Prosper's questions and the healing power of a priesthood blessing

Hello all! Unfortunately today, I’m not feeling too well at all, but I’ve had a great week!!!  We have a few investigators that are progressing well, and one family that’s getting ready to be married and be baptized in August!

For this past week, we had a Sacrament meeting with President and Sister Morin for all of the missionaries in Benin on Thursday.  It was an interesting tactic to get to know us, but I loved it!  They have been doing apartment interviews this whole week, and ours were after the meeting.  Pretty much just filled out a paper with a few questions and such to get to know us better and then every district had about a 30-minute interview with both of them.  Also, as we were eating lunch after the meeting, I saw two very familiar faces: Elder and Sister Stagg!!!  They had come over from Togo for a CES meeting and happened to be there at the same time as us!  I went outside to meet them when they were leaving and was greeted by a great big hug from Elder Stagg and an almost-hug-then-slightly-awkward handshake from Sister Stagg!!! Haha it was great to see them again!

Friday was an absolutely awesome day, but as I’m not feeling well, I’ll just share my journal entry from that day.

Vendredi, 25 juillet 2014

I apologize for the handwriting, but my day has just been so good that I had to write about it, even with my slight handicap.

Our last lesson tonight was absolutely fantastic, thanks to the Spirit.  It was with the father of the Nigerian family that has been to Church a couple times with Sophia Taylor.  He finally is back from traveling and has wanted to talk with us.  We spoke with him yesterday (thank goodness he speaks French so Elder Sahue can participate), and he was interested and had questions about our doctrine.  We left him a Restoration and Joseph Smith pamphlet.  He said he also wanted the Book of Mormon, so we fixed an appointment for tonight at 7.

   

This time, it was just Elder Sahue and I (the Taylor family was there with us last night).  We opened with a prayer and got talking.  In essence, his main question was, “What is your church’s mission?  Some churches heal, others deliver, others promise eternal life, etc.  So what is your church’s role in all of this?”  I almost jumped for joy at this question, because it is a PERFECT opportunity to explain and testify of the apostasy cycle.  I think I might’ve jumped the gun a bit because when Elder Sahue gets going, he doesn’t stop for 20 minutes often times.  But we were able to explain together that Christ organized a Church to carry out the gospel to the whole world, but then the Great Apostasy came.  I then used the mirror analogy, which he understood well, but his question after was “How did the apostasy come?”  Elder Sahue then explained, with a personal story form the civil war in Ivory Coast, that after Christ’s death, the Church was still persecuted and forced into hiding.  When opposing forces came to the door, the saints (disciples of Christ) were either courageous or not.  Those who were courageous were put to death, and those were not denied their faith, thus losing the Holy Spirit and the authority of God.

   

After Elder Sahue explained that, Prosper (the investigator) took a couple moments of reflection, and then said, “So when the mirror broke, many men essentially came and took a couple of pieces to create a church.  It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not complete. So this church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been restored to be how the Church was during Christ’s time?”  Elder Sahue and I made eye contact and smiled as he spoke.  After he finished, we both said simultaneously, “EXACTLY!!!”  We then shared with him the Articles of Faith (putting the focus on #6 and #11), and he absolutely loved it!

What I love about this man is that he has a great religious knowledge (he’s a non-denominational pastor), but he’s humble.  He’s curious, but he’s humble.  And it’s amazing for me to see the difference that humility makes.  He was willing to humble himself before the Lord and seek for the truth in curiosity and humility.  In return, his eyes were opened to the truth and he understood.  As I handed him the Book of Mormon as we left, he said, “I have a good feeling about what I will learn from this book.”  As he travels often, we exchanged emails at the end so that we can keep in touch and check-in with him often.

