LAST EMAIL!!!! Eric's email of August 22, 2011

Darn, we almost got out of doing internet.  The first time we came here the power was out.  So we went home so that I could start doing my bags.  But then the power came back on, then we walked back up the street, and now we have to do internet.

            So, Saturday was an awesome day.  We had Mormon Helping Hands, I think that happened in many countries in Africa on that day.  Here in Yaoundé, we went to Hopital Central to clean up the grounds.  Outside the fence there was loooooooootttttssssssss of tall grass and weeds, and we chopped it down Cameroonian style.  That means with machetes.  I’m not very good at that.  We chopped it all up, and they left it to dry and will burn it later.  At the end the mayor of something came to thank us I think.  We also got to where those yellow jerseys that say “Mormons aux Mains Serviables”.

            After the service project, Elder Wagman and I went home and studied a bit and got the baptism ready.  There were 3 people baptized from our zone.  The wife and daughter of frère Maurice were baptized.  Maurice got there literally right before the actual ordinance, then we took pictures again so he would be in them.  He had come to the service project, and had to rush back home and then come back for the baptism.  The other one baptized was a Frère Christian.  When he first got to Yaoundé, he had basically lost everything, his dad had died and a whole bunch of stuff and had nowhere to stay.  And he is only a 19 year old kid.  I’m not exactly sure what happened, but he somehow found his mom who he had never met since he could remember.  But for some reason he couldn’t stay with her and she couldn’t really help him.  So he found a job and has his own little place somewhere.  And also, when I interviewed him, I realized he also had a legit testimony of the Restored Gospel.  So, it was a good baptism.

            We also got transfer info that day after the baptism.  And, that was weird, and a huge bummer, that my name wasn’t on the list anymore.  And, as has always happened my entire mission, my companion is also transferred then same time that I leave.  We call that getting white washed.  When I left Bonabéri, Elder Lee got transferred.  When I got transferred to a different sector in Pointe-Noire, Elder Parsons left.  When I left Pointe-Noire, Elder Bally left.  And now when I go home, Elder Wagman gets transferred to Ekounou, to work with Elder Prince.  So, for the 16^th time, it goes to show that transfers are unpredictable.  The older 3 elders here will be training, and Elder Tingey is becoming zone leader.

            Now, after the baptism it gets really interesting.  A member who is visiting Cameroon, went to take us to see a few family members.  We thought it was going to be quick getting there, and a short visit to let them know that new missionaries next week can come.  Well, there was a lot of traffic, followed by a 20 minute walk, followed by us having to eat some beignets and bananas.  So, the point is that took a lot longer than thought, and we wanted to go visit Maurice’s family that evening.  Then, trying to get out of the quartier, thinking that I knew the way, but didn’t, we ran into a Frère Joseph, a recent convert in Ekounou that I interviewed for his baptism.  I recognized him the second I saw him, and the first thing he said to me was “Elder Palmer, tu me vois dans les problèmes”. (Do you see my problem?)   Another member in Ekounou had had an accident that day, and was in a little hospital right there.  So, we talked for a sec, then went in, and we gave her a blessing.  She was very grateful, and then we continued on our way because it was getting dark.  I don’t know how long Joseph was standing in the road and such.  But Elder Wagman and I thought we were getting lost, but ran right into the person who needed some help.  Pretty cool.

            Then, it was already dark when we found the main road, and since their light isn’t too good at Maurice’s house, we thought it was too late and we’d go by a different day.  But when I called him, he said “Non, on vous attend!”.  (No. Come in) So, we went there, talked about the surprise of Elder Wagman’s transfer, talked about the confirmation that would happen le lendemain, and then gave us some delicious sauce tomate.  So, it was a very long, unorthodox day.  But a very good one.

            So yeah, that’s the highlights of the week.  I had my last district meeting last night.  I was on the lesson, we listened to a talk from the April 2009 General Conference that I had listened to earlier on the iPod about change.  Pretty much everyone in the zone is having a significant change, so it wasn’t completely selfish of me.  Sister Thompson gave me a worm bomb and malaria medicine for when I get home that I have to keep taking for 1 months.  (A worm bomb?????)

            Well, maybe it feels like I’m coming home a little bit more.  We went to do the almost last shopping today.  I started packing, hope to get that done tonight so that I don’t have to worry about it.  So, I guess this is my last mission email.  Unfortunatley I don’t have anything super profound to say.  If I do, its basically that l’Eglise est vraie.

 

Je vous aime,

- Elder Eric Palmer

 

To Mom:

(I saw more pictures of the temple trip on the Thompson's blog-)Frère Jacques... there Frère Jacques that I talked about, that got baptized by Elder Tingey and I, didnt go to the temple.  Probably another one.

(Do you have ice cream in Cameroon?)  Yes we have ice cream.  Elder Wagman bought some today to splurg since I'm dying.

(Please call us from Brussels)  I think its ok to call, but I'll check with the Thompsons.

This will be the first time I wear my suit since I landed in Douala.

(Do you know if there are any new missionaries coming?)  There are 3 newbs coming to Yaoundé, 2 coming to Douala.

I did my talk, but it was short.  I played for the choir, who sang numeéro 32 in french.  Oui, we had a baptism.

Well... on se voit.

Je t'aime,
- Elder Palmer
 

 

Eric's email of August 15th, 2011-ONLY 1 P-DAY LEFT!!

Frère Maurice vous salue.  (says hello)  We just saw him and his family do to a soirée familiale,(FHE) and while leaving he told us to greet the family.  That was a really fun family night.  We sang some hymns, including Elder Wagman’s favourite, number 199 in French, 307 in English.  (In Our Lovely Deseret) I have that song almost memorized now because Elder Wagman picks it at least every other day.  Anyways, in family night we also had a little lesson on how many great blessings we can get from family night, and played a game which involves stacking matches on a bottle.  I won once.  The family is progressing well, Frère Maurice got a calling as a teacher in Elders’ Quorum (his grandson raised his hand for “any opposed by the same sign”) and his wife and one daughter are getting ready for baptism this weekend.  They gave us sauce d’arachide afterwards, after we had already eaten Ndolé today.  I’m gonna explode.

We’ve also decided that going home from your mission is also like leaving for your mission.  At least Elder Wagman and Tingey and I said that when we left on our mission, it felt like it was never really going to happen, until the day of maybe, or even until after entering the MTC.  I know that’s how I felt before my mission, and that’s how I feel now about going home.

The missionaries also gave talks in Bastos 1 yesterday.  Elder Tingey talked about the Restoration, Elder Wagman talked about how to have an “effective Gospel study”, and Elder Prince gave a talk about obedience.  Mine was based kind of on a talk given in the April 2005 conference called “the worth of souls” by an Elder Hillard or something, and also used one of the stories Mom gave me before my mission about some of our ancestors.  I talked a bit about the story of Thomas McCann (Great-great....grandfather) and his wife and how they found the Church and all that.  I’ll be giving a probably similar talk in Bastos 2 this Sunday.

I scored 2 goals in soccer on Sunday.  I think those are the first goals I scored on my mission.

Elder Wagman is going to tell you about lots of cool stuff that happened.

On Friday we did exchanges, and I worked with Elder Nash, the district leader for Ekounou.  It turned into an interesting day.  We showed up to Jean-Paul’s house, and there was a party!  I think we met every Chadian living in Cameroon at that party.  It was for someone who got their diploma in medicine or something.  Lots of people wanted to take a picture with us, some of them got taken with my camera.  We also somehow got to teach a lesson to Richard, Jean-Paul’s son, and his brother Didier and a couple friends, and we got 2 coordonnées.  So, new finding method of the week, go to parties.

Elder Nash and I also visited a recent convert named Olivier.  I forgot if I told you about him already.  He’s awesome.  Right now he is attending Ekounou I, but we found out a couple weeks ago that he lives in Bastos II since 1 month ago.  He kind of moved without telling people.  But I interviewed Olivier back in May, and that may have been the “easiest” interview I did, meaning that he knew everything and had a real testimony too.  Now he is a branch missionary and works with the missionaries regularly and teaches on Sunday often.  When Elder Nash and I went to see him, he had books all over on the table from the Church, preparing for his lesson on Sunday.  He is the guardian for the apartment of the elders in Ekounou, and he started taking the lessons, because he found a Book of Mormon the missionaries had given to an old guardian, started reading it, then the missionaries saw him reading it and began teaching him.  I think since the first Sunday he came to Church, he hasn’t missed a day.  On Friday, he was almost done with the Doctrine and Covanents, and I bet by now he is finished, which means he has read all the canonized scriptures of the Church already.  He told me in his interview that he first saw the missionaries walking around in Bonabéri, before he came to Yaoundé, and we found out that was when I was in Bonabéri. (Eric's first area)  So, that was an awesome coincidence.  Ok, well I just said that all out of order, but simply, he is definitely changed because of the Gospel and truly lives it every day.

Hmm, what else… well, I can't think of anything else right now.  And I’m going to send this before the computers shut down again, like it happened last week, and the week before or something, so that I don’t lose all I wrote.

 

Je vous aime,

- Elder Eric Palmer

 

To Mom

(Do you want me to bring your saxophone back from Utah-Scott would like you to take one of his guitars to him at BYU.)  Yes I would like my saxophone back in Virginia, I was wondering where that was.  And I'll bring out a guitar for Scott if he wants.

 

 To Dad

 

I still have some euros that Grandma sent me in the MTC, so I should have cash for travels.

          I didn't see your bribe for Elder Tingey (to run with Eric who is training for the 1/2 marathon) until today, so I'll see what I can do.

Branch members teach institutue.

I'll be bring home souvenirs and things that are important to me, I'll be leaving lots of clothes and junk, especially missionary clothes.  Oh, that reminds me, did you answer my question about the iPod?  If I left the iPod for someone, would that be bad?  Also, a member of Bastos II that is preparing to leave on his mission in October could use a camera.  How important is it that I bring the camera home?  (Sois honnete).  (Be honest)

Yeah, I have no idea what you should be asking me.  Like I said, il ne me semble pas vraiement que je vais rentrer bientot.  (It doesn't seem real that I am going to be coming home soon.)

Je t'aime,
- Elder Eric Palmer

Eric's email of August 8th, 2011-ONLY 2 P-DAY'S LEFT!!

Well, as you will read in Elder Wagman's email, at our normal cyber the darn power went out after 15 minutes.  So, I'm not going to rewrite all that I had.  Here is the basic summary.

- Frère Patrice goes to Douala tomorrow for one month to visit the family.  He also plans on introducing his family to the Church and the missionaries.  Today we had a lesson where each person shared a favorite scripture.  I shared Ether 12:27, "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."  Patrice shared the parable of the talents in Matthew 25,(too long to add) and Elder Wagman shared Alma 17:2-3. "Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.  But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God."  I gave him one of the small cantiques.  (French Hymnbook)  Patrice bore an awesome testimony.

- The family of Frère Maurice is doing very well. His wife and one daughter are coming to Church and have a baptismal date for the 20th of this month.  The rest of the family comes to the lessons, but not Church yet.  Frère Maurice and one daughter attend institute.

- Had zone conference on Thursday about Ch.13 of Preach My Gospel.  I learned that being a new convert is like being a new missionary in Cameroon.  So, its not that hard for me anymore to imagine how hard or weird it is for a new convert.  And a new missionary and a new convert need the same 3 things according to President Hinckley to stay, I think.  We also had surprise interviews with Président Jameson via Skype.

- We are working with branch missionaries more that ever, thanks to summer vacation.

- Mormon Helping Hands is supposed to happen here on the 20th.

- Struggling.... I bought trucs(stuff) today.  I've got some cool clothes things for guys.  But, I wasn't sure if an african woman's dress would ever get worn.  If you do want one (Mom) you can tell me and I'll get it, but I wasn't sure if you would.

- L'Eglise est vraie.  (The Church is true)

Je vous aime,
- Elder Palmer

To Mom:

(Scott, Eric's brother, is going to college in 2 weeks and is feeling all grown up.  Did you feel grown up before you started college?)  Yes I felt grown up at college, but probably didn't act like it very much.  Now I feel more grown up, and hope I act a little bit more like it.

(What things did you wish you had taken for the dorms?)  For stuff for the dorm that I forgot that would be nice... no idea.  I only know what a missionary needs.

Je t'aime,
- Elder Eric Palmer

To Dad:

Ok, just so you know, my running kind of got messed up.  Actually really messed up.  We had an unexpected mid-transfer transfer, where my running partner got put in the other apartment in Yaoundé.  And, everyone else in my apartement right now is being too lazy to go running with me.  I'll probably start running about the apartement building, because I convinced Elder Tingey to come out with me.  Running in circles stinks though, espcially when its not that big.  So, I'll do my best.

Ok, for the quick questions.

1.  I don't have any questions.

2.  you can resend the calling card info if you want, just to be safe.

3.  Yeah, we went souvenir shopping today.  I think the most painful is over.

4.  Yes I'm healthy, just got jipped on the running thing.  Will do with the electronics.

5.  Yeah, and I need to get my drivers liscence renewed.  If its easier that Jacob keeps that cell phone, that works. Just so you know, I've been converted to your provident living, so whatever is cheapest.  (Eric is pretty cheap already, soooo......)

6.  That sample note works for me, I only have 5 minutes left.  Would "missionary work" not be better than "voluntary work" is my only idea.  And maybe "science" is better than "biology", because I don't know if that's exactly what I want to focus on.  But those are just little things.  That example sounds good.  It feels weird to have to try to talk to people about something that's not the Restored Gospel.  I don't have a resumé, but maybe there is one in Mom's folder of my stuff.  But that's a great idea, thanks for helping me get on the ball.  I hope I answered all the questions.

Je t'aime,
- Elder Eric Palmer

Eric's email of August 1, 2011 (Only 3 p-days left!!!)

Elder Palmer and a convert from Bonaberi-

Eric's first area.  Eric taught him at the 

beginning of his mission.

We just went to the souvenir marché place.  Not my favorite place to go shopping.  I’ll be happy to shop at Walmart and be left alone while I shop, and won’t have to discuss my price of everything.  I didn’t buy that much, but  got some ideas for stuff I’ll probably buy later.  In case I didn’t already ask, if someone has an idea of something cool to get let me know.  Because I don’t have any ideas.

            Oh, and Elder Wagman bought a sword there.

            So for missionary work, things are going really well with Maurice’s family.  We were about to extend the baptismal invitation last time, but some young man who came in at the end asked an unusual question, and we had already been there for a while, and the family decided to answer his question.  But that is our goal this week.  As usual, Maurice’s wife and one of his daughters seem to be the most interested.  Those 3 came to church again this week.  Since it was the 5^th Sunday, during the first block the Société de Secours and the Collège des Anciens were combined.  The branch president gave the lesson, which was titled “Fortifier le marriage grace à la foi et le prière”.  Both Maurice and his wife participated and such.  If you didn’t know them, you would think they were both longtime members.  Maurice and his daughter have also started attending institute, where they are studying the Presidents of the Church.

