Week 29

We are loving our clear connection talking to him, it is so much better than when he was in the village!

Another soccer game!

The view from an apartment he was teaching in. 

A cute doodle! 

He said these birds are everywhere, very cool! 

Chillin’!

This is where he gets his meat sometimes. There is a fire underneath the black crate. They cut the chicken off to the side then grill it. 

There is the meat, the sauce, and the bread yeast stuff that is the filler.

They got picked up by a bus from the mission office and taken to Cocody to a stake center by the Abidjan temple. He said the stake center is really nice. This is where Elder Christofferson will talk to the missionaries. 

Ready and waiting to be seated to hear Elder Christofferson!

 

They sat them by missions then by zones. 

Caleb brought a bag of pagne ties from Frere Koko to give to the missionaries that ordered them. This is the bag of 80 ties! 

Elder Christofferson walking by! 

Elder Christofferson was right down the aisle! 

He had an interpreter.

The missionaries made the heart symbol to him❤️.

Caleb said there was security at every door. One was a  Côte d’Ivoire officer. 

It was such a cool experience to have an apostle come to his mission! Caleb mentioned how when he walked in how quiet it got and you could just feel the spirit come in with him. 

Caleb loved seeing many of his missionary buddies! 

Elder Kahn, his first companion! 

His email:

Salut

This week was a cool week. We were and still are in a trio, so we had to balance between the two sectors. It was a little rough sometimes trying to figure out where to go because they are not close to each other. We don't live in either sector so we always have to choose one or the other. It worked out though.

Tuesday morning we had district council. We usually have 8 missionaries there, but because of some emergency transfers it was only 5 missionaries. Tuesday afternoon we went to Kouté. It's a nice big sector, but me and Elder Mayele don't know it, and Elder Jenkins is still new to the area. Wednesday we spent in Gandhi. We had an appointment at the stake center which is far away, but the guy never showed up. yako. We also had an appointment with the second counselor's daughter again. She still doesn't say anything which is a little hard.

Thursday we went over to Kouté. In the afternoon we were contacting a little bit. Elder Mayele contacted this one lady, and she almost immediately told us to go away because she already knew Jesus. She was just like go teach the Muslims. So Elder Mayele pulls out 2 Nephi 28:29. She did not like it because it came from something other than the Bible (mind you while she was reading her methodist book) and because she immediately understood why we shared the scripture. Anyways it was a little rough but it was a fun experience. People always say well it’s the same God and Jesus Christ so I don't need your church, and then go on to explain how they are the same person in the flesh… Needless to say I'm really good at teaching the Divinity haha.

Friday we did weekly planning and then went out to sector. We didn't have much planned. While we were out in sector the zone leaders asked if we could head to the hospital to give some sisters in our district a blessing. My companion didn't want to originally because he didn't want to pay for the taxi, because it was a little far. I paid for it and we headed to Chandelier, which is the hospital. What's funny is that everyone that works there knows the missionaries because it's the only decent one in our mission boundaries. We gave the sister a blessing and then talked with them for a bit. The three of us got a little motion sickness because driving here is a little crazy, so we didn't do much once we got back to our sector.

Then the big day finally came. Saturday morning we got ready and then headed to our stake center. We met our zone there and then we hopped on a bus that took us to the Cocody Stake Center. Most of our mission and the other two Abidjan missions were there as well. We all went over there to listen to Elder Christofferson. The Cocody stake center is the nicest stake center here and is right next to the temple. We waited a couple of hours outside, which was nice getting to talk to the other Elders. Then we all headed inside. They sat us by mission and by zone.

The Africa West Area President and his wife, Elder and Sister Kyungu, spoke to us first. They speak French and so no one translated. Then the daughter and son-in-law of President Nelson, Elder and Sister Ringwood, spoke with us. They speak English and someone translated for them. Then Sister Christofferson spoke. She gave a small testimony in French which everyone loved. All of their talks were pretty small, but all really good.

Then Elder Christofferson got up. When he first walked in it was cool feeling a spirit come with him. He talked for about 20 minutes and then opened it up to questions. They only had time for 5 questions. The questions the missionaries asked were okay, but didn't take advantage of an apostle, if that makes sense. He then shared some closing thoughts. It was an awesome experience and I hope I remember it for the rest of my life.

Saturday night we also got transfer news. Me and Elder Mayele are staying in Gandhi. Elder Jenkins is leaving so we will not be in a trio. We don't know where he is going though. We think they'll send some missionaries for Kouté, but if not me and Elder Mayele will run the two sectors, which I wouldn't mind.

Sunday was a chill day. We did sacrament meeting in Kouté, and then went over to Gandhi as well. Elder Mayele wasn't feeling well so we stayed at the apartment for the rest of the day, which gave me some great study time. We have a baptism mission group chat so whenever someone is baptized in the mission we take a picture and send it to the group. We had over 20 different sets of missionaries baptize over 45 people which was so cool to see.

Today will be a chill day, and then tomorrow we'll go to the stake center for transfers. 

Spiritual Thought:

This will be a small spiritual thought, but it's something Elder Christofferson said to us. It's not word for word but he said, “Because of your covenants, you have an everlasting tie with him, with an unending amount of help from Him.” I hope all of us have made covenants with Him, because this life is not easy. As we keep our covenants we will have His help with whatever challenges come our way.

Thanks for all of your prayers and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Robinson