A Love We Cannot Even Imagine

Dear Friends and family how are you doing!?
   I'm doing really well here in Brazzaville! Everything has really calmed down and things are pretty much back to normal! But since I wrote you last week, nothing really has changed! But we did go to the marche today and I can say that my bartering skills have gotten really good and they pretty much got to a master level today!

 

   But as this is Easter season, I just wanted to bear my testimony and say that that I am so thankful for Christ in my life. He lives and He atoned for our sins so that we may have eternal life. I love Him and I know that we cannot even imagine His love for us. 

   But thats all for this week! Stay safe and have a good week! For a challenge, go and eat a whole box of peeps!

Elder Legerski

Staying Safe During the Congo Elections

Dear family and friends how are you!?
   Well this week I don't really have a lot to say! I just wanted to say thank you to all my friends and family members who wrote me this week. And also I just wanted to wish my little brother Koltin a Happy Birthday! I love you lots, bro! But sorry that this email was so late we have had a little trouble in Brazzaville! (Due to the Presidential Elections in Zach's area, all telecommunications were blacked out and he and the other elders in his area were advised to stay in their apartment for a few days till things died down...http://www.ibtimes.com/republic-congo-election-2016-results-stalled-citizens-take-polls-amid-media-blackout-2339752)

   But to shoot to the point, we haven't been teaching since the 19th. Because of the elections things aren't super safe and we have really been staying safe and being really careful so we have just been in the apartment all week. But all is well and there is no danger now! But it's just been really boring and I'm really ready to go back out and work! 

   I love you all so much and I hope that you have a good week and I will talk to you in just a few short days! I can't wait to hear from you. And for a challenge, you guys have to go play War (the card game) and eat peanut butter cookies! 

 

Love, 

Elder Legerski

Hitting My 18 Month Mark

Dear family and friends how are you doing!?
   Everything is going really well here in the Congo! This week was a week that was full of mission stuff, but not too much missionary work! But despite all of that, it was a really good week and a really fun one as well! And as always, I just wanted to thank everyone who wrote me this week and just wanted to wish you all a good week!
    But this week was a week of people that left and people that came! But I will start with the ones who are leaving. Well, the Nelsons are finally leaving! The Nelsons are our office couple here in Brazzaville and they are done after 18 months here in the Congo! It's so sad to see them go home but I know that their family is sure going to be happy to see them! It was hard to say goodbye, but I know that we are going to stay in contact! Because we are losing the Nelsons, the Bills are coming back down from Pointe Noire to Brazzaville! So we need more couples in our mission! Couples are SO important for us and we are in desperate need for them! So all of you who can go on couple missions, get ready and come on down to the Congo, and all of you who can't, tell all of your friends who can to come on down to the Congo so you can help us missionaries do the work of our Lord, Jesus Christ! I know he will bless you for your efforts!
    But as I said, we also had new missionaries come in this week! It's always a big thing when people come into the mission! And so most of this week was spent doing trainings and greeting them and all of that fun stuff! We had an Elder from Belgium who is really cool and speaks super good French!! We also had 2 canadians, Elder Fraser and Boutot; but one speaks English and the other super good French! And finally, we had Elder Best and Stephens from the US, but Elder Best went straight to Cameroon cause he didn't get a Congo visa; however, Elder Stephens came here. It's always fun to see English speakers learning French because it reminds me of when I was at that point in my mission and was in awe of all of the old missionaries who spoke French already! But it was really awesome to be with them and I know that they will all make really amazing missionaries.
    And last but not least, I went to a baptism at the old ward of Guynemer! It seems like the Lord really likes me to seed and not to sow! In the past few months, 9 of my old amis that I left in the sectors have been baptized:) But thats okay because its all for the same cause and it's the will of the Lord! But Loubaki and Nancy got baptized on Saturday and it was really awesome; the first baptism in almost 10 months in that ward, I think. But the ward was there and the room was full! Quite amazing to be there and really nice to see all the people that I left there!
    But that's all for this week folks! Nothing else to report! I hope that you all have an amazing week and that I will hear from you next week! This coming week is officially 18 months for me as a missionary! If I was a girl, I would be coming home:) But for this week's challenge, go and drink some cream soda for me!

I love you all so much!
Elder Legerski

Our Amis Continue to Progress!

Hello dear family and friends how are you!?
   I wanted to thank everyone that wrote me this week...it was really amazing to hear from all of you and I hope you have a even better week than this last one!

   This week I don't have a lot of things to say. It was a really good week and we just got out and worked really hard. We only worked one day without a member and because of that, we are really starting to find new amis, new people to teach and people that are interested in our message. But that's about all that I have to report for this week! I just realized that I left my planner in my other bag, but oh well!

 

Elder Legerski and Elder Dou
 getting a weeks worth of water for the apartment
 

   As for the transfer, Elder Kabeya will be leaving our team and we will be back down to 2 people but he will be in our apartment still! We have 5 missionaries who will come into our mission on Wednesday so we will have a lot to do with meetings and all that fun stuff! It's always good to get new missionaries in the mission and it's really exciting being able to meet them all. 

But I do have very good news for everyone even if I don't have a lot of histories (stories)!  Elder and Sister Bills came to do a training because they will come back to Brazzaville to replace the couple that will leave next Monday. Anyway, I talked with them and they told me that John Matoko and Jean Beri, 2 of my converts, will receive the Melchizedek priesthood and that made me so happy! It's so good to see people keep on progressing even after their baptism! And also Loubaki and Nancy, who I taught in my last sector, will be baptized this Saturday so our hard work is starting to pay off! But that's all! Missionary work is amazing!