   

Secondly, my slight handicap.  The eczema has really worsened on my right hand, especially on my ring finger.  About a week ago, blisters started to appear on the back of my ring finger.  When I did laundry, those blisters burst, leaving some open wounds.  I didn’t think much of it until Sunday when I realized that it wasn’t healing at all.  In fact, it was worsening and starting to infect.  On Monday, I went to the Mission Office to have it looked at, and Elder Christensen just gave me some rubber gloves to finish my laundry and said that Sister Morin would look at it Thursday.  The problem was that my finger was too swollen to fit into the glove!

   

On Tuesday, I finally decided that I needed to bandage it.  When I changed the bandage for the first time on Wednesday (it had become covered in not-nice-looking stuff [I refrain from the actual term in fear of a rather revolting image appearing in the reader’s mind]), I experienced some of the worst pain that I ever have in my life (yeah, sorry I’m a wuss).  On my ring finger, I would say that 15-20% was not covered by skin, and the new skin seemed to have formed into the bandage, so when I took the bandage of, it was like I was peeling all that skin off again.  Not fun.  At all.  Thursday morning after our sacrament meeting I showed Sister Morin the pictures I had taken when again I had changed the bandage with similar results.  She told me just to continue doing what I’m doing and be patient.  I decided after that instance (and another painful bandage exchange last night) that I was in need of a Priesthood blessing.  After my finger was all wrapped up last night, I got the apartment together and asked for a Priesthood blessing.  A blessing was administered, and I went to bed with hope that all would be well.

   

I decided to wait until this evening to change the bandage, and it was an absolute miracle the difference.  Taking off the bandage took about 30 seconds instead of 15 minutes.  Cleaning it was still quite painful, but it was much more manageable.  I then dried it, put Neosporin on, and rebandaged it.  The whole process took about 30 minutes (including drying time) versus the hour and a half yesterday.

The Priesthood power is real.

Well, that’s it for this week.   We have Family Home Evening at President Kazotti’s tonight.  He’s hosting his employer from Canada who came with a BYU student (both members of the Church) with whom I had the occasion to chat with last night after our last appointment at President Kazotti’s house!

I love you all so much!  Have a great week!

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

"Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed."

Departing picture with Elder Gomun.  He and I have become very close.

Well, it's been a bit of a slow week.  With the departure of eight missionaries (and one in our apartment) there were many things that we had to do, visits to make, etc.  However, once everything got a bit more settled we were able to put more effort into the work.

Our last District Meeting with Elder Gomun as our District Leader!

Whoops!  Somebody was watching?

The airplane going to Côte d'Ivoire with 5 missionaries on it! (We hear every single airplane that leaves the Cotonou airport).

How's that for front row seats?

This week has also been filled with physical afflictions, which hasn't made it any easier. However, it is the Lord's work, and He has given me His strength to be able to accomplish His will.

What happens when you have no water for 4 days?  You have to go to your neighbors and fill up some jugs!

And then prepare for the long haul up the stairs...

In spite of the hardships of this past week, there have been tender mercies of the Lord, showing me that He is still there and that He still cares about me.  Most of all, I have felt my personal testimony strengthen of God, the Eternal Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ. They truly do live and are constantly watching over us, caring after us.

Something that has really caught my attention lately is the story of Thomas after Christ's resurrection, Thomas who refused to believe that Christ had risen from the dead until he saw.

 24 ¶But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

 26 ¶And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

My studies have really been drawn to the response of the Christ to Thomas and to us all:

29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.  (emphasis added)  (John 20:24-29)

I have really been pondering on this scripture and others that convey a similar message. Sometimes, I get discouraged because the work isn't progressing the way that I want it to. Sometimes there are people that I love so much who just refuse to believe!  It's so hard sometimes to see people lose sight of what matters most.  It happens to all of us in certain degrees, but it's hard to watch.

However, I take courage knowing that I am doing what I need to be doing, and that I believe in Christ, although I have never seen Him.  I know that He lives!  This is truly His work.  Even though there are many forces fighting against God in this world, He is there.

The past 14 months (almost) of my service to the Lord have enlightened many things to me.  I have tried to serve the Lord with all of my heart.  Although I have fallen short many times, He makes up the difference.  As long as I have the desire to serve, He provides a way.

