Setting the Bar High

Hello everyone!!
How are you doing!? Everything is just going great here over in Akwa!! This week was a very busy one for us.  First off, I want to thank Aunt Debbie for the letter that she sent; it was much appreciated! Also, thank you so much for everyone that emailed me; it was much appreciated as well! But I will just go ahead and hit on some of the highlights.

Zone Meeting

This Wednesday we went over to the Coleman's apartment for a zone meeting. While we were there, we learned a lot of new things as well as went over some old ones. At first, we went over the rules for our mission that President Monga has set. A few of which were getting up at 5:30 every morning, as well as spending only an hour at cyber and only sending two emails. After that we talked about some new goals that were set. President Monga has set the goal of finding 4 new families by transfer and also to baptize 5 people per transfer! Now if any of you have served, you know that 5 baptisms per transfer is a lot. And over here in Africa, finding families are a little difficult and then when the marriage part comes in, it makes it even more difficult! But here is where  the Lord comes in. As missionaries you set a ton of goals and you work towards them. Now I know why people say set goals:) I have seen the difference I can make in my studies and in the work if I work towards them. Also, something important here is the family aspect. President Monga realized how essential families are in our branches, and why is that? Because we as a church believe that the family is the base of all things and it is ordained of God. Also, with the power of the restored priesthood we can live forever as families. I miss my family so much but I hope that as I work, I will be able to bring this blessing to other families over here in Africa. So as a mission, we will be working together to accomplish the goals of President Monga.

Secondly, I want to follow up on Saloman, who I told you a little about in my last email. We met with him on this last Tuesday and we read Moroni 10:1-5 and asked him to pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. During his prayer, I prayed probably the hardest that I have ever prayed in my life that he would receive an answer. As we met with him again on Thursday, he said that he had received an answer and he knew the Book of Mormon was true. When he said this I was so happy! I know that if someone will read the Book of Mormon and ask God if it is true, He will send an answer to you. I also know that God answers prayers because he answered mine as well as Salomon's.

This past Sunday was full of activities for me. About 5 minutes before church started, I was asked to give a talk. (And I thought that being asked the night before was bad, even when it was in English!) But being a good missionary, I said yes. Luckily, we have sacrament meeting last so I had 2 hours to prepare. I got up and spoke for about 15 minutes I think, so it wasn’t that bad! I just hope everyone understood my French!! Also, after church we went and taught an ami named Samuel. Elder Mwehu told me before that I would be teaching the bulk of the lesson. And I did it! I taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then committed him to baptism!

This next week we have President Monga, as well as President Cook from our area presidency, coming so it should be a very busy week. I hope all is well back home and life is going good! Someone go eat some mint oreos for me!

Love,

Elder Legerski

My First Sick Day:(

Hello Family and Friends!
It is another new week and another chance to serve the Lord!!! This week was a really good one.
Just to clear up any misconceptions, my companion is now Elder Mwehu and he is from the DRC.
As for my mom, I'll make sure and answer all of the questions that you had and I'll do my best to
keep everyone filled in:)

This week brought  my first ever sick day in the mission field. I don’t know what brought it on, but both Elder West and I were sick so we stayed in the day. I don’t know how I lasted with doing nothing back home. All I wanted to do is go out to the sector and work but unfortunately I couldn’t. But yet,this week was still really good for teaching. Our mission rules have been changed so we have to get up at 5:30 in the morning so that we can have 8 hours straight in the field and it
worked because Elder Mwehu and I taught a total of 25 lessons this week! 

Out in the sector it was a lot better than last week. I know some of the amis now and I know what I can help them with and I know where I am at.  In our apartment it is Elder Mwehu and I and
then Elder Kabaselle and Elder West (Elder West was my trainer).  We are in an apartment with 3 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and 2 bathrooms.  We only have 1 air conditioner in the apartment which stunk at first but it helped in the long run because I am more used to the heat now!We are in downtown Akwa which is in Douala and I like it a lot. You have a good mix of village and city life in our sector.  I wish that I could tell you all about our amis and our lessons but I think that would take quite some time so I'll just hit on some of the highlights of my week.

