Extra Time in a Taxi and Other Adventures in Africa

Bonjour! Good morning! Mboté! Nzambé a lingi bino!

This week was filled with good solid lessons! Our friends are progressing nicely! The Lord has made clear His hand in our work! Quel miracle (What a miracle)! We've been able to invite a lot of our new members à assister à nos leçons (to attend our lessons), nottément (including) Frère Dervy, Frère Evan, Sœur Erica et Frère Gérémie)! It's fun to see with each lesson they attend and with each testimony they bear how their conversion is deepening! La foi est vraiement comme une petite sémance (Faith is really like a little ?)! We are teaching a lot of families right now! It's been really fun to have group leçons (lessons). The Spirit is strong there! Le Saint Esprit est fort là! So to put it simply things are going quite well here!

Now for some funny experiences haha. 

So we were going to do an exchange. We had to take a 30-45 minute taxi ride to arrive at chez zone leaders. I honestly liked that. Driving through the city at night is fun! More people come out, I feel like, at night. So it was busy, dark, and there was lots of music and dancing. We arrived at a roundabout right in front of the zone leader's apartment when the taxi man hurriedly asked us where to go. In GIGANTIC lettering; boldly surrounded by literally 100 LED lights there was a sign that said, "Laboratoire" right at the beginning of their road. Logically enough, I pointed to the sign and told him, "entrez là! Entrez à Laboratoire!" ("Enter there! Enter Laboratory!") Instantly, a look of sure comprehension was clearly seen on his once confused expression and he told us he knew where we were talking about. Since there was a divider in the road entre nous et cette rue (between us and this street) he took a right going away from the road. I reassured my companion he would "fera demi tour"("make a U-turn") and make his way there. 20 minutes later; after driving through the sandy and garbage-filled dry river beds they call roads here, we arrived in front of an empty, abandoned, and half-destroyed building. Are you confused? Because I sure was haha. "Voici! L'abatoire!" Il nous a dit en nous montrant "le batîment." ("Here! The bat!" He told us by showing us "the building.") Sure enough there was a rusty sign avec l'écriture de "abatoire" (with the writing of " abatoire "). 

I hope these 5 emojis help you see this story (and my facial expressions) clearly. 

So there are these things s'appellent (called) les articles. Le et la (They) are very important. They help little Elders named Elder Habel to avoid these kinds of situations. 

So when I said "Laboratoire" he heard "l'a batoire" which just happened to be very widely known and often used reference. If I had said Le Laboratoire he probably would have seen the sign and been like "Oh je dois aller et les laisser se descendre là!" ("Oh I have to go and let them get down there!") But no. It wasn't like that. Instead, there we were in the middle of nowhere with a confused taxi man. But don't worry we were able to get to the zone leaders. We were just a little late haha!

Then during an exchange Elder Harris needed us to come to chez son ami so we could give an interview. He told me to simply walk out of the church and take a left and just walk towards a commonly known place s'appelle (called) "Canque Chemin." 

Simple enough right? How could Elder Habel mess this one up!?

Well, I did. Let me tell you the story, haha. 

So moi et Elder Harris had different perspectives and ideas of what simply walking out of the church meant. I thought of the main road in front of the church. He was thinking of the neighborhood road. So there was one difference. Frère Dervy then saved us because I was perfectly content to walk completely straight literally. He led us to "5 Chemin". And then, here is where the second difference comes into play. "5 Chemin." is a lot different than "la balance": somewhere I knew how to get to already. So already off in the wrong direction; saved from going in a worse direction, we realized this after 30 minutes or so of walking. Let's just say I'm thankful we took Frère Dervy because he led us to "La Balance" from "5 Chemin."

So yeah I spent a good amount of extra time in a taxi and walking this week! 

Well, I hope you enjoyed the stories! Je dirais que j'espère que je peux faire l'expérience davantage comme ça mais je mentirais si c'était la vérité lol. (I would say "I hope I can experience more like this" but I would be lying. lol.)

Je vous aime. (I love you.) Nalingi bino et nalingi yo!

Sincèrement (Sincerely), Elder Habel

Nouvelle coiff / New hairstyle

"la porte" à la vie éternelle

 Bonjour à tous! Bonjour à tout le monde! (Hello everyone! Hello everyone!)  I hope you all had a good week this week! I hope you each are healthy, happy, and at peace. 

This week was honestly quite enjoyable! Again like every week the Lord carried His work! Our friends are doing great and we have found some new friends who we think will progress towards baptism! 

We had zone conference this week, which was awesome! Learned a lot and got to see a lot of other missionaries which was fun!

This Saturday we had quite the miraculous experience of having a service de baptême! We had the pleasure to welcome a few of our friends through "la porte" à la vie éternelle ("the door" to eternal life)! There were families there, food, and most importantly the spirit of God. The Christ in all His glory still acts among us. He truly leads His work. Literally one of the most special experiences we can experience during this life is striving to help others receive the greatest life to come.

I love each of you and God loves you more.

I pray you each find happiness, joy, and peace in this life. 

Love, Elder Habel

 

 

  

 

 

 

"Cette Barber"

Bonjour à tous, soyez le bienvenue et soyez à l'aise (Hello everyone, welcome and be comfortable)! I hope you all had a week as fantastic as you all are!

 

This week in Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo:

Apparently Elder Habel a une barbe (has a beard). Cette barber (This beard) was very noticeable to a certain little Sœur Luna. One day we were teaching Sœur Luna and every time I spoke she just couldn't stop laughing! I would take a breath and her smile would burst like a dam into laughter. Was it my french? Was it my accent? Did I say something wrong? Je me suis demandé tout ces choses jusqu'au je me suis regardé dans le mirroir. Et puis, je l'ai vu. (I wondered all these things until I looked at myself in the mirror. And then I saw him.) The saddest looking beard in all of Africa. Et puis mon collègue me l'a dit:  elle riait à votre barbe haha (And then my companion told me, "she was laughing at your beard" haha)! Let's just say I quickly shaved that horrendous thing off, haha.

My french has been tested this week. Explaining the law of chastity, in-depth, to 10-year-olds pushed my french to its limit. Glad there were other french speakers there haha. Then trying to explain in french why not to say certain swearwords was another hard-fought but well-earned victory!

We did a lot of contacting, a lot of teaching, and a lot of service this week. Pushing wheelbarrows full of sand, cutting wood (I'm sad to say that a grandma can cut wood better than me.), and washing dishes was a pleasure to do for the people here! 

 

 

All in all the Lord used us as His instruments to bring joy, happiness, peace, and healing to His children. Quelle vie! Quelle bénédiction! Quel miracle (What a life! What a blessing! What a miracle)! 

I would exhort you all to be happy and at ultimate peace by following the perfect example of Christ in loving God and His children, and by keeping His commandments. 

I love you. Each of you. Know He loves you more. Always more.

Have a good week and go kill it! (Just please don't literally kill it whatever it is...don't want to inspire any crimes like that haha)!

Hope you're smiling now after all that, love, Elder Habel