Monday, April 27, 2015

Look out Pointe-Noire...here I come!

   Hello everyone and good morning / afternoon from Douala, Cameroon!! This is your Elder Legerski coming at you. And I am sorry to report that for the last time, I am coming at you from Douala. I learned Saturday just before General Conference that I will be getting trasferred to Pointe-Noire! And that is all the way in The Republic of Congo (800 miles away)! So I am sorry for all of you who sent me things, but they will be kept here until they can make their way to Pointe-Noire. I do not know my address yet, but I will send you it as soon as I am able to! And on the bright side, mon meilleur ami Elder Larson will be accompanying me for the flight there!

Elder Legerski, President Mbenge, Wos Salomon, Flore, Elder Mwehu

   This week has been a very long and yet a very short week. The highlight of my week was that I finally had my first baptism!! We had 2 investigators, Flor and Salomon who were baptized on the 24th! It was a very awesome service and I was so excited! Plus, on top of that it was Elder Mwehu's birthday! It was awesome seeing them baptized and I'll talk a little about Salomon. He has been meeting with us every day for the last 2 weeks. It has been awesome to see how he has grown in this time. As we went over things with him, I remembered when he was just beginning the lessons with us and how much that he has grown from that period. Then, on the Wednesday or Thursday before his baptism, we were closing the lesson when he asked us if he could share something with us. And he turned to a few verses that he had read in The Book of Mormon and he said that as he had read them, he had felt comforted when he had thought about his baptism. This was so awesome for me to see and it just strengthened my testimony of the Book of Mormon and the things that are inside. It breaks my heart that I have to leave right after his baptism, but that is the mission and I know that I am needed somewhere else by the Lord and not here.

   That is one thing that I have really come to realize; sometimes I am needed somewhere where I do not want to go but still I must go where he wants me to go. During my personal study, I was reading about how Jesus was tortured and made to carry his cross when he was crucified. He had all the power in the world to stop that and to make all the pain to go away, but he didn’t. I thought of how Jesus lived a perfect life and before I had always thought about how He had never broken the commandments.  But now I realize that he submitted himself to everything that His Father wanted him to do. He followed every prompting and obeyed with the will of the Father with exactness . That just blew my mind to think about how hard that is and how much He loved us to do that. I know that Jesus is the Christ and through Him we may have eternal life and through his atonement, we can grow and become the person that God sees us as.

   In the gospel of Jesus Christ we read that we must have Faith, Repent, be Baptized, Receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Endure to the End. And as I was looking through Preach my Gospel, I was prompted to read about Faith. I loved how it talked about if we have faith in Christ that means that we will act and that we will place our faith in him. In doing so, He will bless us and we will be able to grow our faith in Him even more. Recently, we have been having a need for more amis and I read about how we needed to have faith that our Father in Heaven will show us the people prepared for us. Then I made the connection that I needed to go out and search and place my faith in Him and that he would show me. So, I spent a really long and hot day with Elder West contacting and although nobody accepted our message at that time, I know that I did my best and that that is all that I can do at this moment. I just have to know that all things will be done in His time and His way and to be patient until that time will come.

   This email is coming at you a little late and I'm very sorry about that, but we went to Limbe today and it was amazing! I will do my best to tell you all about it next week but it was amazing and such a great experience! I took lots of photos, so I will send them next week as well! It was certainly not a trip that I will forget anytime soon.

   For my family, I am sorry that my letters have been a little short and not full of detail. Sometimes we want to fill up our letter with amazing experiences that we have, but in reality sometimes we do not have any amazing experiences. While speaking with Elder Larson today, we both expressed the feeling of almost accomplishing nothing while we have been here for 6 months together. Sometimes you're outside all day and it's hot and nobody will meet with you and you are tired and it's not easy. Sometimes it just flat out stinks. You come home and you are so tired; you eat, prepare for bed and then you wake up early to do the same thing over and over and over. Now why serve a mission if it's like this some may ask? It's because the knowledge and the testimony that you gain of the Gospel on your mission cannot be gained in any other place or at any other time. It is worth  more than all the money on the world. Right now I can't even explain how much I am thankful for my mission and how much I want every young man to serve. This is the most important thing that I have ever done in my life and I would not replace it with anything. I love this Church and I love this Gospel. I love my Savior and I am so thankful that I have the chance to serve Him.

