Eric's email of April 15th, 2010

Hello everybody, so I'm gonna start by answering Mom's questions, then I'll go get Dad's darn questions.

(I reminded Eric that he opened his mission call a year ago on April 16th and asked if it seemed like a long time ago.) So I got my mission call a year ago Friday, dang. That does not feel like a long time ago at all, to me at least. Weird, I guess that means I am becoming an old geezer.

(I asked him how his clothing was holding up.) So my shoes are still comfy and fine, especially the brown ones. The only thing is that, on the brown shoes, the sole started to come off, but I bought some super super glue stuff and managed to close it back up for now. If not, there are people all over who fix shoes for cheap. Last week Elder Lee got the whole bottom of his basketball shoes put back on for less than 500 CFA. And I wear my sandals not a whole lot, but often on pdays and such. Maybe I will start to wear them more often when it rains, though. As for shirts, um, maybe I might need some more. For some reason, today I found that I only have 6 white short sleeves shirts. (He went with 7.) I was finishing my packing, and I couldn't find any other one. The supplies that are in the worst condition though, I think, are my ties. Holy cow, I have a couple of ties that are filthy. They get kind of dirty on the big end, and some are disgusting looking where the knot is. And it is worst on the lighter colored ones, like the one I got from Bro. Edmunds. So ties are the only thing in not good condition.

So yeah, the Willis (Senior couple who take care of the Elders in Bonaberi) residence is comparable to an American one, and is much much better than any other house I've been in in Cameroon. Never met anyone else with a pool. So that picture of me and 3 others by the pool, if I can remember correctly it goes like this: very left is Fred, then me, then Ebanezar, then Emmanuel, who are all studs.


Ok, I think I got all Mom's questions, now I got to go to Dad's email. Tout à l'heure. (Later)

Ok Dad, here I go.

So the Willis' finish their mission at the end of May, which will make 18 months for them. They are from Montana, and Sister Willis lived in Wyoming when she was younger, if I remember correctly. But now they live in Provo. But mainly, they are from Billings, Montana.

(Are you flying to Pointe-Noire?) Yeah, I'm flying from Douala to Pointe-Noire, and I have no idea what airlines. All I know is that I will sleep at the Willis' tonight, and that we need to get to the airport before 11 to get me all checked in. And then my flight is supposed to be leaving at 12:30 or 1:00, but, the Willis' said that ever since they have come, this Douala-Pointe-Noire flight has never been on time. And today, our friend Robert, who works at the airport, says that's because every African airline except Air Gabon doesn't get it or care about being on time. Its called African time. Ca veut dire, people are late in Africa. When people say "j'arrive", they could arrive between 10 minutes and 3 hours. So yeah, just a little side note there. And if you want my airplane tickets just tell me, and go take another vacation with them.

Alright, so now I'll answer Dad's next 2 questions, and it will probably be the biggest chunk of my email, cuz I've got to think about it. And Dad would ask these questions. So anyways, some of my 3 most meaningful or striking experiences in Bonabéri (not necessarily in order):

1) One I just thought of is about Stanley. Stanley has been a member for over a year now, and he was great and everything, but he had one issue (which is somewhat common I've found), which is tithing. We would explain the law of tithing and such, but he would never really commit. He would say, he isn't financially stable, and so doesn't know if you would pay it always. We would even explain the financial blessings and such, but its wasn't getting to him. Then, with Elder Lee, about a month ago, we taught tithing again, same result. Then the next week, we talked about the Melchizedek Priesthood, and at the end, he asked if he needs to pay tithing to get the Melchizedek Priesthood. Then the next lesson we talked about temples, which Stanley really liked. And he asked again, if he needs to pay tithing to go to the temple. So we were feeling good about that, and then a couple days later, just in passing by, he told us he wants to start paying his tithing. So I chose this because I saw how Stanley was hard to get to for so long, and we never knew if he would ever pay his tithing, but he saw the blessings, especially the temple, that pushed him to act and live the principles of the Gospel, specifically tithing.

2) The baptismal service at the beginning of this month. I loved that, because I got to see all 3 of those people, Fred & Emmanuel & Eb, all progress from the beginning to baptism & receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and further. And at the beginning, they were are just simply there, not anything extraordinary happening, and then gradually they got testimonies, came to church despite some difficulties, and preparing themselves now to get the Aaronic Priesthood soon.

3) The day we had the "Bonabéri Olympics" activity. Again, it was just great to simply have fun with some of the members, and a whole bunch of the cartier (neighborhood) kids. It was cool to see Mam Laura coach people and tell them how to play football. It was fun teaching people how to play frisbee. Missionary discussions are important and good and all, but to show them an activity where you do not just sit in a chair and listen to people was something great I think.

Ok, now the 3 most memorable people from Bonabéri (also, not necessarily in order):

1) Emmanuel. When I got here, Emmanuel was just someone we saw once or twice a week and invited to church. He works at his soya stand down by where Tumasang, another member works. And he would always say its toooooooo hot, toooooooo much rain, tooooooooo much tired and such things. But then one Sunday he came, said he actually liked it, and then the next Sunday bore his testimony. And we had never taught him yet! And so it took a little bit longer to get him at church consistently and to read the Book of Mormon, but now he does that and many other great things. I saw him yesterday, and we talked about the Priesthood, and he promised to do all the work necessary to get the Priesthood. So for him, basically it shows how the Gospel can change someone and motivate them to do good, who didn't really care much at first. And he is also the best testimony bearer, according to me. I think I've described it already, but he does it simply on what he knows is true, but I believe him when he says it, and feel the Holy Ghost.

2) Grant, the branch missionary. Grant became a member before I got here, but what I love about him is he is willing to share the Gospel with anyone, and help us out whenever we need it. Also, when people call us "les blancs!", Grant calls them "les noirs!", which keeps me from gettin annoyed by that. He also taught me a lot of Douala. Tuesday evening we walked with him for about an hour, and we got 4 cordonées, which I think are called referrals in English. Also he is a cartier chief, which basically means he knows everywhere and everyone in Bonabéri. He is also preparing for a mission, and wants to leave by the end of this year. When he finally embraced the Gospel, he changed and is actually happy to keep the commandments now.

3) Andrew & Phillip. 2 hilarious studs. Andrew has been a member nearly a year, and Phillip got baptized in January. Even though they can say some weird things at times that anglophones say, they are awesome, and have some of the strongest testimonies. Sometimes they get a little over excited when talking about the church, and they are learning and learning, but they are 2 people who will do whatever you ask them to serve in the church. Andrew's wife also moved in with him recently. Last night they fed me and the the 3 other missionaries, with food prepared by Andrew's wife, Germen. Phillip taught me how to open a bottle of soda with my teeth. (So why did I pay for braces?) They have also known the church just since it got to Bonabéri, and would barely have 10 people at church, and now they've seen it grow, get a new building, and they might be 2 of the most excited people for Elder Runland, the member of the 70, to come. (To dedicate the new building.)


And so I don't have nearly enough time to write about everyone, but there is also Fred & Robert & Omega, Mama Laura, Eb, Passie, Tumasang, Stanley, Florent, Jules, Totto, Léonel (aka Mr. Perfect), Danielle, Valére, Nelson (Emmanuel's son), the Motto family, Lawson, President Njampou and his family, Felix, and lots of other people as well.


Au Cameroon et à Point-Noire, il y a huit missionaires à Yaoundé, huit missionaries à Douala, et six missionaries à Pointe-Noire. Il y a vingt deux missionaries, alors. Mais, en toute la mission entiere, il y a plus que cent missionaries. J'ai vu une fiche avec tous les missionaries la semaine passée, et beaucoup des missionaires servent au Congo. (In Cameroon and Pointe-Noire, there are eight missionaries in Yaounde, eight missionaries in Douala, and six missionaries in Pointe-Noire. Therefore, there are twenty-two missionaries. But, in the entire mission, there are over one hundred missionaries. I saw a picture with all the missionaries last week, and many missionaries serve in Democratic Republic of Congo.)

Sorry, I thought I would write one paragraph in French. Dad and Scott or whoever can critique me. (No critique from either.) So that's about all the time, thanks for the thought provoking questions Dad. Andrea & Jacob, kick behind in soccer. Scott, don't die. (from studying so hard) Mom, make sure Dad & Scott don't go too crazy during the playoffs. (NBA)

Je vous aime bien,
- Eric

Eric's email of April 8th, 2010

Hey Mom, I'm sending you this short email real quick, so that you don't send any packages to Douala, or Cameroon actually. The reason is, I'm getting transferred to Point-Noire! I leave on Monday, so yeah. (He later told us it would be Friday, April 16th.) I don't really know much more about that, but its kinda a bummer, because the following week is when they will move into the new building, but all well. If you want good pictures of the church when its finished, I think you will have to ask Sister Willis. But I have been told that in Congo they have a real, actual LDS church building, so that will be good. But yeah, just thought I'd get y'all the big news first.

Je vous aime,
- Eric

"J'ai été muté!"

