Eric' email of March 17th, 2011

Frère Etienne and me at his house.  His quartier is called "Nkol-Ndom",
something like that.  From our apartement its about 20 something minutes north,
pretty much au village.  If I were to live in Cameroon,that is the
kind of place I would like to live in.

Pday again...

                Since Saturday, We’ve had a lot of extra curricular activites.  On Tuesday we had interviews with President Headlee.  I just asked him about that college question that Dad asked me about, and some questions I had about zone leader stuff.  One quuestion was about « un rapport d’Excellence » (report of excellence) that that paper I got mentioned.  President Headlee said he had no idea what that is, so I don't have to worry about it.  He also told me to get comfortable through April and May, so we’ll see how long I stay here.

                We then had zone conference Wednesday morning.  It was the first one that I conducted, but that's about all I did.  The next one in April will be my responsibilty, though.  We learned that by May, Gabon will be okay-ed for missionaries, and about 6 months after that a senior couple and full-time missionaries should be there.  So probably after I’m gone.

                President taught us the Doctrine of Christ, I heard him give me this lesson early in my mission.  We read 2 Nephi 31, and talked about the 8 covenants from baptism to eternal marriage that we make to qualify for exaltation.  Yeah.  It probably would sound more exciting to you if you were there, especially because President Headlee never runs out of things to say and knows a whole lot of random things.

                We also watched episode 2 of the District 2.  This time, I learned how to react when someone actually accepts a baptismal invitation.  Because in the movie, 2 elders extended the invitation, the person accepted, and then the elders were a bit surprised and sat there with their mouths slightly opened, not knowing what to say.  Its not bad to have silence, but we discussed it and said we could also express what we feel and the joy that gives us, and there are also the blessings we can promise them.  So silence is good, but don't look like an idiot either.

                3 of Blaise’s younger siblings are getting ready to be baptized this Saturday : Rigobert, Melkior, and Queentine.  And Blaise is going to give one of the talks!  But on Monday evening we had a slight scare.  Daniel, the father said he was going to plead to Elder Tingey and me like Abraham pleaded to the Lord about sparing Sodom and Gommorah if he could find a few righteous people.  One of their relatives, who does not live in Yaoundé, was very happy that those children were going to be baptized, but she also wanted to be there for it so that they could celebrate together.  But she lives in Limbé, which is pretty far, and wasn’t planning on coming until July.  So some wanted to push the baptism back to July.  So after Daniel finished pleading his case, Elder Tingey and I talked a little about why baptism is important, and the blessing of the gift of the Holy Ghost and such.  There were also 2 other relatives there, from the Ndiemboh family, and they were talking in patoi  for a while.  I don't know exactly what was said, but the father, and finally the mother, were ok with the baptism happenning this weekend.   Especially the mother didn't want to do it without this other family member, but some of the children weren't very happy.  But the mother accepted when she asked if Elder Tingey and I would still be here in July, and we said we don't know, we could get transferred.  I don't know if the importance of baptism has been completely understood yet.

                Not much else really notable happened.  Later today we have a rendezvous with Soeur Melanie, who is prooving to be hard to crack.  She doesn't like it when the answer to her questions are « get baptized » or « receive the gift of the Holy Ghost » or « go to Church ».  But we have been seeing her with a member, Soeur Patricia, who is helping a lot.  But still, lots of work to do.

                Also Elder Tukuafu left yesterday, and Elder Buck came over to our apartement.  He's the one that went to SUU and lived on the same hall as me the following year.  He and Elder Tingey and I plan on starting to do some running.   Horray.  And I also need to thank Sister Warnick for her letter I got this week.  And I wonder how many times Scott has gotten marked late.  (Sister Warnick was Eric's seminary teacher and is currently Scott's seminary teacher.)  Well I can't believe its March, and that school isn't far from being out.  Don't have too much senioritis, Scott.

Je vous aime,

-          Elder Eric Palmer

      To Mom:

      (How was the pig roast last week?  How long did it take to roast the pig?  Had Elder Tingey ever roasted a pig before?)  The pig roast was ok, but I did have some rumbly stomach afterwards.  I don't think I'll do that again, at least here.  It took a few hours to roast, I didn't stay the whole time.  And I think it was Elder Tingey's first time to roast one.

(Last week Eric wrote about a letter he received from Elder Lee-I thought he was referring to one of his past companions.  I wondered if he was keeping in touch with past comps who have gone home.)  That letter I got was from Elder Lee the Korean in our ward, not Elder Lee who was my companion.  But today I did get and email from Elder Ternieden, my trainer.

(How much is gas in Cameroon?)  Sorry I forgot about gas prices, but I wrote it down again.

Je t'aime,
- Elder Eric Palmer

      To Dad:

     

      J'aime mieux assister à la Paroisse d'Innsbrook.  (I would rather go to the Innsbrook Ward-when he gets back.)

Je crois que mes chausseurs oranges suffiront jusqu'à la fin de ma mission.  Et sinon je trouverai quelque chose.  (I think my orange (running) shoes will last through my mission.  If not, I will get some other ones.)

Et je n'ai ni vu ni entendu dire de line de zip au Cameroun.  Et si j'en trouvais, je n'y ferais pas confiance.  (I have not seen a zip line in Cameroon.  I would not trust it if I did.)

Je t'aime,
- Elder Eric Palmer