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!

Eric's email of October 28th, 2010

So I'm going to write again my highlights of the week and then respond to your questions in your emails.

First thing from the week is that last p-day in the evening, me and Elders Kesler, Lamb, and Hancock went to play basketball at the USA embassy.  Elder Hancock said someone told him that we could get in with our US Passports.  Well, that turned out to not be true.  We went around 4:30, and the guy behind the window said we could come in at 5.  We sat on a bench until 5, went back, the guy called someone, and told us we couldn't come in today, but that there would be a Halloween party on the 30th that we could come to.  The funny thing, is that we got kept out of our own embassy by a Cameroonian.  Ironic.  Today we are going to try to play basketball again, at the American School.  I hope it works this time.

Also on Tuesday I went on a split with Elder Kesler, our district leader so he could do a baptismal interview for us.  But we did have one notable lesson, with an ami named Dennis.  Acorda and I found him about 3 weeks ago.  He came to church his first Sunday but hadn't been back since.  Dennis' thing is, that he doesn't really get why he needs to know that the Book of Mormon is true.  So Kesler and I spent at least 20 minutes talking about Moroni 10:3-5 and the last 2 paragraphs of the Introduction.  He didn't get the difference between "je pense que..." and "je sais que...".  And so, to show him the consequences (if I can call it that) of knowing that the Book of Mormon is true, we read 3 Nephi 27:19-21, and I invited him to be baptized.  He accepted easily, but I know he does not understand yet the importance of 1 true church, because he still goes to his other church during the week.  But technically, he has a baptismal date for the 20th of November.  But something cool happened, because he walked with us after the lesson, and no one talked.  It might have been a little awkward, but right after that awkward silence, he said, "Le Livre de Mormon est la parole de l'Eternel".  So maybe something miraculous happened, we'll see.

At the end of that day Kesler did his interview with Douglas, who should now be a go for the 6th of November.  His step-dad, who found the church 20-ish years ago in DC will baptize him.  Douglas is blessed because he has some family members that are already strong in the church.  But during the interview, I got to talk to his grandpa, also named Douglas.  Mostly he talked to me again about how he believes in the Plan of Salvation more than his own church's doctrine.

This weekend we will also be watching all of General Conference on Saturday and Sunday!  And in our building they should be showing it in French and English, for our anglophones.  I hope I'll get to watch in English, because its better than listening to a translator.

I also started running again this week!  I convinced Elder Kesler to go with me, and we run to this place called Round Point Bastos, take a short walk to breathe, and then run back.  I think it takes about 30 minutes.  Its not as far as I was running in Congo, but I'm just glad I finally got someone to run with me again.  Elder Kesler said he would only do it if we could still get back in the morning for apartement prayer at 6:35, so we wake up early Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  We've only done it 2 times so far, but I think the 2nd time is always the hardest.  I feel a lot less sore than I did after Tuesday.

Also Elder Acorda and I had a really good lesson last Friday or Saturday with la Soeur Hélene Tchobang.  She is really involved with her current church, and also thinks that a lot of the people in the world today are involved in cults and sects and such, and always complains to us how "la peau blanche" brought Freemasonry to Cameroon.  Anyways, we can also tell that she is someone really looking for the truth, and during our second rendezvous while talking about the apostasy or something, she told us that the Bible doesn't have everything.  That surprised me a lot.  I don't know if I have heard even 5 people say that before.  So, she was very interested when we talked about the Book of Mormon.  She plans on coming to watch General Conference this Saturday.  And she also speaks Douala!  So I can use a few of the words from what I learned when I lived in Bonabéri.

I hope everyone enjoys Halloween this weekend, and I want to hear what everyone is going to dress as.  Just so you know, the picture in the family calendar of Jacob and Dad as Luigi and Mario is one of my favorite Halloween pictures ever.  Especially because Dad is making the face when Mario dies in a Super Mario World.

Je vous aime,
- Eric


Hey Mom,

(See pictures on October 21st post )So when Kesler and I put on those shirts, we realized why so many people in Africa look jacked.  Turns out they are just wearing tiny shirts, and unfortunetly there are no Ding Dongs and such...(I made a comment about no Ding Dongs, no obesity problem....)

(You should work to get back to just Mormon-time-10 minutes late.)  So that you can get an understanding of how late people are here, this weekend we will be watching Conference, and the branches announced that it would start at 9 AM.  But then the Thompsons, the senior couple, told us it will really start at 10 AM.  So african time is worse than Mormon time.

(When is the next transfer?)  So actually this time next week, we should have transfer news.  It should take place on the 8th of November, but they usually will tell us before the last pday, so that we don't buy a bunch of food that we can't take with us.

Well, I just saw that I started everyone on of those paragraphs with "so", donc (so) I'm not going to do it this time.  (Why are you the bad missionary in "good missionary/bad missionary?)  But I'm not going to be literally a "bad" missionary, but I'm just not going to let people get away with it if they don't keep there commitments.  And Elder Acorda is way too nice to be the bad missionary, so we had no choice.

(What hymn is "Souviens-Toi?)  So "Souviens-Toi" is a hymn that is only in the French hymn book on page 179.  Every French missionary learns that one and sings it a billion times in the MTC.  And the story behind it is pretty cool.  Briefly, when the french members were making their hymn book, one lady on the commitee had a dream, and in this dream she received the lyrics to this hymn, and woke up and wrote them down.  Then they put it to some tune written by Antonin Dvorak, and they got the ok to put it in the french hymn book.  Thats about all the info I can give you, though.