I think I spelled that last word wrong in the title, I just guessed. Dad can correct me on that. But that means I got transferred! To Pointe-Noire! But here are Dad's questions from last week, that I am required by law to answer:

(When you go out for fish or whatever to eat, what are the names of the "restaurant's" that you get the food at? Do you usually go to the same places or do you try all sorts of places?) So when we go out to eat, which is normally fish, there aren't restaurants with names and such. The only times we've gone to restaurants with names is at Zone Conferences when President Headlee takes us. But we have 2 fish ladies that just post up on the side of the road. We just call them "fish ladies". And sometimes every so often, we go the other places, one we get beans & benyais (spelling...?). Benyais are just doughnut ball type things, except with no frosting or sugar, just fried. So pretty much, its all just from some lady on some road somewhere.

So there's not really too much in common about the members' jobs, except I noticed that the higher class and such usually don't give a hoot about what we the missionaries have. But there are lots of different jobs, one is a hair-cutter, one works at this place called "OK Foods" that just packages little snack things and such, one drives trucks around and hauls stuff, one sells soya which is meat on a stick, one is a teacher, one works at the docks, and some don't/are looking for a job. And I don't really know too much about education, but most people didn't go to college or anything.

Dad, why do you ask random questions all the time? (This was Mark's question):If you had the resources, what "store" would you open in Cameroon that would do really well? What kind of stuff would you sell, maybe stuff that the Cameroonians would love to have but just don't get much?If I would open up a store here, its would be...ugh...I dunno, if I had the resources I would open my store up somewhere else. I guess if I had to, I'd just sell candy from America, because lots of the candy from here is not really good at all. Like last week I gave the bag of Skittles you sent me to Fred & Omega because it was their birthdays during the week, and they loved that stuff. So I would open up a candy store with actual good candy.

So about Limbé, it will be best described with some pictures I took, which I shall send later today. But one great thing about it, is that it is an anglophone area! So Elder Wilkins and I said one day near the end of our missions we will go open up Limbé or some other English place and be companions again. But we saw a whole bunch of monkeys and such at the Gorilla Wildlife Reserve or something like that. I also bought a hat. Its called a "traditional hat" or "nature cap", but I just call it the "anglophone hat", because if you see anyone wearing it, they are an anglophone. After the monkey zoo, we went to another beach, had some fries and a soda, and played sports. We had to pay this guy darn 2000 CFA for a volley ball and a soccer ball for 1 hour, but it was worth it. It was sweet because we played football down on the beach, and I scored.



So I think I got them all Dad. Now I'll talk about the baptism, which was great. On Saturday, Eb, Emmanuel, and Fred were all baptized. But we did have a small problem because the water at the church in Bonapriso was off, so we did the program and such at the church, then relocated to the Willis'. They have a pool in their backyard, so that saved us thankfully. We had to take taxis from the church to the Willis', and probably got about 7 or 8 of them, that took a good chunk out of our soutien. (Money allocated for the week.) And then one person forgot baptism clothes at the church so we had to wait for him to go back and get them. And we didn't have the Willis' car because it got hit by a truck last Thursday.

But we eventually got everything together, and it went fine. But I'm glad I got to see them all baptized before I left, because I started teaching all of them from the beginning, and it was great to see how they changed from beginning until now. Especially Emmanuel, who used to never go to church, because it was toooo hot, or tooooo much sun, or tooooo much rain, or toooooo much tired. But now he comes each week, and is ready to keep "the 10 commandments, and the commandments in the Book of Mormon". That is a direct quote from his testimony, which was awesome btw. Emmanual bore his testimony at the baptism Saturday and at church Sunday, and he is the best. All he does is keep it simple, and says what he knows is true, and its great. One problem is some people give long as could be testimonies with a billion ideas and stories, which wastes time and messes up other peoples opportunities. Sunday only 3 people got time because the 1st person took for ever... But I was just especially glad Emmanuel got to share his, everyone should take his testimonies as the perfect example.

This week we finally started cleaning the new church as well. We started Tuesday, spent all day cleaning and preparing everything to do painting on Wednesday. And also a good number of members and amis (friends) showed up, so that made me happy to see. Then Tuesday night I got the call from Sister Willis that I'm getting transferred to Congo, so that's kinda a bummer. I don't get to see the building all finished, the General Authority, Elder Runland, and Pres Headlee coming all the way out to Bonabéri itself for the new building, so that stinks. All well. But yesterday we did a good chunk of the painting, everything except the main room. So Friday we have to do the big room and some 2nd coats if necessary. They might have to do some more things next week, but it should be ready for the 18th. Also last night we played soccer and football. I caught 3 touchdown passes, and got closelined (literally, by a closeline that got me on the neck) right after I caught a full field touchdown pass in stride from Elder Lee, and scored once in soccer. And we won both games, which is always fun.

But yeah, its sad to go. One member, Andrew, is always upset when missionaries get transferred. Yesterday he told me and Elder Lee that they should keep missionaries in an area for 1 or 2 years, haha. Oh, and this transfer is also surprising, because Elder Lee is getting transferred as well! He is going back into Bonapriso though, so we both are getting taken away from the new building. I am excited to go to Congo, but it will be a bummer leaving Bonabéri. Getting transferred is a small bit of what its like to get your mission call, or going home from your mission, its weird.

So that's that. I've been informed there are no anglophones down there, so that stinks, because they are hilarious. But I think it will be good. So I hope everyone enjoys their spring break, Jacob don't get too bored. And enjoy going to Puerto Rico Mom and Dad, now I know why you wanted the frequent flier miles!

Je vous aime,
- Eric

Eric's email of April 1st, 2010

Hey family,
Sorry I didn't write today. We ended up going on another trip, this time to Limbe. So maybe this week I'll get a little bit of time to write home, but we'll see. I just wanted to let Mom know I'm OK. But that's unfortunate to hear about Sister Moore, I'll keep her family in my prayers. And if Dad or whoever got me Tyler's email, that would be great. But thanks for the emails and such, and thanks for all the questions Dad, I'll try to answer them later. One thing though, is that this is the last week of transfers, and that would be a bummer to leave Bonaberi before the building is done, but whatever.

Je vous aime,
- Eric

Eric's email of March 25th, 2019

(Once again we have two emails put together-the first to Anne, the second to Mark.)

So yeah, I'm gonna respond to all of your questions here Mom, then do Dad's and write some other stuff.

Yeah, last week I sent an email to Bro. Dajeu and told him about the new building we have found.

(We found out this week that some newly called DRC missionaries had been reaasigned.) And yeah, I remember you told me about those kids that got their call the DRC. And I remember the last zone conference Pres Headlee said there were too many kids getting called here, and told them he can't fit them all here, so I knew some kids were going to get reassigned. All well, I guess, Uganda sounds pretty cool too.

(The Gladys Knight Saints United Choir gave a fireside here in Richmond.) And I know who Gladys Knight is, Mom. But that's really cool - I'm glad that that was a success, and I'm glad that will give the missionaries there a lot of work to do.

And finally, for this email, I got the package this week! We had another Christmas in our apartment Sunday night, because we decided not to open them until after the day was over. But thanks for all that stuff, the stain remover will be very useful, but I still think by the end of my mission my shirts will be just completely disgusting. But thanks a lot again for that stuff, the pictures were also great, too. Everyone said Jacob looks like me a lot, so, sorry Jacob. And Andrea looks like a street-baller in that YMCA picture. And my comp, Elder Lee, said Scott always looks so happy.

Alright, I'll finish this stuff on the email to Dad.

Je vous aime,
- Eric

Alright, so let me go look at what questions I gotta answer...

(Patoa is a term for dialect-Eric is sharing the English patoa with the investogaros ie- "cool" etc.) So I am not disputing the info you found on the internet, but "patoa" is how the people here told me how to spell it. First I thought it was spelled "partoi" or something, but in English class we taught a little bit of "American Patoa", and they told me to spell it like that. So, just saying. And Dad, my companion Elder Lee says you are a jerk because you ate ice cream, and we didn't. Not really, but sorta. (Mark had just advised Eric to watch what he eats on his mission to avoid gaining weight, but then informed Eric he had just eaten some ice-cream.)

So first of all, the answer to that question I sent, is... C! Yes, C is the correct answer, have fun with that.

Fufu corn is cous-cous made from corn, and thats it. But my companion just informed me that it is different from the European cous-cous stuff. And I haven't even eaten it that much, only 2 or 3 times ever. But that amie de l'église called me fat again this week, along with another one. So last night at diner I asked Grant, the branch missionary if I am fat, and he said no. So I told him all our investigators tell me I am, and he says I am just fat compared to all the other missionaries in Bonabéri. But its probably just because I'm the only one that works out in the mornings, so I'm just more buff.

So for the new building, we still haven't started cleaning it, because the owner is still finishing up a few things. We wanted to be in there for church on April 4th, but its looking more like April 11th now. But first part of April we will be in the new place. And it is only about a 5 minute walk, on the same road as our old apartment even. So that's only a 10 minute walk maximum, even if you are walking African speed. And to transport our stuff, we will just carry it or load it in the back of the Willis-mobile.