The first is Soloman; he is about 20 yrs old and he lives with some members and we started to teach him and he is really,really interested in our message. We have taught him about the restoration of the gospel and we have started to read the Book of Mormon with him. It is really awesome to see him start to understand the things that we read with him. He really,really wants to come to church and he even has a couple times before and he really likes it. But he got a job and jobs are very hard to come by here to;we talked to him about talking to his boss because he recognizes the need to go to church which is amazing.

Here I wanted to segway into my testimony of the Book of Mormon.  Many times before in my life I have prayed to know if this book is true. And many times I felt like I haven't received a response.  I think that man people are like that, especially if you grow up in the church. You are told what you should feel and yet you never feel it. Well that has been on my mind a lot lately but when I was thinking about it the other day it clicked in my head. The Book of Mormon is my way to know what I need to do in this life. Every time I read a passage and it has a question in it I ask myself that same question. I ask if the things that I am doing with my life are in accordance with the things in the Book of Mormon. I know without a doubt that the Book of Mormon is true. I can feel it with my entire soul. All it takes is for us to search out how it touches US! I know that if you do then you will find that response for yourself.

I hope that everyone has a good week and someone go eat some Olive Garden breadsticks for me if you have the chance!

Love
Elder Legerski

Learning to lean on Him

Well, I can say that missions are officially tough and sometimes they just flat out stink, but hey, not everything is good; we must have the ups and downs of life. But I'll talk about that later. Monday night was a great night again because we got to go over to the Coleman's apartment and have one last dinner with Elder Colidres. He is such a great missionary. It is awesome to see someone like him who is at the end of his mission and someone like me and the other Elders who have so far to go. I want to be like him so much but unfortunately that takes time. I keep reminding myself that he has been here for 2 years and has done this every day for 2 years, while I have not even been here for 5 months, so I must have patience and take my time.

Saying goodbye to dear amis:(

Tuesday was a sad day. Because Elder West and I were leaving, we went around to all of our amis and told them that we were leaving.  It was really sad because although I do not speak a lot of French, I felt so close to these people and I really didn't want to leave them behind.
Wednesday was the most tiring day of my life, I think. We got up really early and saw Elder Rakato off to Youndai and then we went around with Elder Johnson who was from Awka, but is being transferred to our sector and showed him around so he would know where all of the amis in his sector lived. Then Elder Larson and I went with Elder Coleman to get our Carte de Sejour, which we get when our visa expires. That was one of the longest processes in my life. We stood in an unair-conditioned room for 3 hours where we didn't know what anyone was saying and didn't even get done with the whole process but we endured and in the end it was all okay. Then we went out into the sector with Elder Mwehu (correct spelling this time) and taught a few lessons. Once I got to Akwa, I saw how it is a little different. We take a taxi to our sector every day and then we walk the whole day, where as in Bonaberi, we walked everywhere. Akwa is more of a big city as well; the first night I had a lot of trouble sleeping because there were taxis outside our building all night long. Bonaberi was more of a village setting so its quite different from here.

Elder Legerski's new companion: Elder Mwehu

Now I'll talk about why this week was really challenging for me. One, I am with a companion who speaks almost  zero English, so I must be able to communicate with him effectively so we can teach. Second, the culture difference; people who are raised differently think differently so we much be able to work together and as a team. Third, I do not know any of the people I am teaching or anyone at the church so it is very hard for me to connect with them. Finally, you are thrown into a situation and you have no idea how to deal with it and overall, it is just really, really hard.
On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, it has been really, really rough. Many times I have just wanted to give up and go home. Not speak the language, not teach and just not do anything, but I know that that is not the way. We are given hard times in order to grow. For these days, I was so lost and I felt like I had no place to turn. But then I read something somewhere, "It is he, he has risen, he lives". Now this is talking about when Jesus Christ rose from the dead three days after he had died. Then I remembered that no matter what happens or what I feel, someone is always there for me. Jesus Christ knows all things that I feel and he knows what I need. So from that point on, I turned to Him through prayer. Sometimes it was as simple as "please help me be able to walk to this lesson" or "please help me be able to speak with my companion", but I did it. I am still here, I am still alive and I am still doing the Lord's work. So never forget that you are never alone. Jesus Christ and God are always there for us.
That is all for this week. I hope everyone has a good week. I look forward till next week. Someone go eat some sweet and sour pork for me.

