Eric's email of May 26th, 2011

            Well, this dumb computer is being a pain in the rear, and I can't figure out how to change the darn language.  So this could be painfully full of typos, sorry.

            Today we were originally going to get the transfers.  But last night the Thompsons called and said they don’t get the letters until Saturday, so now we have to wait 2 more days.  The Thompsons invited us over for an “end of transfer” dinner, so that means it’ll be a big one.  Some speculation has been made.  You’ll just have to find out next week though.

            So, Elder Tingey and I are officially overbooked.  Personal and comp study have taken a hit, as well as a few other things, like my sanity.  But, I prefer to have this problem rather than the opposite.  On Saturday we had a baptism-we had 2 candidates baptized!  First one was Soeur Nina, the daughter of Soeur Salome.  She was originally scheduled for the 7^th of May so I’m glad she got it done this time, and I also know her mother was very happy, who also gave a wonderful talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost.  The other was the oldest son of Soeur Christine, Frere Ignace!  We weren’t even expecting that he would get baptized, but what a wonderful surprise!  We did service chez eux (their house) in the morning, and in the afternoon he came to the baptism by himself.  And on Sunday, the whole family showed up, early even!  So on Sunday that whole family of Christine, including her sons Ignace and Sebastien got confirmed.  So, that is a huge worry off our shoulders.

            There was another lady that showed up to get baptized, but we had to push her to the next one.  Her name is Soeur Melanie (different than the one I’ve already told you about), who was an investigator from Elder Buck and Elder Garner that we got.  But right before last transfer, she voyaged without telling the missionaries, and her phone is broken.  Luckily we saw her 2 weekends ago, and she had just gotten back from her trip.  She didn’t come to church the next Sunday due to rain, and her phone was still broken and wasn’t at her house when we stopped by.  But, she did remember the baptismal date she had set when Buck and Garner were there, but she didn’t know what time.  So she showed up at church at 9 AM, and only found the young men of Bastos 2.  Then she left, and came back right when the service was ending.  Also, she hadn’t done her interview yet.  So I was happy that she had remember her baptismal date and done so much to be baptized, so I’m confident she'll be ready for the next one.

            Law and Order in French is on the TV in this cyber café.  Ou, en d’autres termes, Loi et Ordre.

            Soeur Marie Sylvie is still progressing well.  We read with her Acts 8:26-40.  I think she's ready for baptism, more ready than a few other people I’ve seen get baptized.  And thanks to la Societe de Secours, (Relief Society) she’ll be well taken care of.  And another Soeur that lives at Messassi, Soeur Honorine, asked us what are the interdictions, or, um, forbidden things in order to be baptized.  We explained the word of wisdom and all those, she accepted them.  I asked her at the beginning if she had prayed to know if our message is true, and she said, “C’est vrai, non!”, (that's true, no?) in a tone suggesting that I just asked a dumb question with an obvious answer.  The Relief Society is growing very nicely, and Messassi especially could have 3 solid new members close together with les Soeurs, Nina, Marie-Sylvie, and Honorine.

            Just so you know, District Meetings with only 4 missionaries is a little less exciting.  But the apartment is a lot more peaceful.

            Well, we started internet late, and we're on dinner tonight.  I think the transfer is supposed to happen on June 3^rd, so even if I unfortunately get transferred (because at this point if its up to me I would choose to stay), you should get one more email from me while I’m still in this area.

Je vous aime,

            - Elder Eric Palmer

(The cashier at Wal-Mart who helped me today was from Kinshasa, DRC!)  First off; unfortunately I have not yet been to Kinshasa.  I have been to Brazzaville, and saw Kinshasa from the airplane.

(Sarah Anderson is coming home in June!)  What the nut!?  Sarah Anderson is already getting home?  When did she leave on her mission?

(We donated the swing set from the backyard.  Any idea on what to do in that space?)  No, I don't have any ideas for that empty backyard space.  My head is too full.

(Our RS is serving lunch for zone conference on Friday.  It is the fourth day of zone conferences in our building.  We assume it is several zones.  How long is your zone conference?)  Our zone conference started at 3 PM and went til about 7:30, then ate and such.  But when President comes it is usually a bit longer, but normally we still have time to go teach a couple rendezvous.  Was the mission president there?  (Yes)

Je t'aime,
- Elder Eric Palmer

Ekeh... as the Cameroonians say.  Thats like saying, "oh la vache" (Holy Cow-his response to Mark's new calling in the Stake Presidency.)