And yes, the new building will definetely help to get a branch here in Bonabéri. Pres told me in a few months or so there should be a branch here. In that old building, it would have been impossible to organize a branch there, there just aren't the necessary facilities I guess you would say. So finding this new building may have been the most important step in getting a branch organized in Bonabéri.

So this past week was good, especially Sunday at church, because we had 8 amis de l'église at church! Which is really good compared to some recent numbers. We are also getting 3-4 people ready for baptism April 3rd: Eb, Emmanual, and Fred. We were planning also one Omega as well, but he is only 17 so we need a letter from his mom. And we finally met her on Tuesday night, and she is fine and happy that her son is at church and such, but doesn't think her son needs to be baptized again. We tried to explain it briefly, but it wasn't the right setting, so she lives in town in Bonapriso, and we are sending her phone number to the missionaries there. So it looks as if Omega will have to wait, but that's ok. But this week we got all those people ready and talked about the interview, so tomorrow I will be with one of the zone leaders from in town who will come out to do their interviews, so yeah.

Also on Saturday we are having an activity, called "Bonabéri Olympics". And this is something just organized by us the missionaries, to show members a church activity that is fun and not just like a missionary discussion. So I'll talk more about that next week, but we are going to have games like tug of war and such. When we tell people, they always ask if we are going to play football, and we have to tell them no. So I hope people show up even though we aren't playing football, we'll see.

Also Tuesday night Elder Lee and I had a really unique experience. One of our amis, Robert, works at the airport, and he was rewarded with a medal for working there for so many years. So Tuesday evening at 4:30 there was a reception at his house. We were a little late according to when Robert told us to be there, but we were able to relearn the principal of Africa time. We didn't start really anything until nearly 6:00. We ended up rescheduling the remaining 2 rendezvous we had planned. But we went, and Fred (who is getting ready for baptism), sat us down at a table, and we just sat there waiting for a while, and then there were some speeches in Douala (their patoa), and some lady at our table was kinda translating. And Totto, who is a member of the church, gave the last speech and the prayer in Douala, so that was cool. Then we ate a whole bunch of African food, and we had Fred as our cultural expert to help us not mess anything up. We also taught Fred a good amount of American Patoa that evening. Again, we observed that Cameroonians love their alcoholic beverages, and some kept asking us why we don't drink and such. Only one lady was annoying, and said we need to drink so we can tell people we've actually been to Cameroon. I don't know. But the point of all this is, that Cameroonians like to have receptions with lots of drinks and speeches in their patoas. So it was pretty cool.

But that's about it, I am still anticipating rainy season when it is much cooler. Yesterday Elder Lee told me that he had never seen me sweat so much, because we were at a family's house that was not well ventilated, and I had to make sure I didn't transpire (french for sweat) on my Book of Mormon. Tell Scott that he is grounded again for not writing. Thanks again for the package and stuff, and Dad, ne meurs pas au 10k.

Je vouse aime,
- Eric

Eric's email of March 18th, 2010

This week we received two emails-one for Mark and one for Anne. The first 5 paragraphs answer questions from Mark. The rest is the email sent to Anne.

Alright, here Dad I'm gonna answer all your questions then I'll answer all Mom's on an email to her and tell you guys about other stuff then.

(Do you have pictures of the new building?) So yes, I got the note about taking pictures, and we just got the keys to the new building about 2 or 3 hours ago. So we will start cleaning this week, but I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures.

(Do you have Nutella?) The chocolate stuff that we use is called Tartina. But I've also seen that Nutella stuff here too, but we just get Tartina because its cheapest but still really good. I think it says "paté à chocolat" or something like that on the Tartina containers.

Yeah, we can go places to buy white shirts and such. Today I was actually going to go to marché centrale, but we don't have time now because Elder Lee and I went with the Willis' to finish the deal and get the keys(to the new church building). But that would be the best place to get it, even though that place is a "goat rodeo", as Elder Willis says. (A goat rodeo must mean it is very chaotic.)

Each week, we take a taxi into town every Thursday morning to do emails and shopping and such, which costs us 2000 CFA. And then 2 or 3 times a week we take a taxi to and from this place called "Mount Paragon", which is just kinda a long walk, and we get that for "cent-cent", which means 100 CFA for each place. But that's about it. I hear they (Elders in Bonapriso) take them more often in town because their area is bigger. Oh, and I saw today at the bank that $1 is about equal to 455 CFA right now. We were at the bank with the Willis' to get the money for the apartment.

Alright Mom, I'll do my best to answer all the questions this week.

So like I said in the email to Dad, we just finally got the keys today, (to the new building) so we have not yet started cleaning. But the guy we are renting from is named Samuel, and he joined the church in France, but moved back to Cameroon 12 years ago and the church was only in Yaounde. He also left his Book of Mormon and everything in Paris when he moved. But I think he will start coming to church when we get in the new building. Today he asked me about a little blue reference book that he says all the missionaries had, but I don't have it. But he also asked about a Book of Mormon, so we'll see.

And I think the members are excited kind of. Not many have seen the new place yet, but they are happy. And we will actually also be living there. Its big enough so that the missionaries will just live in a few back rooms, so that will be a wonderful blessing as well. (I asked if the keyboard could stay in the new building-the missionaries had been carrying it back and forth) So yeah, the keyboard will just be there always. And yeah, I'll still be playing the piano each week, usually the same dozen songs. And the only song I've heard a notable improvement on is page 79, which is "Secret Prayer" in English I think. We sing that song nearly every darn week.

(Eric said he has eaten Miombo-a type of rubber) And so that rubbery stuff I talked about, its not that hard to eat and it doesn't taste bad. And yeah you swallow it. People eat it a lot because its cheap as free but still fills you. Elder Lee likes it a lot, but I take plantains or something rather than that "Miombo" stuff. Also you dip it in pima, which is a super spicy pepper that I like. So no matter what people give me I'll eat it with pima.

(Will you get General Conference?) So for General Conference, we don't get it here. Its not broadcasting at any of the buildings or anything either. We just go to church like normal, and everyone waits for the Liahona to come. But they do have some DVDs of older conferences that they show sometimes at the church in Bonapriso. Oh, and at our new building in Bonabéri, there will be a TV so we can show movies and such.

Alright, I think I got them all. Tell Scott and Jacob and Andrea that they are grounded for not writing me this week. But that past week went well, I think. Nothing too amazing happened, but it was great. We have 3 people getting ready for baptism in April, and will have their interviews next Friday, and it might be 4, we'll see. But yesterday was a fun day, because we did an exchange, and I finally got to go on an exchange outside of my area for the first time ever! I worked with Elder Roldan in the nouvelle route (versus ancienne route, which is mine). And it also rained yesterday until noon, but not too hard, and it stayed cool for the rest of the day. I barely was sweating at all, which was awesome, and it was the first day I actually used my umbrella. And yesterday Elder Lee and Elder Price told me one of our investigators called me fat, when I wasn't there. She said to them, "Elder Palmer is fat, because he likes to eat fufu corn". So yeah, I'm fat.

Elder Lee and I have also commenced a new first lesson tactic this week. We did this because explaining everything in the first lesson to people here often takes too much time, and we weren't getting the most important parts to be the focus. So, now we have started having our first lesson on the Book of Mormon and prayer, and that's it. This lets us present immediately something unique about our message right from the start so that they will be more interested. And the very first time we did this was Monday. We were also working with Grant, who is our branch missionary/the man. And so we got raté-ed, (ditched, as in our appointment ditched us) and just went looking from some new peeps. And so we just walked down the street a bit, walked up to this family's house, presented ourselves, and they brought us chairs (btw, contacting is just too easy here. I don't know if its because we are white or because people here are more open to this kind of stuff, but its too easy sometimes). Anyways, the family name is the Elombo family, and we taught the mom and two of her kids. So we said a prayer, and we just started talking about the Book of Mormon. I don't think we even said the word apostasy, or restoration, or Joseph Smith even, but it was a great lesson. We left them a Restoration brochure, and we will go back on Sunday. That was the most effective one I think, and we've done it a few times now and I like it. And it didn't hurt that Grant already new the family a bit. Also I've seen a great help when we work with members especially Grant, who is "le chef du quartier".

And now the spiritual experience of the week, is brought to you by our ami de l'église, Fred. Fred is one of those getting ready for baptism here in April. And at first, the only reason we were really seeing Fred is because he lives with Robert (who is getting ready for baptism in May). We talked with Fred usually when Robert wasn't there, just as a backup. But he started coming to church with Robert, and even when no one else from his house came he was still there. So we actually started teaching him, and one night we were teaching him and Omega together, and we were planning on asking Omega to get baptized, and so since Fred was there we asked him too. And he said yes, first, without even hesitating. And at the next rendezvous, he said, in his anglophone accent "I don't know really why I said yeah, but I just think it is the will of God for me." Something like that. And so he actually started taking our lessons seriously, one time he even told us we need to come more often to prepare him for baptism. And last night he even called Elder Lee to see what chapter he was supposed to read in the Book of Mormon, because he forgot. So it has been awesome to see Fred go from a funny anglophone who made us laugh, to someone who has a real testimony now and is preparing himself well for baptism soon. And he is still funny, we teach him American "patoa". Patoa is one's native language, like there are over 200 African patoas here in Cameroon. And we have taught Fred "What's up?" and "Peace out".

