Tender Mercies

at Landry's baptism 07/20/13 with Elder Dagrou

Wow!  It's hard to believe I've been in Africa for a whole transfer (6 weeks) now!  It's amazing how quickly the time is going by!  This week has been a bit interesting.  At the end of last week/ beginning of this week, I got a bit lazy with my cooking and was missing a lot of protein.  Needless to say, I was getting very tired very easily.  However, I want to write a little bit this week about what the scriptures call "Tender mercies of the Lord."  Tender mercies are really just the small and simple things in life, but I've spent a lot of this past week looking for them and recognizing God's hand in my life.

 

The first one that I really recognized was Wednesday.  I was still feeling really tired at this point, and every lesson that we were teaching was kind of just dragging along and I wasn't really following them too well.  My french was also lacking in my tiredness, so I was having a lot of trouble communicating as well.  Finally, after one lesson that I had slightly dozed off in, I prayed that I would be able to wake up and get some more energy.  As we were walking down the street, I heard a very, very familiar song that I hadn't heard in a little while.  Two steps later, I recognized it was "On Top of the World" by Imagine Dragons!  Two steps later, I was almost running to the source.  One thing about Africa (or at least the small part I've seen of it) is that there's these small huts every so often on the sides of the streets attached to a wall of a house or parcel or something.  Inside these huts are 2 or 3 old TVs with a few gaming systems.  The source of the music was the newest edition of FIFA (what is it, FIFA14 now?).  Many of you know that Imagine Dragons is one of my favorite bands, and "On Top of the World" is probably my first or second song by them (If you haven't heard it before, look it up and listen to it, you'll like it).  It's just such a happy song that has changed my mood many, many times.  I ran up to this little game hut and started freaking out to all the kids inside who were playing.  They kind of just stared at me as I'm sure my french wasn't making much sense because I was freaking out so much.  Anyways, I listened for a little bit but then had to leave to go to our next appointment.  As I left, I was singing along, and kept singing for quite sometime, every little detail of the song renewed in my head.  For most of the rest of the evening, I just smiled and smiled because of that song.  Definitely an answer to my prayers, and definitely a tender mercy of the Lord.  Also confirms to me that the Lord works in mysterious ways.

 

The second came at the baptismal service Saturday afternoon.  Oh, by the way, I had my first baptism as a missionary this week!  His name is Landry, and he's 16 and a blast to be around.  Quite a good footballer from what I've seen and heard as well.  Anyways, the baptismal service was held in Kégué, about 3 kilometers north of my area.  The church building in Kégué is the only building that was actually built by the church in both Togo and Benin.  They finished building it just a few months ago, and it is nice!  Cleanest and most proper building I've been in the whole country.  As it is the only building that the church actually owns, this is where they keep all the nice stuff.  For example, pianos.  We don't have any real pianos here in the church buildings.  They're all electric pianos without pedals.  However, one of the pianos in Kégué is probably the nicest semi-portable electric piano you can buy, with weighted keys and a pedal.  After the baptismal service, I sat down at the piano and let loose.  Oh my goodness!!!!  Many of you know that music has a special place in my heart with piano being at the center.  While I've been able to keep that space partially filled with my iPod and singing, there's is nothing like the piano for me.  Oh how glorious is was to make music like that again.  It's amazing how much of a difference weighted keys and a pedal can make on the piano.  Every key I touched felt like a real piano.  I can't really explain the feeling in words, but there's just something about creating beautiful music that fills my soul with joy.  Again, definitely a tender mercy of the Lord.

 

I have really seen a difference in the world around me looking for all of the tender mercies of the Lord, both big and small.  These are just two examples many, many tender mercies that I've seen around me.  I promise all of you that you too can find more happiness by looking for the tender mercies of the Lord around you.  When we look for things to brighten our day, there are always more than we expect, even if they're just small and seemingly non-important.  I've seen that in my life this past week, and what a wonderful blessing it's been.  I love and miss all of you so much!  May God be with you all this next week to brighten your day even if in the simplest way!

 

Avec amour,
Elder Jenkins

 

(note from mom:  Elder Jenkins said he is doing quite well!  Today had been a more relaxing day, which he has needed.  He said President Weed had called this morning to say that the missionaries are to stay inside all day on Thursday due to the elections.  It sounds like Thursday will bring a lot of excitement in Lome.)

