After watching 17
Miracles and Ephraim’s Rescue
with the branches a few people asked to borrow them to watch at home. I explained copyright law and that we only
have one copy and don’t want to loan it but we can come and watch it with
them. Then I emailed the writer/producer/director,
T.C. Christensen, and explained that the members here love his films but can’t
get copies because they are not sold here.
Also, the prices are out of reach of almost everyone, even if there were
a way to order them. T.C. Christensen
wrote back and said he would discuss it with his distributer. Then a few days ago he wrote and gave us
special permission to make up to 5 copies to keep in the church library and lend free
of charge! I feel honored that such a
distinguished filmmaker would take the time to write to me, and even more so
that he solved this problem to bless the saints here. If you haven’t seen those films, I highly
recommend them.
This transfer brought our workforce down to 6 Elders. Elder West went to Brazzaville to be AP, Elder Kabasele went to Pointe Noire, and Elder Mwehu went to Yaoundé. We received Elder Mbikayi, a DRC native. We were especially sad to lose Elder West, who came here from the MTC and has been "ours" for over a year, almost our entire mission.
Transfer day, Monday, started off smoothly. Then one of the Elders from Yaoundé didn’t
have a needed exit visa so we prepared to rush him to immigration. Fortunately, a kind police official asked
what the problem was and arranged things.
Then the flight bringing Elders from the Congo was
delayed, causing hours of frustration. Nobody
wants to give bad news to the customers so they just clam up. The monitor in the airport was giving no
information on why the flight hadn’t arrived so we went to the airline
office. They didn’t know when it would
come but they promised to call us when they found out, and gave us a phone
number - which nobody ever answered. The
internet has a Trans Air Congo web site but no flight status and obsolete phone
numbers. We called the couple in Pointe
Noire and finally got some info. It was
delayed indefinitely due to a lack of fuel, so when the flight finally arrived
over 8 hours late the missionaries were tired and famished but never
complained. We had to keep 4 extra
Elders in Douala overnight and send them to Yaoundé on an early morning bus.
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| Elders from Yaoundé passing from the bus to the airport |
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| The Douala Airport |
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| Elder Mbikayi |
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| Douala District Elders and 4 others heading to Yaoundé |
The mission president called a couples conference by
Skype to plan for our and another couple’s departures. There are no replacements for us in the pipeline. It was agreed that the Dimonds will cover
both Yaoundé and Douala and make regular trips.
So now we are beginning to set things up for that. It is probably a good thing, to teach the branches
to be more independent, but the Dimonds will be very busy. We need more senior couples.
The president also mentioned that in July the mission
will be down to 41 missionaries. Our
next big influx is in November. It seems
like we are still adjusting to being a new mission, even though it has been
almost a year since it was created.
On the blog of 17 May I wrote about a man that asked me
to buy him a cookie. His name is Moïse
and his story continues. He wanted us to
meet his pastor. Today we finally
did. We learned that Moïse, his wife,
and his pastor live about 100 km away in a small village. But the pastor’s daughter lives near us. We met Moïse’s wife, the pastor and his wife,
and the pastor’s daughter at her home and taught them the restoration with
Frere Su. They were hoping that we could
come to his church and take over the preaching.
He is too old and infirm to continue.
Tempting, but not possible. Maybe
in a few years the Church can reach that village but for now we have to work on
growing the Church here. And since the
daughter lives about 2 blocks from our meetinghouse, she is likely to continue
studying with us.
A funny thing happened on the way to the appointment. We went to the wrong apartment and said that
we came to see the pastor. They said
that he wasn’t there but invited us in.
As we sat on the sofa and I started to phone the pastor someone figured
out that we wanted the apartment 2 doors down.
But before we left we had a brief chat, invited the two ladies to
church, and gave them brochures.
Missionary work is so easy here.
We held a piano recital in Bonaberi. 10 students performed. Three were very impressive for the short time they have had lessons. Two accompany hymns in Sacrament Meeting now.
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| Piano Recital Students + 2 little photo bombers |
Sister Coleman trained the Douala RS presidency and did
an awesome job.
Sister Coleman organized a 2-Branch Primary training in
Bonaberi. The leaders of Douala Branch
Primary attended the Bonaberi meetings to see how their Primary
functioned. Then everyone stayed an
extra hour for training. It went very
well.
The primary ended 15 minutes late because the lesson wasn’t
over on time. But then all 27 children sat
patiently for another 15 minutes while the leaders prepared refreshments. I offered to help and was given the task of twisting
the sandwich cookies apart to make 2 cookies.
The Primary president pulled apart all of the 2-ply napkins and then
tore them in half to make 4 napkins out of 1.
Each child got 2 cookies and a few croquettes wrapped in a napkin. And they were so cute and reverent.
We both spoke in Sacrament Meeting on families. Two people asked for printed copies
afterwards, and it wasn’t because they couldn’t understand our French.
Our power voltage started fluctuating one evening and
blew out three fluorescent light fixtures and two of the fluorescent
tubes. We plug most of our appliances
into voltage regulators to protect them from that, but not our ceiling
lights. I did the repairs on them,
rather than call an electrician and trust him to do them right. It looked like the last time they were wired
by an amateur using an old toaster cord and dangerous splices.
It took two trips and about an hour of waiting and
running for copies before we could pick up a registered letter at the post
office. It was addressed to the Church
and they wanted proof that we represent the Church. After lots of arguing they accepted my
minister certificate. If they hadn’t I
was ready to pull out our calling letters, our official rubber stamps, and
finally call the regional post office director who gave me his card once and
said to call if we have any problems.
The bureaucracy is out of control.
The registered letter was from the bank that the Church
uses, increasing our required checking account minimum to $100,000 (which we
don’t have) or pay $150/month, and adding other exorbitant fees, such as $20 to
withdraw cash. They seem to hate
customers. I offered to help the Church
find a new bank.
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| Cute neighbor kids sitting outside the meetinghouse |
