OFF TO THE CONGO

Bonjour everyone!!!

Most of you have probably heard already, but I through alot of studying, praying, and practicing my french, my mission president and I decided that I would be leaving after 12 days instead of the 6 or 4 weeks that we were planning on. My flight is tonight at 925 to kenya and then a connecting flight to brazzaville. This time tomorrow I will almost be in brazzaville. I am soo beyond excited. I wanted to thank all of you for your love and emails and support, it really helps alot.

Some highlights of the week. 1) My district loves christmas music and my companion has alot on his ipod so we listen to christmas music alot which puts us all in great moods.because of all the christmas music we talk alot about Pere noel which is santa clause in french. Because of all of the talk of pere noel. one of the missionaries mixed up who he was praying to one night and prayed in front of everyone to pere noel instead of pere celeste. Santa vs. Heavenly Father. All of the french speakers were dying. 2) I am basically a celebrity among the africans because it just so happens that their favorite tv show is Prison Break. The main character's name is Michael Schofield so that gets brought up alot. They also cant pronounce my name very well so I am either Elder Sco or Scofee, but they all think its so cool that I have the same name as their favorite character. 3) There are also a few africans who think I look like messi and I scored a sweet goal the other day while playing soccer and a few started chanting messi. It was pretty fun. 4) we finally got a break from the chicken and rice and got to try fou fou. it was one of the strangest things I have ever eaten. The consistency was somewhere between paste and dough that you would dip, and then just swallow. It wasn't bad, I was just really bad at eating it and my african friends made fun of me the whole time. We also got chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast which was soo awesome I absolutely loved it. 5) The spirit here in the MTC is so awesome. We all stood up and sang the Spirit of God at the end of the farewell devotional, and you dont know loud until you here the african elders and sisters belt out hymns. The song was so powerful and the spirit was so strong for the entire song. It was pretty incredible.

One of my favorite spiritual thoughts of the week was from Sister Robinson who spoke about Moses and his call to deliver the people of Israel from the Egyptians. When Moses was called he responded to the lord and said, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither hertofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue". (Exodus 4:10). Moses was worried because he was slow of speech. Compared to all the Francophones I am very slow in speech and while I can understand a bit of what they are saying I sometimes can't express my thoughts in french. Especially when I am teaching about the gospel. Even though Moses had these hesitations, God still called him to be the prophet. I love what the Lord says in verse 11 and 12. He says, "Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or the def, or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I the Lord? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say" (Exodus 4:11-12). The lord responds to Moses' hesitations and says that it was he who created everything including the mouth and speech, and that if Moses goes and teaches, He will be with him and fill his mouth with His words. My call as a missionary to speak french has definitely given me alot to work on. Learning a language is one thing, but knowing it well enough to teach the gospel and have those that you are teaching feel the spirit is a miracle that only God can give. If I go and have faith and open my mouth I know that I will be able to say the right things in the right way. Being a missionary is so incredible, and I can not wait to see my people tomorrow morning. I know that I will have so much help when I speak as long as i stay faithful and work hard. Love all of you so much! Ill talk to you next week!

Love,

Elder Scoffield

p.s sorry if I cant respond to your individual emails this week, I don't have as much time this week because I have to go pack.

OFF THEY GO!!!!!