So yeah, that is that. I think we are getting closer to rainy season, which is good. I think I will like that a lot more rather than the heat and dryness all the time. Today its really hot though, which happens a day after rain and then the darn sun is out. Oh, and one other exciting thing we will do on Saturday, is go play basketball at the American school in town!!! The missionaries used to play basketball in Yaoundé at the American embassy, and on of them got a hookup and now we can get in the American school and go play indoors on their hardwood court! But things are good, oh and thank the Hickey's for the letter I got from them last week.

Je vous aime,
- Eric

Eric's email of March 11th, 2010

Hey family,
I hope the email and internet everything will work fine this week. So, this week, especially yesterday, was AWESOME! And we also had zone conference this week. So I'll start by answering Dad's questions then talk about yesterday's awesome day.

(Do you have enough money?) Money is fine, no problems there. I actually have extra from the soutien (support) they give me that I gotta give back later today, so there are no problems there. And I was going to go buy my cleats today, but it is too rainy and we spent too much time playing football and rugby this morning.

My companion, Elder Lee, has just informed me that there is no daylight savings here.

I don't know the next Cameroonian holiday, but there was one on March 8th: International Women's Day. So its not just for Cameroon, but here the women with enough money buy an African dress and in the evening go party. But all day we could go around and say "bon fete" and everyone was happy.

My French is going very well I think. I don't want to brag or things like that of course, and obviously I still have a lot I can improve, but I understand pretty much everything people say and most often don't have any problems expressing what I want to. Especially during lessons with people, I find it to be the easiest there, because I talk about those things all the time, and because those are the things that are most important.

So now, Wednesday. The first great thing, is that we found a new building for the church in Bonabéri!!! I told you this at the beginning I think, but right now we are at a member's house, which is getting much too small and there is just too much noise there. But we've been really looking for a new place since before last zone conference, and on Saturday Elder Lee and I found a "grand apartement en etage", which is exactly what we had talked about. We sent the phone number to the Willis' that night, (Senior missionary couple who work with the Elders) and President and Sister Headlee went down there on Wednesday in the morning and they basically made the deal and got the keys to the place last night. And the other funny thing is that the guy who owns it is a member of the Church, who joined in France! I barely met him, but apparently he didn't know the church was here and hasn't been in a while. So that was random. But we've got to do some cleaning and fixing up before we get there, but in 2 or 3 Sundays we plan on being there.

The other sweet thing that happened Wednesday is we set a baptismal date for Robert. He has been taught since November, and has said one day he will be a member of the Church, but for some reason was not too worried about getting baptized. But we finally got him Wednesday, and he is preparing for baptism in May. And his nephew, Omega, and friend, Fred, who live with him are getting baptized in April. But that was great to finally get set.

Also, Tuesday was Zone Conference! Those are always awesome, because President Headlee is the man. There were lots of good things that I can't remember too well, but I wrote them down in my study journal so I can remember them later. But I remember the main point of President Headlee's lesson was about plain and precious truths, and how they are related to the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. And specifically he talked about prayer, and how in the Bible, it is extremely difficult to find all the "qualifications" to get an answer from prayer, but all the doctrine and knowledge was restored, thank goodness. Oh, and also all the elders from Yaoundé came down, so I got to see Elder Ternieden (Eric's first companion) who got transferred back up there, and now I think I've officially met all the missionaries for Cameroon. There is one, named Elder Hunter, who went to Woods Cross High, (Utah, where our family used to live and Eric would have attended this high school had we stayed) so that was cool to meet someone from where we used to live. We talked about "Classic Skating" and such. (Classic Skating was a skating rink in Bountiful Utah where Eric and his friends liked to hang out-they were in elementary school.)

And so my official spiritual thought of the week is brought to you by our wonderful ami de l'église, Emmanuel. Emmanuel is an anglophone preparing for baptism in April, and we finished teaching him the Gospel of Jesus Christ on Monday. And at the end of the lesson, Elder Lee asked him, "Why do you want to be baptized?" And he said, simply, "Because I want to be blessed, and so my family can be happy together." Something like that, but it was super simple, but probably the greatest response to that kind of question I have ever heard.

So that's about that. This week we will start cleaning the new church building, and hopefully not melt to death. We are also planning a missionary activity for Bonabéri at the end of this month. We are going to do branch Olympics, like tug of war, 3 legged race, things like that, and the theme will be unity. But I hope things continue to go well. Jacob good luck with the band concerts coming up. Andrea stop growing so fast. Scott don't die at school. Mom keep running the house so well, and Dad ne meurs pas au Ukrop's 10K. (Don't hurt yourself at the Ukrop's 10K)

Je vous aime bien,
- Eric

Eric's email of March 4th, 2010

Eric sent this picture a few weeks ago. The caption on the wall is
"Holiness to the Lord" Zechariah 14:20

Hello everyone,

Alright, so I'll start with answering questions... So Dad, what questions of Mom's did I not answer? Oh, and no I don’t recognize any of those names you told me about Mom, but that’s cool about those guys’mission calls. (Two SUU students are going to African missions-one to DRC!)

For my last 3 meals, starting this morning, my comp and I stopped at a boutique and got chocolate gateaux. Which is basically some bread thing with this chocolate spread, (we think it is Nutella-how deprived is Eric that he doesn't know what Nutella is?) and we get 2 for 300 CFA, which is 60 to 70 cents. Then last night at the end of the day, we met up with the other two missionaries and had "poisson brisé", which is grilled fish that you peel apart and eat with your hands. That costs 600 CFA, then I got 200 CFA of plantains which are just kinda like bananas but have the texture of potatoes and are really good, and 200 CFA of Miondo (that's how Elder Price told me to spell it), which is basically just rubber that you can eat. I doubt there is any nutritional value at all in that. And also I had a Topomplemousse with that. And then yesterday for breakfast, I made scrambled eggs and potatoes with ketchup, yum.

No, I did not get my cleats yet, and I stinkin' forgot my money again to get it transferred to CFA...I'll get them soon...(These cleats were supposed to be his Christmas present-and now it is March!?!)

Well I've only played soccer once, and that was a while ago in my 1st transfer, Elder Lisowski and I went to play one Saturday morning with a member named Grant. And it was ok, but we never went back because no one else ever wanted to go again, lazys. But since then, the last p-day of the week of zone conference I played basketball with Elder Terneiden, Elder Lee, Elder Landress, and Grant and Florent (2 members). And it was pretty good, except I didn't really eat a breakfast because I was out of food and we didn't bring enough water. But we are planning to play something next p-day because this Tuesday is zone conference so one p-day we have more time because there is no district meeting.

(Mark asked how old is the oldest member in Bonberi?) So right now I can't tell you, but in April the oldest member will be Ebanezar, who I talked about a little bit last week. He's 78, so he says, and he is getting baptized on the first Saturday of April. But, who has been a member the longest... I think I would have to guess Nanné Stevens, because he knows the Dajeus and was Bro. Dajeus' hometeaching companion. Right now he is a Sunday school teacher, and he's the man. (The Dajeus are members from Cameroon who now live in our stake.)

So I think I got all the questions, if not ask me them again next week, and so I apologize because I probably did miss something. But this week was ok, except I'm pretty sure it is the hottest week of my life, and Elder Lee has said the same thing. Especially Monday, I thought I was going to die. But (thankfully) we had to come back at 1:30 to do weekly planning and meet someone from the Branch presidency who is also the guy who fixes our apartment when it gets messed up. The shower head in my bathroom was leaking a little bit, so Elder Lee tried to wrap something around it to stop it some, and then it just kinda exploded somehow, so we had to turn the water off for a couple days. And so we also got a break from the sun. I'm a little bit sunburned right now.

Also last Sunday church got changed from 3 hours to 2, for the time being. This is because in Bonabéri we are still a group, so actually we don't exist. But the problem was that nearly everyone showed up late. Elder Lee announced to everyone to be there 15 minutes early next week, so we'll see.

Oh, and so before I forget, Mom, yes I got some packages. I got one from the Innsbrook YW, I got a family calendar from Aunt LeeAnn, I got a card thing from the Bertonneau's, and I think there is one other I cannot remember right now. But thank everyone for those. I did get my Christmas package from Grandma and Grandpa, and I just got another card from them today.

