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