   To all of the people who wrote me, I am so thankful for that and keep it up because I love you all and I love the things that you do for me. Someone go drink a root beer float for me. Je vous aime avec tout mon Coeur (I love you with all my heart). Until next week and Pointe-Noire!

Elder Legerski

Monday, April 20, 2015

Fruits of the Labor...so sweet:)

   Hello everyone...how are you doing!? Everything is going good here in Africa and in Cameroon. The sun is still shining and the rain isn't falling but the work is great and the Lord is on our side. This week seemed to fly by and it was a really good one.
   This week was really dedicated to getting our investigators ready for baptism. We have been working and working and finally we will be having 2 baptisms this coming Friday! It took a lot of effort but all is well. The investigators who are being baptised are Flor and Salomon. We are really happy and after 3 months of work we will be able to see the fruits of our labor.
   Also, I want to talk a little about church this past Sunday because it was really awesome. We had President Monga with us and he was able to teach us a little bit. And what he taught us on was the priesthood. He taught us how we all made a promise with our Heavenly Father the day that we were given the priesthood. He talked about how if someone near us is in need, it's not the people who just have time need to go help, we need to make time in order to go and see them. It's something that’s very important.  I love the words of Mosiah in chapter 18 verse 8, I believe. He talks about how we need to mourn with those who mourn and weep with those who weep. I love this because here I have really learned how to open up. And I have formed so many relationships with people that I love, with other missionaries, with members, and with amis. Relationships are something that will last a life time and will never fade.
   Well, that’s about all for this week...I'm sorry it's not very long but I hope it was good enough! This next week will be busy with people who we have been contacting this last week! I love all of you and I thank every one of you that wrote me! If any of you have the time, send me some letters because the Elders love having letters! Once again I would like to thank you all and say that I love you so much. Someone go up to the Elders and Sisters in the Lord and say thank you so much for your service because that means so much to a missionary!

Love,
Elder Legerski

Monday, April 13, 2015

When Weird Becomes Normal, You're Officially a Missionary

Hello everyone!

   How are you doing!? This is Elder Legerski coming from a very hot Africa! This week has still been very hot, just like the other ones and the rain hasn't quite started yet. Everyone that we talk to tells us a different story for the rainy season and none of them match up, so I have no idea when the rain will come...I just hope that it will be coming soon because I don't like being hot all of the time!

   You know, it's really hard to find a lot of things to write about when you come on your mission. At first, everything is so weird and not normal that you just want to tell your family all about it. But then, after awhile, really weird things become normal and you are finally immersed into missionary life. And all of the sudden, all things that have to deal with the mission seem so normal, and then you find that you have absouletly nothing to write home about!


The Elders with the desks put back in after they finished
the concrete floors in a classroom at a local school

    But I still have 2 things that I want to write about. First was during my personal study...one day my head just wasn't in it and for some reason, I just felt a little off. So I said a quick prayer and asked God if He would help me out. So after that, I opened my Book of Mormon and I had a thought about 3 Nephi 11.  I shrugged it off at first, but then I thought, "I'll just go and read there". And as I did, I read about how the Nephite people could not understand the voice of Heavenly Father that they were hearing and it happened 2 more times until they opened their ears and faced their eyes toward the heavens. This really helped me. It made me realize that I need to keep my eyes on this marvelous work and to open up my spiritual ears so that I may be able to listen to the whisperings of the spirit. I know that God answers prayers and that the best way to search for the response is in the sciptures, so if any of you have a question go to God and then to His word.

    Secondly, I want to talk about une amie we have been teaching. We have met with this amie for 2 months and several times we have asked her to pray concerning Joseph Smith and ask if he is a true prophet. She has refused time and time again. She said that she never will and that we talk about Joseph Smith too much. The first thing I want to say is how heart broken I was when I heard that she wouldn't. This is a reality of this work; we all wish to share the happiness and the truth that we have but there will be people who will not accept it. And it really stinks, especially when you have a relationship with this person. Also, I want to talk about why Joseph Smith is so important to this church. He is the prophet of the Restoration. He was given the keys and power by Peter, James, and John to restore the church of Christ on this earth. With this power, we can now seal things on this earth, as well as in heaven. I encourage all of you who have not listened to" Joseph Smith" by Neil L Anderson, to do so.   I myself know that Joseph Smith is a prophet because I have prayed and asked God. I encourage you all to ask God as well.  Seek for the truth in this life.