So one other notable thing this week, is me and Elder Lee have found our new favorite people to teach. One day we just contacted this guy named Princely, and at least I didn't think much of it. So we went to our first rendez-vous with him and his brother Chris, it was pretty good. They are anglophones btw. Then later we came back a few times, and on the 2nd rendez-vous, Chris told us he received an answer that our message is true. So we've gone back, just finished Plan of Salvation, and Chris came to church last week. But also in our lessons their cousin Blandine, who is a francophone, sits in. And she is actually starting to take interest now that we gave her a Livre de Mormon, rather than just sitting in to learn English. And also they live with their grand-mére, who is awesome. I don't know how old she is, but she only speaks pigeon and is always saying random stuff during the lesson, but she is a sweet old lady who we can't communicate with. And so these lessons are good, and also they are hilarious. Yesterday we taught just Princely and Blandine, and we spent 40 minutes explaining the Spirit World to Princely. I told him, "Princely, when we die our spirit doesn't immediately go back to Heavenly Father." And then he said, "What!? How can you say that? Elder Lee, is this true?" And then we read a verse, but then it took forever for him to understand the difference between Paradise and Prison in the spirit world. He also got kinda mad when he saw how the French Book of Mormon is bigger than the English one. I told him "its the same thing, Princely, just in French and the writing is bigger". Then he said, "this is an injustice!" One would appreciate it more if they were there actually, but its always fun.

So the spiritual thought... is from Andrew, who is a member. And basically, he told us his awesome testimony. He didn't like where he was going with his former church. So later he found the missionaries, and at first wasn't that into it. Other people around him told him that the missionaries were not there for the Gospel, but to do crazy stuff. But Andrew said he prayed very hard for a long time, and got an answer. And so even when there were other people around him telling him stuff, he stuck with the answer he got from God, and he is the man. Also he is one of the few people who did all his home teaching in the first month of home teaching in Bonabéri, and last Sunday he taught a lesson and gave a talk. Stud.

Oh, and one other thing about Eb. We taught him la Parole de Sagess (Word of Wisdom) on Tuesday, and he got a little confused. On the board we wrote the things you do not take: l'alcool, le tabac, les drogues, le café, et le thé. But he got a little confused, and said how he understands a little bit of coffee and tea can be good, but he didn't understand why he should smoke and drink and take drugs. So, we explained to him these are the things NOT for the body. Eb is the man, though.

Well enjoy the nice weather and the Jazz/Wizards game. And enjoy the 10k for those who run it, Dad don't pull anything.

Je vous aime,
- Eric

Eric's email of February 25th, 2010

Wow Jacob, you are turning into a basketball Jones, who plays well in crunch time. Make sure you record your highlights when they show them on Sportscenter. And Andrea, sorry your perfect season is over, but that's how most (or all) of my teams were, barely trying to get a few wins. Next time you should do a 360 dunk, Andrea, that should help. And Scott, Dad told me to ask you about your School of Rock dealio, so, dis-moi! (Tell me)

Yeah, last week I didnt get any time to send pictures, we had a special-ish district meeting with the zone leaders who came down from Yaoundé. But I'll do it this week.

Haven't gotten cleats yet, I was going to go today, but we ended up making a rendez-vous with this inactive member named Moise, who lives out in Bonabéri but works in town in Bonapriso. And since we are in Bonapriso today Elder Lee and I are going to go visit him with the Willis'. He's been a member since '07 or something like that, and apparently he was one of the biggest reasons the church got moved to Bonabéri, but he went inactive quickly. So hopefully it will go good, we just want to get to know him and find out his conversion story.

So let me see what questions I forgot to answer to Dad... Yes, I am writing in my journal, even though I don't like it. Sometimes its hard, because I get home and I have to help make dinner and do the area book and close our day and take a shower, and somehow write in my journal. But its going pretty good, and I very well could use another one, so that would be something good to send, thanks.

Alright, so about the Bonabéri activity-we got 63 people there, which is far more than ever come to church. Our record for church is only 46. We watched this movie called "Our Heavenly Father's Plan", a few people gave some testimonies, and we sang some songs, and Sister Willis made refreshments for after. The movie was made like 20 or so years ago.

Also this week we have set 4 baptismal dates! After almost a whole transfer with none. There are 4 people preparing to be baptized the 1st Saturday of April: Emmanuel, Ebanezar, Fred, and Omega. And I'll talk a little bit about these beautiful people.

So first is Emmanuel. Emmanuel is an anglophone who works on Ancienne Route (one of the 2 main roads in Bonabéri) and sells soya. And soya means meat on a stick. So he's a soya man. He also works next to a member of the church named Tumasang. And what happened with Emmanuel is that the missionary who I replaced here would just invite Emmanuel to church every week whenever they would go see Tumasang. And he never came, just saying there was "toooooo much sun" or "tooooo much rain" or "toooooooo much heat" or "toooooo much tired". But then one week he finally came, to our surprise, and said he liked it. And he came the following week, and bore his testimony! That was back in January, and he has been pretty consistent-ish with church since, and now with our goal for April we think he will come each week and read in his Book of Mormon. He is married also and has 2 kids, but right now his wife and one kid live back in the village. So we will also plan for his son here, Nelson, to get baptized.

Next, Ebanezar, whose name I don't really know how to spell. But often times we just call him Eb. Eb, is 78. Elder Lee told me he is by far the oldest person he has ever taught. And one day back when I was with Elder Ternieden we just met Eb en route one day, invited him to church, and he has come every week except one since. And he has super bad eyes, so he can barely read his Book of Mormon, but he is currently working his way through Alma 32 right now. Oh, and he is a Francophone.

Next is Fred. His real African name is Akama, but he told us to call him Fred, I don't know why. But he is hilarious. He lives with Omega, who I will talk about next. Fred always wears a cool hat. Another anglophone, actually wasn't even in our progressing investigators section, but since he gets taught with Omega, he was just at the right rendez-vous at the right time. So there will be a bit of work to do, but its sweet.

Lastly for now, Omega. Omega is 17, a francophone who speaks English well because he went to English school. He is the nephew of this guy Robert, who is the friend of Totto who is a member. And we also want Robert to prepare for baptism in April. But Omega is the man. He is still in secondary school, but he wants to do computer science for his job when he grows up. And basically he is the man, just because he gets everything and keeps his commitments.

So that's that for now, 2 of those are "families", with Emmanuel and his son Nelson, and Robert/Omega/Fred/Seignor (who is Robert's son who is 7 years old only). So it was a really great week, or at least since Monday. But its also like rainy season has started early, Saturday Sunday and Monday night, and knocked out the power each time. The biggest bummer about the power going out is no fridge, which means no cold drinks, which stinks. And no fans. But its not that bad, and its never out for more than a day.

So now I will share the spiritual thought. So last night we saw Sheila, Shilah, and Sheila, or Shilahs 1, 2, and 3. And we hadn't seen them forever. But we went to her place with "The Restoration" DVD. So we watched that, after Sheila 1 went and found a DVD player that worked. And basically that movie is awesome, because no matter where you are or who you are watching it with, you can feel the Spirit. It was only the first time I've watched that at an investigator's house, but I've decided we should do that once a week, for our sake. That way, even if we are having a crappy day and stuff, we can watch that and be happy again. And also, its really good for the investigators because its easy to understand Joseph Smith's story from it.

Well that is that, as some anglohpones say. Oh and this week was transfers again already, and I'm still here. Which I'm happy about, but transfers always keep things exciting. Anyways, I hope it snows enough for the kids to get another snow day. And you can also send some snow with the Willis' daughter if you want.

Je vous aime bien,
- Eric

Je jure aux singes

Hellohihowareyou!?

Sorry last weeks email was short and probably boring. But things here are still going well. I'm glad to hear peeps are doing well in Virginia. I'm sorry to Scott Jacob and Andrea that they had to got back to school, but that's not too horrible, I hope. And thanks Dad for the false alarm on Utah score update, I thought you were going to tell me Utah beat BYU, but that's still pretty good news. (Utes beat UNLV.)

So tonight at the Willis' I'll get a photo with them and also send some Kribi photos. And I'll also try to explain the old ones there, I forgot what pictures I sent exactly. And Dad, I don't think you would lose any weight with the Cameroonian diet I am on. But I do do exercises every morning except Sunday. Me and Elder Lee, after playing basketball decided we were too out of shape, so we decided to run 3 times a week, but that didn't last very long because we just got ridiculously tired, and I don't care enough. But I have been working out with weights and junk for the past 2 or more months. So I don't think I'm completely weaksauce anymore.

Oh, and before I forget, I need someone to send me my church membership number, because the missionary email thing is doing some upgrade with google, and I need that number. It would be really good if you got that to me today so I can finish that registering deal tonight. And that is why I haven't been able to send letters to Sang, and now Spencer too.

So at Kribi itself, we didn't have a whole lot of time. But there were 5 of us elders and the Willis'. So the Willis' just relaxed in the car with AC or in the shade, while we went on the beach for a while. Me and Elder Landress threw the football around for a while, and the others spent forever taking wimpy pictures.



Then we walked down the shore to this sweet waterfall and took pictures there, and told like 3 different people we didn't want a tour or any beer.



