It's a Beautiful Day for a Baptism

Dear family and friends...how are you doing!?
   This week was a really good week for us here in Pointe Noire because it was a baptism week and it was even more special because it was the baptism week of Mama Cecile and Papa Beri!!! But before I talk about that, I want to say thank you to all of the people who wrote to me...I really appreciate it a lot! I wish you all a great week and I hope that it all goes well!
   It's starting to heat up here and the rain will be starting soon, so it looks like we will be having a lot of fun in the sector,but that is life, I guess!!  But other than that, life is going great and the work is continuing! We have another batch of new missionaries coming in and we have 9 new missionaries! And the amazing thing is that my whole entire zone is training! And in our mission, we have 16 teams who are training and 13 who are not and at the end of this transfer, we will get 11 Americans! So it looks like we will be very busy, but it is good because that means that the mission is growing!!
   But as I was saying, it was the baptismal week for Papa Beri and Mama Cecile! This week we talked with them about the temple and the preistood! They were two super amazing lessons! When we talked about the temple, they were so excited and they had so many questions about it and they really want to go! And they said that they will start preparing so that they can go to the temple in one year, which is really awesome! And also, we talked about the priesthood and how it blesses families and it is why this church is the only true church of Jesus Christ.  Papa Beri was really excited and he really loved it and after he was ordained a priest after sacrament meeting, he came up to me and said, "I got it!" It was a really awesome moment and so amazing to see how they have progressed. On the day of their baptism, there were so many people in the room! We had to bring in extra chairs and they had so many kids there! It was really awesome to see the whole branch and family there to support them.  Mama Cecile chose Elder Tshibanda to baptize her and Papa Beri chose me:)   Mama Cecile's baptism went off without a hitch, but for me it was a little hard! He is 75 years old and he is a pretty good sized man and the font that we have isn’t the biggest so it took me 2 tries to get him all the way under, but I finally got it! It was so cool to see them all dressed in white and to be all dressed in white with them. It is a moment that I will never forget! And after the baptism, they both bore super strong testimonies and everyone just loved them and it was an amazing moment and so special to be a part of!
   But that’s all for this week, folks! Now it's on to the next adventure and to the next family to find! But once again, thank you so much for all of your emails and I will see you next week! For a challenge, go eat a baconator and then some rocky road ice cream!

Love,
Elder Legerski

Hitting My Year Mark!!!

Hey everyone how are you doing!?
   Sorry I didn’t send you an email last week. I promise it wasn’t a problem with anything bad! Just that the email service of the Church had some problems and I wasn’t able to send an email! But I just wanted to thank you all for the outpouring of messages that you sent to me this week! I loved seeing how you all were and how you are all doing! Thank you to all that wrote to me...I just love opening up my email and seeing all the responses! But these past 2 weeks have been super, super good and also really hard as well! That is just the life of the mission! But as usual,as I start to write my mind becomes blank!

   But to start out with,  I'll talk a little bit about Mama Cecile and Papa Beri! They are doing just awesome!!!! We are over at their house nearly every single day and they just love talking and meeting with us! They are doing so well! This week we watched the film of the restoration of the Church (https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2008-06-01-the-restoration?lang=eng) with them during Family Home Evening and after we got done, they talked about how they all loved it. Papa Beri is the best because he talked about how this church is the only true church and because of Joseph Smith's humble prayer and answer, we do have the fullness of the gospel here on the earth! But all is well with them and they will be getting baptized this Saturday, so it’s a date that we have all been looking forward to and it will be such a great addition to our branch and to the church!