    Well, that's about all for this week! The Mission President will be coming soon, so I'll have lots to talk about next week! Once again, thank you so much for all of the people who wrote me....I hope you all have a really good week! I also want to say Happy Birthday to my older sister Megann! Hope you had a good one! Thank you all once again and someone go make some stuffed hamburgers for me:)

Love
Elder Legerski

Monday, April 6, 2015

Le Paques (Easter) and General Conference...a great combination!

Hello everyone...how is it going!? Everything is going great here in Africa and I am loving it! This week has flown by and it has been a pretty amazing week! The hard thing is so many exciting things happen during the week and then I get to cyber and its like all my memories of the past week just leave my head and I have no idea what I have done:)

This week was a great week for preparing investigators! We have 2 who are very ready for baptism, Flor and Saloman...Saloman especially. We have been meeting with him around 3 times a week, for about the 2 past weeks. We talked to him about baptism and he is really excited for it. So we set a date with him for the 25th of April. And at one of the lessons this week, he asked us what all he needs to be doing to be prepared for his baptism. Now this was amazing! I have never had an ami ask this and it just filled me with joy. And then, this last Sunday it rained really bad and he had been sick, yet he still showed up to church and it was just amazing! It's so awesome to see people accept this gospel and the change that it makes. I'm so very grateful for this mission!

The next experience was with an ami who is named Geraldine. We have been talking about
priesthood power and how someone can receive this power. And as we were discussing, we focused on how it had to come from God. And then I thought to myself and asked the question: how is it that someone could receive this power from God? And through study of the Bible I have learned that it is always given to the Prophet and then the Prophet can lay his hands on someone's head and confer it. Now, when we talked about this, I thought about how I can trace my priesthood lineage all the way back to Jesus Christ. When I pondered this, I got such a comforting feeling that this church is true, and how blessed we are that we have this authority which was given to Joseph Smith by Peter, James and John.

Now a small transition to General Conference. We were able to go to the Coleman's last night and watch the priesthood session as a zone. I love how the talks really focused on the importance of the priesthood and how sacred it is. And reading in Preach my Gospel, we see that the priesthood is the power and authority to act in God's name for the salvation of his children. Now, I love the part that says "for his children". It's nothing to wave about and to brag to the whole world...rather, it is gift that we have received that should be treasured. He has given us the most precious thing that we can receive on this earth and many of us hold it. So it is up to us to be worthy and to use it to its maximum in our church callings and in our family.

The Elders: Easter and the Priesthood Session...a great combination:)

Now I'll talk about the season of Easter. In French, it is called Pak (or I think that's how it's spelled...  it sounds like the English word "pack"). In Africa, it is a big, long week of festivals, and on Sunday, many people have big, big parties. But sadly, there is no Easter bunny here:). While I love Easter, I was not as excited as usual and I wondered why. And I think it's because on your mission, you do your best to think like God and to do what He would do. And you think of the Atonement every single day. But I want to focus on the sacrament. The sacrament here has taken on a whole new meaning. When I take the bread, I think of how He died on the cross for me, when I drink the water, I think of how He suffered in the garden for me, and finally when it's over, I think of when He rose 3 days later, and how because of that, I will live forever and so will every other person. And because of the Sealing power, which was restored by Isaiah thru Joseph Smith, I will live with my family forever:)

Family and friends, I know that this church is true. I know that this work we are all engaged in is a marvelous work. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know Joseph Smith was a prophet and that Thomas S Monson is the prophet today. I know these things are simple, but I know them to be true.

Thank you to all who wrote me...I really appreciated it. I love you all and I hope you had a good Easter weekend. Someone go eat a few boxes of chocolate and peeps for me!

Love,
Elder Legerski