I have learned that the more I focus myself on others, the more I have strengthened my testimony and deepened my conversion to the Lord.  I have seen the famed scripture of the words of Jesus Christ in action:

35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.  (Mark 8:35)

These past 14 months have truly been a blessing for me.  I have seen many lives change.  I have seen people accept Jesus Christ as their Savior through His Restored Gospel.  But the life that I have seen change the most is my own.  I don't know how, but it has happened, and I am eternally grateful for the Lord's grace and mercy that He has so fully given me.

I love you all so much.  Have a great week!

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

I have truly felt the power of the Savior's Atonement pick me up when I was down

Hello everyone!  Unfortunately again, time isn't on our side in the cyber.  However, we've had an awesome day today that totally made up for it!  It's been great week, too, so I'm just a happy missionary!

This week, I have truly felt the power of the Savior's Atonement pick me up when I was down.  Both Elder Sahue and I fell sick this past week (and maybe slightly depressed), but both of us were able to overcome that quickly and find our steps again in the work.

Sunday was a special day for me.  We had a "missionary" Sunday, which means that the missionaries do EVERYTHING.  So I was assigned the piano (nothing out of the ordinary there), a talk during sacrament meeting, and the lesson for the Young Men.  With the lesson in Young Men's, I really gained a testimony of the new Youth Curriculum.

I've been working on the preparation quite a bit (the lesson was on covenants), and I was really trying to focus on the aids that they gave in the manual.  When the lesson came, it was amazing the influence that the Spirit had on the lesson.  Everything flowed so well with the questions that the young men had.  And I was very impressed by the level of questions that they had.  It was a very edifying experience.

Then today.  We had an awesome activity this morning celebrating the 8 missionaries that will be going home this week.  We started it off with a basketball game between the French speakers and the English speakers, about which Elder Sahue has talked smack to me every day for two weeks.  Two of our starters showed up late, so we dug a bit of a hole for ourselves (plus they only had 2 missionaries on their team--the rest we just picked up from the other courts).  But we were able to tie it up and actually lead, but they ended up winning.

Follow through

So fast I'm a bluuurrrrrrr

Yep, that's when I started to get tired and walk back on offense (like 5 minutes after starting--I'm so out of shape).

2014 Missionary dunk contest?

 
After that, we had a DELICIOUS African lunch of Atiéké (made from the same stuff as tapioca, but so much more delicious and dry), rice, a tomato-based African sauce, and pork brochettes.  It was delicious.  

Lunch!

Thank you sister missionaries!

Then, there was this girl setting a volleyball by herself on the vball courts (possibly the only ones in this country, haha ok not that drastic, but it's rare), so I walked up and asked if I could pepper a bit with her.  She was fine with it, so we did.  First time I've touched a volleyball like that in over a year.  It was fun.  There were a couple of other missionaries that joined us.  Apparently there's a team here.  I find that kinda hard to believe, but ok!

We kinda just wound down to chatting until we left at like 3:30.  It's been an awesome day, but I'm exhausted.  Thank goodness there was a good cloud cover so it wasn't too hot.

Welp, I think that's about it for this week!  We've got a change in the apartment with Elder Gomun going home, so that should be interesting.  Many new Zone Leaders called with 5 going home!  We've taken a hit in this mission.  Several areas have been closed due to lack of personel, but we'll get that back up in the coming months.

Ok, I love you all so much!!! Have an awesome week!

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

Meeting President and Sister Morin and Independence Day

Our district with President and Sister Morin

Another week gone and so many more experiences under my belt.  It’s been a great week here in Fidjrossé.  Lots of things going on.  Well ok, not really, but there’s been a couple of cool things.

First off, President and Sister Weed left last Tuesday at about 9:45 p.m., and since we’re right next to the airport, I was able to go up on the roof (about 4 stories high) and film their airplane taking off.  President and Sister Morin got here about an hour and a half before (they all used the same airplane).

