FIRST WEEK OF DECEMBER

Bonjour Everybody!

This week was pretty great. It was my first Zone Conference and that was really fun. For those who don’t know a Zone Conference is when when our Mission President comes and talks with all the missionaries in our zone or in our situation all the missionaries in Yaounde. It was so aweome seeing him again. Because our mission takes up 5 countries it is reall difficult to see all of the missionaries all the time so it was really good getting to see him. He and his wife gave us great talks on how we can be more effective missionaries. One topic that President Monga talked about was the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the power that it has. Because of His sacrifice we can do so much. We can repent and get rid of any feelings of guilt or shame that linger with us because of what we may have done. Also because of his sacrifice we have someone to turn to whenever we need help in our lives. When we feel sad, alone, stressed, scared, sick or any other emotion we can turn to him. I read a great talk this week that talked about him. I will paraphrase because it was in french. It was talking about Jesus Christ who submitted himself underneath every single temptation, affliction, and sufferance. The speaker goes on to note that he is in no better place to lift us up when we need help. He has descended below everything for us and now he is there and if we have faith in him and turn to him he will ALWAYS help us. I know the power he has. I have seen it in my life and the lives of the people here In Yaounde. When we live according to his teachings and turn to him when we need help our lives will change. I know that is true and right now I am blessed to help people do that in their own lives. This is Christmas time. There is no better time to remember Him who gave us the greatest present of all.

On another note we found out that we are getting two new missionaries in our appartment. That will be interesting because there is not much space but it is awesome because we are getting another american and it will either be one from Gilbert, AZ or some other state. I am really hoping for the Arizonian Elder but we will see. And we also found out that that situation will only be for a little bit of time because I will be moving apartments with some other Elders so we can be closer to our areas. Right now its about a 20-30 minute taxi ride with traffic to get to sector. The new apartment will be right in our sector so that will be awesome.

I learned a couple things this week. First mosquito nets are great until you get mosquitos trapped in there with you during the night. This week was a little rough for me an mosquitos, they really like me. Second thing I learned is that when I am really tired and writing in my journal I drift into french. It was really funny reading what I had written the next day because it was a perfectly formed french sentence, it just had nothing to do with what I was writing about.

I hope everyone will have a great December. It is really strange here because it is getting hotter as Christmas gets closer. The rains have left and now its just really dry and theres a really cool fog over the city during the mornings and night.

I hope you all have a great week.

Love,

Elder Scoffield