Week 52 One year!

The girls were at high school soccer tryouts and got home in time to talk to Caleb before his p-day was done! 

He counted 73 ties he has now! 

The moon! 

His apartment. 

Exchange with Elder Woodard.

One year celebration for Caleb! He said the cake was okay but the caramel ice cream was yummy! 

Baptism! They couldn’t find the bag of baptism clothing so he had to wear one way big for him they found.

Exchange with Elder Walker.

Exchange with his companion and Elder Makombe.

His email this week: 

1 Year…

Salut

This week was a pretty crazy but fun week. Last P-Day we got permission to visit Frere Koko, who is the pagne tie guy. It was fun seeing him, and we were able to geré mouvement with ties.

Tuesday we had district council. In the afternoon we had a lesson with this lady. Her husband wants to get baptized and has a really strong testimony, but he is waiting for her to receive all of the lessons. They are also legally married which is awesome. The mom had some questions, but only wanted to ask them to another mama. So we took the bishop's wife with us to go teach her. We ended up spending two hours there. This lady and her husband were there, and the lady had so many questions. We could have answered but she just wanted her to. Instead of a “Lesson with a Member Participating” it was a “Lesson with Missionaries Participating.” It was pretty funny.

Wednesday we did exchanges. I went with Elder Woodard and worked in Base CIE 2. We had a solid time contacting in the morning, and had some great appointments in the afternoon. With one appointment, Elder Kartchner had told me that we should invite her to be baptized. It was two young women. One was a friend and the other was a new member. I showed up and pretended like I didn't know, and asked the new member if she was baptized. Then I turned to the friend and was like, “Are you baptized?” She said no, so I just asked “Do you want to be baptized?” She said yes but she wants to wait a bit. It was so direct but it totally worked out.

We had another appointment with this one guy. I couldn't tell from this guy's breath if he was drunk, a smoker, or just hadn't brushed his teeth for a hot second. At the end before we could close with a prayer he stands up and says “let's go to the boutique.” I was confused and then he said “yeah let's go, your are going to buy a drink for me.” I said no and then he just laughed and walked off. It was weird.

Thursday we had a lot of appointments. Friday we had weekly planning. Elder Kartchner did a baptismal interview for one of our candidates. After we went and made sure the font was filled up. Luckily it was filled up, but we just added some water.

Saturday we had our baptism. It was great except for, as usual, we were running off of l'heure africaine, which just means our bishop was over an hour late. The baptism was for a young man. Half of his family is already baptized for a few years, he just never got baptized. The baptism went well though. 

After the baptism we ran a half day exchange with the Cite Verte Elders. I worked in Cite Verte with Elder Walker. The exchange went really well, and it is always fun hanging out with Elder Walker. We had a lot of lessons, put someone on date, and dealt with some Elders.

Sunday we went to church. Everyone shared their testimonies, and most people talked about the Book of Mormon which was awesome because not a lot of people read it here. Afterwards we had an exchange with the assistants. Elder Makombe came with me and Elder Bimai. It is always fun hanging out with them.

This week is the last full week of the transfer so we will have transfer news next week. We also have MLC which should be fun. Also Wednesday was my 1 year mark since leaving home, Thursday was my 1 year mark entering the MTC, and Friday was my 1 year mark from starting my mission. It is absolutely wild to think I'm on the downhill. It still doesn't feel real. 

Spiritual Thought:

We were studying D&C 84 for Come Follow Me this week and there are so many good things in this section. I'm just going to share a few of my favorite verses:

81 Therefore, take ye no thought for the morrow, for what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or wherewith ye shall be clothed. 

82 For, consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin; and the kingdoms of the world, in all their glory, are not arrayed like one of these. 

83 For your Father, who is in heaven, knoweth that you have need of all these things. 

84 Therefore, let the morrow take thought for the things of itself. 

85 Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man.

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

Elder Robinson

Pictures:

Frere Koko, Baptism, 1 year fête, 73 pagne ties..., exchange with Elder Woodard, exchange with Elder Makombe, and exchange with Elder Walker