Then, at about midnight, we got a call from the Assistants that we would be having a district meeting the following morning at Fidjrossé with President and Sister Morin.

So, the next morning we got up and got all of our stuff ready and were at the branch building with the Aïbatin sisters at 9.  A few minutes later Elder Ritchie and Elder Kognani (two of the Assistants) showed up, and then a few minutes later again Elder Rybin drove up in President’s car with President and Sister Morin.  We greeted them and got right into our district meeting.

It was kind of fun for me to see how different people were holding themselves in this situation, hahaha.  But President and Sister Morin are both very nice and friendly so it was all good.  After our district meeting President Morin wanted to go out with one companionship, and since I had mentioned President Kazotti (our branch president) in our area report, President Morin wanted to go with us to visit him.  So we did! We had a great visit!

Family Home Evening at Presdent Kazotti's

What was weird for me to think was that President Morin hadn’t even been in Africa for 24 hours!!!  Haha but I remembered at the end to introduce him to bissap (my favorite drink here, made from a flower-Sister Kazotti also makes a KILLER bissap), and he fell in love!  Haha. So yeah, that was that and then we went back to the branch for a type of mix and mingle with our district, the Assistants, the office elders, and President and Sister Morin.  It was a blast!  We had some delicious chawarmas and got to know President and Sister Morin better.  They’re from Quebec, Canada (their accents are a bit interesting, especially Sister Morin’s-it’s very strong).  I’m pretty sure he’s been in business his whole professional career.  I believe they said that they have 8 kids, but I’m not sure (I didn’t take notes).  So yeah that’s about it.  Oh yeah, they’ve had kids serve on every continent except Africa, so they figured they’d eventually end up here, but they’re so grateful for it and so willing to get started with the work here.

We decided to have 4th of July grill party and it went splendid!  Elder Silvas and I started preparing as early as last Monday.  We separated the work into two parts, each of us on one: the kitchen and the grill.  I took the role of wife in this situation and got to work in the kitchen while Elder Silvas was on the grill (well, that's at least how it is in my family).

After getting the potatoes boiled, I got to work on mashing them.  MY whole life, I've had a Kitchenaid at my side ready to help me.  But not now.  And boy do I have more respect for Kitchenaids.  It's hard!!!  I broke into a good sweat.  But that's kinda how food is here, if you don't sweat hard and have muscle aches after making food, you haven't merited a real meal.  Adding in butter and milk made it a bit easier, but they turned out delicious!  I then got to work on the garlic cheese bread and the gravy.  Both were easy and done in minutes.

Mashing potatoes is very hard when you don't have a machine to do it for you!

Meanwhile on the grill, Elder Silvas was tearing it up with those steaks.  They were soooooo good.  The chicken was not bad at all either.

The 4th of July grill!!!!!

Look at dat STEAK!!!!!!!

We had some chicken, too. (Mexican style thanks to Elder Silvas)

The Grill Master

After everything was ready, we set the table and brought everyone out.  We started with the Nathional Anthem and a prayer and then got our chow on.  It was a very satisfying meal.  Unfortunately it was already late, so I didn't have time to make green beans and a salad, but oh well, I made up for that last night for dinner.

Our dinner: steak, mashed potatoes, gravy and GARLIC CHEESE BREAD!!!!! (We got REAL cheese from Erevan. It was delicious)

Our apartment together.

That was my last 4th of July as a full-time missionary!  Wasn't bad either.

Anyways, it’s been a bit of a normal week until today!  Several missionaries all went to Tokpa (the huge market, like in Togo, but this one had a different feel about it.  Not as crowded).  So I took the liberty today of buying two new pagnes to be made into outfits and a new tie (for a dollar)!  We had a fun walk around that area and then kind of a hang out at our apartment with several of the missionaries who are going home in less than two weeks!

Two new pagnes from today!

  

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

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins