Zone Conference with Elder Cook

Hello Everyone!
How is it going!? Everything is going well over here in Douala! The sun is shining hot as ever before, but the good thing is I'm finally used to it now, I think! And I found out that this year has been one of the hottest years in a long time.

This week was a week that was just full of amazing things. First off, I just want to say thank you so much to the Robison Family for the package...that was so nice of you! I'm enjoying the food so much and sharing it with my companion, who hates all American food; it brings quite a few good laughs!

Back: Elders Mwehu, Legerski, Larson, Kabasele, Johnson, Mandefu, West, VanAusdal, Front: Sisters Coleman & Monga, Pres Monga, Elder & Sis Cook

 

The thing that I want to focus most on this week was our zone conference with the General Authority, Carl B. Cook of the South Africa Presidency. We met with him and his wife, as well as President Monga and Sister Monga. Let me tell you, if you ever meet a 70 or an apostle, count yourself lucky because they are such amazing men! The first thing that he talked about was the importance of a study journal. He talked about how if we write the revelations down that the Lord gives to us, then He will give us even more personal revelation because we show Him that we treasure the things that he gives to us. Also, he talked about the manner of writing down these things. He said that when they meet with the Prophet, none of them write down the actual words that the Prophet says, but rather the thoughts and feelings and impressions that come to them. This impressed me because often times I just simply restate the words and now I know how to better define this revelation for myself. Also, I can't wait for the next General Conference so I can see how my new skills are improving!

The Elders singing for Elder and Sister Cook

Secondly, another thing that I really liked was when we talked about the problems that we have going on here, because no stake, ward or branch will ever be perfect. And we drew up a list and said that we will go through and write down who can solve these problems. And I thought "well of course most of the problems are going to be solved by people who are higher up than me...I'm just a missionary. But then as we began discussing, we talked about how most of the work can be done by us missionaries; it won't be fun and it won't be easy, but it can be done. We need to create a plan and execute this plan and it all need to be done in accordance with the Lord. So, we have a lot of work to be done here in Douala but it's what needs to be done.

Finally, I want to talk about an experience that I had in the sector. I was walking along and we had not had a good day and it had been one full of difficulties and I thought to myself,  "why am I here, I feel like I am doing nothing. But I got back to the apartment and began thinking and then talking with my companion and he said that missionary work is hard and all is done in the Lord's time. All I need to do is just work my hardest and do my best. It was kind of humbling because I remembered that I need to learn how to submit to the Lord's will. I can't say I'm near perfect right now and I never will be. I'm glad I've been here for over 5 months but at the same time I feel like it's gone too fast. There is so much I need to improve on and work on. Missions are precious and the time is a time that we will never get back.

Thanks to everyone who emailed me... I really appreciated it and I'll talk to everyone next week! Someone have some mac and cheese for me!

Love,
Elder Legerski