Tuesday 3 July 2012

Great email from Ed this week, Mon 2nd July 2012

Extracts from the best email ever are shown below. I practically had to copy the entire email this week! Enjoy! :)

On Mondays missionaries have a day off their teaching- instead they do all their shopping, washing, writing home, etc. Here is a clip from last Monday: "After e-mails we went and played football at a seriously pants pitch at the district centre (Duala) - about half way through it started literally raining cats and dogs - it seriously crazy! We actually continued to play for about an hour on a totally totally flooded, tilted, unbelievably muddy pitch. It just wasn't sport - I've never been so dirty!! Came back to the appartment drenched and dirty to skinnn. I washed in the water I'd cleaned in this morning (we have to use water in 2 or 3 ways before we get rid of it!! =)" 

While messing around with some of the missionaries last Monday in their house he ran into door! :

"I now genuinely have a lightning scar on my forehead! Everyone in Africa asks you what you did whenever you have a cut, so last week I was explaining to all of my investigators how I'd stuck my finger in the fan ( I lopped off half my finger last week =P) and now I'm going to have to explain how and 'why' I walked into a door with a nail sticking out of it. Sure enough, I had to relate this story many times this week!!"

"On Wednesday heaven opened up its trapdoor!! I was given a wonderful care package from Rui and Ashlea (Sousa) from Dear Elder and 35 Dear Elder letters! =O New mission record!! Also 2 hand written letters!! Ahh it's so amazing how incredibly supportive everyone has been to me!! =D Just so overwhelmed with the love everyone's shown - I still haven't finished the Dear Elders! =O Reading them I genuinely feel that I can defeat anything and everything!! So touched by the kind and inspiring words of everyone!! =D Just amazing =D"

On Thursday he said: "Ahh I got 2 packages today!!! One from the Wests and one from the Pereiras!! Ahh so lovely of them!! =D I also got letters!!!! Ahhh I have letters!!!!! It's so lovely to read them, just so lovely!! =D"

Friday: "Woah today I REALLY understood why they give us wellies! Doe Community isn't just flooded it's an African Venice! Although they don't have gondolas to get from one house to the next, they have wooden plank bridges sprouting from the river - the wooden planks are about 20-25cm wide at some points. At one point we had to get from one house to another crossing a 'bridge' about quarter of a mile long! So if you can imagine us, with bags on our backs with scriptures in - he has half the district's funds in his back pocket (he's District Leader), I have the other half (I'm in charge of food money..?!) and the phone - and of course we're suited and booted (literally) tip-toeing as you do across one of those 3 metre-ish long poles as part of one of those apparatus courses you'd see in a playground - but this time if you fall, you fall into a poo infested, exotic animal dwelling, goodness knows how deep, West African river - wo be-tide anyone who wants to come the other way! Ironically the person we were going to see wasn't in! =) I actually did get stuck in 2 bogs - which was horrible! You genuinely feel hopeless and helpless =P"

Saturday: "Ahh today started hard! Veeeery hot and uncomfortable in personal and comp study and feeling sorry for myself. I left the apartment honestly thinking this is going to be a hard day! Was I right?! No! Today was so incredible! Just loved eevery lesson and really felt the spirit! Really did love it =) We saw Sister Juliet first, which was super 'cos 3 different people walking by stopped and listened to what we were teaching - it's always so uplifting when this happens, you just kind of hand out more and more pamphlets aboput what you're teaching and Book of Mormon as you go so they can read along - The Lord's hand guides this work so much! Everyone just loves and understands so much what we're teaching!! The only explanation is that the spirit is whispering to them 'this isn't new, you know this, this is true."

Sunday: "Ahh today the chapel got broken into, which was sad! They stole 2 sewing machines and just made a mess. Unfortunately no-one knew until 15 minutes before the service started."

On Monday: "Today we discovered that out appartment was broken into over night! Our big fuel tank (for the generator) was stolen and the oil for it too. The fuel was full as well" 

Wow, what an education in life! Thank you EVERYONE so much who has sent him letters and packages. Keep them coming since they seem to take a longggg time coming and then all come at once!