Elder Tingey had been predicting all week that you would be in the presidency, but he said you were going to be president.

(Which stereo types from last week did you think were inaccurate because compared to Cameroonians, Americans are rich and fat etc...) Inaccurate ones, hmmm... I don't know, since there are a lot of Americans, there are certain ones that fit each stereotype, but not tout le monde, (everybody) as some people think.

(Elder Dajeu has returned from his mission in Rochester-he is originally from Cameroon.  Eric and Louis emailed.)  Elder Dajeu and I sent an email a couple times the past few transfers.  Last week I emailed his father to ask which Cameroonian foods his wife knows how to prepare.

(Do kids in Cameroon get a long summer break like we do?)  Kids in Cameroon have roughly the same school schedule, but sometimes in August there is what they call the "rattrapage", if you need to redo some tests or classes.

Je t'aime et bonne chance,
-Elder Eric Palmer

Eric' email of May 20, 2011

Eric's p-day was today, Friday May 20th instead of yesterday:

Well, we found out today, that if I grew out my beard, it would be
red.  I thought that was interesting.
        Anyways, things less interesting than that, is that today is la Fete
Nationale au Cameroun, or we can say that it’s Independence Day.  But
this one is special, because it is to celebrate the 50th Anniversary
of the Reunification of Cameroon, but some Anglophones told me that
the Francophones mixed up the date.  Nonetheless, the Reunification is
celebrated today.  And that is why we changed pday to today, because
many people were not going to be free.
        We also had zone conference on Wednesday.  The lesson that President
Headlee asked me to prepare was on the Area Book and Reporting Tools,
and the Weekly Planning Session.  And actually it was called a
“workshop”, instead of a lesson.  At first I was afraid that it was
going to be super boring, but I don’t think it was that bad.  The one
thing I do need to work on in zone conference’s, is projecting the
amount of time for each element, because I keep underestimating the
time needed by a lot.  Elder Thompson taught a lesson about How to
Begin Teaching, and explained to us “entrer sans frapper”, (enter without 

knocking) which is something we should not do.  We watched to clips 

in “the District 2” DVD to help.  I swear the sister missionaries are 

always the good examples in those clips, and the elders are the ones that
"need improvement”.  And we also found out the transfer should happen
sometime around June 3rd.  I also delegated the fun part of zone
conference to Elder Tingey, and he had us play Jeopardy.  The
categories were: Area Book & Weekly Planning, The First Presidency,
Book of Mormon, and French Verbs.  It was good.  My team…won.
        Yesterday Elder Tingey and I also got called to fix someone’s
daughter.  We were at Messassi having a lesson with Soeur Marie-Sylvie
(who is still progressing wonderfully) and a couple other people.  So
as we were getting near the end of the lesson, some lady walked in and
greeted us all.  I assumed she was a friend of someone that lived
there.  But then, she just started talking to us about how she has
some problems with one of her daughters, etc.  She said she had seen
us a few times, and thought since we are young like her daughter, we
could knock some sense in to her, if that is the right translation.
So, we presented our self a little and offered the help we can give.
Then, she excused herself for coming into a house of people she didn’t
even know, except she said she had recognized Marie-Sylvie from a
hospital one time.  So she must have really wanted to talk to us if
she just entered the house of someone she didn’t know.  So she left,
and after we finished our rendezvous with Marie-Sylvie & co., we
walked to where she lived, she saw us and showed us her house.  Oh,
and her name is Chantalle, and we found 2 of her daughters and 2 other
youngens.  So, we had an ok lesson, got to know them.  Except at one
point it started raining, and made it hard to hear.  One of her
daughters asked me, “Vous buvez l’alcool?” (Do you drink alcohol?).

I thought she had said,“Tu partais à l’école?” (You have left school?).

