Pure and Simple

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

   So that you can get a feel for Africa, I'm just sitting in a cyber (café) overlooking a huge open market...yeah, this mission is awesome!  I wanted to thank all of you who wrote me this week, it was really appreciated and I thank you all so much! This week was quite a busy one for us here in Guynemer and I have a lot to say so I'll do my  best to fit it all in!!

  To start off, we had a zone training, which I got to lead because I was zone leader, and it's just a meeting to help train missionaries so that we can all teach better and become better. I got together with the district leaders and talked with them with the assistant about what the weak points in our zone were and then on Friday, we had training and it was a lot of fun and we had a lot of practice and it helped out so much! I have come to love doing role plays because they are so important and it is one of the best ways to learn together! We all make mistakes, but in doing role plays in a controlled environment, we can all correct each other so we can become better!

  Then on Saturday, I got to go on splits with Elder Kabeya and it was a lot of fun! It's always great to go into different sectors and see their amis and their progression. Its been almost 7 months since the last time I worked with him in Pointe Noire back in my first transfer there, and it's amazing how much he has grown and how much he has improved!!

   And Sunday, we attended the new church built building for the first time! And it was such an awesome Sunday! We had 5 amis who came and 1 that came late with 9 new people that were invited by members!!  We got their numbers and we hope that we can meet with them all this week! And also, we had 3 inactives at church so it was pretty much a hayday! I can really see how the ward is starting to turn around little by little and also how our sector has gotten a lot better since we arrived here. If we are willing to just go out and work, then the Lord will work miracles!

   And finally, last Tuesday the assistant told us that Elder Hamilton from the 70 would visit us here in Brazza for the mission tour. Elder Ellis was supposed to come, but because of political reasons, he can't get the visa. But we were with Elder Hamilton all Monday (which is why I am writing on Tuesday) and it was really awesome! He talked with all the leaders about how we need to lead like Christ and really focus on being an example and showing the other missionaries how work should be done.

Brazzaville Missionary Conference
with Elder Hamilton
(with Elder Legerski smiling in the back:)

 

   And then he talked with us about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how really simple it is and that we need to do our best to be simple with the amis and to help them have eternal life, beginning with baptism. As I spend more and more time here, the more I realize that baptism is the beginning and it all leads to the temple.

   But that is all for this week folks! The transfers are Friday and I think I might be going somewhere so I should have some news for you next week!  Also wanted to give a shoutout to Elder Alexander, who will be going to Benin Cotonou...welcome to Africa my friend!

 

   I love you so much and I hope you have a good week! For a challenge go eat a mango!!

Elder Legerski

We Won't be the Church Next to the Trash Anymore!!

Dear family and friends how are you doing!?
   This week was a really good week and it was really busy for us here in Guynemer. We had lots of meetings as well as lots of time in the sector and it was a lot of fun. It seems like we have too many amis to see now so we are working our butts off! But I hope that you all had a  good week and I want to thank all of you who sent me emails...I really appreciate it! Also, I wanted to wish my little sister Skya a Happy Birthday on the 24^th!! I love you so much!

   But the best news that we got this week is that we will start going to church in the new church built building this Sunday the 24^th! It is a huge blessing that we have because it is only the second one that has been built in the whole mission and the only one here in Brazza! We are hoping to invite a lot of people and we are hoping that it really helps us with missionary work and reactivating inactive members. And we won't be the church next to the trash anymore! Kevin S. Hamilton of the 70 will be coming to dedicate it, so it should be exciting! I'll do my best to send photos next week so that you can all see!

   This week I got a really cool opportunity to assist at a training for the Stake because of my calling and it was really amazing. The focus for this year here in Brazzaville is missionary work and they are really encouraging members to invite their friends to talk with the missionaries because if amis aren’t fellowshipped by members, then baptisms are really hard. But I got to go and talk on missionary work and I saw that they are planning on dividing the Stake and every ward so we have a lot of work to do!  It's really cool to see the planning that goes on and how we just have to go out and work and bring souls to our Heavenly Father! And because of that, our bishop came up to US this week and asked us if he could work with us this week:)  I encourage all the members back home to invite their friends to speak with the missionaries and to come to church! It's scary, yes, but the Lord will help you and He will bless you as you try and do his will!