Love,
Elder Legerski

Destination: Akwa

This week was a really busy week for us Elders here in Bonaberi!!! We will start off with the really exciting news. I am getting transfered!  There are 3 Elders leaving from our apartment and Elder Larson is the only one who is staying. Elder Rakato is going back to Yaundai and Elder West and I are going to Akwa or into town. Akwa is still in Douala but it is the more inner city so it should be a lot of fun! My new companion is Elder Mweheu, and those of you who got to skype with me have already met him!! He is from the DRC and he only speaks French so this should help out with my French a lot!! I'm curious to see how it goes but I'm sure it will be great.

The Bonaberi Elders open their transfer letters

Since I only had a few days left, I did my best to go around after church and take as many picures as I could!! I'm really going to miss the people here in Bonaberi; it is a great branch and I have formed many friendships here. Also, since an Elder in Akwa is going home on Thursday, President Monga came to interview him and it was so nice to finally meet with him again and be able to talk with him!!

Elder Legerski and une amie:)

 Also, Julian had his baptismal interview and he is going to be baptized not this Saturday, but
next!! I won't be here which really stinks, but we will be able to come over and see it, which I am very grateful for! Its been great to meet with him from day one and to see him progess and grow and I can't wait till I see him get baptized. Also, we Elders took a visit to the tailor and got all of our big fat white shirts tailored!!! It is very, very cheap here so we thought that it would be something good so hopefully you can't see my belly in any of the pictures! Other than that, the highlight of this week was going on splits with Elder Larson again. I love going on splits with him and I'm really sad that I won't be with him anymore.

The highlight of our day today was teaching a man whose name was Sylvestre and he is very interested in our message. He has been investigating the church for more than 6 months and he has a lot of questions.  He knows the Bible really well, so teaching him is really difficult sometimes. But as we were talking with him and answering his questions, he came up with more and more and finally after almost an hour and a half, we wrapped up the message. And this end part is what I want to talk about. He said that he wants us to prove to him that this church is true and we had to explain to him that WE can't do that. OUR job as missionaries is to teach and to invite and lead them up to a certain point and from that point on, it is all God's work. Our job is to teach the principles of the gospel, but it is God's job to tell them that they are true. I think that is something that gets lost in our work a lot of times. People see the missionaries and they see what they do, but what they don't realize is that the people who join this church are not forced. We tell them to pray to God and to ask Him in the name of Jesus Christ if this church is true. That is our purpose. Lead them to a point and then let God do the rest.
I'm so glad that I am here on a mission; it has been the best experience of my life so far. I hope that I can work and work and do all that I can to be the best Elder that I can be. I know this church is true and that Jesus Christ is the path to eternal life. I hope everyone had and will have a good week.
Someone go drink a Dr. Pepper for me:)

Love
Elder Legerski

Holy Cow it's Hot!!

Hello everyone!
How are you doing!? Everything is going really well here in Africa and I'm loving it as always! The big thing for this week has been the heat! January and February are the hottest months of the year so its been killer hot out in the sector! I'm just always used to being soaked through with sweat from head to toe now.
This week has been a really normal one and I don't have lots of time so its going to be a shorter letter! The big thing from this week was we had the APs to the President come and visit us!! The one who stayed with us was named Elder Bybee and he was such an awesome guy! He has only been out for 10 months but his French is already so goood! He went on splits with us and it was awesome to see how he worked and I learned a lot!

The APs and the Bonaberi Elders

Other than that it was a really normal week here in the Bonaberi branch! I got the package that my mom sent and it was amazing! I have already eaten all of the elk jerkey and it was fantastic!! And everyone loved their presents that my mom made...we just don't know where to put them!! Thank you so much Mom for everything!
Oh and Happy Birthday to my little sister Skya; she is the big 14! Crazy to think that when I come back she will be able to drive!! And speaking of that, 4 years ago I crashed my mom's bug. I've come a long ways since then.
Once again, sorry it was so short. I hope all is well back home. I love you all! Someone go eat some cheese for me! Cheese here is super expensive so we don't get it much!

