Bonjour

This week was a slow one. Our Tuesday was pretty jam packed full of appointments and new investigators, so we figured that the whole rest of our week would be the same. Sadly, it was not at all. My companion came down with some sort of a mystery illness Wednesday morning that had him bed-ridden for two days. He was majorly suffering from this strange sort of stomach pain that was like a "spiky ball of pain". Ouch! For pretty much the entire week we didn't know what was inflicting him - turns out, he was experiencing an especially violent form of respiratory infection. In the past week we were only able to work for about three days. We had quite a few people come to church, though.

As we were walking from place to place one day, we had an unexpected surprise that brightened our day. Driving past us in a large, highly guarded, convoy was a professional soccer team from France. I guess that they were excited to see some other white people other than their selves - which is a highly unusual sight in this country - so they all said "hi" and "bonjour" to us. How nice! I'm so used to people saying bonjour with a cheerful little - sarcasm, of course - "white guy". The poorer the areas we go to, the more people comment about our whiteness. They mean no harm by saying "white guy" to us; it is just that they have really never seen a white person before in their lives. They love to talk to us and learn from us and socialize with us, so I know it isn't said in any kind of a mean spirit. Anyways, that was way cool to get a hello from a pro soccer team :D.

Later that day we were trying to get home by taxi, but also trying to catch a free ride from a passer-by. We had our thumbs stuck out, hoping to get some charity filled soul to pick us up. On our second or third try a really beautiful SUV pulled over to the side and rolled down their window. And what do you know? French people had come to our rescue again! But wait...it gets better. They rolled down their window, probably expecting to see some tired backpacking tourists from their own homeland. Instead, they hit the accelerator as soon as they realized it was a couple of missionaries. O the joys. You get all sorts of fun experiences.

I gave my companion a blessing last Saturday, went with him to the doctor, acted as interpreter for the whole encounter, and then gave a 20 minute talk on Sunday about missionary work. Frere Hery, the 1st Counselor, called me late Saturday night and told me about the assignment. I'm pretty used to talking and preaching at this point. I feel like the talk went well, or at least like someone understood the general idea of what I was trying to get across. Afterwards we had a flood of help come from all the members in the ward.

The work is moving along well here. I love and miss you guys. Pray for you madrakariva.

Havin' a fabulous time,
Elder Cryer