(Are there any pending elections in Cameroon?  I have heard of some in other African missions and the missionaries are transferred to the mission home until after the elections.)  Elder Acorda told me that sometime early next year, 2011, there should be an election, he thinks.  I don't know what will happen.

Je t'aime,
- Eric

(Dad's email:)

Ah, first of thanks for the blog post, but I doubt I'll have time to read it right now, so I'll answer your questions first and look later, sorry.  ( Vai Sikahema's blog of mission experiences.)

(Are the cent-cent buses city/government buses or are these just private people making a living by driving people around? How big are these vehicles?)  So the cent-cents, I don't think they are really city sanctioned or anything.  For taxis you are supposed to have some kind of license, almost all the legal taxis, which are yellow, have those.  I don't know about buses, and there are some people who just get a car and start taxiing people.  And here there is one BIG bus, that you only have to pay normally 150, rather than the normal 200, that gets packed like a can of sardines.  But I don't really know how many are legit and aren't.  I try to not take illegal taxis, though.

If you are going to send me a recipe, send one for...I can't think of anything, and I'm panicking because I'm running out of time.

(What did you do for Elder Acorda in return for the shoe shine?)  Gosh, I don't know if I've done anything for Acorda yet for the shoe shine.  Why are you guilt tripping me into doing things?

(So when you ran out of time on the computer last week was that a money issue or did you need to run to some other P-Day activity or have you just made a choice that you need to spend less time on emails so as to maintain your focus on missionary work? In either case, for the many emails you send, you might want to try writing one generic email that you can cut-and-paste and send to multiple people, perhaps with a few individual tweaks to make them personal. (Or maybe you already do that.))  So we reduced or email time for 2 reasons that you said, to stay more focused on p-day, and to have more time to do other stuff.

(Are there any stories about the Willis’ or other senior couples that would be good for me to share in my High Councilor talk? Inspirational or even humorous anecdotes?)  So, what kind of stories are you looking for exactly for you talks?  I can't really think of any right now.

Je t'aime,
- Eric

ps, Scott is grounded again!  no email!  (Scott has been sending emails to the wrong address.)

Eric's email of October 21st, 2010

Three separate e-mails this week.  The"farming" pictures he sent today have been added to last week's email.

(Last week Eric got a sunburn when he didn't wear a hat while working outside.)  So first thing Mom, as soon as I got to the field last week, I knew I should have taken my hat.  I'll wear it more often now.

(What is the soil like in Yaounde?)  So the ground here in Yaounde is not sandy at all actually.  That seems to be the case in cities next to the ocean, like Douala and Pointe-Noire (especially Pointe Noire...), but here the ground is red.  There are green plants everywhere and red dirt everywhere.  When I first got to Yaounde, it was like when I flew home for Christmas break after my first college semester, because I was shocked how green it was.  (In Virginia)

I wished Andrea a happy birthday last week, but Ill do it again anyways.  (11 yesterday.)

Oh yeah, and the reason why I remembered to wish Andrea a happy birthday was because of the calendar of the family that Aunt LeeAnn sent, so I hope to get another one of those for 2011, just so you know.

(Were you being hassled on the bus last week?)  On that bus last week, we weren't getting hassled, or I'm just used to getting hassled and I don't care anymore.  Probably the latter.  I don't think anyone in the world could ever make me upset anymore by verbally abusing me after all that I have heard in the past year.

(Would you like a Tab choir Christmas CD for an activity?)  So yeah, a Christmas CD would be nice.  I don't really have anything specific to ask for right now, though.

Je t'aime,

- Eric

_________________________________________________________

Dear Civilian Dad, (He was released as bishop last Sunday)

Yes, cent-cent means 100 francs each person. (Cent-cent is what they call the bus)

gosh dang it, i dont got enough time to respond to all your questions.  Sorry, send them again next week and I'll do my best to reply.

Je t'aime,

- Eric

ps Scott is grounded for not writing this week.

_______________________________________________________________

Ok, well we have decided to do less internet time from now on, so that our p-days will be better, and so right now I am going to write down my highlights of the week and also send some photos.

So Elder Acorda and I just came from an aims house where we just spent 4 hours.  That may sound like a lot, and well, it was.  We got there at 9 AM to help him wash his clothes.  At our zone conference we just had yesterday, Elder Thompson said President Headlee wants us to do service 4 hours a week, like our handbook says.  Or we can do a full day every 2 weeks.  But anyways, I learned how to wash clothes by hand,  and now my hands hurt, mostly from squeezing the soap and water out of the clothes afterwards.  I might have a blister on my right hand.  Oh, our amis name is Dako, btw.  He works a lot, and goes on voyages 3 or 4 days a week, then comes back and has a lot to do at the house.  We thought we would help him out.  Then we had a lesson, where we watched the Restoration video.  We wanted to set a baptismal date in November, but he says he was already thinking about December or January because his work schedule will allow him to do so then.  So, we'll go for December.  And after our lesson and service, he made us wait because his aunt, Anne-Marie who is a member of the Church from Douala, was making us food.  So we watched the Restoration again while waiting, and then watched half of it in Tagalog.

So like I said, we had zone conference yesterday.  It wasn't very long, from 9 at 12.  But all of us missionaries have gotten on African time, so it started almost an hour late.  President Headlee now only comes about every 3 months, so our zone leader Elder Coburn gave us a lesson on the Holy Ghost, we played scripture jeopardy (my team won, I think it was the first time ever that I have won some kind of scripture knowledge game), and I gave a 5 minutes lesson on diligence, (see Moroni 9:6, D&C 127:4).

We also got to watch the Priesthood session chez Les Thompsons Sunday evening.  I really like Elder Nelson's talk, probably because it was targeted to missionaries.  Especially when he talked about the time he gave his Book of Mormon to his friends, they didn't really read it, he got a little bit upset if I may say so, then they actually read it and realized the importance of it.  So, I've tried to do that ever since.  Elder Acorda and I are going to start doing something like "good cop, bad cop", except as missionaries.  I will be the bad one.

Saturday we also held our activity on the Plan du Salut.  (Plan of Salvation)  We started at 4 PM by watching "To This End Was I Born" about the Atonement.  Then we had two returned missionaries, Frere Olinga and Soeur Gwet, present the plan and such, answer a few questions.  We had a slide show that Elder Acorda and I had made.  At the end President Balla of Bastos 2, who presided over the activity, bore his testimony on the eternal family and such, and the missionaries closed by singing "Souviens-Toi", pg 179 in the French hymn book (I played the piano to get out of singing).  It was good.

Also, Acorda and I finally set a baptismal date.  And I think I will do a lot better after what I learned at the priesthood session  Seriously, Elder Nelson's talk was awesome and made for me.  We set Douglas for November 6th.  Douglas has been going to church for nearly 2 months now.  His new step dad, Brother Ben, has been a member for a bit over 20 years.  He found the church when he lived in Washington D.C.  He said he helped organize the francophone branch in D.C. and was a bishop.  But he recently got remarried and such, and his step son Douglas, who is 19, started coming to church.  Recently he has had some problems at school, and I don't know if he is back at school yet.  But he is lucky because his dad is there, and also his step sister Zaline, who really helped us Monday when she explained how the Gift of the Holy Ghost has blessed her.  Zaline was taught and baptized when Elder Lee was in Yaounde.  But anyways, he is having some little problems at school and at home, but I believe if he works towards this goal, that will help him.

Je vous aime,

 - Elder Palmer

 Me and Elder Kesler in the shirts we bought in Congo.
"Now we know why people here look so ripped,

its because the shirts are just so small.
The tags say they are adult large."

Eric's email of October 14th, 2010

Alright, I gots lots of questions to answer, I can see.

(How is your ami Adam?  Would you like a Book of Mormon in Arabic for him?)  So first, Adam is doing better I think, because we haven't seen him since Sunday.  We were supposed to see him again on Monday, but he wasn't there and he doesn't have a phone anymore.  Also stopped by on Tuesday and Wednesday, but no luck.  So, I guess that means hopefully that he is somewhere doing something.  But, I just discussed with Elder Acorda, and if you could send an Arabic Book of Mormon, that would be nice.  And pretty cool just to see, at least.  That language is ridiculous looking.

(Are there a lot of satellite dishes in Yaounde?) As for the satellite dishes, it seems like the houses that are nice enough, that have a gate around and such, usually have a satellite.  And a lot of the houses with gates also have a guardien that is almost always there.  I don't know how often they get stolen, or what someone would do with a stolen antennae here.

(How many floors are in your apartment building?)  I think in our apartement building there are 4 or 5 floors, but we live only on the 2nd.  And that building across the way, (in a recent picture) I don't know if they are still working on it or not.  There are a good number of buildings that seem to begin being built, and then half way through they realized they don't have enough money or something to finish it.  And construction just takes a darn long time here.  And actually the background of me studying is the same as the other picture.  I'll check.

(Why is your companion polishing your shoes?)  Well, I think I "can" polish my shoes, but I just choose not too.  I'll wipe off the mud and stuff if its ridiculous, but they just get so darn dirty after a couple days, I don't see why I should spend so much time polishing them.

(How many emails do you get each week?)  This week I had 19 emails, but a few where ones from last week that I didn't look at.

Alright, I'm jumping over to Dad's.

So unfortunately there are actually a lot of kids who live in a home with only one parent, and kids that just live with other family members.  I don't know a good number to give you, but I say that you would be fortunate to live in a home with both your parents.

I don't think too many families have pets here.  There are dogs here though, but I think they don't really have an owner.

If I had to guess how many people come to our branch on Sunday, I would say 60-ish?  But there is something like 150 or more on the branch records, so that's why we want to focus so much on reactivation.  And there's not that many youth aged kids.  They do have seminary once a week.  Maybe a dozen in my branch.  And the primary has about 20 kids each Sunday.

(Mark has a shoe shining story-he had two pair of shoes on his mission: one for church that were always clean and one for the rest of the week that he NEVER shined.)  And since I can't remember about your shoe shining story, you can tell me about it next week.  But I do not like shining shoes.  I can think of a hundred better things to do with my time at the apartement.

And just so you know, I'm getting conflicting reports on the Redskins last week.  I think it was Scott who said that they lost to the Texans, but you told me they won.  And I don't know who to trust.  (Redskins beat the Packers 16-13 in OT.)

So the first highlight from last we is that nous sommes allés au champ.  That means we went to the field, or the farm, something like that.  On Saturday morning Elder Acorda, Elder Kesler, Elder Lamb and I went with Maman Natalie and her family, to go to their field to plant stuff.  We planted stuff like manioc, or cassava, and other stuff that I don't know the name of.  It was hot.  And, I had just gotten a haircut.  I put on sunscreen on my face, but I still got a little bit burned.  It burned away my collar tan line, though.  (He told Jacob that he was burned, but not to tell Mom about it.)  But we got to her house at 8 AM, than we sang hymns for about 30 minutes waiting for their cousin Etienne, also a member, and then we walked there.  It took about 30 to 40 minutes to get there, and we were carrying bags of stuff to plant and tools and machetés and such.  I spent most of my time tilling the ground (I don't know if that's the right word, but we were stabbing the ground in a repeated manner with some kind of shovel-y tool making the dirt plantable).  Then we left around 12.  I got a few pictures that I will send next week when we go to the good internet café.

 4 of us working to till the ground with Maman Natalie

 Maman Natalie, Elder Acorda, and Elder Kesler workin'

 Eric burning under the sun "I got a haircut just the night before, 

probably wasn't the best idea"

The missionaries gave talks last week in Sacrament meeting.  People told me I took too long, sorry if I had to give my talk in 2 languages and it started late.  I talked about fortification.  I also have another fully-loaded branch mission plan that I can email to you, unfortunately only in French again.

Yesterday we took a 100 franc bus home from Massassi, which is basically the village.  And everyone was freaking out because the whites where trying to take a cent-cent.  (We don't understand this right now-we will clarify next week.)  We also got stuck in the back, and the lady next to me said that I have to pay 2 place, which is 400 francs.  And the guy on my right asked, "tu sais danser?", (do you know how to dance?) and I said "pas vraiment" (not really).  And then he said I should learn to dance like the Cameroonians, because if he went to chez moi, (where I'm from) he would learn to dance.

I'm struggling to think of things that I can tell you about...  Before I forget, you can thank Sister Warnick, Sister Bertonneau, and Jisu for me, because I got letters from them last week. (Thanks)  They were sent to Kinshasa, and the Thompsons just had a 1 week couples' conference there, and they brought back mail.  I don't know how long ago they were written.

Well, like Paul said, combattez le bon combat, gardez la foi, (fight the good fight, keep the faith) and something else I forgot.  I hope you guys are all doing well, for me now I can't believe each time its p-day again, its weird.

Je vous aime,

- Eric

Eric's email of Octover 7th, 2010

So, earlier today Elder Acorda and I were doing internet, but then the connection died after I finished reading all the family emails, so thats why this one is being sent so much later.  We had to go to one thats a little bit more expensive, but the connection is better and it will read my card thing so that I can send pictures.

 

I had already typed this once but I'll do it again.  Dad asked a bunch of questions about families here.  So here someones brother or sister is not just limited to his immediate family, neither his mom or dad even.  Any kind of cousin or even just close friend can be a brother or sister.  Its called an Africa family, because here a family does not just mean mom dad and siblings, but extended family and friends.  But in lots of households, both parents are not there, which is probably due to the marriage system.

 

Here there is the traditional marriage and the civil marriage.  The traditional marriage consists of a dowry, which is some kind of payement you have to make according to what your fiancée's family says.  There are also presentation things that require wine and food that you have to pay for.  So lots of people don't get married because its too darn expensive, but they still live with their "spouse", which causes other problems.  And if you get civilly married before traditionally, the family gets quite upset and people don't want to be "cursed" or anything.

 

So I don't know what age people normally marry at, because lots don't even get married, but still live together.

 

Divorce also does happen, and also people leave their spouse because they aren't even really married, but I've also met people who were legitimately married and then got divorced unfortunetly.

 

Kids per family, I honestly cannot give a good estimate, but I can easily say its a higher average than in the USA.  And then when people come from polygamist families, that just complicates it.  And there plenty that do.

 

Ok, now you if you are talking about a home, there are plenty of houses that people of different family members from all over living together.  So there are plenty of houses with cousins and 2nd uncles and friends and stuff like that.

 

I think the biggest difference I see in LDS families is how they treat their kids.  Lots of parents here just don't seem to have any patience, and don't treat their children very nice.    But I guess when the parents really understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how it will bless their family, they don't hit them and such things.

 

So last week actually we didn't eat any crocadile or cat, he was "pullin' our leg".  We ate chicken and fish and spaghetti with sauce with lots of pima in it.  Pima is a pepper than everyone eats here in almost everything.

 

I forgot how long it takes to get the conference Liahonas, I'll let you know when they get here.  But lots of the members have trouble getting the other Liahonas, I don't know why, but I know one family hasn't gotten the Liahona for over a year, and they have subscribed since forever.

 

So I sent the branch mission plan in another email, Dad can translate it.  And if there is weird French don't blame me, because it wasn't me that typed it up.  But this Sunday we, the missionaries will be giving the talks to present it and explain how we are going to do these things.  And then we plan on visiting each member in order to give them their own copy, answer any questions they have and put it into motion.

 

So our amis are doing pretty good.  Franklin, who is the closest to baptism, has traveled to Douala for work.  He doesn't know yet if he will be staying there for a long time, but the missionaries down there came to the shop he is working at soon after he got there.  And when the couples (Senior Couple) get back from Kinshasa this week we should be able do to his interview, whether he stays in Douala or comes back to Yaoundé.

 

We also went to the funeral, or "le deuil" for Christine's mom, it went well, and hopefully this week she will get back into the flow of coming to church and stuff.  We also went to her house on Friday to help set up, and we got a new person to teach from that service project.  It was weird to wear normal clothes over there, though.

 

We also have Adam, I don't know if I've talked about him, he is from Sudan.  He has been at church for 4 weeks in a row now.  He's from a Muslim family and such, but he found the church from a friend, and kept coming and we have been teaching him.  He speaks English, kind of difficult to understand, but his main language is Arabic.  (Is the Book of Mormon in Arabic?)  But he reads his Book of Mormon really really well, marks it up and writes the words in Arabic he doesn't understand, so he is progressing very well.  We have to go very slowly, right now we are at the Plan of Salvation, but he's getting it.  Our main thing right now is to get him to pray.  He says he practices at home, but yesterday he said he wasn't ready yet to pray in front of us.  But he is a really nice and sincere person.

 

But right now Adam is about to face a lot of trials.  He already has one which is communicationg with people.  Most of the people speak French, and I don't think there are very many anglophones in his quartier.  And now, his quartier is supposed to get destroyed by the government for some reason.  Adam came to Cameroon and lived with a friend, his friend traveled about 2 weeks ago, so he has stayed there himself.  But when he told his friend on the phone that they are going to knock down his house, it doesn't sound like his friend is giving him much help.  And Adam has also been looking for a job ever since he got here.  So, like I've asked everyone so far, if you could put him in your prayers that would be great.  We even heard today from Elder Wilkins that today they started chasing people out of the marché with fire houses, so it looks like it'll happen sooner rather than later.

 

So after this we will be heading over to the church to do a practice run through of our missionary activity we will be doing next weekend.  We have now an overprogrammed schedule, and are having to decide who to see and who not to.  Its a blessing and a burden.

 

I hope you are enjoying the fall weather in Virginia, and that school is bearable for everyone.  Thanks for everything, and Mom, I don't get tired of seeing your mom-things-to-say at the end of your emails.  They have reminded me more than once to take my malaria medicine.

 

Je vous aime,

- Eric

Eric's email of September 30, 2010

Hey Mom,

I actually saw a couple suggestions that you had, (for the branch mission plan) so I wanted to tell you about them before I forgot.

Actually I'll just respond to all you questions and such.

(We finally have rain in VA-how is it there?)  So the weather is rainy.  Well today it is.  I think Monday through Wednesday it didn't really rain, so it was hot as Hades.  My least favorite time is in the late afternoon when the sun is starting to set, and it hits me at an angle.  Especially when are in this one quartier, Emana, I feel like half of my face is going to burst into flames.

So we have made some progress on our branch mission plan, and today and Saturday we will take time to finish it all up, and present it to President Gwet (Branch President?) on Sunday after church.  But we have decided to print out the branch mission plan in French and English, because Bastos 1 is the bilingual branch, and also create another plan that will include the missionaries' responsibilites, so that this thing will work even when we leave, rather than just fall apart and be a waste of time.  Not this Sunday, but the following one, the missionaries will be giving the talks, presenting the branch mission plan and such.  And then we will make sure to make at least one visit to each member to present the plan to them and answer questions and such.  So it should be finished next week.   I could even email you guys a copy, but that is pretty much our biggest focus right now.

(Is the branch spread far and wide?)  And the branch is kind of spread out but not too much.  There are now 4 branches in Yaoundé, so its not as bad as when there were only 2.  But still, I think members should be able to go actually do home teaching, rather than visit after church for 5 minutes.  At our mission conference in Douala, Sister Watson shared a story about Sister Sitati (wife of Elder Joseph Sitati of the 70, may have spelled it wrong), about how she walked 45 minutes to an appointement, walked back home 45 minutes, then walked back to give the person she visited some rice because she was hungry another 45 minutes, and then walked back home again.  So I know it can be a bit harder, but still.  I don't want to sound frustrated, but there are just some problems that would get resolved if people fulfilled their callings, and didn't discriminate because people are from different tribes.

We didn't do our day of refreshing, because our program got filled up and now we actually have some decent progressing amis de l'église, with our branch mission plan planning sessions.  And as for the service project day, that got postponed, because the day before, the place where we were supposed to do service said they had not yet approved the service project.  What in the world is there to approve!?  We are doing service for you for free...

Anyways, I don't want to sound too frustrated, but lets just say that we have dealt with lots of "incrédules" this week.  But, I am a little bit.

Sorry, I keep forgetting about the Thompsons' email or blog, and they actually left today, and will be gone for a week in Kinshasa with all the missionary couples  for training with President Headlee.  But I wrote it down in a spot where I will remember this time.

Last week, I asked if we will be able to watch general conference live, and my companion just laughed at me.

(When you come home next fall, do you want to play soccer?)  And about being a soccer ref, that would be great, and I think I even said to Elder Acorda earlier this week that I'll need to join an adult soccer league when I get home.  So I would be very interested in those things.

(Remember to wash your hands....)  And right now I am actually washing my hands a lot and often, so don't worry.  Sister Thompson told us that Cholera or however its spelled, has become a problem in Cameroon recently, so we aren't buying fish anymore and she told us to wash our hands so that we don't die.

Ok, I'm going to jump over to Dad's email...

Je t'aime,

- Eric

Well Dad, sorry to dissapoint, but I have not kept up my running very well here.  I did it a few times, but no one really wanted to do it, and the runs were short, so now I'm just doing other little workout stuff in the morning.  But if someone else moves into my apartement who will be willing to do so, I'm going to pick it back up.

(Occasionally, you hear stories about missionaries being invited to extend their missions by a month. Do you know if that’s ever happened in your mission? (I’m not suggesting you need to do that, just curious if you’ve seen it happen.))  I have "heard", as in a rumor, that missionaries have been asked to extend.  And then the missionary turning down the invitation, if thats what you call it.  Actually I do know that the missionary that trained Elder Lee did get extended one month, I don't know if he really got asked.  But I know that it happens.

So, in Cameroon there are currently 5 branches, 4 in Yaoundé and 1 in Douala.  By the end of the year there should be 2 in Douala when they create the Bonabéri Branch.

