Date
October 25, 2021
Area
Guynemer
Companion
Samuel Call
#29- The Glorious Toyota breadrolla
Bonjour à tous !
Feels like I just wrote my last email yesterday haha, but I hope that you all had a fantabulous(I that a word? If not it should be) week. Like I said, this week absolutely just flew by for me. And just a heads up I didn't take many pictures this week, and the ones did get really aren't any good, so If you are only here for the pics I suggest you just go on with your day haha.
Missionary Work:The missionary work here is going alright in Guynemer. We are trying our best to teach as many people as we can a day. Usually we will plan about 7-8 lessons, but will only end up teaching 3-4 because some of our Amis right now love doing 🙌Rattez-vous🙌!!! Rattez vous is the term we use here in the mission for when one of the planned rendez-vous we had with some one doesn't go through for some reason... But even with there being a ton of Rattez-vous this week, we were able to start teaching some pretty amazing new people who seem to be legitimately interested🤞.
The Toyota Breadrolla:One of our favorite places to go of late is this tiny little bakery called "Baguette Plus." I'm not really sure though why they call themselves a bakery because I found out this week that they don't even make the stuff they sell?! Apparently they get it from a REAL bakery somewhere else in Brazzaville and there is a tiny little Toyota corolla that shows up everyday with the bread.
Well Elder Call and I ate there a few times for lunch this week. Often when we go we buy these little cakes/pastries called Madeleines. They are SUPER yummy. But on Wednesday they were all sold out of them, but the lady beind the counter told us to wait just a few minutes, so we did and then soon enough the blue Toyota corolla showed up in all its glory to deliver tray after tray of freshly baked Madeline's, chocolate bread, cake, croissants, palmiers, and sacristains. It was a sight almost enough to make a grown many cry. So beautiful.
Well we came back a few days later on Saturday, and the same thing had happened where the "Toyota Breadrolla" hadn't show up yet with today's shipment. We asked if the car would be coming soon and they said yes they were on their way. So we decided t just it down at one fo the tables outside to wait. About thirty minutes into waiting we start getting antsy so we go and ask them again if they were still coming and the lady behind the counter said "we don't know why they haven't come yet." So we say it's alright, we can wait a little bit longer. Then about 15 minutes later the lady who we had asked comes outside and tell us the following... "They finally got in contact with the person delivering the bread. They aren't super far away, but they ran out of gas so they are stuck, so they sent someone out to go and find gasoline."
These are the kind or moments that I like to call "only in the Congo" moments. Because let's be honest... Only in the Congo would à company-owned delivery vehicle run out of gas while delivering bread to a bakery that doesn't even actually bake anything. Only in the Congo moments don't really make me mad or anything, but it's just that the randomness of the problem or situation usually gives me a good laugh and reminds me that I am in Africa haha. (We waited for like another 20 minutes and the car finally got there. The pastries were delicious. And no we didn't waste time there because while we were waiting, we were able to contact a lot of amis and invite them to church the next day:)
Some other things that happened this week:
-The Bacongo Bishop invited us to his house for dinner. It was some really good food. And actually it was really funny because I forgot I had previously been to his house to eat until I got there and realized "oh I was here already." I had been there when I was still with Elder Kingoma back in Kisoundi. -We went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. Elder Sindika came and worked in Guynemer with me while Elder Call went to the promised land in Kisoundi (my first area) with Elder Ricks. It was a ton of fun even though my brain hurt at the end of the day because it's been a while since I've spoken only in French for a day lol.
That was my lemon pepper:Something Elder Zitzman left for me was an unused bottle of lemon pepper seasoning. Seasoning here in the Congo are precious and are a great way to change up your meals when you only eat a combination of chicken rice and vegetables every night. Well sadly the bottle is already 3/4 empty. Now I know what you are thinking, "How did you use that much lemon pepper seasoning?!" And the answer was, it wasn't me...
Last night while we were eating dinner, I had the seasoning out on the table as I was using it to spice up my food. We had just finished eating and Elder Call got up to go wash his plate. During the past hour or so we had been listening to a variety of his music he has stored on his phone. But the last 30 minutes or so he had been playing music for the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square (previously known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir). Well there are two things you need to know about Elder Call... 1. He loves the Tabernacle Choir. Probably more than anyone else I have ever met. 2. He absolutely despises the (as he calls it) tiny little community College down in Happy Valley Utah called Brigham young university.
Well anyways as we sat there listening to the Tabernacle Choir I decided to make a comment because I thought It would be funny. While he is out in the kitchen I say "Hey I think I know these people singing. is this the BYU men's chorus?"...
... Bad choice...
I thought it was funny, and even though I was laughing, Elder Call found nothing humorous about it. He told me that I had sinned and that justice needed to be served. He took my lemon pepper spice and started pounding the back of it, dumping heaps of lemon pepper all over the rest of what I had left on my plate. After he stopped, he asked if I had repented and I said "for the sake of saving my lemon pepper seasoning, I will say yes." Then he said "We are going to make sure you don't make another mistake like this again. So then he went to the window and opened up, this time opening the bottle completely so It wasn't simply pouring out the little holes. He then looked me dead in the eyes and said "bet" and I said "go ahead", which to this he gave the bottle one big heave out the window making me lose more than 3/4 of the seasoning.
Dont joke around with the choir or say you like BYU in front of Elder Call.
Congo FAQ's:Here are some more FAQ's about the Congo.
Q: Is it hot there? A: Yes.
Q: How hot? A: Very
Q: Temperature wise? A: No idea. The weather here is even more unreliable then the forecasters back home in Pennsylvania during winter trying to predict the snow... But if we are going off of what the weather apps here say then just day for example is high of 92 with 94%humidity. And it's even cloudy today!
Q: How is the humidity? A: If you like feeling like you are walking around in a swimming pool all day then the Congo the place for you:)
Q: What do kids do for fun? A: The kids here get super creative with ways to keep themselves entertained. But here are a few common ones I've seen while walking around. - Rolling about tires. - Group games... Like the kind you would do at a summer camp with singing/ chaning and stuff. -Some ride bicycles if thy have it. - Lots of street soccer!!! Where that be with a real ball, a ball falling apart, ping-pong ball(yes I've seen it before) or just an empty soda bottle. -Video game shack, yes there are little video game shacks where you can pay and then play on like a ps3 or something.
Scripture share:One quick scripture that I love: Romans 8:16.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God
If there is one eternal truth that I hope we never lose sight of is this: We are the children of our Father in Heaven. He knows each one of us, and His love for us exceeds our comprehension. He wants us to be happy and return to Him again and to accomplish this goal He sent His only-begotten son Jesus Christ to atone for our sins. Our Savoir Jesus Christ taught us what we must do to return back into the presence of our Heavenly Father. We can all return to our Heavenly Father by faith in Christ and following his Gospel. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ we can again live with our Father in Heaven.
I hope you all had a great week, thank you for reading my email if you made it all the way through haha. Je vous aime tous !
Jusqu'à la prochaine fois
Elder Ah Loe
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Pics: 1. Me and Elder Call2. Me and Elder Sindika on exchanges3. Another only in the Congo moment4-5: dusk vibes