   Other than that, there is no new news! We're just going to do our best this week to invite everyone we meet to church and to invite them to follow Christ! I hope that you all have a really good week and that you are all staying warm in the cold! I love you all so much! For a challenge, go make some doughnuts!

Elder Legerski

P.S. Elder Dou and I made 8 and a half liters of yogurt. So awesome!

It's Raining, It's Pouring!!

Dear family friends and people from all around the world,
  Il fait chaud (It's Hot!) but that's old news. Here in Brazza, all is going well. We had a good week here in Guynemer and it was really awesome cause we are disciples of Jesus Christ and we preach unto people so that they may have eternal life. Thank you so much for all that sent me emails this week...I really enjoyed it! I hope that you all had a super good week back home and all you college students aren't being too lazy!

   Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of good stories for this week so far. Just going out and working as hard as we can. But this Sunday we had a really cool experience. This Sunday it rained for the second Sunday in a row and when it does, most of our amis don't come to church because the rain just pours and most of them walk to church. But even with the rain, our 66 year old ami Loubaki came to church. It was just really awesome to see him walk through the gate and we went to save him with the umbrella and it really just made my day. When we sacrifice to keep the Lord's commandments, I know we will be blessed! 

   This week was a really good week for teaching good amis. There is a member who has had a girlfriend for 4 years because marriage is so expensive and she really hasn't wanted to talk with the missionaries. But now she is opening up to the church and she really wants to meet with us.  We were able to talk with her on Saturday and had a really amazing lesson and the Sunday after that, she came to church (even in the rain!) and we were so happy to see her! We are really praying that the Lord can touch her so that she may know that these things are true. 

   But that's about all for this week. We're going on to yet another week! I can't believe that we are 11 days into January! The time flies on a mission! But I hope you have a very good week and I will see you next week! And as a challenge, I want you to all go drink tangawiss (a drink made with ginger:)!

Elder Legerski

2015: Oh Man, What a Year!

Dear family and friends...how are you!?
   It's finally 2016! It's finally here!  New Year's Eve was good while I was here. We didn't really do anything special; we just hung out, but it was a lot of fun. These last 2 weeks were really hard for work because of all the holidays, but other than that all is well!! As I finally realized that 2016 was here and that I'm old, I thought about this last year because at the start of 2015, I was in training still, I didn't speak French and I was back in Cameroon! And as I look at 2015, I see that I have grown a lot and the thing that has grown the most is my testimony of Christ and His doctrine and His church. To put it simply, I know that these things are true and I know that thru Christ and His atonement, we may have eternal life! (Oh, and I also became fluent in French, which is quite nice!)

   This week I got to go to the hospital for the first time here in Africa, but it wasn't for me! Elder Biolo was sick so I had to take him to the  hospital and then we had had a day at the apartment because he didn't feel well all day long. It's really hard to just stay at the apartment, because we are so used to working all the time and to being busy!

   But the sector other than that is going well! We have had many, many experiences and it has been a lot of fun! And we are really starting to see the fruits of our labors here and we are really starting to find new amis and people that are interessted in the church! It's an amazing feeling to go out and work hard!

   There is one guy, Jean Claude, that we have been teaching. He is really interessted in the gospel and the Book of Mormon. He got interested because his wife has cancer and he thinks that this message will help him out a lot, as well as his wife and his family. It's really sad because she isn't doing well, but it's also really awesome to see how despite all these things, he is trying to find the answer thru God. It really makes me think about the Plan of Salvation https://www.lds.org/topics/plan-of-salvation?lang=eng and how grateful I am for this knowledge and the blessings that it brings into my life. 

   But other than that, that's all for this week! I hope that you had a good New Year's Eve and you all stayed safe! I love you all so much and for a challege go eat some Panda Express for me! (Elder Crandall gave me this idea:) Until next week!

Elder Legerski