Week 39

Monday❤️

Caleb asked Cambri to make an invite to church for him. This is what she came up with. 

Ble our friend in our ward from Côte d’Ivoire had a cousin at church with him that is from where Caleb is serving right now. Bryan and I both talked to them separately and I took a picture with them. I didn't know he had done it too but we wanted to share it with Caleb. I thought it was so funny! It is so special to have a connection to Côte d'Ivoire in Utah!

This week's weather. It’s been raining like crazy!

Caleb bought a French triple and finally got it!

Family Home Evening at the church.

One of the sisters in his zone dropped her phone and busted it. It won't work and she gave it to Caleb to fix. 

A random picture of a stucco wall. 

Canal.

Exchanges with Elder Wheeler.

This cute dog would stick his head through the bars, so cute. 

He found ice cream by his place!

Craziest day of his mission yet. This was about 13 really important phone calls he got in a matter of 10 minutes! One of the sisters in his zone fainted and her companion called Caleb in a panic. He tells the story in his email. I had to laugh he was told to tickle her feet and if she didn't move get her to the hospital and if she does move don't worry. But he ended up giving her a blessing later in French and said he felt the spirit filling in the words. He is just doing so much good, I sure love him.

Chancelle got baptized on Saturday and asked Caleb to baptize her. They don't know her birthday yet (I guess that is a thing that they just don't know their birthdays) but she is about 13.

All the baptisms that day. 

Mama Boga's grandkids love Caleb. He said he has fun with them. They love his hair😆! I love these pictures just warms my heart.

Caleb’s email for the week:

elle est tombée, -1 elder, baptême, et exchange

Salut 

I thought this week was a little chill, but when I look back it was anything but chill…

Last Monday we went to the stake center and played soccer. We also found out that someone in our zone got sent home and so now the other elder is in a trio. Unfortunately we saw it coming. We also had family home evening. It starts at 19h, but for Ivorians that means 20h. We technically have to be at the apartment at 19h, but if we have an appointment we can be out till 20h. Maybe you can see the problem. The missionaries taught so I gave a small lesson and then headed out quickly.

Tuesday we had district council. Because it was his birthday on Sunday, we picked up a cake and brought it to district council. It was pretty fun. During our district council there was a guy chopping a tree down about 50 yards away. It was so incredibly loud you couldn't hear the person next to you even if they were screaming. After a bit one of the congolese sisters marched over there and told him to stop. It was funny.

Tuesday night I got a warm shower. We started exchanges and the apartment I was going to had warm water. The last time that happened was months ago in the office elders apartment. Wednesday was the exchange and we had a lot of fun. It was with an another American and we worked hard. We skipped language study and had a 30 minute lunch. 

We were taking a taxi back to out apartment and it was a lady driver. It was the first time for me. When we got in we told her the price, and she said oh the Jehovah witnesses you guys have more money than that, you guys are rich. I said well if we were the Jéhovah witnesses we would have a lot of money, but we’re not, so we don’t. It was funny. I also was like dude she is driving extremely smooth. I looked over and realized it was an automatic haha.

Thursday was a chill day until… 18h57. We were finishing a lesson with a guy that we teach almost every night when I got a phone call from some sisters in our zone. The spirit told me to answer so I stepped out and answered. This sisters starts talking really fast and stressed about how her companion fell in the apartment and won't wake up. She said to come over immediately, so we did.

On the way I started calling the other zone leader and the mission president's wife. While I was calling them I was getting calls from the sisters and the assistants. I had to find the sisters, got told how to try and wake her up, find the yango, got told the sisters already left, call the yango to cancel it, call the assistants to go onto the app and cancel it, and got told to go to the hospital. I think I had 13 important phone calls in less than 10 minutes.

So then me and my companion started walking in a downpour on a holiday night, and tried to get a taxi. There was nothing. After 45 minutes of walking and waiting in the downpour we got a taxi, and then ran into traffic. An hour and half after getting the initial call we showed up to the hospital. We talked with the sister’s companion and learned everything that happened. My favorite part was how the stl's (sister training leaders) got a taxi for the sisters before we got to their apartment, and how the taxi driver was a member and got them there incredibly quick. 

After 20 minutes the sister woke up. We talked with her and everything that happened. After a while she asked for a blessing, which is why we were there. The Spirit gave an amazing blessing through my mouth and it was a cool experience. Then because it was late her companion hadn’t ate so we tried to find some food for her, but it was too late and so we got her some stuff from a boutique. Elder Yeboah and I finally left and then spent another 30 minutes walking and trying to get a taxi. We finally got back to the apartment, extremely late, and still hadn't eaten. It was probably the craziest 4 hours of my mission, but luckily the sister is fine and we aren't dead.

Saturday we had a baptism which was an awesome experience. There wasn't a lot of people but I was able to do the baptizing. Sunday they forgot to confirm her in sacrament meeting, so I made sure we did it right after. 

So yeah crazy week. We'll see what will happen next week.

Spiritual Thought 

My spiritual thought will come from our exchange companionship study. We studied the parable of the sower (Luke 8). One thing that stood out to me came from Alma 32 where he says that it's never because the seed is bad, that the plant won't grow. It always based on where the good seed lands and how it is taken care of.

The gospel is this seed and it is a perfect seed. We need to take this seed and put it in a good ground or a soft heart. Then we need to exercise our faith and let this seed grow and grow until it becomes a strong tree. If our tree, or testimony falls, it is not because the seed was bad, but it is because we didn’t nourish the tree well enough. There are many ways we can nourish this tree, but most of them are small and simple things that become great over time.

If your tree, or testimony, has fallen, feels week, or feels small, keep pressing forward. Because Jesus Christ is there and because his gospel is perfect, we can have a firm testimony and endure anything that comes our way.

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

Elder Robinson