And I answered yes.  Thankfully, Elder Tingey understood and was 

surprised by my answer, and quickly corrected me.  We’ll see them again

on Monday.
        Brother Patrice (friend of newly reactive member Brother Gildas) is
also progressing wonderfully, as in as wonderfully as Sister
Marie-Sylvie.  Last Friday, we sang a hymn and opened with a prayer.
And Patrice, anticipating that we were going to ask, “Avez-vous des
questions?”, (Do you have any questions?) said right after the prayer 

that he had no questions, but had a testimony to share.  That caught

our attention.  He said that 2 nights before, he was praying before

going to bed, and during his prayer he asked about the Church and what

we teach.  Then he said,that he felt something he never had felt before,

it was a good feeling, and the thoughts “Thomas S. Monson est un vrai

prophète” (Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet) and “L’Eglise est vraie”  

(The church is true) kept running through his head, and that he even
started crying a bit.  The next morning he woke up Gildas early and
told him what happened, and the next day he told us his experience.  I
felt like I was in Preach My Gospel in the story under “Listening”,
especially because there were some people’s children making a bunch of
noise.
        Its raining hard right now.  I hope the connection doesn’t go out.
        Oh, and we are also getting ready for a baptism tomorrow.  We have 2
candidates.  One is Soeur Nina, the daughter of Soeur Salome.  I felt
really good in her lessons this week and actually believed her when
she said she wanted to be baptized.  And the other is Ignace, the son
of Christine.  And Christine and both her sons are planning on getting
confirmed this Sunday.  She said last Sunday they all got ready, and
around 11:30, it started raining really hard, and that she didn’t have
an umbrella and she didn’t want to go out in the rain with Martin, her
3 month old baby.  She expressed a real want to be confirmed, and
feels kind of sad about how she hasn’t been confirmed and doing all
she wants to in Church.  Again, I’m really grateful how the Relief
Society has supported her.  This week if it starts raining hard before
church again, we are just going to go get her.
        Well, that’s about it.  Everyone enjoy their last month or less of
their respective school.

Je vous aime,
-       Elder Eric Palmer

To Dad:

For the burger restaurant, I would be willing to work there.  I don't
know why not.  I'm not saying to sign me up right now for 40 hours a
week.  But I don't think that would be awkward.  Sounds like it could
be a good idea.

I think I could do that running program, probably do the long runs on
pday, just have to find someone to do them with me.  Finding someone
will probably be the biggest challenge.  (1/2 marathon training)

Ok, lots of people here hove lots of weird preconceived notions about
Americans, and other people.  Weird one from just today, is that a guy
stopped us and asked about the water filtering system that he heard
existed in Asia, Europe, and the USA, something to do with osmosis
water.  I told him I have no idea, but gave him a Restoration
brochure.  Other notions include: money, being fat, can't speak
anything but English, only eat food that is in cans and such.  Not
everyone thinks all that, but different people have different notions.

Je t'aime,
- Elder Eric Palmer

Eric's email of May11th, 2011

  Well, its weird that my last phone call home is done.  It didn’t even feel like that long between Christmas and Mother’s Day.  And the time I have left is smaller than the time between those 2 phone calls.  Its weird/scary/exciting.  In fact, 2 years doesn’t even feel like a long time at all, really.

                So right now, nothing too out of the ordinary is happening.  We are just very busy, and getting ready for a baptism the 21^st of this month.  But, there is one wonderful thing happening in Bastos 1.  La Societé de Secours (Relief Society) is working wonderfully.  They have have a full presidency, Soeur Therèse is la Présidente, the 1re Conseillère is Soeur Thamar, 2e Conseillère is Sister Ndongo, and now they even have a secretaire, Soeur Philomen, who was baptized just last month.  And its not only them that are working well together, but all of the sisters together.  On Sunday, Soeur Therèse went with the branch president's wife to go visit Soeur Christine, who got sick after her baptism and still hasn’t gotten confirmed.  And on Saturday, Soeur Therèse and Soeur Patricia (who works with us a lot to see amis in Emana and Etoudi) are going to go visit Christine and some of our amis de l’Eglise, like Melanie and Marie-Sylvie.  I already know that without the Relief Society’s help, we would not have been able to progress well with Christine and Melanie.  So, I’m very grateful for the work they are doing.

                I also did a baptismal interview yesterday for Elders Nsimba and Prince.  The young man I interviewed is named Genesis.  I interviewed him last month, but we decided to wait and prepare more for his baptism.  But yesterday, right when we started, I felt different than last time, and was already almost certain that he was ready this time.  So I was mostly glad that he had prepared himself and received a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon.

                The only really other things I have to talk about are out amis.  Soeur Nina, the daughter of Salomé, is progressing well to baptism still.  Sœur Marie-Sylvie is doing very, very well.  Yesterday she got her Doctrine et Alliances, and kissed it when she got it.  She has an awesome testimony.  They only thing right now, is she thinks she needs more preparation before baptism.  I think she is completely ready to be baptized now.  She even stopped selling phone credit and fruit in front of her house on Sunday.  Elder Tingey also thinks she is ready.  Anytime now, she should become a member.  And Sister Therèse and Soeur Patricia will see her this weekend, so I think that will really help her.

