by 1. Norbert
One day, we we didn’t have anyone to teach so we were just walking looking for someone to talk to when this drunk guy called to us to talk to him. It was strange to talk to a drunk person but since we had nothing going on we talked to him. He said that he wanted to change and that he would stop drinking and smoking for us missionaries. To be honest, I didn’t believe him at the time but he was serious. We gave him a pamphlet and set a time to talk with him during the week. When we came to teach him he had read the entire pamphlet and had lots of questions for us. We were totally surprised. Norbert would read everything we gave him. All day he would read the Book of Mormon and when he was done with that he would read the Liahona. Before Norbert was baptized, he told us about a dream that he had had. He said that his father, who had died when he was a child and that he never knew, came to him in and told him that the path that he was following with us the missionaries is the right path and that he was proud of him. It was a powerful experience to be in that lesson.
2. Chief who had Church manual in his house
I was in Douala and we were trying to find people to teach. We were walking along when this guy in his house calls out to us from his window and wants to talk us. This was super surprising to my companion and I. We walked up to him and he asked us if he could follow Jesus and still follow his African traditions. We wanted to learn more so we walked into his house and asked him what he meant by African traditions. He asked if he could follow Jesus and still be married to his two wives. I was shook. We told him no he couldn’t and talked some more and ended the lesson. He also told us he was the chief of the neighborhood and that he some authority in the community. After the lesson, we were walking around his living room house and something in particular caught my eye, I picked it up and it was a Missionary Preparation manual of the Church. I was astounded. We asked him where he got it and he said he didn’t know. We visited the guy one more time but he wasn’t interested in progressing.
3. Marcel
We were teaching a very old man named Marcel who couldn’t walk on his own. As we were teaching him, he would say things later like how learning to pray helped him sleep better and other things like that. As we continued teaching him, his health got better. When I left that area, he started walking 30 minutes each way to Church. Miraculously, a few weeks after I left the area he was baptized. Then about three weeks after he was baptized he passed away. He was a real inspiration me.
4. Willy
My companion and I were trying to look for people to teach. While we were teaching a lesson, this guy walks in said he heard there were preachers around and that he wanted to be taught. It turns out that he was an ex-pastor for a church called Branhamists. They believe in a prophet named William Marrion Branham from the US and that he is the last prophet. There was a split in the church where some believed that he was a prophet while others believed that he was God so he left the church in this context. He still believed that Branham was a prophet but he was a really nice guy. He had also been a solider in the Congolese civil war in the 90’s and had stories of being captured and tortured by rebels. By the end of our teaching, we ended up helping him gain a testimony of Joseph Smith and he started coming to Church which was an hour walk one way from where he lived.
5. Aline
There was a woman named Aline that we had been teaching for a long time. One day we were teaching her and she said that when she had come to our Church, she had given an donation of 3,000 francs ($6) to the Church. 3,000 francs is a lot of money for the average Congolese. Later that week, her ex-husband, who barely communicates with her, gave their family 37,000 francs ($74), more than 10x the amount that she had given to the church. It was a miracle of faith and a real testimony builder of tithing.
6. Man who found Book of Mormon in market
We had contacted a man and were teaching him for the first time. At the end of the lesson, we pulled out the brochure The Testimony of Joseph Smith and were showing him the pictures. He said he recognized one of the pictures and went into his house to pull something out. The man came back with a torn-in-half Book of Mormon that he had found on the ground in the market that had one of the same pictures from the brochure. He said that he had read the torn Book of Mormon multiple times. We were amazed at that. We later tried to progress with teaching him but his family threatened to kick him out of their house if he converted to the Church.
7. Dadu
We were teaching a young man named Dadu who was friends with a member. This was probably our 5th time teaching him. He recounted to us a dream that he had had. In it he was flirting with a girl and the girl asked him, “why are you flirting with me, you are a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints” he said that the dream was a wake up call to him from the Lord that he should stop chasing girls and that he may become a member and missionary of the Church. He didn’t join the Church when I was there btu he might join in the future.
8. Merveille
We had been teaching this 15 year old girl named Merveille for about 3 months but she couldn’t get baptized because her aunt didn’t want allow her to. One week, my companion and I were working extra hard on being obedient and working as hard as we could. I felt inspired to ask Merveille if she could get baptized. She told us that her aunt had give her permission. Amazingly, we had a baptism paper with us and we got her ready for the next baptism service that happened two weeks later.
9. Going on splits with the members
In one area in Brazzaville, we would work with the members so much that sometimes we had 2 members that we could work with at the same time. Me and my companion would split up and work alongside this member and miracles would happen. I would go with my new member companion looking for new people to teach for 6 straight hours. They were some of the most spiritual moments of my mission. We ran into some very believing people. On these splits one of the big things that me and my member companion Pavel would do is give blessings to people who needed help. People would ask us for blessings, for themselves and for others and we gave many.
10. Teaching with Joris
A very special experience for me was me and my companion teaching two groups of investigators at the same time. I would take one group of investigators and teach with a member then my companion would take another investigator and teach with a member. I had one of my recent converts, Joris, teach a guy the Restoration. He taught it perfectly. It’s a special feeling when one of you converts is already a strong missionary. There is a deep feeling of happiness knowing one of you converts is already a strong missionary.