Love

Elder Legerski

4 months already?!

Hello everyone!

How are you!? I'm doing really good here in Africa and like always, the sun is shining and it’s a new day for us to become even better people.

To start off, I would just like to thank my Mom and my family for the wonderful Christmas package that I finally received! I got it on Thursday afternoon and I was not home at the time but I could not wait to open it! Finally, after the whole apartment of Elders got home, we finally sat down to open it and it was so much fun! Christmas is great but when you are on a mission, it's even better. And then when you get a package a month later, it makes it just that much better!! I wanted to thank my family so much for the gifts that I received. I also wanted to share some funny stories from our opening of it. The best was when I opened the cookie butter. As soon as I opened it up I recognized what it was and started jumping up and down screaming "cookie butter!!!" like a little 4 year old child. Now Elder Larson knows what it is and how delicious it is, so of course he joined in on the excitement. Now Elder West and Rakato did not know what it was, so of course we shared the goodness with them. Also, I would like to thank Leanna for the package that I recived from her. We are all Star Wars nerds in our apartment so let's say we all loved them so much!! And I look forward to wearing them in the sector.

 

Elder Legerski (aka Luke Skywalker)

Overall, this past week was a very busy and challenging one. We have so many amis and no good time to go and see them all! Often times it is very hard to fit our studies in and meet with everyone in a week. Many times when people say "oh, when will you come meet with me!?" We say "umm... well we can on Thursday because our Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are already full. Two days stood out in particular to me this week. The first day was the 16^th and we had to begin the day at 11. The first rendez-vous was good but then we started walking. Many times we have anywhere from a 30 minute to 50 minute walk in between meetings with people so it was very hard. During our third rendez-vous of the day I was having a very hard time. I was struggling to speak and we had been walking a lot and I was really hungry and thirsty...overall it was a really hard day:( And during that meeting a bird pooped on my bag so it was a day when I just wanted to go back to the apartment and lay down and go to sleep. But I said a little prayer in my head and just asked for the strength to get through this day and get to the next. Then I continued on with my day. Finally at 5 we were supposed to be done but we decided to swing by a members home and talk with them and some other members that were there. Well, we decided to just have a little lesson. That little lesson turned into a big long one and it was great. One question that was asked was how can we feel the power of the scriptures in our daily lives? Elder West turned to me and said "do you want to answer this?" And I said "yes". Then I went on to explain it, but as I did, I was really thinking to myself. I talked about the feelings that we get when the Spirit is manifested to us. I talked about the peace that I feel when I read the scriptures. Right now, I read my scriptures only in French and sometimes it is very hard to read and I don’t know what they are saying. But I still feel so much peace when I do and I feel like I am doing the right thing. The scriptures are amazing things and they provide comfort for all of us and if we will read them every day, we will have light brought into our lives; that is a promise that will never fail.  The second day that was really cool was the day that I got my packages. We were teaching an anglaphone and for some reason I was having a really hard time teaching! I was having to convert from French to English in my head and several times I had to stop myself from saying French words! Then we turned around after it was done and started talking to a Francaphone which was the coolest thing in the world.

It's Official!!

This week has been a great one and it was my last week of training!! So as of now, I am no longer a trainee but a full fledge missionary! Also, today marks my 4 month mark on my mission which is crazy!! It seems like I haven't been out for very long and that means I just have that much less time to be here, which stinks. But we have the chance to go play basketball today instead of soccer so we are all very excited!! That is all for this week; I love everyone so much and wish them a happy week. I would also like to tell my little brother Koltin congrats on making the Shrine Bowl!! Now it’s a family tradition I guess. My food for you to try this week is to see if America has pineapple pop because it is the best ever! I will write you all in a week!

Love,

Elder Legerski

 

Back in the Flow!