(This question was from Mark and shows his Bishop mentality-Do you know how tithing is collected and accounted for in Cameroon? I was thinking that they don’t have a computer system in the branches but maybe that’s a bad assumption. Is there anything like a “Bishop’s Storehouse” in the country?)  I don't really have any idea about how tithing happens here.  I think they do have a computer though, and this week Elder Acorda and I talked a bit to President Balla of Bastos 2, and he had 2 laptops in his office.  So I'm pretty sure they do something with their computers to organize tithing and such, at least I hope so.  And I think there is something like a bishop's storehouse thing.

Well I mentioned this to Jacob, but one thing that I really started to miss this week was my saxophone.  I hope you haven't sold it. (It is still in Utah at Grandma and Grandpa Palmer's.)  Acorda and I walked by a pentacastol church, and there was someone inside practicing the sax.

But Elder Acorda and I had 2 notable successes this past week.  The best was that we finally got some more people to attend church on Sunday.  Like I said last transfer was a little frustrating, full of non-progressing amis, but now we have found some new ones and also received a few good coordonnées.  And the other victory was that we did not have to spend extra money on phone credit.  The phone system is basically pay as you go, and we get 5,000 FCFA each week for phone money.  And you can also choose from a good number of plans, we switched and were also just smarter with the phone (not letting anyone call other missionaries to play patty-cake and junk like that), so I didnt have to pull extra money out of my pocket for phone credit for the first time since I got to Yaoundé.

Well I'm glad you guys are getting some rain, Aunt Karen asked me for some this week, but I think it'll be easier if you send her some rain because you are closer so that California doesn't burn down.  So I think school has been in for almost a month now.  After my year mark, which I did not like because it made me "trunky", time has sped up again, if that was even possible.  Not much else to say, just pray that this branch mission plan works out, because its no use to get people in the church who become inactive 4 months later when the elders have been transferred.

Je t'aime,

- Eric

Bonjour Aunt Karen,

Its great to hear from you!  So first of all, I would love to send some rain your way.  Before coming to the internet café, Elder Acorda and I taught a lesson, and right as we finished, the rain started.  And we are too lazy to carry 2 umbrellas.  So even though Elder Acorda is about a foot shorter than me, its still hard to fit 2 under an umbrella.  I know that people here do not like to be out in the rain, but unfortunately I don't think we have much control over it.  But I do like the rain rather than the heat.

Tonight we are going to a members house on the other side of town, and rumor is that we will be eating crocadile and cat meat.  So if that is true, that will probably be the strangest things I have ever eaten.  And there is one animal that is all over the place here that isn't that common in the USA, and that is lizards.  Here and in Congo they are all over.  I don't know what kind of lizard, but they are about half a foot in length maximum, and are literally everywhere.  They don't bother anyone or do anything useful, though.

Well I hope you and the family are enjoying fall in California.  I don't really know how it is there, but I have decided fall is my favorite season.  And I always hear about the fires in California, do those ever get close to your house?  Say hi to everyone for me. I can't believe its going by so fast either, especially after my year mark, its weird.

Love,

- Elder Palmer

Eric's Email of September 23, 2010

Hallo famille,

So first off last night we got transfers and, well, I'm just stayin put, so is Elder Acorda.  But since we lose 3 elders at the end of this transfer, some areas got joined in to others.  But the best news I got today now, is that Bonabéri will become a branch in late October or early December! (Eric's first area!)

So first off I want to make sure to answer all questions. (Are the socks we sent comfy?)  So yes those socks you sent are very nice and very comfortable.  And do keep my feet dryer.  But they don't match that well, but that's no problem to me.

(Do you wear your sandals?)  Yeah, I wear my sandals usually on p-day, or if we are leaving the apartement on a quick errand. (What was the most useful thing you took with you?)   But the most useful thing that I brought would have to be... this is hard.  I am going to say my iPod, because now I have learned to actually like church music.  And just so you know, a couple zone conferences ago President Headlee said to only listen to church music exclusively, because of some other stuff he may have heard in a missionary apartement, so I don't listen to my jazz music or anything anymore.  But, I say my iPod, because its just relaxing I guess.

(What have you made with the seasoning packets?)  Elder Acorda has not yet prepared anything with my seasoning packets, I'll have to remind him to use them.

(What do you hear from Spencer?)  Spencer, now known as Elder Aldridge, is good from what I know.  I think he is a district leader, but I didn't get an email from him this week...boo-hoo...

And that's great about the soon the be Elder Leake! (Missionary from our ward, farewell this Sunday, leaving for MTC)  If you want you could send me a picture with all our plaques up when that happens. (We will have 7 missionaries from our ward!!!!)   And as for my blog picture, I don't have my camera this week, but I'll send you that next week.

Alright, I'm going to jump over to Dad's email now to get his questions.

 

D'accord, yes I'm north of the equator.  But for us here in Yaoundé, it is getting very rainy.  The rainy season was supposed have already been started a couple weeks ago, but now I think it is getting into full force.  Must bring umbrella each day, my pants get muddy, and I must walk weird because my heal always hits the bottom of my pants.  But I prefer the rain over the heat any day.  I'm sorry it is so hot there.

(Out of all the North Americans (and Euros) in your mission, how many have you met?  Worked with?  Been companions with?  Do you know how many total missionaries there are in the mission now that the mission has been split?)  So in this mission, after 3 go home at the end of this transfer, there will be 23 North American missionaries.  There are no missionaries from Europe here, probably because lots of these countries don't like French people.  The other day Elder Acorda and I were teaching, and some punk came up to us and asked where we were from and stuff in a not very nice manner, and when he made sure we weren't French, he was fine.  He said he was just joking, but still, I don't think Europeans, mainly French people, are the most liked people here.  But I have actually now met all 23 of those missionaries, but have only served with 2 of them that are left: Elder Acorda currently and Elder Parsons.  Elder Ternieden went home last transfer, Elder Lee goes home very soon, and the other is Elder Bally who is from Ivory Coast.  As far as just worked with, as in done a split or something, there are 3 others.  Oh, and I forgot to also say Elder Wilkins, my MTC companion.  So technically I've been companions with 3.

