona, and that was probably the happiest I had ever since her since I met her.  So I’m happy she didn’t loose her testimony and is ready to get back into the groove of it.

We also started teaching a guy named Frère Jacques.  We contacted him one time when we were walking to church, and he called us Jehovah’s Witnesses when we passed by, so we corrected him and gave him a brochure and an invitation to church.  One time he came to church when we weren’t there, but Elder Wilkins (my MTC comp) and Elder Hancock were there.  They taught him, and he's been back to church twice and watched general conference with us 2 Sundays ago.  But the funny thing, is he looks like how Parker Froelich would look if Parker was a 30 year old Cameroonian.  That’s who I think of every time I look at him.

We have also been seeing Douglas and his family.  Last time we had just a lesson alone with Elder Acorda and me and him.  The 2 times before we taught the whole family, and it was mostly his mom, Leonie, who was involved and such in the lesson (this past fast Sunday we even fasted with Leonie to get help with her problems).  But Douglas wasn’t really into the lesson and seemed kind of upset.  But he had just been having a hard time at home due to recent issues, and he hasn’t even been able to go to school or study.  But we had a good lesson, talked about some specific commandments and their blessings.  He was a lot happier after the lesson than he was before.

Also during our weekly planning on Monday, Elder Acorda set some transfer goals.  This is the first time we did it together, and I know we should have been doing that always.  But I will now do that from now on, because Elder Acorda and I set a goal to have 5 baptisms this transfer.  So we read in Preach My Gospel Ch. 8 and talked about who specifically we could and what we need to do.  And then our first lesson of the day was with a new-ish investigator named Vivienne.  We have now been teaching her about 2 weeks, and that day we came with a Livre de Mormon to lend her.  And, she asked about baptism!  It was just a really good lesson, and I think she is sincere in her search for the truth.  So I just saw the difference in how the Lord, I believe, trusted us more when we made goals and discussed what we had to do to accomplish them.  So, now we just got to do everything we said.

Also, on Saturday we had a baptismal service.  Acorda and I didn’t have any convert baptisms unfortunately, but I did baptized a recent convert's child.  His name is Ivan.  It was actually his 2^nd time to get baptized in the church, because they accidentally baptized him about 2 months before his 8^th birthday and no one caught it.  So yeah, that’s kind of weird.

We also had family night chez the family who works at the American embassy.  They are the Clerverly’s.  They have 3 kids, Asher, Jesse, and Gabriel, all very young.  Asher is the only one going to school.  But they just invited us over, we had dinner, had a little family night and played “red light, green light”.

Oh, and yesterday we also did service, too.  And we went “au champ”, or to the farm with another member of the branch.  This time we mostly just pulled weeds out of the side of a hill.  It was lightly raining, so thankfully it wasn’t hot like last time.  But I did wear my hat, just so Mom knows.  We worked for about 2 hours, it wasn’t too hard.  But, all of us missionaries got red polka dots on our arms.  I still have mine, and they are kind of itchy, I hope they go away soon

So that’s about it.  I’m pretty sure I have this realization each month, but I’m always surprised when the 10^th or 11^th of a month rolls around, because that means the month is already one third gone.  The time is going by really quickly right now.

Je vous aime,
Eric

(Letter to Mom)
So the young man we met at Conference, Franc, is doing pretty good.  But we have met almost all his family who is still in Cameroon.  We had a miscommunication on one rendezvous, and missed everyone except one of his brothers.  But they are doing well, most of them already know the Bible really well and stuff.  And Franc and his twin brother are both english teachers, and so the lessons end up being in English and French which messes with my head sometimes.  But they are doing well.

(Can you buy peanut butter?)  I think you can find peanut butter at the American store, but it is probably pretty expensive.  There are people that sell peanuts and la pate d'arachid (peanut paste) everywhere, but that is basically peanut butter without sugar, I think.  So it doesn't taste good by itself.  Its basically mashed up peanuts with oil.  You use if for la sauce d'arachid.

(How many e-mails/letters do you get?)  So most of my emails are from the family, and from Elders Aldridge and Lee and sometimes a few other random friends on missions or a couple at college.  And I actually did get one letter in the mail last month, from Elder Hansen that I know from SUU.  He is serving in Brazil, and his letter got here after forever.  I still need to write back, though..

Je t'aime,
Eric

(Letter to Dad)
 
(Do parents "pick up" missionaries in Cameroon?)  I have not heard of any missionaries' parents ever coming to pick them us from this mission.  I don't even know if it would be possible.  And I don't know what we would do, honestly.  There's not that much, except for probably super expensive hotels, a golf course, things like that.  I'l try to think of what one would do here on a trip, something that one couldn't do anywhere else.  But I'm having trouble.
 
Good luck on not getting injured on your half marathon!
 
Je t'aime,
- Eric

Eric's email of November 4th, 2010

So here is what happened to me this past week.

First off, is an unfortunate piece of news.  It doesn't look like 

Douglas will be getting baptized this weekend.

Also, last p-day we missed playing basketball again.  First off, Elders
Kesler and Lamb got home 1 hour later than they were supposed to in
order to go play basketball at the American School.  And then, 2
missionaries from the other side of town called us and said they got
in, but there was no ball.  So we ended up playing this card game
called Monopoly Deal. I lost every time.