            We also started teaching the wife of Frère Paulin, a recent convert who was baptized in May or something.  I saw her once at his baptism, but hadn’t since her since and wondered why.  But we finally went and taught her one Wednesday.  So, the most awesome thing is, that they are actually like a real couple.  Elder Wagman said they were “cute”, but I don’t like to say that word.  And her husband had actually taught her a lot about the Church already, and she knew Joseph Smith’s story and all that.  The only reason she isn’t coming to Church yet is because of her current job, but she is searching so that by the end of the year she’ll have a job to be able to come to Church on Sunday.  But she said she already knows the Church is true, because her husband changed from being an awesome person to an even more awesome person, and talked about how lucky she is.  So, that’s legit.

            We also had a throwdown about the Word of Wisdom this week.  I don’t like arguing.  Or Bible bashing or whatever you want to call it.  We didn’t really Bible bash that much, but the guy didn’t want to understand, and his member friend who introduced him to us said “écoute, tu ne comprends meme pas ce qu’ils dissent” around 20 times.  It was kind of funny.  He also explained some things in their dialect.

            We also had an educational meeting with a member named Papa François.  He was baptized back in 2008, but some months after his baptism, he got really sick and can hardly walk now, which keeps him from coming to Church.  But, his story on how he found the Church is awesome.  One day when he was entering his house, he saw 2 Elders talking to someone, and he asked them “vous etes les quis?”, or who are you in cameroonian.  Papa François told us that they answered him by saying “nous sommes les mormons”.  Papa François said, “ah, bon… Entrez”.  And they taught him for the first time that day.  Hey said that a few months before, he had bought a CD of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performing Handel’s Messiah.  He remembered the name Mormon, and the rest is history.  So, we will now have a new zone goal: whenever someone asks who we are, we will say “nous sommes les mormons”.

            Thursday we’ll be having zone conference.  President Jameson told me to do it on Ch. 13 of Preach My Gospel.  Elder and Sister Thompson will be teaching some stuff, as well as me, and also Frère Michel Olinga, who finished his mission last year and is now in Ekounou 2’s branch presidency.  And because of  Frère Olinga and another missionary who is francophone, the most part of this conference will be in French.  The only other zone conference I had like that was the one in Brazzaville.

            We had a really good lesson with Frère Patrice, but it wasn’t on anything in the Preach My Gospel lessons.  We talked about Provident Living basically.  I bet if Dad was there, he could have talked for hours.

            We also helped a lady crack nuts open this week.  (Not quite sure....)

            And now my return date seems farther away than it did last transfer.  Its weird.

            Um, I think that’s about it.  The Book of Mormon is true.

Je vous aime,

- Elder Eric Palmer

To Mom

(How many members/families went on the temple trip (for info on the temple trip, look up the Thompson's blog - I will never complain about traffic to the DC temple again!))  I'm not sure how many members, but in Bastos 2 I think 5 families/couples got sealed.

(You can save room in your suitcase home by not bringing missionary supplies home.)  Yeah, I'm not going to bring home that much.  But, remember the iPod mini and speaker Dad got for me?  How important is it that I bring that home?

(Andrea got contacts this week-how old were you when you got contacts?)  I think I was in 8th grade when I got contacts, because I had a jazz band concert just after getting them, and I think I was playing the bari sax.  I don't remember how look it took to get used to them, though.

(Which bedroom do you want to be in when you get home-with Jacob or on your own?)  For the rooms, Andrea is on the top floor, and Jacob is back in our old room, right?  I don't really have a preference, I can move back in with Jacob.

(I broke my Kindle this week-do you know what that is?)  No idea what a Kindle is.  Is my iPod still in tact, though?  (Yes, the iPod is fine, just huge in comparison to the new models.)

Je t'aime,
- Elder Eric Palmer

To Dad (self explanatory)

I'll take whatever calling someone gives me.

I'll help you install whatever flooring you want.

Yeah, I think I'll be good for cash.  Yes I have me credit cards.

Je t'aime,
- Elder Eric Palmer