Wow, I think I got all the questions, not too many this week.  So things for Elder Acorda and me are going ok.  We have on person, Frère Franklin who will have his baptism interview tonight, and then he just has to wait for President to come.  I don't know how much I've already talked about him, but Franklin started talking with the missionaries right before I got here, and he had recently come to Cameroon from Bangui, in the Central African Republic.  And as far as his progression, it has been pretty smooth, early on he gained a testimony.  But right now his problem is that he has some friends from work or at his embassy that tell him stuff about the Church.  And also he doesn't have the best job, and lives in very, very humble circumstances with 2 other friends from Bangui.  But he has always been patient and keeps his commitments, and I know he'll be blessed for it, especially when his baptism finally goes through.

There is one other amie de l'église, Souer Christine.  Right now has got to be a rough time for her, because her mother just passed away from diabetic problems.  Surprisingly she seems to be coping well, and was even smiling and such when we saw her the next day.  She is also progressing very well, and she will also be ready for all her baptismal stuff.  I hope she gains a good understanding of the Plan of Salvation and what she can do to see her mother again.  And she also brings her 2 kids to church, and one already asks to be baptized, so I hope that they join the Church together.

But besides that, honestly this transfer has been filled with not-progressing investigators.  After the new transfer Elder Acorda and I plan on having a "day of refreshing", that President Headlee explained to us back when I was in Bonabéri with Elder Lee.  We did it, and basically you don't take a backpack, maybe one elder takes a small bag with brochures, and you go around, do lots of searching, explore the sector a little bit, and he also suggested to buy a soda or something.  And since our current pool isn't doing much, I think that will help.

And what I hope will help even more, is the activity and also the branch mission plan we are working on.  Elder Acorda and I, plus Elder Kesler and Elder Lamb, who are the missionaries in Bastos 1, spent some good time this morning talking about a branch mission plan.  We will present this tomorrow to our branch mission leader, but we want to focus on integrating amis and new converts with the 3 essentials that President Hinckley taught: a friend, a calling, and to be nourished by the Word.  Mainly we need to work on the friend part, because that doesn't happen often enough. To help with that, we want to do some activities that aren't that hard to do, but that are just fun, like show a movie, or something like the Bonabéri Olympics, because every darn lesson doesn't need to be like a missionary lesson.  Also we want to increase the branch's efforts to reach out to non-practicing members.  But, if anyone has any good ideas about what makes up a good branch mission plan, or what kind of fun activities we can do, I will be happy to hear them.

Also tonight we are going over to the Thompsons' for diner, which is good first off because that saves me from paying for a diner.  Each 2 weeks we received our "soutien", which is our money, and I split mine up into 20,000 CFA each week.  And ever since I've been in Yaoundé, this is the first time where I have not had to dip into the 2nd week's money early.  But also it will be good just to be with all of the missionaries of Yaoundé, because I don't get to see half of them very often.

(There was a "Helping Hands" Day in W. Africa on the church website.  Did the members in Yaounde participate?)  Oh, and about the service stuff you have been hearing about, here in Yaoundé we will be doing ours this Saturday.  At 8 AM we will meet at the church and go somewhere to do some kind of service.  I don't know why, but they haven't told us exactly what we will be doing, just to bring tools like machetés.  So I'll let you know how that goes.

I hope everyone will be able to support the heat that y'all are having.  (20 degrees above normal, no rain.)  I hope next fall that it won't be like that, because I will looking forward to a nice, cool autumn season.

Je vouse aime, BEAUCOUP,

- Eric

 

Eric's email of September 16th, 2010

Alright family, I'm starting to write this email again while I wait for the page to load, hopefully I have good luck like last week. But I'll start with the highlight of the week, which was the weekend in Douala.

So Friday morning we left the apartement at 6:30 to arrive at the bus station at 7 AM. Then we took a 4 hour-ish bus ride from Yaoundé to Douala, with no bathroom on the bus, which became a small challenge. But we made it there without incident. Then 8 of the 12 Yaoundé missionaries went to stay in Bonabéri, and the other 4 went in to Bonapriso. And since I served in Bonabéri and Elder Acorda served in Bonapriso, we split up for the weekend. But Friday consisted of a Douala versus Yaoundé American football game. We lost 5 touchdowns to 8, I think. I'm not gonna name any names, but... I only got 3 catches...

But the mission conference was held on Saturday in the Bonabéri church. There were 20 missionaries (12 from Yaoundé, 8 from Douala), the 2 missionary couples (the Thompsons of Yaoundé, and the Nuttals of Douala), President and Sister Headlee, and Elder F. Michael Watson and Sister Watson of the 70. Something pretty interesting about Elder Watson is that before he was a member of the 70, he was the secretary to the 1st Presidency, and he knew and worked with 7 presidents of the Church, from President Monson and the 6 before him.