We did get to watch all of General Conference this past weekend,
though!  And I watched all 10 hours of it in French.  It did get kind
of hard to pay attention, because I was kind of tired, and just listening to frenchy 

french is not something easy.  I understand it,
but it takes more effort than English.  I still think that Elder
Nelson's talk from the priesthood session is my favorite one this
time.  But I also got an awesome coordonnée (referral) because I sat in on the
French section!  When I came in Sunday morning, it was still kind of
empty, and I sat on an empty bench.  And right when I sat down 2 other
gentlemen came and sat next to me.  We soon started talking, and I
learned that the older man sitting next to me is a member who lives in
Léon, France, and that he goes by "Papa Daniel".  He had come back
down to Cameroon for his wife's funeral.  He left Sunday evening, but
he came to church in the morning.  And he told me when he woke up, he
felt like he should bring one of his sons, named Franc, to church.
And he was very pleased that the first time his son came to church
he would get to watch General Conference.  And he told me that when I
walked in, he felt prompted to come sit by me and exchange contact information 

with me and his son.  He said he was very surprised to see
American missionaries in his country too.  But when he left, we took
some pictures, and he took my email and said he would send it to me,
so I'll check soon and see if its there.  But briefly he told me his
story, and when he lived in Cameroon he used to be a pastor.  But
when he found the missionaries in France, he changed and gave up his
old job.  He also was telling his son a lot about temples and
sealings. So we will see his son tomorrow, because he has
been busy this week.  And missionaries talk about "golden
coordonnées", and if I ever received one, this is it.  He took my pen
to take notes during conference, so I'll be really excited to
start teaching him with Elder Acorda.

This week in weekly planning, Elder Acorda and I dropped a lot of
investigators, and did a lot of contacting, especially Sunday night.
So we have a few people who have progressed and kept some commitments,
and a lot of new people.  And we have started seeing a good number of
less actives, and I think that might be our biggest focus this next
transfer.  We contacted one who came to conference on Sunday named
Frère Ndzana.  He has been a member since 2007.  But when we visited
him, he told us after he joined the church the missionaries left.  He used the word, 

"relachement", I don't know how to use it in English.  But I basically decided that it

came down to him not getting home taught.  And that unfortunately
seems to be a common thing here.  But it looks like he will be back,
was happy when we talked about the branch mission plan, and
has children and some family members we could help too.  So it seems
that people haven't gone inactive because they don't like the church,
but because they weren't involved enough or had enough friends.

One really good thing, is that Elder Acorda and I finally had a lesson
with Soeur Christine.  We had a lesson with Frère Simplice, who is in
the branch presidency, who introduced her to the church.  I think it
had been over a month since she let us sit down and talk with her.
She told us that with the passing of her mother, and trying
to keep her children in school she has become quiet stressed and
overwhelmed.  Frère Simplice talked about eternal families
and the temple, and then Acorda and I talked about obedience
and the blessings and help it gives us.  So we really want to get her
back to church this Sunday.  She said she still wants to be baptized, 

so we just need to get her back doing the things she was
before her trials came along.

Also, the investigator we found by doing service at Christine's
funeral told us on Tuesday evening that she would be willing to find
and choose a wife for Elder Acorda and me.  And then she asked if she
should come pick one at our church.  Elder Acorda said she could
pick one but that he wouldn't promise to marry her.

And about transfers, no one in Yaoundé is getting moved, and we don't
think anyone in Douala is getting moved either.  That was a surprise,
because there is one companionship in Douala who has already done 4
transfers together, which is basically 6 months.  I don't care who my
companion is, 4 transfers is too much, not to mention 5.

So that's that.  Elder Acorda and I will be together 6 more weeks, but
there is a transfer right before Christmas when 4 of the 19 north
Americans go home.  So chances are Acorda and I will split up to be
with younger elders.  So you can send a Christmas package according to
what you think is best. 

Je vous aime,
- Eric

(Mom's email) 

So Adam (an investigator) is well, but he has moved to a farther quartier, also highly
populated with non-Christians.  We are waiting for his phone call,
because we don't know exactly where he is, so he is supposed to call us
or bip us.  (bip?)

   
Dennis is ok, he still isnt understanding 1 church, but says he wants
to get baptized.  I don't think we'll make it on his date we set, but
he is progressing slowly.

(Do you know who the freemasons are?)  Yes, I know now a lot about the freemasons. 

But some people here buy random DVDs off the side of the road about who knows what

made by no one knows who and such.  But at least Tchobang has been reading her
Book of Mormon a lot.

(Did you go to the Halloween party at the Embassy?)  We didn't go to the Halloween party. 

Nor did we play basketball.  But, I really want to play American football on Thanksgiving.

Je t'aime,

-Eric

(Dad's email)

 
Um, I don't think any one here in Yaoundé is from Arizona, but I'll ask around.

There is no Halloween here, unless you are at the American embassy.
(You mentioned that you run for about 30 minutes… that would be about 5k 
or 3 miles, right? (Or perhaps a little more since you have young legs!)) And this 

morning my thighs really hurt during the run.  That's probably
what I get for eating a Snickers bar for the first time in forever the
night before.

(What are the education experiences/opportunities for the African 
missionaries in your mission? Do they have education opportunities? Do 
you know what they do when the return home from their missions?)  So in

Cameroon they still don't have some church organizations and
such.  But I know in several places they have the Perpetual Education Fund. 

I don't know too much, here there are 2 RMs I know.
One is in a branch presidency.  Lots get married, maybe even faster
than most RMs chez nous.

Je t'aime,
- Eric

Jacob's Halloween Costume 2010

Eric's 14 year old brother, Jacob, went to the ward Trunk-or-Treat as "Elder Eric Palmer"

Notice the French name badge, the sandals, and the signature Eric thumbs-up pose!