                There is another family in Bastos 2 we have now, la famille du frère Jean-Paul.  Last month 4 of their kids got baptized.  There is one more that comes to Church but is still not baptized.  Apparently she is not wanting to be baptized because her mother (who is not yet a member but comes to church each week) is recommending her not to do it.  So, we are going to try to make the mother happy and do some service for her.

                With Soeur Melanie, we have finally figured out the real problems.  And the key is the Book of Mormon, but she says she is still not interested at all in reading it.  So we are going to start at the beginning, the very beginning, and start reading with her.  She is a unique investigator.

                Longla family is doing ok.  Rigobert and Melkior passed the Sacrament last week!  And the father says he will talk to his wife about baptism, because he wants to wait until October when he will be off from work.  As we try to explain the blessings of baptism and the temple, he kind of understands, but then seems to forget the next rendezvous.  And in general, most of the Anglophones aren’t very happy right now since the translation in sacrament meeting stopped.

                A member that just came back, frère Gildas, got a calling to be teacher.  And his friend, Frère Patrice, is progressing pretty well, but he doesn’t understand how someone could prophecy and also have free agency.  He’s thinking too hard.

                We are also planning a soirée familiale chez Frère Ndzana at Etoudi this Monday.  We are expecting a large turnout.

                In my ready I have read through Ether 11.  The book of Ether is basically the entire Book of Mormon in 30-ish pages.

 

Je vous aime,

-          Elder Eric Palmer

      To Mom:

 

      (What time was it when you went to bed after our phone call?)  After the phone call, I went to bed near 1 AM.  But surprisingly I didnt feel more tired than usual, because I feel kind of tired all the time.

(How many times have you been to the gorilla park?)  I have been to the gorilla park 2 times only.  (Did you know about the dental clinic held at the church?)  And yes, they announced the dental clinic for about a month.  But we didn't go to it.

(Scott is going to Prom and Party All Night this weekend.  Do you remember where yours were held?)  My party all night was at the school, and the dance was at the Omni Hotel or something like that.  

After the Book of Mormon, I'll probably just continue the Doctrine and Covanents.  I want to read that whole book from page zero until the end.  I'll have to finish it after my mission, though.

Je t'aime,
- Elder Eric Palmer

 

      To Dad:

     

      There have been a few members asking me something recently.  A few, mainly the Longla family, asked for "gospel music" so that they could learn hymns.  I don't know if it would be a pain to get a few Mormon Tabernacle Choir CDs that I could give to a few people.  That's the only request I could make.  And Elder Tingey isn't making any suggestions because he thinks he won't be with me when the package gets here.

In Cameroon, there are only officially organized branches in Douala (soon to be 2) and Yaoundé (4).  But when I was in Douala there was some guy in the Southwest who had found the Church in Russia, and was trying to teach a Gospel Principles class a such.  And I heard that there was a handful of people in Limbé meeting as the church kind of.  In Congo-Brazza, there are 2, soon to be 3 branches in Pointe-Noire.  In Brazzaville there is 1 stake.  I don't think the church is anywhere else for the moment.

No questions about internships or college and stuff?

Je t'aime,
- Elder Eric Palmer

Phone Call on Mother's Day!

We had a great call with Eric on Mother's Day-He sounds great.  Because he and his companion are serving in two branches, they are at church all day.  Our church is in the afternoon, so we called him around 9:30 his time.  Everyone had a chance to talk, including his grandparents!

Eric's email of May 5th, 2011

  Before I forget, because I forgot last week, Bonne Anniveraire à Mom!

            Also today is exactly 1 year for Elder Tingey!  He started his mission on May 5^th, 2010.  I remember when I hit one year… I was here in Yaoundé!  And that doesn’t seem that long ago.

            So this past week was very busy and eventful.  On Saturday we went au champ with Soeur Marie again.  Pretty much did the same thing, I spent most of my time with Elder Nsimba using machetes to clear out the field.  There were lots of bugs.  We didn’t get stuck in the rain though, but it didn’t get too hot either.  I noticed that when she works au champ, she doesn’t wear any shoes.  Or socks.