   At another meeting we had this week, we were talking with an investagator and he told us that the Book of Mormon wasn’t true and that all that we were doing was false and that we do not know Jesus Christ. And then his friend, who was with us, told us that we were hypocrites and that we needed to stop what we were doing. All this was really hard to take being missionaries of this church. But as I heard these things, I wasn’t angry or upset, I was actually sad. Because I know that these things are true for myself and I wish that they would partake of the goodness that the Gospel gives to us and how it blesses us. But sadly, there are people who want nothing to do with you and want to tear down all that you do. But this is where I think charity comes in, because we just need to have a pure love for all people and if we do have this love, then it will allow us to become more like Christ. It is not something that is easily obtained, but I know that it is worth it! Oh, and they bought us beignets after the lesson so there were no hard feelings!

   Also, we were contacting, for like only the 3^rd time in my mission the other week! Yeah, people contact us here. But as we knocked on a gate, the person answered and we asked if we could share a message about Jesus with him and he said no, that they people that lived there weren’t for God and that we were liars and then slammed the gate in our face. It was not fun, that’s for sure, but I was glad to stand as a witness for Him. He that gave all for us so that we may have the chance to be with our Father once more. I just hope that I can continue to be worthy of His name until the day that I die so that I may receive a fullness of joy.

   But it's been one year folks! It's really weird to think that half of my mission has passed! I still feel so new and I feel like I have so little time left! But I burned a shirt and that was about all that I did!

   That's the end of my email for today folks! For homework go eat or make a meal that is special to your family! I love you all so much and ill see you next week!

Love, Elder Legerski!!!!

P.S. I feel like French is my native language now. I haven’t spoke English with my companion in over 9 months. I speak, read, think and dream in French. It's really weird.

 

I'm The Old Man in the Mission

Hi family and friends ...how are you!?

   This week was a really amazing week for us here in Pointe Noire! Lots of things going on and lots of excitement!  Just want to say thank you to all the people who took time to write me this week, as usual, I really appreciate it and always love seeing how your lives are going! It's weird to be getting near to my year mark. It seems like I am still really new here! But that's not the case. Most of the  missionaries that I knew from the beginning are already at home and I'm starting to become an old guy in the mission! But this week started off really well. Paco, who was our DMB
(or forwards ward mission leader) left for his mission in the Ivory Coast! It's crazy cause they
had a little party for him at the branch and they asked the missionaries to come and talk,
so of course we did! But as we were sitting there, Elder Bacera leaned over and said "you
know, there isn't one single person here who was born into the church. They are all converts
and all were baptized." That really struck me and its really amazing to be here. The only
people born into the church here are the littlest of the kids and it makes me remember how
awesome it is to be a missionary here in the best mission in the world!

   But we were able to talk with Mama Celile and her husband this week. They are really 

awesome. They have been amis together for 5 years and couldn't be baptized because of
certain things, but we talked with the President and we got the approval for their baptism
for the 26th of September! When we went over to see them, they were so happy and all of
their kids, who are already members, are so happy for them! We taught them about the Restoration and they said that they know the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet! It was a really spiritual lesson and I'm so glad to be a part of their progression in the Gospel! Mama Celile was really amazing; she didn't go to school, so she couldn't read or write and when she started the lessons, she didn't speak French. But through the Church and her own efforts, she can now speak French and also read French, so she is able to read le Livre de Mormon (Book of Mormon)! Such an example of faith and determination.

   Also, I wanted to talk about the importance of a personal testimony. We were talking with

an ami when it really hit me. Each person in this church does the things they do, not
because of parents or other things, but because of a personal testimony. That is why the
Church is so strong. This huge organization is built on the blocks of individuals who know
these things are true, so we live in accordance with the light that we have received. And it's
something that nobody can take away from us because it is part of our personal experience
with God.

    I just want to say how grateful I am for the chance to serve this mission and for learning how to help others and seeing this Gospel change their lives and just becoming an instrument in the hands of the Lord so that I may be able to do his will. I know these things are true and because of that I wish to share it with all of the world. 

    But that's all for this week folks! I wish you all a good week and for all those college students,

keep on going forward...you can do it! I love you all so much and I look forward to hearing from
you next week! For a challenge, talk to someone random in the lunch room this week!

Love,

Elder Legerski