Week 35

I love our weekly family picture! 

He finished a water bottle while talking to us, he downed it! 

We weren’t quick enough, we were doing a silly picture but he hid from us when we went to take the picture! 

This is an ant he killed with his finger. The ants love food especially sugar so you have to eat fast! 

Out in sector. 

Yum! 

Rain storm! 

Exchanges with Elder Stevens. 

The Stotts, the couple that helps Pres Litchfield, brought them choc chip cookies! 😋

They had to clean their stove. This is after they cleaned it. 

He went to a members house that is nice and watched conference there. 

He got his white and pink pagne ties!

These are all the pagne ties he has gotten so far, whether by trade or buying them. He has a little more to get that he dropped off to the guy who makes them. 

Conference! He watched it in French but it’s not African French so it was hard to understand. He also only got to watch the morning sessions because of the time difference. But he did have permission to watch Sunday night so he got to see Elder Nelson’s talk on his phone in English. 

His email for the week:

Salut

This week flew by, but when I look back a lot of things happened. Last Monday right before p-day ended it rained like crazy. It was the craziest storm that I've seen here. We waited and it slowed down enough where we were able to go out to sector. We stayed on the paved roads and taught a new member, which worked out great.

Tuesday we went to District Council as usual. After a sister needed a blessing. The district leader didn't care to do it, and the other two elders are brand new anglophones, while this sister is a francophone. So I got designated to do it. It was cool giving a comfort blessing in French, even though they wouldn't tell me what was wrong. Which I don't need to know, but it made it a little harder knowing what to say. I think it went well though, at least I hope so.

Tuesday night the zone leaders came over to do an exchange. I did it with Elder Stevens, who is an American, and then my companion went to their sector. Because there were three Americans in the apartment, we stayed up laaaaate talking about whatever. It was worth it though. We got up and I gave him a haircut. We studied, did daily planning, and then headed out. 

We went and taught one lady. We taught her about the restoration. It seemed like she was getting teary-eyed and felt the spirit. It was great except for Satan didn't like that and so right then the kids started screaming and hitting each other. Afterwards she told us everything we said was true. Then we asked her to come to church and she made up excuses how she has to go to her Methodist church. We left the Book of Mormon with her and as I was writing things Elder Stevens started talking to me in English, in front of her, how she understood nothing because if she actually understood that means her methodist church it false, how she won't progress, and how so many Ivorians are like that. I know it's not great doing that in front of them, but it was funny.

Elder Stevens showed me menthe au lait, which translates to mint milk. It is a drink Ivorians make and it is amazing. During our language study we cleaned the apartment, and then headed right back out.

We went and taught these two catholic ladies. We talked about baptism. One said we need to be submerged in water, and the other said we simply need to use water. So we read 3 Nephi 11 with them. We explained it to them in detail and this was our conversation:

Us: “Did you understand what we said?”

Them: “Yes”

Us: “Great, would you guys like to get baptized the same way Jesus taught?”

Them: “No, we are already baptized”

Us: “Okay so you didn't understand”

Them: “No no we understood”

Us: “No you didn't. Because if you guys understood, you would realize that you guys weren’t baptized, and that you have to get baptized properly” 

We then re-explained everything, and hopefully they understood. They said they want to be baptized properly, but they still believe they were baptized properly.

The rest of the exchange was pretty chill. We had a couple appointments fall through, but right before we got to the apartment the zone leader is like let's go teach one more person. Right then a name came to my head and we went and taught her. She was there and available, and we ended up having a great lesson with her. The Spirit is pretty cool. 

Thursday we went out to the sector in the morning. As we were coming back to the apartment it downpoured. We got soaked, but it kind of felt nice because there was no sun. Thursday evening we read 3 Nephi 11 with another lady. She understood everything and accepted to be baptized. She still has to come to church, but she said she would so we'll see.

As we where heading back we walked past a big school that just got out. There were a few hundred kids from 5-18 years old on both sides of the road. We were walking on the road, right through them. As we walked by everyone started yelling le blanc, and within seconds a couple hundred sets of eyes were staring at me at the same time. I just looked forward and gave them a thumbs up. It was funny, but I also like not getting stared at.

Friday morning the Stotts, which are the senior couple in our mission, stopped by our apartment to say hi. They looked around the apartment, asked how we were doing, and then gave us some chocolate chip cookies. They were great.

For lunch on Friday we went and got garba. They guy was telling me the price of the fish and he said 3,000f. Just so you guys know the fish is usually between 200f-600f. I knew it was an accident, but then this guy behind him started giving him a hard time for 5 minutes straight because he accidentally said 3,000f. It was so funny. A lady on the side was like oh maybe because he is white he'll actually pay for it. I looked at her and smiled and said that it's not my first day here. Later in the day we walked by to go to sector, and they were still there, and started yelling 3,000f at the garba guy. It was funny.

Saturday morning we went to sector with a member. After we went to his house. His sister went into an epilepsy seizure. It was pretty crazy, but unfortunately it happens often. Saturday we got one teaching in and then went to conference. 

Saturday and Sunday we watched General Conference at a member's place. They have a nice TV and couches so we decided to go there. It was obviously in French, I didn't understand as much as I thought. They have a different accent compared to the Ivorians which makes it harder, and it's hard remembering so much at once, even in English. It was nice taking it easy.

This week will be nuts because I’m transferred. I did one transfer in Gandhi, and one transfer in Kouté, and I’m getting transferred again. It's pretty crazy but we’ll see what happens. Not many people are getting transferred which is weird, and makes it more likely for me to go to Senegal or The Gambia. 

Spiritual Thought:

One scripture I came across this week was Mosiah 7:33: “But if ye will turn to the Lord with full purpose of heart, and put your trust in him, and serve him with all diligence of mind, if ye do this, he will, according to his own will and pleasure, deliver you out of bondage.”

I like this scripture because we need to do three things. We need to turn to the Lord with all our heart, put our trust in him, and serve him with all diligence. If we do these things we will be freed from our trials IF it is according to his plan. Each of us has a plan here on earth. We all have trials that we go through, but our trials aren't going to last forever. Our trials are for a small moment, and if we endure them well, we will be exalted on high, and gain experience that will bless us for the rest of our lives (D&C 121-122).

Thanks for your prayers and I hope you guys have a wonderful week!

Elder Robinson