Week 36 Zone leader, Niangon!

Monday call❤️. 

He got the last of his pagne ties before he left!

His old sectors. 

He got all packed🎉! He left a few things he just couldn’t fit. One being a pair of cargo pants we sent him for service. He said he would just wear shorts most likely to do service, so I sent him two cargo pants and he left one and gave it to his companion who needed pants. 

Saying goodbye to Elder Motingoe.

His companion is wearing the pants he left in this picture. You can tell because they are rolled up! 

Caleb went to the stake center to find out where he was headed and found out he is Zone leader and finishing the training for another anglophone (someone who speaks English). Niangon Sud is his new area. It is about 30 minutes from his old area. He was shocked he hadn’t even been a district leader and is now a zone leader! Caleb said he fit his bags in the trunk of the taxi he took to get there. The guy driving the taxi killed the car 15 times on the drive and in the worst places. He was not a very good driver but he got there! He found games in his new place to stay though!  

His new house he shares with three other missionaries. This is the common area in the front his front door is on the left. 

His new companion Elder Yeboah from Ghana. 

All of their pamphlets and Book of Mormons!

So cute! 🥰 

The kids just love to pester him! 

His new district. 

Caleb's email:

Salut

This week was crazy. So last week I left off saying I was transferred, and because not many people were transferred it made it more likely to go to Senegal or The Gambia. I didn't know so I packed my suitcases like normal and then that night I said bye to a bunch of people. Tuesday morning we went to the stake center. There were more people than I thought were going to be there, but still not a ton. 

The assistants ran the transfers and we soon got started. I then soon realized why I got transferred. It wasn't to go to Senegal or The Gambia, but it was because I became a zone leader. I was extremely surprised, and did not see it coming. I am also training an anglophone at the same time. A lot of Americans are leaving this summer, so the President had to start handing off the mission to some younger guys. 

I grabbed my companion and a few things, and then headed out. Luckily we live with the other zone leader and so he'll help me learn the ropes. We got settled in for a bit and then headed out to sector. Elder Yeboah is my companion and has been here for 6 weeks. He doesn't speak much French, and so it feels like I'm white washing a bit. He's a cool guy and our sector is pretty good so it will be a fun transfer. 

The first couple days in our sector my companion showed me all the members and friends. We have 6 baptisms planned for this month which should be awesome. Because my companion is new to the mission and I don't know anybody, we couldn't always plan the day super well, but it was so cool how we were extremely productive each day. I saw God's hand helping us a lot.

For example one day I got a text saying “never call this lady again.” I was confused because it was a different number than the people we called during daily planning. I was a little worried he would chew me out so I texted them back. Right then we ran into the bishop and as we were talking they called me. I had the bishop answer the phone and he worked his magic. Trying to understand an upset Ivorian on the phone is like trying to understand a 2 year old screaming… It's impossible. Luckily the bishop figured out who it was and that they actually weren't mad. It was an older couple and they didn't recognize our number, so they wanted to be safe. We decided to go straight to their house. We introduced ourselves and joked around together. It was great.

Friday we had district council. The whole zone does it at the stake center which made it easy for me to meet our zone. We had a good time. In the evening we had one lesson with a member. She is friends with the lady we were teaching and joined in halfway through. She sits down and then asks her “what's holding you back from getting baptized?” Her friend was like I don't know. So I came in and was like “will you get baptized?” She said yes which was great. It was so funny though because that wasn't even what we were talking about, but hey it worked.

Nothing much else happened this week. Sunday I gave my testimony and taught Elders quorum. It went well. This week should be pretty chill, and I am excited to go work hard.

Spiritual Thought:

I was studying D&C this week and this scripture stood out to me. It's D&C 35:13:

Wherefore, I call upon the weak things of the world, those who are unlearned and despised, to thresh the nations by the power of my Spirit;

We are all not perfect and all have weaknesses. But I love how it says by the power of the Spirit, the week, unlearned, and despised will thresh nations. By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. We are all small and simple, but we are a part of a great work. As we turn to Jesus, he will make our weaknesses become our strengths. 

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

Elder Robinson