"You will be an official representative of the Church. . . . Your purpose will be to invite others to come unto Christ . . . Greater blessings and more happiness than you have yet experienced await you as you humbly and prayerfully serve the Lord in this labor of love among His children. We place our confidence in you." Thomas S. Monson

Monday, November 18, 2013

I'm being transferred to Paradise . . .

We got a little bored waiting for people to show up.

Well, what a week it has been!  To start things off, I got a call from the Assistants last Saturday night, and I'm being transferred!  I'll be replacing Elder Peterson in Baguida, and my companion will be Elder Rasolo (I don't know his whole last name because he's from Madagascar and their last names are like 20 letters long)!  I'm pretty sad to be leaving behind the Wuiti Branch because they've become family to me.

Apparently Baguida is like paradise, and it's actually quite cool because it's next to the ocean, so I'm very excited to be going there.  It's pretty far from everything because it's close to the border of Benin, but I'll be able to survive. Still not sure which day I'll be leaving, so next Monday I might still be writing from Wuiti or from Baguida, but my letter will still get out! 

So this weekend we had a pretty cool experience.  Gabriel, the former Prime Minister who was baptised in August, called us Saturday evening to invite us over to dinner at his house.  What he didn't tell us was that he was celebrating his 60th birthday, and we would actually be eating at his second house right next door.  To call it a house is an understatement.  I would say it's a super nice hotel (pool included).  So there were a few tables set up around the pool, and he seated us at one.  More and more people began to come until just about every table was filled.  I was one of two white people there, and by far the youngest person.  So, there were some dancer/ drummers that came and performed, but they got to be pretty annoying after like 10 minutes of the same thing over and over again.  Then, we ate.  We only got to eat the salad because we had to leave to go home, but we continued the feast Sunday night, and we feasted.  Gabriel wouldn't let us leave until I was stuffed beyond belief.  We got back to the apartment pretty satisfied.  However, my stomach began to be feeling really really uneasy.  Then a couple hours later, everything that I ate came back up quick or went down and out pretty darn quick.  After spending the whole night pretty miserable, I was able to conclude that it was food poisoning.  Guess that's what happens we I finally decided to try fish.  So, today's been a bit interesting, but I'm feeling a bit better now.
 
The view of the party from our table



A good shot of the dancers that came and performed.  I wish I could upload some of the videos I took, but I guess that'll have to wait
 
I also wanted to remark how much incredible progress the Wuiti Branch has made during my 5 months here.  Yesterday was one of the most edifying church experiences of my life.  We had testimony meeting during sacrament, and there were so many inspiring testimonies, especially Gabriel himself as he shared his testimony about how he knows that his whole family will accept the message of this truth as well and will become members of God's only true church on the earth.  Then, for the third hour, we talked about Joseph Smith, the prophet of the Restoration, and his role in our lives, and again, there were so many amazing testimonies shared about the Spirit and how it works in us.  I have been so blessed to be a part of this branch's progression, and again, I'm sad to leave, but I'm also excited to see how it will grow just until the end of my mission.

I love you all so much, and have a great week!


Avec amour,
Elder Jenkins

1 comment:

  1. Hello Elder Jenkins,

    It's always nice to hear from you and to know that you are doing well in your mission. We're glad that you felt better after that food poisoning. Always take care of yourself. God bless you and be with you everyday as you continue to serve Him with all your heart, might, mind and strength. God bless you always and we are always praying for you.

    Mahal ka namin,
    Mia, Jay, Joseph and Hayley Pyon

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