August 19, 2013 - Members to visit, neighbors



hey family!
school starting wow the summer has flown by.  good luck with all your classes.  yep 8 months today.  wow crazy! that's one third.... dang its going by so fast.  i didn't go on my roof monday night so i didn't see any meteors but sounds like you had fun.  good work with the book of mormon nathan.  what'd ya learn?  mom did you start at the beginning in french or just where you were? i am luc [Luke] now in the bible in french.  its coming along.  i like reading and then reading the explanations in jesus the christ. 

yep mathias and engonam are amazing.  it was my camera battery that died so were good there.  this week i accidentally called their little son, prince, a big monkey instead of a big boss in éwé.  haha oops. i'm learning a lot in éwé but it's hard because it's all about the way you say it sometimes.  but i like learning and i'm determined to testify in éwé when i leave attiegou, which will be hard but i can do it.  they love it when i speak though.  their faces just light up even just a few words. :) 

the church is pretty much always open but we don't really do tours i don't know if we'll start or what.  the church is so young here that we can't really keep up with all the new advances and programs but we do our best.  the branch is improving though.  I'm really making an effort to make some changes here and get some things rolling rather than just sitting back and doing the regular missionary stuff.  its going good so far but just takes time.

this week we taught a guy who turned out to be a pastor who started preaching to us all this stuff, and then he started to speak to us in tongues! (giberish) he said if we really had the spirit we would have understood. ahhh....

also did i tell you about our neighbor yet!  I've never seen her as far as i know but every wednesday she prays all day long into a microphone in her house.  no joke ALL day long.  she just repeats as far as i understand thank you god over and over almost singing yelling.

we visited this old member couple pascal and afi this week.  they are so great.  they don't really speak french so we brought a member, elolo, with us.  i wish you could just be there sometimes to experience the people because there is just too much to explain in writing.  picture is a thousand words kinda deal.  he's blind in one eye, doesn't walk very well, but is there at church every week.  he has lived in his little shack with his family for 19 years now. And he's happy! i told him that seeing him and all his family makes me really happy and that god was happy too.  he just told me thank you like 10 times and shook my hand over and over.  now he calls me "mon ami"  haha i love the african people so much.  they are the most amazing people ever!

that's all for this week! i love you all!  have a great week (in school haha)
loves,
Elder Rybin