   But for a challenge this week, go eat some bbq ribs for Elder Freshour and I!

 

Love,

Elder Legerski!

Happy Leap Day from Africa!!

Hello every one...how are you doing!?

 

   Happy Leap Day from Africa! I would like to thank everyone that wrote me this week and tell you that I really appreciated it and that I love you all!  This week was a super busy one! We had a lot of stuff to do as assistants, so we didn't get to work a whole lot. But it was still a great week!

  To start it, I wanna tell you all what we did on Friday morning. We have an avacado tree in our yard and every time that we went outside in the morning, we would find 4 or 5 that had fallen. So I climbed up the tree and picked all the big ones and threw them down to the other Elders and I picked 118 of them! And I only picked about a third of them that were there! It was so awesome! Also, we ate a papai from our papaya tree!

   But this week was good. We had Elder Jomie from Guadalupe, who came into our mission, so we had meetings for him this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. And because he is being trained by Elder Rakatoarimanga, Elder Kabeya came and is working with us as a three some! So it's been a little different working as 3 but it's also been really cool! And now we have transfers this Saturday and we are already at our max for missionaries, so we will be adding 5 new elders! Now we will be having some temporary sectors opened up and we will have 4 teams (so 8 elders) in our apartment so it will be a party! 

   As I mentioned last week, Marina had his baptism on Saturday and he chose me to baptise him and it went really well...he was really to plunge! He bore a really powerful testimony afterwards and then on Sunday, he brought his friend with him and he sang in the choir, so it was really awesome to see. 

And that was my week in a nutshell! We played soccer for about 3 hours today so I'm gonna be sore this whole next week! 

   I love you all and I hope that you have a great week full of joy and laughter! And for a challenge, drink some pumpkin hot chocolate for me!

 

Love, 

Elder Legerski

Every Member a Missionary

Dear family and friends,
   This week was a really weird week; it was either super hot or pretty cool so we had the best of both worlds! I just wanted to thank everyone for all that they do for me and thank everyone who sent me an email...I hope that your week was good and I hope that all of you will have another good week this week. This week was one packed with lots of good stuff and lots of experiences, so I'll just go on with the week and talk about all of them!

Zone Conference in Brazzaville
February 16, 2016
 

   So this Tuesday we had a zone conference, but it wasn't like a normal zone conference. There was a video conference that was put out by the church on missionary work that was shown the 20th of January, but because we are so behind, Salt Lake we had to wait for the dvds so that we could watch it. But it was really good and it showed us what we need to do as missionarys and it really helped me know what I need to do personally and as a companionship. But the thing that I liked the most was a short video that showed a member family doing missionary work, and that really hit me hard. I know that when I was at home, I was not a good missionary and I need to really work on that. Most people that discover the Gospel and are baptized are found by members. Members are so improtant in this work and I have really understood that as a missionary. So, I want to invite everyone to  share the Gospel with a friend or a neighbor. Just invite them to church or talk with them about his or her family and link it to a Gospel truth. The Holy Ghost will testify to this person that what you said is true and important. I promise that if you all do this, you will become happier than ever and that you will take part in a very important work. Now I'm gonna link this with an experience from Friday. We left the apartment at 11:30 with a member and we walked around from 11:30 to 6 at night and it was probably 96 degrees outside. 9 of our lessons fell through and as we closed with the member for the day, we told him that this is why members are important in this work. 

   But other than that, all is going well. We are having a baptism for Brother Marina this Saturday so that is really exciting. But that's all for this week! I love you you all so much! And for a challenge, all of you go eat a ghost pepper!

 

Have fun!

Elder Legerski

Avocados and Amis!

Hello family and friends how are you!?

 

   It's still hot here, but the rainy season is coming back and things are cooling down a little bit, so that's really nice! I wanted to thank everyone for their emails; I really appreciate it and I hope you all had a good week! This week was just a normal week for us. We didn't have any unusual things that went on! But our dmp Ken is going on his mission to Lumbumbashi on Wednesday so we are having a special family home evening for him really soon which will be really nice! It's funny because they play the Hokey Pokey and none of them speak English so I am really looking forward to it!!

 

   As I said, this week was just a normal week in the sector. We have been working with 2 people so that they can be baptized on the 28th of February. One of them is Marina and he has been an ami for a long time, but he has a smoking problem, so we talked with him and set up plans to help him stop smoking. We also gave him a special blessing and since we have talked with him, he hasn't smoked and he is on track for his baptism. He is really amazing and he comes to church every week and he even comes to institute every Saturday. Respecting this body that our Heavenly Father gave us is really important and as we do so, he will bless us.

 

   Also, we have been working with a girl named Fabia who will also be baptized on the 28th. She is 23 and she really likes the church as well. She brings her friends to church and to institute as well. We talked with her about Joseph Smith and how important he is for us and what he did for us. 

   But other than that, we have just been working really hard trying to find new amis and to teach and just do everything we can to come unto Christ.  I don't think I have ever been this tired in my life, but I haven't done a work that is more important than this work. As we progress on our mission, we start to realize how short these 2 years are and want to do all that we can to use this time to its fullest. So it results in us being super tired, but it's super fulfilling. Being a servant of the Lord is just awesome!

   That is all for this week folks! I hope you are all surviving in the cold back home! Were here eating the avocados from our tree in our yard. Yeah, that's one of the really awesome parts about Africa, picking fruit off the tree in your yard and eating it for breakfast! I love you all so much and I hope that you all have a great week and I will see you again next week! For a challenge this week, go eat some ribs!

Elder Legerski