A Baptism at our Apartment

We had a baptism at our apartment.  We had a baptismal font at our other building but the new building we moved into doesn’t have one yet, so we have had a couple of baptismal services at the pool at our apartment.  We never go swimming in it, but it looks clean and works well for baptisms.

The pool is about 5 feet deep and they try to perform the baptisms on the steps but usually end up falling in when they put them under the water.



Elder Graham, from Layton was serving as a witness for the baptism of Aldrich, who is Romeo’s son’s friend.  Romeo performed the baptism.



Brother Joseph is engaged to the young women’s president in the branch.  He is a bouncer at a club and his life has changed so much.  He wanted the smallest person who could, to baptize him as a sign of his humility.  Junior baptized him.  He is a priest.



This little girl Joy, was bored at the baptism, so we gave her some markers and she climbed up on my desk and drew pictures and fell asleep while coloring.



Joy is the cutest little girl.  We are teaching her mom the gospel and when we go to their house, she always runs to us and gives a big hug.



We had over 40 people in our apartment from the branch for the baptism.  We ran out of chairs and the Elders had to sit on the floor.



This is Dr. Samuel and his wife Caro.  He has been a member for 5 years and moved around a lot in his studies to become a doctor.  He was never ordained to the Aaronic priesthood, so last week he was ordained a priest.  Sister Gailey and I are teaching Caro and their two older daughters Sidonie and Lydia.  Joy is  their daughter and they have two little boys, Jackson (2) and Jimmy (1). We hope they will be ready for baptism in a few weeks and Dr. Samuel will be able to baptize them.

Relief Society Birthday Party

On Saturday March 16, 2013 the BonaPriso and BonaBari branches had a combined relief society birthday party like they do all over the church.  These sisters spent hours preparing the food out in the sun on the hot concrete behind the church building.  They had rice, beans, fish heads and some other things that I’m not sure what they were.  They cook it over charcoal which is pieces of burn wood that they re-light.


The women got together a few weeks before and tie died some fabric and then made matching dresses from the material.  Sister Gailey doesn’t have a sewing machine or much desire to sew, so they made a dress for her.  It is kind of one size fits all with these dresses.

The sisters spend two hours before getting everyone dressed and looking just right.  They make hats out of fabric that they tie in many different ways to give it a different look.

This is the finished product.  Jan came home and skyped some of the family in her new outfit.  Alek didn’t know what to think of his grandma.

With her new dress and hat Sister Gailey fit right in.  It is a little hard to tell which one she is.  Good thing she has her name tag on.  They had all the sisters go up in front and model while they plaid modeling music.  Sister Gailey got the biggest applause and cheers.

On the drive home, we got a lot of really weird looks.  Here I am with my African Queen.  Jan has gone from being a princess at home to a queen here in Cameroon.

Tie Dying Material for Dresses for the Relief Society Birthday Party.

The sisters got together to tie dye material to make themselves matching dressings.  I’m not sure what used to dye the material, but all the sisters were holding their noses so I think it was toxic.




The Elders stopped by after playing soccer just in time to provide the muscle for wringing out the fabric for the sisters.  This is Elders Morin, Zurcher, Andriamamonjy, and Garland.