Also saw some people bathing there, and some old European in a speedo, from a distance thankfully. Then we went over to this hotel place and had lunch. It was really empty. We met the owner lady, she is from Switzerland but she spoke English still. And I had some delicious shrimp meal, I think it was called "Cravette de sauce pinquante de l'anana", (Crevettes aux sauce piquante de l'ananas) Dad should be able to figure that out. (shrimp in spicy pineapple sauce) And then we just chilled on the beach for a little bit, and we had to head back before it was too late. Unfortunately we didn't have too much time with getting stopped and stuff, but it was still good. Oh, and I have gotten stopped one other time with the Willis', on Thanksgiving when we were going to play football, and also one time in a taxi. But if you've got your papers, they can't do anything. And also one time we got stopped by some people in another taxi faking being cops. And when they saw we were legit, they just got in their car a drove off.(Explaining times when he was stopped by police.)

But as for l'oeuvre missionaire, things are moving a bit. This Saturday is the first activity in Bonabéri ever to be planned by the members, rather than the missionaries. And the theme is the Plan of Salvation. They are planning on watching a Plan of Salvation movie, some members explain/bear testimony, and there will be refreshments. Hopefully, it will be a success. We'll see.

But not much time, I'll go right into my spiritual thought of the week. So, with our new program and such, we need to be more effective when we teach, and not waste time with lessons that ain't doin' nothin'. So Tuesday this week, we had a full day and taught 8 lessons. And we had several so-so, not that great lessons. And my comp, Elder Lee, said he really didn't like some of the last lessons, especially one where the lady wasn't really understanding the pre-earth life. I didn't think it was bad, its just wasn't that good. But then lastly we had a lesson with Laura, who was just baptized in January. We had a lesson on missionary work, she also talked about the blessings she has seen since her baptism, we sang a song before we closed, and the Spirit was there. And that's what I decided was the huge difference, the Spirit being there. I didn't really feel anything that great during some of the other lessons during the day, but in the lesson with Laura that was probably the main difference why it was so much better. So I decided, I just gotta pay attention to the Spirit better, and that will help us work more efficiently.

Well that's that, that's all I'll write for now but will send some pictures of Kribi tonight. The internet is being slow today so I want to try to email some amis. Also if you can send an email of this to Sang and Spencer, that would be good, because I can't contact them until my internet is upgraded too. Hope this week goes well, even though the kids got to go to school.

Je vous aime bien,
- Eric

Eric's email of February 13th, 2010

Hey everyone,
Sorry I didn't email on Thursday. The reason for that is because I wasn't in Douala for p-day. Four other missionaries and I went to this place called Kribi! Kribi is about 2 hours away, and it is this beautiful beach area. Next week I will send pictures of it. (That is it to the right and below.) Also right now I am typing on an English keyboard, but it is set for French, so if there are spelling errors, that is what I blame it on. But I'm pretty much used to the french keyboard by now anyways.

So also I don't have barely any time, so I'll answer more questions and such next week. But things here are good, and today was actually great, because it wasn't ridiculously hot. Its rained a little, there were clouds all day, and I barely was sweating. So hopefully rainy season will come soon, because it is a lot more bearable than dry season, I think.

Well with the time I have remaining I will share my spiritual thought of the week. So, on Thursday on the drive out to Kribi, we ran into a little trouble. We got stopped on the highway, and some army guy asked for all the Willis' papers and our papers. And it took about 20 or more minutes. And the Willis' resident papers had literally just expired 2 days before, but luckily the guy didn't notice. But we could have been in trouble there. So that was a pain. Then we also had to drive back 15 to a gas station so Elder Willis could stand up cuz his leg was falling asleep. It wasn't a fun ride, and we didn't have that much time actually at Kribi. So after, we started to drive away, and Elder Willis stopped in the road soon after and asked one of us to give a prayer. And the drive on the way home was fine. We did stop at the gas station again, and I got a Topomplamousse, which is basically Squirt, and a thing of Pringles. But there were not problems. So basically, the moral of the story, was make sure you pray, and chances are things will go better.

In closing, thank you for the emails everyone. I especially enjoyed Jacob's Superbowl recap, and Andrea's bus story. And Scott, thanks for finally emailing me to the correct address. I promise next weeks email will be better. And I'll send the airplane tickets Thursday, Dad.

Je vous aime bien,

Eric

February 11, 2010

No email today.

Eric's email of February 5th, 2010

Je manque "Car Talk", et personne ici le connais. (I miss "Car Talk" and no one here knows what "Car Talk" is.)

Geez, over 16 inches of snow? I don't even really know what that means anymore. But earlier this week our water heater went out, so I had to take cold showers. And it was the first time I actually really felt cold in over 3 months, so that was cool. I will probably take cold showers more often.

But I bet all the kids loved having school off, but if you all went back to school today, I'm sure Mom was very happy. But yeah, things are starting to go better with the work here in Bonabéri and with some of the members. But none of the members play the piano, as far as we know. But there is one guy who is the chorister, and one other elder is teaching him piano after church on Sundays. And I'll probably take that responsibility soon because the missionary doing it now, Elder Price, will probably get transferred we think. And as far as the building, not really any luck so far. The other companionship in Bonabéri said they saw a possibility, but I dunno.

So about Grandma Ralphene, that's kind of sad, but not really. (Grandma passed away on January 30th, 2010) Its just great to have knowledge of the Plan of Salvation, and that death is definitely not the end of existence. But on Tuesday Elder Lee and I went to a "deuil" or something like that, which is a funeral. And they are quite different, they have the body in the casket inside, then out front they have music playing and a whole bunch of chairs for people to sit. And in the room around the body, there are usually some people crying or mourning very vocally, its different. But it doesn't bother me or anything, but its just a good chance to see how they do that here, and also makes you realize they need to have the message of God's plan shared with them.

I've heard about the earthquakes in Haiti. Some people thought it was there in the states, but whatever. Grandma Carlene told me last week about her shoe drive, and the Hutchings actually sent me a picture of it. Btw, I'm going to send pictures from the Willis' tonight. (Grandma Carlene collected over 600 pair of shoes to send to Haiti through "Soles for Souls".)

Ok, and to address Sang's concern, I send him an email every darn week. Tell Sang I am getting his emails, but none of mine are going through for some reason. But if you want you can just forward my email to Sang as well until his problem gets fixed.

So I will say, no, definitely not the good time of year for weather here. And I don't know if there is a good time. Its probably better in other parts of Cameroon, where it isn't so darn hot during the dry season, but its kinda ridiculous how hot it is. My shirts are becoming discolored. But I hear it is much nicer in Yaoundé and other places, as far as the weather.

So the group in Bonabéri is officially part of the Douala branch. In Douala there is only 1 branch and 1 building right now, but the church has already purchased land for another building somewhere else in town in Douala, and like I said we are looking for somewhere in Bonabéri still. But with our goal for finding families and 192 baptisms and such, President Headlee said that will be enough to create 2 more branches here, which he says he wants to do this here. He also said he is planning on organizing a district in Yaoundé. Right now there are 2 branches there. There used to be an English branch, but that got dissolved. He said there will be some reorganizing taking place and in July he wants to start with the district and more branches and stuff.

So in our group, I believe there are... 4 dédenteurs de la Pretrise Melchisadek, I think. I can only name 3 right now, but we are pretty sure there are 4. One other person went to have an interview with President Headlee for the Melchizedek Priesthood, but he has to get all the way married first. Since the marriage system is different, (and actually kinda dumb, I think), if someone just starts the process for the traditional marriage and has the intention to complete it, the church considers them married, and they can be baptized and have the Aaronic Priesthood. But for the Melchizedek Priesthood, they have to be all the way married, so yeah. But the traditional marriage includes giving the family of the wife a bunch of food and drinks and stuff, and you can't just go and get civilly married, because then their family will get ticked off. So that is an issue here.

Ok, so for the Willis', they have been in Douala for a bit over a year now, and they are going home in June. And there used to be a senior couple in Yaoundé, but they just went home this week. So normally the Willis' are always in Douala, but now that there is not senior couple in Yaoundé, they are going to visit there every so often, I think a couple times a month, and they are up there today. They go to check on the elders and pay bills and stuff like that. But they did finally find a replacement for the couple in Yaoundé, but I don't know when they will come. And they haven't found anyone for Douala yet, and the Willis' actually said they are considering extending their mission a little bit. The Willis' are awesome.

Since the Willis' aren't here today, I can't leave anything with Sister Willis to mail, but I'm going to take pictures of the tickets and send them tonight. And no, I haven't bought the cleats yet because things have been busy here and I don't want to bug the Willis' with exchanging money for me, but I'm planning on doing it this month. But I will send the ticket stuff tonight, for reals.

So I think I covered all the questions. And now I am going to share my spiritual experience of the week. Because, in the white handbook, we read that we should share these with the people we write, and I realized and I haven't done the best job with that. So lets see, what should I share... I think I'll talk about our opportunities to give Priesthood blessings the last couple days. So on Tuesday, we went to our appointment with Phillip (the guy I baptized) and Andrew. And Phillip had a huge bandage on his said. He said at work, he got hit in the head with a panel thing, (he works at the docks). Somebody was carrying one around the corner, and knocked him in the head. And it also turned out that that employee with the panel was trying to steal it, so he got caught thanks to Phillip's head. And then Andrew said, "God put you there to stop that thief, but you did not do it like a normal somebody." He was sent to the hospital, they stopped his bleeding, and he is doing better. But we also gave him a blessing, and also last night we gave a blessing to this other lady because she was sick and had a headache, and she also said she was stressed. But just what I've noticed is people's willingness to get blessings, because they are humble. When we asked her if she wanted a blessing, she said "Who in the world can reject blessings from God?" So yeah. Even though some people here have trouble understanding some things, they are always willing to have God's help, and hopefully these opportunities will help people truly see that the Priesthood has been restored in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

So yeah, that's the week pretty much. Its hot, and its supposed to stay hot til the middle of March, when the rains come back. I'll send more stuff tonight, and I'm sorry to Andrea, Jacob, and Scott, if you had to go back to school today.