Hello everyone how are you doing!?

Everything is going super well here in Cameroon and in Africa. The weeks seem to be flying by so fast now. The past few have been slow just because of Christmas and New Years, but now we are back in the flow of things and it feels really nice.

For mom, Elder West hits his 1 year mark in February and he has been in Douala for his entire mission so far. He was in town in Bonapriso for 7 months and he has been in Bonaberi ever since. There is a good chance that he gets moved very soon, but I think I might be here for a little while longer.

How do you make an Elder sandwich? 
With 3 Elders and some mattresses, of course!!

This week has been a good one as well as a frustrating one. One of our most progressing investigators named Narcisse moved to the south west for work and so we lost one of our favorite amis just like that. It is really hard because you form a relationship with them and you see them grow so much and start to understand things and then out of nowhere, people just disappear and it is really frustrating. This happens a lot; you will just go to someone's house and their neighbor will say "oh, they are traveling and they will be out of town for 2 to 3 weeks" and it really just stinks, for lack of words.
But, on the other hand, we are meeting with many, many people and it is just awesome. At church this last Sunday, we had 10 amis at church and the other companionship had 4 so overall, so we had 14 amis at church. There were so many people that came to church that they had to bring in extra chairs. I remember sitting there thinking, " this is so awesome!".  Here are all these people
who could be doing other things with their time, but they took time out of their day and came to give their day to God and to worship him. As a missionary, I can't describe the joy that you feel seeing these people do this. Also this week, one of our amis named Sonita finally came back to town as well with a woman named Linda, so Elder West and I are really excited to start teaching them.

Here in Africa, you run into the problem that peoples' brains here don't exactly work the way that our brain works and sometimes it can be very, very frustrating. When that happens, we say it is due to African logic. Well, we had a lot of problems with that this week, but I'll just give you one example. Julian, who one of our favorite amis, was meeting with us on Thursday afternoon. We were reading in the Book of Mormon about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and about His visit to the Americas.
Well, that is in 3rd Nephi and the first 2 books of the Book of Mormon are 1st and 2nd Nephi and those books are about events 600 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Julian was really confused how one man lived so long and we explained that he did not live that long, but it was a different man and he just simply had the same name. But he did not get it, so we sat there for 20 minutes trying
to explain it and then after that, we went and got the branch president and he helped us explain it for another 15 minutes.  Fortunately, after it was all over, we got the matter resolved and that was what mattered.

Le Marche

Another lesson I want to talk about was with a member named Bayard and with his family. Bayard is the only one baptized in his whole family and he has a wife, Julie, and then 5 children: Willingston, Godlove, Issac Steve, Christian, and his only daughter, Fortune. I know the names are a little different but that is just Africa for you! Well, Bayard wanted us to teach the whole family and so we went over and asked them about themselves and one of them said that his favorite thing to do was to
"Precher l'evangile de Jesus Christ" which means "Preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ". Hearing that was so funny because he is only 9 years old!  So we had a lesson and they were all participating and talking and it was just awesome and such a fun lesson to be a part of. When we got to the end, we talked about the importance of family, of family prayer and of family home evening; it's incredible
how much they knew so already! As a part-member family with only 1 member, they still have family home evening every Monday and every morning they read together and they pray together. This really touched me, because a family who has only one member is doing all these things that many all member families struggle with. My goal is to challenge all those who can to have
family home evening and family scripture study and prayer to follow the council of the Prophet because it is truly something that helps to bring the family closer together.

My final thing for the day is to talk about the French language. I have been on my mission for just under 4 months and in the field for about 2 and a half months and I can nearly understand all of what people are saying. I can understand in lessons and I don't have to ask Elder West for clarifications all of the time. I can sit there and talk to people! Elder Larson and I talked to a girl in the Young Womans for about half an hour on Saturday night and it was a lot of fun and not only did I
know what she was saying, but I could say what I wanted to say as well. I have to give my testimony that the Lord's servants truly are blessed and that the fact that I can already speak and read and understand mostly everything is all because of the Lord.

Some one go have some chicken nuggets for me!!

Love
Elder Legerski