 

a new friend I made at Soeur Dope's home

An African sunset taken from the top of the building where I go to church

I love the African children!

the river (or lake as the Africans call it) that runs through Lome, not far from my area

with Elder Owusu (taken for CJ Lewis who's last area was Elder Owusu's home ward in Ghana - CJ is married to Preston's BYU teammate, Taryn)

with Elder Peterson

getting a haircut from Pres. Ruben on 07/22/13 (Pres. Ruben is the 1st Counselor in the Branch Presidency - he's a renaissance man - a barber, an artist, an electrician and is pretty dang smart)

defending Ambriose on 07/15/13

 

 

Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief





in a corn patch with Elder Gnahore

This has been a very interesting week.  It has been full of some very good experiences and some not so good.  If I learned anything this week, it's that a mission isn't split into good and bad experiences, but rather it is spiritual and learning experiences.  It's been a struggle this week partially with missing home and with cultural differences in the apartment.  One of the things about the mission is that we have very specific rules set in place both to keep us safe and to help us be in touch with the Spirit of the Lord and of the work we are doing.  The Africans have a very different interpretation of a lot of these rules, which at times this past week has led to some times of tension in our apartment.  To sum up my week, I shall paraphrase a bit from Thursday in my journal this week:

Yesterday was a very interesting day.  I was still in quite a bit of a down mood from the day before.  When we got back to the apartment for lunch, I decided to take some time for myself after lunch to listen to soothing music (Paul Cardall) and read the latest Conference issue of the Ensign.  (For those of you who don't know, every six months our church has a church wide conference that is based in Salt Lake but is broadcast all over the world.  In this Conference, all of the leaders of our church, men who are called of God, share a spiritually uplifting message.  This is then transcribed into our church magazine (The Ensign) so that we can go back later and study those inspired words.)  I had been praying to our Heavenly Father for guidance and comfort during these trying times.  I put myself in the Lord's hands and said whichever talk I randomly opened up to, I would read all the way through and try to find the message.  I soon learned that it wasn't random at all in the Lord's eyes.  The first message that I opened up to was by Elder Bruce R. Porter of the Seventy, entitled "Beautiful Mornings."  Immediately I felt such a Spirit of peace and comfort, even to the point of almost weeping.  This provided such a simple, but powerful message of light in a time which was, at the time, seeming so dark.  This gave me such a message of hope that I knew that it had to be the words of God, merely spoken by the words of one of his servants.  When I finished reading this talk, I wondered how a man that I have never heard of before could bring such a change in my life during a time of need.  I now realize that this is exactly what I am doing as a missionary, which brings me even more comfort, to know that it can be done.  The phrase that affected me the most was when he stated, when speaking of missionary work in our church, "no man can stay its course, for God is the author of this work and Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone."  I know, without a doubt, at this moment, that I have been called of God to perform this work.

I then looked back to see which session of the conference this was given (Sunday Afternoon, April 2013), and I saw the first message of this session was given by Elder Jeffery R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, entitled "Lord, I Believe."  Again, I felt this same feeling of peace and comfort come over me as I remembered being in the building and feeling the Spirit of this message.  Elder Holland started by recounting the New Testament story of a father and his sick son.  When the father finally meets the Savior, he pleads for help, or in the least, compassion.  Christ then replies in asking if he has faith, for "all things are possible to him that believeth."  The story then continues, "And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief." (See Mark 9:22-24)  I thought of how this situation could apply to me, and I immediately opened my heart to the Lord and tried my hardest to turn myself to Him.  Something about the mission is that you cannot just call home to Mom when you're struggling; I can only email home one day a week.  In this instance, I think I really learned for the first time how to lean upon the Lord for help through prayer.  For the first time in my life, I felt truly converted unto the Lord, even amongst all the noise and turmoil in the world around me.  What a marvelous feeling this was, and I intend to carry it with me for the rest of my mission and the rest of my life.

This was indeed a very special experience for me.  I believe it has changed me and with that I can continue forward in this marvelous work.  I have shared this with all of you to bear testimony and witness that we all have a Heavenly Father who loves us all so very much.  I share this to bear witness that Jesus Christ really suffered and died for all of our pains, sicknesses, and afflictions so that we can lean on Him in times of need.  Whatever you are going through, He has felt the same way you have and worse, and He was able to make it through in order to help us, merely out of love and obedience.  For that I am eternally grateful and I love Him so much.  Finally, I share this to bear witness that I have been called of God to share His holy message of His restored gospel in Togo and Benin.  I love you all, and I thank you for all of you support.

Je vous aime tous!

Elder Jenkins





Ambroise

P.S.  I think I found the next Ziggy Ansah this morning.  His name is Ambroise and he's on the Togo national basketball team.  He doesn't have the means to contact or get to BYU, so I said I can use my sources to get him recruited.  He's a member and I met him this morning while playing basketball.  He's pretty dang good.