Je vous aime,
Eric

Eric's email of January 28th, 2010

Nous ne sommes pas les temoins! (We are not The Witnesses!)

Yes Jacob, I agree, Andrea's email is waaaaay too long.

So yeah, the sickness is pretty much completely over. It lasted a little bit longer for my companion, but we are good now. And for skittles, I have not heard of such as a thing as anyone getting skittles in Bonabéri or Bonapriso or anywhere here, but that was a random question.

But this past week went well, but its also good that it is over I think. I would say that it was the most difficult week of my mission so far. Just between the being sick, and in the process of sort of purging our teaching pool so that we work more effectively and also having a weird schedule because of some things. But it wasn't really that bad.

So our new teaching method is going well-ish, but we did expect some difficulties at the beginning. Because we aren't really seeing that many fruits yet, its kinda discouraging, but I do think that we are working more effectively. We have our goal to contact one new family each day, which we are a little behind just because we were sick, so we had one whole day doing nothing and a couple other pretty slow days. And then we also had zone conference yesterday, so we only got about 3 hours to work at the end of the day. But we have stopped seeing some people who never come to church or keep their commitments, so that is good. And we have also made some goals for the members, to improve the situation of the branch (actually, its technically not even a branch, its a group, and groups don't exist in the church. So the congregation I'm working in doesn't actually exist to the church.) But here are the 4 goals:
- show up to church on-time (or early, really)
- priesthood holders to wear a white shirt and tie
- learn the cantiques, or hymns (the singing here is horrible, and no one knows barely any songs, so at each lesson with members we will sing with them. This week we have been doing mostly "I Stand All Amazed".)
- magnify (or fulfill at all) their calling. This one is probably the biggest issue. For example, last Sunday I taught the English Sunday school because the teacher just didn't show up, and didn't tell anyone, so what the heck. Same thing happened with a primary teacher, ugh...

So those were my ideas, I think, and we will see how they go. But some more details about the week... So, there is this guy, who we have taught for the past 2 months about, but not very consistently. But, he actually came to church the past 3 Sundays, which surprised us. And so we thought he was coming along pretty good, finally got him his Book of Mormon, but then on Tuesday he told us he will be in his Catholic church on Sunday, crud. But he said the reason he began coming to our church was because he prayed and felt like he should. So we told him to do that again this week, and pray about where he should go to church. So we will see. We are currently looking for a real building, that is probably our biggest need right now.

We also gave this other lady the commitment to pray about baptism. She has already done all that about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, and the church. But she didn't come to our church on Sunday, so we went by her place after, and she told us she went to her other church. Now she had missed a few times, but we thought it was for good reasons, but she says she goes to her other church every so often. And then we asked her if she thought the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was the true church, and she said yes. Then we asked her why she went to the other one, and I don't really remember what she said exactly, but didn't really have a good reason, so she kinda got the point. And then we gave her commitment to pray about baptism. And she is someone who has already received and recognized answers to prayers, so I think this will be good.

What else... oh yeah, zone conference! Zone conference is always good because it is a way to get some extra relaxation in the Willis' air conditioned apartment, and then also recharge spiritually because President Headlee is just the man. There were lots of good things talked about, that is where I actually learned that our group in Bonaberi doesn't exist to the church. There were a couple good talks on hope by one of the other missionaries and Elder Willis. Elder Willis talked about how he goes and looks in the obituaries to see his friends that are dead, but it doesn't really bother him, because he has hope he will see them again, so that is cool. Then also during President's main talk, he started by talking about how much of the truth, and plain and simple things, are missing from the Bible. He compared James 1:5 and 1 Nephi 15:11 I think. And the difference, was that the Bible verse just says ask and receive basically, but the Book of Mormon verse talks about how we pray and the qualifications for receiving an answer. So he talked a lot about the Book of Mormon and modern day revelation. And it made me think of this guy we talked to the other day, who said he reads only from the Bible, nothing more, nothing less, and he believes everything one needs is the Bible. It was frustrating.

But so that was the week pretty much. I've started being the piano player for Sacrament Meeting. We have an electric piano we carry there from the apartment and set it on a church organ sound. Oh, and also we are going to change the boundaries for us and the other 2 missionaries in Bonaberi, to work closer to the church, and where we hope it will be. Oh, and we also played basketball this morning with a couple people from the Bonaberi branch. My team won 2 of the 3 games, and I also realized I am out of shape as junk, and need to start eating a real breakfast. And I also think I might start running in the morning, because each morning I lift weights we have in the apartment and stuff there, but I got tired fast while playing, so yeah.

So that's all that, things are good as usual. You better keep that Jazz game recorded until I get back, enjoy the Superbowl for me, and tell Scott to write.

Je vous aime,
Eric

Eric's email of January 23rd, 2010

Hey family,

I am writing you so that you know I am not dead. On Thursday there was no internet connection, so that's why you didn't hear from me. But we are doing it right now at the end of our day.

And things are going good. Like I told you, I've got a new companion. His name is Elder Lee, he is from Federal Way, Washington, which is pretty much Seattle. But he is legit, and he also loves sports. He is the new district leader also, and basically, everything is going good so far. I am the more experienced in the area now, so that's cool that I show him everywhere to go. But also the past couple weeks I've seen how much work there is to do down here, and now I'm not a junior companion just wandering around, I have some ideas and things to get things going here. Because, the church is pretty darn young/inexperienced here. And we want it to not be a missionary church. You guys and other people back home would probably be way surprised about how much responsibility we have, like running nearly everything for the Sunday program, trying to get people to wear a white shirt, and to show up on time. Its ridiculous. And also often times a missionary presides or conducts sacrament meeting.

But besides that stuff, things are going well. Except yesterday Elder Lee and I were sick the whole day and stayed inside. We were throwing up all day. So we pretty much just stayed in bed, and we listened to almost an entire conference session, including the priesthood meeting. But today we are pretty much fine, so its not that bad. We think it was this water we drank at an investigator's house. So I learned my lesson.

Well I don't have very much time, sorry I can't answer the questions for the week. I haven't read the emails yet, I just wanted to make sure I get an email off. But I hope you all are doing well and I miss you.

Je vous aime,
Eric

Eric's two emails of January 14th, 2010

I will be there unfailingly...

...and then he didn't show up. That is what one of our amis de l'église, who is an anglophone said to us about church last week, but then he wasn't there. And so for this week, he said, "I will be there live." So we'll see, but anglophones say funny things.

So sorry about the short email about from last week, so I'll try to make this one better. And as far as that humidity or temperature difference, honestly I can't tell, its just always hot, and being able to shower at the end of the day is the best feeling ever.

That's great to hear about everyone's basketball games (except Scott's). I want to see that video of Jacob, and then when I get back I'll see Andrea beastin' up church ball.

So the folks in Cameroon and America... Almost everyone here loves Barack Obama. There is this thing called the American lottery, to get a visa or something so you can move to the United States. And lots of people play it, and its kind of frustrating when you go to a rendez-vous with someone, and they ask if we can help them with the American lottery. And the Canadian lottery is also very popular.

So Cameroonian New Year, I don't know exactly what went on. But I would say that a lot of people went somewhere to drink, and dance, and probably said "Bonne Année" or "Happy happy happy happy...". The anglophones just say happy a bunch of times, instead of saying happy new year. But I don't really know exactly what events there were, but other missionaries have told me that people will say bonne année well into February.

I haven't gotten the package from Grandma and Grandpa yet. I am willing to bet that someone else has it, especially if it said "shirt" on the package, and especially if they found it was a football jersey. So, that's why its best to just write "missionary supplies", but that's ok. And I will send the airstubs next week, because we give stuff to Sister Willis to send in the mail, but the Willis' and the couple in Yaoundé went to the north of Cameroon for the week, so they aren't here today. (Later in the day Carlene called to say she had received an email from Eric indicating he had in fact received the package. It had a SLC REAL soccer jersey in it.)

And also no, I haven't gotten my cleats yet, because the Willis' are the ones who exchange money for us, and again they have "voyaged" (people always say they have voyaged to their village here).

Ok, lets see, what could I write about...oh, so last night we found out about transfers! And I will be getting a new companion. But its kind of interesting, because President Headlee just did a switch between two companionships here in Douala. And I will be with Elder Lee, who has been with Elder Wilkins (Elder Wilkins was my MTC companion). And now Elder Wilkins will be with my companion, Elder Ternieden. So they are just doing a switch like that, and we will still see each other on p-days. But now the interesting things is that we are waiting to see who will be zone leader and district leader, because the zone leader is getting transferred to Yaoundé.

