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
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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.
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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,
"Now we know why people here look so ripped,
its because the shirts are just so small.
The tags say they are adult large."
The tags say they are adult large."
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