Time is Flying

This last week went by really fast. Time
nowadays just flies right by. We are already a week into my fifth
transfer! And the new missionaries are coming to the mission on May
14th. But they don't have Congo visas yet so they might get here a
couple days later, but that's in two weeks! That'll be fun to have
newbies in the apartment. Especially cause they are staying in our
apartment so we'll get to work with them!
So this week we did splits twice! So it was pretty crazy. But it was fun too.
Tuesday I worked with Elder Rakotonindriana in their sector. That was
a really cool experience. He's a really funny guy. We had a really
good day too. We talked with a Pedro and a Carlos! You'd think I was
in Lauren's mission... haha The other two people were named Back (yes,
Back) and Hélinga. We had some really cool lessons and the spirit was
really strong.
Wednesday I was back in my sector. We started out with a first contact
with Chris. He is really cool. I can already tell that he will be
baptized one day. He has a really strong testimony. Then we went to
our next appointment but she wasn't available, so we decided to do
contacting. But when we do contacting, it's not just any contacting,
it's called "rich people hunting." Because we want to find people that
have the means to come to church. So we started and right away we saw
a house with an airconditioner. So we knocked on the door. We met
someone named Chris. He let us in and we had a quick 15 minute lesson
with him! First house! I am so lucky to be in this mission haha. I
couldn't knock on hundreds of doors like that. Anyway later that day
we met with Padma and Princia. We had a good lesson about the
Sacramenent, then she sent us home with apples! Then we went to Fond
Tie-Tie to meet up with the other elders for splits. We got there a
little late and they weren't there yet. So I called them and they said
"Yeah! We're on our way!" Turns out they had forgotten, so he didn't
bring anything with him as far as a toothbrush or anything haha. But
it worked out.
The next day I worked with Elder Garland in my sector. That was fun.
It's been awhile since we've been together. The last transfer he was
transferred to the other apartment. So it was good to catch up with
him. We had a lot of really cool lessons. We had a lesson with David
to talk about the Sacrament to see if he could have better church
attendance and make a sacrifice to wake up earlier so he could get to
church. That Sunday he was on time! He's getting baptized this
Saturday!
Friday we had a rough day. Lots of appointments fell through. We
started with Surprise. He's an awesome recent convert. He's going to
make a good missionary in a couple years. The next three hours were
full of walking.... Then we finally had a lesson with Guy, another
recent convert. He is being a missionary in inviting his family to
hear the lessons and come to church. He is so awesome. He is very
poor, but he paid so that all four of his siblings could come to
church with him on Sunday! It was so cool! They have two 11 year olds,
a 9 year old, and a 5 year old. It was adorable! Guy was really happy
too. It was a really awesome experience. After that lesson, he went to
show us where his friend lived that we met a couple days earlier. We
got there and the mom said he wasn't there and started yelling and
screaming in Kicongo. Luckily Sherton our branch mission leader was
with us and informed us that she had forbidden her son to go to our
church because of an accident that happened during the construction of
the church. So... We'll see what happens. Guy talked to her again
later, and he said the situation is a little better...
Saturday was a very successful day. We started off with a less active
member. Then we were walking to our next appointment, and someone
stopped us on the side of the road. She wanted to know more so she was
going to show us her house. She said she didn't live very far away. 30
minutes later we got there... But we had a really good lesson with
her. Then later we had a lesson with Lous Andre. He is a really cool
guy. We set a baptismal date with him. Then we went to attend the
baptism at the church. Everything went well. Then we taught English
class.
Sunday we had a great day at church. We had 11 investigators at
church! We also had the seminary/institute director at our Sacrament
meeting so we got to listen to him talk. He said that they announced
that every recent convert between 14 and 30 years old should attend.
So afterwards all our recent converts wanted to go to institute! It
was really cool.
Then later we got in a bus to see a less active family. We got out of
the bus and were almost there when I realized that my badge fell off
in the bus... Dang. Luckily I have a magnet one still, but I'm going
to order another one..
Anyway, we had a very good week. Lots of good things happening here.
Have a great week!
Elder VanAusdal