Its weird to think that I've already been here 2 transfers, and that I will officially not be getting trained anymore, and am now upgraded to junior companion!

Oh, and I forgot if I mentioned this last week, but we have made some new goals for 2010 for the missionary work in Douala. At the last district meeting, the zone leader proposed 192 baptisms in Douala for this year, which is an average of 12 families of 4 per companionship. We have also decided to put a huge emphasis on families now, because the family is the foundation of the church. And right now, we pretty much have mostly single people in the church, at least here in Bonaberi. But that might seem like a lot because this last year I think they had something between 60 and 70. But, the (former) zone leader, Elder Wiggington and Elder Lee calculated this. And here is the formula (I bet Dad will like this):

(1/5 contacts) x (1/3 rendez-vous') x (1/2 progressing) = 1/30 baptism

So, that formula means 1 in every 5 contacts leads to a rendez-vous, and 1 in every 3 rendez-vous' leads to 1 person progressing, which means 1 in every 30 contacts leads to a baptism. And these 2 elders did this from what they noticed and their experience, and they also said these are very conservative estimates. And now, they also showed us the formula for how many family contacts we need each day:

(1 baptism/30 contacts) x (12/12) = 12 baptisms/360 families contacted

Basically, if we contact 1 family each day, this should work out. Its actually gone pretty well so far. We have dropped a few investigators who haven't come to church and weren't really progressing, and that gives us time to look for families and then teach them in our schedules. And we actually did door knocking for the first time on my mission yesterday. And it was pretty intense, because you get real nervous when you see the person walking to the door, but once I just start talking its usually fine.

So yeah, that's our new plan for Douala. One other interesting thing. That is, that it stinks trying to do missionary work during football games, especially when Cameroon is playing! Yesterday we got 2 "rattez-vous'" in a row because they would rather watch the match. But I can't really blame them, because I would be the same way. But we are going to have to try to find ways to be productive during Cameroon's games, and it is only the Nation Cup for Africa. I can only imagine what the World Cup will be like. But something that might be good from these games, is that if Cameroon looses, people will come to church. Yesterday, Cameroon lost 1-0 to Gabon, and we heard some people say stuff like, "God wanted Gabon to win, so they won." Things like that (which is not true), but it could get people to come to church.

So yeah, that's pretty much what is happening here. And with this new finding family focus thing, our numbers have gone down a little bit, but I actually think we are being more productive, and not staying with some people who probably just invite us back to talk. But I hope you all are enjoying 2010 so far, and enjoy watching the NFL playoffs...lucky...

Je vous aime,
Eric

Oh yeah, one more thing I wanted to add. So I thought I would tell you some of the ways they say hello, and how are you and stuff. Dad will probably find some of this French strange.

- So of course, you have the normal "bonjour", "bonsoir", and "salut".

- Pretty much no one says the whole "comment ça va?" Maybe they will just say "ça va", but usually they say "C'est comment?" or just "Comment?" And they do that in English too, sometimes instead of saying "how are you", they just say "how".

- Then there is "on dit quoi". This is basically, "whats up".

- I'll also give you some of the Douala I can remember. So the equivalent of bonjour in Douala is "owindolay". Now I am sure that is spelled horribly, but that is how it sounds. And then to reply, you say "nowindolay buam". Or, you can just say "Ay", which is like oui or yes. I have found that if I reply to pretty much any question I get asked in Douala, if I say "ay", that works.

- To say merci in Douala, you would say "na soum", something like that. And to say, demain or tomorrow, it is "kialay".

So yeah, I just thought you would find that interesting. And you will probably read this when you wake up this morning, so I will say good morning in Douala, but I don't know how.

Je vous aime,
Eric

Eric's email of January 7th, 2010

"I have become a happy somebody"

So, that subject line is something one of the members here said this week during a lesson, and I found it amusing. Anglophones say some funny things.

Anyways, so I was in the process of writing your email, then the stupid mouse stopped working. And then I tried shutting the computer down and everything got messed up. But I don't have a lot of time, and I don't have much patience for this computer right now, so I'll just talk about some highlights, mainly the baptism.

So yeah, the baptism went great. We were planning on having 4 people, but only Phillip and Laura got baptized. And I actually got to baptize Phillip, so that was cool. And this was the third time that Phillip had a baptism date, and he had some problems before, but now he actually made it, so hooray! And in his testimony after the baptism, he said, "I am here today to tell you that the devil is a liar!" Ha, more funny things said by anglophones.

But it was a good baptism, oh yeah, except Phillip wasn't at church when it was time for Sacrament meeting to start, and he was supposed to get confirmed. So Elder Ternieden and I were running through Bissekey, his neighborhood, and then right before we got to his place, he was walking out. He was late because he was bringing 8 or so people with him. So we can't be mad since he was bringing people to church. Then after church we had a lesson with all of them. But, we had to run and find Phillip for his confirmation.

Well, if technology wasn't stupid, I would write more, but I'm almost out of time. So I hope everyone is doing well, and I'm sure everyone is enjoying going back to school. And Scott, don't break the car. (Scott took the rear view mirror off the "Scooter" on Wednesday.)

Je vous aime,
Eric

Eric's email of December 31st, 2009

Hello,

Hope everyone is doing great and still enjoying the holidays and break from school and work and stuff. So today is p-day, the only break we get, and we are actually staying the night over at the Willis' again. This is because, they don't want to drive back tonight, because it will be crazy. So we will go back in the morning and still have a regular work day, but yeah, apparently Cameroon parties the New Year pretty good. And I can tell you more, but I am sure there will be plenty of drinking.

Ok, well it is a good thing you didn't buy an Eto'o jersey and try to send it to me, because the person who bought me it for Christmas got 2 Eto'o jerseys for 6000 CFA, which is like $12. And I know you would have spent a lot more. I haven't got my cleats yet, but I am going to do that on a p-day in the near future. But we have a soccer ball, and we got an American football for Christmas, so we plan on playing more sports in the future.

I wish I could wake up without an alarm clock...(That means he is sleeping, even in the heat!)

So, I never got the second package from Grandma and Grandpa. I did get the one with the news section about Real Salt Lake, and that was sweet. But no other package yet. If they do send another one, I would suggest to make sure that no one can feel around and see what is in it, do something like you did with the laminated ensign pages. But for my companions, we all got a paper bag thing from the mission president and his wife, and also all got a bag of beef jerky that one of the Willis daughters brought when they visited, oh and also a big Hershey's chocolate bar. (Christmas Presents)

All well, oh well, same thing.

So the taxis we take are usually pretty cruddy. In the back seats there are rarely seat belts. I actually sat in the front today and there was one. And this morning we actually got in a tiny fender bender, because the person in front of our taxi backed into us. And then naturally everyone else around came over and started talking. And then somebody paid 3000 CFA and we left. In town they had closed off a bunch of the roads and the driver didn't know exactly where we told him to go, so it took half an hour to get there. But simply, these taxis are pretty junky, but as long as they run, they will drive them.

So for bugs, there are ants all over the apartment. They are always crawling on the wall somewhere. There is the occasional cockroach. They said they had a pretty big spider before I got here, but besides that not much. Outside there are obviously some bugs too, but mostly just flies, and some are a bit bigger. But nothing that weird. There are these lizards everywhere, though.

So as you know, we are getting ready for our baptismal service on Saturday. We are planning for 4 people to get baptized. We have done 3 of the 4 interviews, and will be doing the other one tomorrow. But I'll you more about that next week after everything is done.

So yesterday I did something for the first time - we got to teach with the Willis'! They are seriously the best senior missionaries ever. Even though they are the only ones I've known, that is also what everyone else tells me. But we taught this guy William with them. William is an anglophone, who is about 45 years old, and he has his business off the side of Ancienne Route, just the main road in Bonaberi, and we have taught him all the missionary things and more, but he still won't come to church. So we thought bringing the Willis' would be good. But so we walk in his place, and the first thing that Elder Willis said was, "We love God." And if you knew Elder Willis that would probably be funnier. But it was a good lesson. We went over the Plan of Salvation with an emphasis on what we need to do here. But despite that, he didn't say he would be at church yet, so we are still struggling with that.

Also yesterday, Elder Terneiden, my comp, broke the key to our front door. The stupid lock is impossible to turn, and we were trying to lock it for like 10 minutes, then he just tried to do it with his foot and basically kicked the key into 2 pieces. But that's ok. Then we threaded some dental floss from the door handle inside, over the balcony, through the window, and to the door handle on the other side so that it would sort of stay shut. I took a picture so I can send that.

But that's pretty much everything notable from this week. It is weird, we are already over half way through this transfer, and there will probably be a lot of changes in Douala. And I'm really hungry right now because I had no food this morning except for my beef jerky, so that is what I had for breakfast. But there will be good food at the Willis' thankfully.

So enjoy the rest of your break and all the new toys you have to play with!

Love,
Eric