            After church on Sunday, we went to the Longla house, and we taught Rigobert and Melkior how to tie a tie.  It was kind of hard for Melkior because he is pretty short.  And their father also stopped drinking coffee at work.  Thankfully his kids persuaded him to drink nesquik instead.  He told us he started drinking that, and at first he thought it was going to make him throw up.  I don’t know why, but he was grateful that it wasn’t going to be as painful as he thought.

            We have been doing English class the past couple weeks.  We do it each Wednesday at 4.  I taught yesterday, and we learned about the body parts.  Elder Tingey thinks that bellybutton was not a correct word to teach, and made me teach them “navel” instead.  But we had the best turnout so far yesterday, by the end we had 10 people.

            Are sector is also ginormouse.  I spelled that wrong.  I don’t really know how to explain it, but we are all over the place.  We have to do a good job of scheduling our rendezvous’ in order to work as efficiently as possible.  A few of our people literally live au village.  Like yesterday we went to see Soeur Salomé because there a few people out there who want to talk to us, and one already got a Livre de Mormon.  Its really beautiful out there.  I wish that my whole sector was like that.  I’ve got a picture to send.  And, we had a good lesson.  At first I thought her friends weren’t understanding much or anything, but when we explained about why there are so many churches to day, I think they had an epiphany of some kind.

             We do have another investigator who is starting to progress really well, le Frère Patrice.  He is a coordonnée from a member who starting coming back to church recently, Frère Gildas.  But on Sunday Patrice came to church even though Gildas didn’t, which really impressed me.  

            And we have another new amie that was a coordonnée from Marie-Sylvie (who is also progressing very well towards baptism), named Soeur Marie-Susanne.  She lives au village, at Nyom.  But, I have really high hopes for her.  We have only had 2 lessons so far, but she loves the story of Joseph Smith.  She said about 7 months ago she stopped going to churches at all, and said she asks the Lord to show her the truth and is waiting for it.  The main thing is she lives faaaaaaaaaar.  So as she gets a testimony I believe that will help her overcome the distance and find what she is looking for.

            In the Book of Mormon, I just finished the Book of Mormon.  And I learned mostly a lot about why the Book of Mormon came forth and the role it plays in God’s plan.  My favorite chapter was Mormon 9, lots of good scriptures I can use as a missionary.  Sometimes it seems like that book is forgotten, at least to me.  And even though I’ve read it before, this time I learned a bunch that I never noticed before.

            Today I am also going to send a letter to Elder Lee in California and Elder Aldridge in New Zealand.  I wonder how many letters have been sent from Cameroon to New Zealand.  And have been sent and have made it.

Je vous aime,

-         Elder Eric Palmer

 

(Anything you want for your birthday?) Besides candy, I don't think there is anything I want or need.

(What is a DMB from your last letter?)  A DMB is a dirigeant de mission de branche.  Or branch mission leader.  We do have branch missionaries, but we don't do splits very often, but they do have other people they visit and come with us sometimes.  Yes, the baptism happens at the church, they built a baptismal font out back.

(Do you think you will meet the new mission president?)  Yeah, I will meet the new mission president.  We will see President and Sister Headlee one more time between the 13th and 18th of June, and then President and Sister Jameson come on July 1st.  So I assume I'll see him.  Someone needs to give me a release interview.

(When should we call you for Mother's Day?)  Alright, well I don't think that you could have a worse time for church.  Because here we have church with Bastos 2 from 9h00 to 12h00, then Bastos 1 from 13h00 to 16h00.  And then you are in church when it is 18h00 to 21h00 here.  Alright... hold on.  I'll send another email in a sec.

Je t'aime,
- Elder Eric Palmer

(Anyone here that you want to say goodbye to before the annual exodus of students?)  Honestly I cant remember who is there and who isn't and who is leaving and such.  So just say au revoir to anyone you feel like I should.

(When to phone.)  3-4 my time is not good.  We finish sacrament meeting at 4, and we have a meeting with the branch president right after church.  So I called the Thompsons, and we decided this.  So you will get out of church at 9 PM my time.  So since you are calling my phone, you can just call me whenever you get home.  We decided that even though it'll be a little late that would work the best.  So don't worry about calling too late, just call whenever you get home from church, which should mean something around 9 30 my time, n'est-ce pas?

And tell Scott he blew it somehow this week.

Je t'aime,
- Elder Eric Palmer

Eric's email of April 28th, 2011

Elder Tingey and I seriously just spent at least 4 hours cleaning our apartement and stuff.  Right now I am probably cleaner than I have been in a long time.

