Feb 10, 2014

Hey everybody!

So this week went by really fast! So on Monday after we finished with all our P day stuff, I made rolls and cinnamon rolls. I did a half batch but accidentally forgot to cut the oil in half... but it still turned out really good! And we also found cream cheese! This week President Cook is doing a zone conference for us on his birthday, so I'm going to make cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting! It's going to be awesome! Anyway, then I made dinner. As soon as I finished cooking, we ran out of water. So as it turns out, they are doing work in the neighborhood replacing all the water pipes. So no one has had water for like 3 weeks. We have a cistern that can hold us for like a week, but that ran out. So now we have to pay 80 dollars a week to fill our cistern with water... Hopefully it doesn't last too long. But I did get to take some more bucket showers... haha. 

Tuesday we had an awesome day of talking to everyone that got baptized Saturday about the Priesthood, so they could receive it on Sunday. It was really cool. It has been really hot the last few days though. We walk out of the apartment and can hardly even open our eyes it's so bright! By the time we get home, our shirts feel like they just came out of the washer cause they're covered in sweat!

Then wednesday we had a zone training meeting with our zone leaders. Major changes! So we completely revamped our schedules. President expressed that he wants us to get at least 8 hours of proselyting in. So in order to do that, we are now waking up at 6:00 and we do studies, eat lunch, and leave the apartment at 10:30. Then we work all day and come home at 6:30 before it gets dark. We also changed our weekly planning from Sunday after church to Friday mornings. So we are picking up the pace a little, cause President Cook gave us a goal to baptize enough people to create a new stake. That means 1900+ baptisms this year! That means each companionship needs 3 baptisms a transfer. I think we can do it! Anyway, after the zone teaching, we went and saw a less active part member family We're going to work on getting her husband to come to church. That should be fun! 

Then Thursday is our Ngoyo day. We take a bus through the quartier way back on the other side of the city to an area where we teach a bunch of people. We met a new investigator named Loubaki. He's 21 and speaks English really well. He talked about his desires to follow Christ, so naturally I invited him to get baptized. He said "Yes, I think that would be good. Will that be this Saturday?" hahaha We set him for March 29 though haha. We still have to teach him first... He's awesome though. We also met with Pandor and Bartou. They are the daughters of the Louzolo family that just got baptized. But they are afraid to get baptized. They both said that they want to get baptized but they don't think they're ready. So we inconspicuously asked them the baptism interview questions, and they would have passed! They decided that they would pray and ask what day they should get baptized cause they didn't want us to set the date haha. So hopefully that happens. 

Then Friday, we met another new investigator named Habib. He works in a little cyber cafe. He asked a lot of questions that reminded me about the Joseph Smith story. He is really awesome. We haven't extended the baptismal date, but it will come soon. 

Then Saturday it was ridiculously hot. I definitely got a little red. But we attended a baptism at the church then had English class so we had a little time out of the sun. 

On Sunday, it rained for about in hour right before church, so attendance dropped... We actually got to sit in the chapel this time! It was really cool though. We got 3 recent converts ordained into the Aaronic Priesthood! It was really awesome. And as I was just writing that sentence, two of them just walked into the cyber cafe! haha What a coincidence! IIt was Jean and John Louzolo haha. They are such an awesome family.

Anyway, things are going awesome here. I am getting very tan, . 

Anyway, things are going great here. We're in kind of a weird stage where all of our investigators are baptized, so we're continuing to work with them, and looking for new investigators at the same time. It is so awesome here. We're focusing our efforts on families. There is nothing more awesome than teaching a family.

Anyway, I know things are going pretty rough over there. But I have a good scripture for you guys. Read Doctrine and Covenants 121. It was revelation given to Joseph Smith while he was in Liberty Jail. It's a really good chapter that we share with people that are going through trials. Hopefully that helps. 

Well, I hope you have a great week! 

Love, Elder VanAusdal