The main thing that I retained from what Elder Watson taught as, actually came from the Old Testament, if you can believe that. It came from Exodus chapter 13, I think. I might be wrong. But somewhere in there, il y a (there is) a story about when Moses was judging everyone, and basically having PPIs with everyone in the known world. Then Moses' beau-père (father-in-law) asked him why he was doing that, and told him that he cannot do all that himself. The beau-père said that Moses needs to organize everyone, and basically make stakes and wards and quorums and all that and give callings. I think Elder Watson called this the "Moses _______ Syndrome". I forgot, I must consult my notes, but it was actually Exodus 18. Oh, and we also learned that we will not getting any new North American elders until January. And since we lose 3 this month and 4 more in December, that could be a challenge. And right now in January there is only 1 arriving. Things kind of got messed up with the mission being split, a whole bunch got sent at once which made us increase and create more areas, and now we have less and will lose more. So we'll see. I think this transfer could be an interesting one.

But Saturday after our conference, we didn't really have anything planned, so I went with Elder Kesler (who I replaced when I went to Bonabéri, and lived with in Pointe-Noire and also here in Yaoundé) and Grant (who has been a member a year-ish and is the man) to go visit people. We saw most of the members and people we wanted to, and it was really cool. But, it felt like I had only been gone for 3 days, like I had just been in Bonabéri last week. I guess I wasn't even away that long, but it was different with the new church, and also Ancienne Route has been finished. All the construction is done, you can take a taxi all up and down the road, and they even planted grass and trees on the sides, have a bike lane which will probably just become a sidewalk or another place for motos to take short cuts, and even street lights. It looks really nice and green.

And then Sunday everyone from Bonabéri went in town to Bonapriso for church where Elder Watson gave a talk after the Sacrament. Also during that meeting, President Headlee announced than next month there will be a branch in Bonabéri! So that was awesome to hear, I will be excited to hear who gets which callings and such. But Elder Watson bore a strong testimony on the truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ, and left them with a blessing found in Alma 7:27. (And now, may the peace of God rest upon you, and upon your houses and lands, and upon your flocks and herds, and all that you possess, your women and your children, according to your faith and good works, from this time forth and forever.  And thus I have spoken.  Amen.)

So those where the highlights from the trip to Douala.  We left Douala at 9 AM and got back around 12:30. But right now, I am happy to be in normal missionary mode. And I'm also happy because it is cooling down. Even though the rain is coming, the temperature is cooler. I would much rather have rain and coolness, rather than heat and burn and sweat. The only problem is that if it rains, then the clouds go away and the sun comes out, its the worst.

So now that we are back in Yaoundé in normal mode, things are going normally, except we had to cancel our baptismal service for this Saturday. This is actually the second one we had to cancel in a row, which means no baptisms in Yaoundé for the month of September, bummer. The problem is that we have progressing investigators and people ready and everything, but we need special interviews done by the mission president. And well, President Headlee is basically in charge of the church in 5 countries, so he isn't in Cameroon too often. This is something he is already looking in to fixing, but it kind of stinks.

(Why do the kids yell "hee-haw at you?) So kids here say "hee-haw", because thats how they think you say hello in chinese. Really it is pronounced "ni hao", but since they don't give a crud, and honestly lots of people are really ignorant, lots of people just say "hee-haw" to anyone that could possibly look remotly at all Asian. (Eric does not look Asian.)  It was also very common in Congo. I think if Elder Sang Lee (another missionary from our ward) was here, that would drive him to the edge of insantiy, because he actually is Asian.

Oh, and yes I got the package from the Headlee's last weekend, too. (His one-year package!)  I already ate my Sour Patch Kids, yum. As for Elder Bally's cantique, (hymnal) I'll have to send that with the Headlee's next time I see them, but I'll be sure to do that. Also, Elder Acorda was very excited about the seasoning packets we got, because he knows how to make more food than me. I'm still limited to peanut sauce and pancakes, so I should probably learn something new, soon.

And speaking of Elder Acorda, he is better-ish. He did get sick again over the weekend, something that he and 3 other elders in Bonapriso got. He literally was sneezing 50 times an hour. I swear I never heard someone sneeze so much. When we got back from Douala he pretty much just slept while I scheduled our week and studied. Not to be a jerk, but I couldn't stand being in our room so I went and studied in the living room because I couldn't handle all his sneezing. But we called Sister Thompson, she told him what to do.  I injected hydrogen peroxide in his ears, and now he is pretty much better, but still a little bit sneezy.

(What’s the difference between “the village” and the city?)  And the village is something very important in Africa. So like you know the 2 biggest cities of Cameroon are Yaoundé (the political capital) and Douala (the economical capital). And there are other fairly large places of note like Bamenda, Boya, Limbé, and Kribi. But from my knowledge those places are nothing like the cities of Yaoundé and Douala. Then besides those places there are countless number of villages, and each person and family has their own village. Some peoples' village is not far from the city, for example Grant lives in Bonabéri, and that is his family's village. Also there is a place Elder Acorda and I go here called Messassi, that is "the village" for some people. But all over Cameroon there are towns, large and small and super tiny, that are "the village". And most of them each have there own pas-toi,(dialect) many are very similar and can communicate with each other, but that explains why there are 200+ languages in Cameroon. And many of them are very primitive.


(For future sports updates, which NFL teams do you care about?)  As for NFL, most of all I care about the Redskins. You can also add Alex Smith & the 49ers if they do anything of note, and Eric Weddle and the Chargers if they do anything of note. But most of all the Redskins.

Transfers are also coming up, maybe even this time next week I'll know what will happen. Pretty darn sure I'll stay, because last 3 transfers I've been in 3 sectors with 3 different companions, but on ne sait jamais. (one never knows)  I hope everyone is enjoying life, even if school is annoying and not the funnest. But if you can believe this, I actually kind of miss school. And not just "college" and having fun and stuff like that, but actually studying and learning science and such things. So be grateful!

Je vous aime,
- Eric