This morning we also went to play basketball by Carrefour Etoudi.  When we first got there, there was just us 2 and a few young kids.  But then a couple other people about our age showed up, so we played 2 on 2.  One was 6’3”, and the other was around 6’7”.  I played with the taller one.  And, even though we have been doing running and such, I’m still out of shape.  After about the 3^rd game, I was ready for a breather, but no one else was.  In total we played 6 games, we only won 2.  Except for the second game, I was pretty useless.  But we stayed in the other games, mostly because this guy could dunk and also shoot 3s.  Elder Tingey wasn’t very happy with his teammate, though.  His teammate would not agree with me that Michael Jordan would choose a layup (or dunk in his case) than a 3 pointer if he had the choice.

                So we watched General Conference last weekend on Saturday and Sunday.  I watched it all in French.  And honestly, it was pretty hard to focus.  But after I asked Elder Nsimba if he understood everything well, and he said no.  The sound quality wasn’t very good, I think they duct taped a microphone to the projecter.  We had a good number of people show up, including a handful of amis de l’Eglise.

                Sunday after conference, the Cleverlys invited us to Easter diner.  I have now spent parts of 3 major holidays at the Cleverlys: Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.  I think the only one left in that top tier that we could get invited over for is the 4^th of July.  This time we ate lamb, potatoes, deviled eggs, and something that Elder Tingey thinks is pudding, but I think it could be something else, but it was really good.

                We have also officially started the new transfer.  Elder Tingey and I are in charge of all of Bastos 2 and the north part of Bastos 1, y compris Emana, Messassi, et Olembé (Comprising Emana, Messassi and Olembe).  So we have lots of work.  But one thing that will help us a lot, is in Bastos 2 we have a DMB and branch missionaries, and a weekly coordination meeting.  This is seriously the first time my whole mission that I’ve actually had all these things, so for that I am very grateful.

                We are getting ready for a baptism on May 7^th.  Elder Tingey and I have 3 candidates.  The first is Frère Isaac.  He’s in Bastos 2, so I just barely met him.  Apparently he has known the Church for a while, and his wife, Soeur Cicile (spelling?) is a member.  The 2nd is Soeur Nina, la fille de la Soeur Salomé.  We have been teaching her for about 2 months now, and even though she lives far away in Messassi, she has come to Church every week she has been in town.  And the 3^rd is Frère Ignace, the oldest son of Soeur Christine.  So this Sunday Christine and her other son, Sebastian, should get confirmed, and the following weekend her oldest son.

                Its also weird to only have 2 missionary companionships in the apartement.  A lot quieter.  Except for my first apartement in Bonabéri, I’ve lived in apartements with 3 companionships, and even one transfer in Pointe-Noire, inbetween the Baxters and the Gates, we had 5 companionships in a double apartement.  It also gives us a little more cleaning on pday.  And we have to cook more often, but less food.

                We also learned that President and Sister Headlee will be next coming to Cameroon between the 13^th and the 18^th of June.  So I will be running another zone conference before then, that we scheduled for the 18^th of May.  I assume that will be the last time we see the Headlees, because I think at the beginning of July the new President and Sister Jameson arrive.

                We also watched some old General Conferences with the Longla and the Ndiemboh families (the 2 anlgophone families).  That especially helped the father of the Longla family to understand more about the temple and its importance.  With Marie-Sylvie, she is progressing really well.  But now since she wants to be baptized, we need to try to get her to go to Bastos 1 which is her real branch, but so far she has been attending Bastos 2 because she likes the morning.  And there are a few other members who have been attending branches they don’t live in.  Elder Thompson told me you have to get permission from the 1^st Presidency to attend a branch other than the one you live in as an actual member of that branch.

                And there are about 10 other people that I could talk about, but we don’t have time.  But I’m glad to be busy.

Je vous aime,

-          Elder Eric Palmer

    
      Any advice for Elder Schmidt...(future DRC missionary) bring durable shoes, if you carry your camera with you during the day, put it somewhere deep in your bag, take your doxy everyday, ummmmm, let me think...

(Are you taking care of yoursel?)  I think I'm (barely) getting enough sleep, but I have started eating healthier.  Today I figured out a new good meal, that is a combo of spagomellettes and and avocado salad thing.  And I have been doing really well on vitamin taking.

And yes, when Elder Nash came up I got the package, everyone enjoyed the Reese's and candy.  And I also got 2 letters from Bishop Carter, one dated in February and the other in March, so thank him for those.

Je t'aime,
- Elder Eric Palmer