God's love and miracles!

Bonjour mes amis!  I hope that you have all had an excellent week!  Things have been a bit interesting out here, but they’ve been great!  Elder Rasolo and Elder Kunz made it out Saturday morning, and it’s just been Elder Dih and I since then.  But with two splits to start the week and then two days left for the missionaries leaving to say goodbye, we didn’t really get too many lessons taught in our area this week.

Good news from this week: Luc and Vicky have found, through their own efforts and God’s help, the means to be legally married according to Togolese Customs and, as such, are now qualified to be baptized!  This means that their baptism will be this Saturday, the 22^nd!  Just another testimony of how prayer, hard work, and obedience bring miracles!

Vicky with her daughter Precious (Thursday night at Philippe's)

Tuesday and Wednesday morning I spent in Anfamé with Elder Rybin, who is one of our Zone Leaders.  He and I worked and got along really, really well, even though he attended the University of Utah before coming out here.  Amazing how the mission brings people together like that.  Anyways, he gave me some counsel and advice before I take on my new roles, and I learned soooo much about leadership with him.  He’s a good guy.

Wednesday, Elder Kunz and I did a split in my area and it went very well.  We got a couple of good lessons in, and we enjoyed the time together.  As we were out, at about 4:30, these HUGE black clouds just came rolling in along a front.  We saw them from a far, but weren’t terribly worried.  Then, all of the sudden, we were being blasted with cold wind and it got really dark.  It made for a very interesting experience and we got only a few drops of rain.  Apparently Lomé got pounded with rain.  So that was kinda cool, figuratively and literally. It was Elder Kunz’s birthday, so we decided to end it with celebrating with dinner at the Monument Restaurant.

With Elder Kunz celebrating his birthday

Right before the clouds came was absolutely beautiful and comfortable.

What you don't see here are the huge dark clouds to the right (North)

That's the front.

Just a pic of a part of my area mid-storm

Thursday and Friday were both spent mostly visiting people and saying good-byes, so I was just following wherever my companion wanted to go.  But both of them ended with very good mangez-vous, especially Thursday.  Thursday night we were at President Philippe’s house.  There were several people there, as most had been at the preparations for President Hervé’s (our Branch President) father’s funeral (apparently he had 8 wives, so there was well over 5,000 people that attended), so they all just came back to Philippe’s.  We had Djekoumè, which is pate made with tomato/piment (pepper) and onion sauce, meaning that it’s all cooked together, so some people call it red pate, but it’s soooooo much better than normal pate.  I can easily say that it’s my favorite Togolese (and African for that matter) meal, served with fried chicken.  SOOO GOOD!
 

Eating some Djekoumè.  Honestly one of the best djekoumès I've ever tasted.  Everyone was talking about how good it was after

Fanning the fire

This dog LOVES me.

We had a sling-shot competition Friday night at Boris' house.  He destroyed me

Saturday is when Elder Rasolo and Elder Kunz left.  I got to work with Elder Dih in the afternoon in the Ivorian Refugee Camp.  The camp was installed during their war in 2011 by the UN, and many haven’t been able to find the means to get their life back in Côte d’Ivoire.  Anyways, while we were there, we passed the central commons room (just a nice TV with a couple of couches) and I saw the Winter Olympics on!  That was pretty awesome.  Some cool ski jump.

With Elder Kunz on Saturday.

One last picture with Elder Kabedeh.  They past by our house on their way to Benin.

Today we moved into our new place!  It’s still big, but it doesn’t have too much useless space like the last apartment.  We still have plenty of space, but we’re not so separated anymore.  Plus we have garden space again!  Just not quite as nice as the last house and no grass.  But it’s very nice!  High, vaulted ceilings, too!  But moving in left me exhausted today.  Luckily President Blaise made up for it by providing Charwamas and Cheeseburgers.

The new house (facing north)

Angled East

Angled West

Harry Potter Cupboard!!!

Ma chambre

View from the balcony just outside

Well, that’s about it this week.  I have exceptionally felt God’s love the past few days.  I’ve been feeling, only slightly, a bit lonely because I am now the only American (and white person for now) again.  The only difference between this time and when I was in Tokoin for the 2 months before Elder Edwards came is that I have been called to be an example, being the oldest missionary instead of the youngest.  But, like I said, I have truly felt God’s love for me and the power of Christ’s Atonement to help us in all of our trials and sufferings, not only with finding forgiveness for our sins.  But, I have also realized that in the Church, we are never alone as long as we have our fellow brothers and sisters around us, something that I have had to learn by experience out here in Africa.

This work truly is God’s work, and He blesses all of His servants very much.  This is by far the hardest thing that I have ever had to do in my entire life.  Physically, emotionally, and mentally it is so draining.  Everyday brings more and more fatigue from the long hours under the sun.  However, I would not trade this time for anything.  I have grown so much closer to our Heavenly Father, and my Spirit as well as my knowledge of God have grown so much.   It is true that the Lord works by small and simple things to bring about His great and eternal purposes (as stated in the scriptures).  I have seen this in my missionary life so much.  Every day is another drop added.  I still have such a long way to go, but it has been such a blessing for me to see how much I have grown in my short time here.

I could go on all day about this, but I have things to do, and I’m sure you have a normal life to live as well.  I leave you these things this week, and I hope that this next week brings the best for all of you as well.

I love each of you all so much.  

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

Found these Ben & Jerry's flip-flops this week hahaha

"I love your smile, by the way"

Bonjour tout le monde!  Well, it has been an incredible week here!  The highlight of this week was a visit from Elder Clayton of the Presidency of the 70 and Elder Vinson of the 70, both with their wives!!!  They gave us 3 Elder Bednar talks to study beforehand, all of which were life-changing.  Needless to say, I've had a very spiritually uplifting week.

To start off, last week I got a call from the Assistant's asking me to play piano for our meeting with Elder Clayton and Elder Vinson this past Thursday.  I searched frantically for a piano to practice as they assigned two hymns that I've never played.  With some searching on Monday, I was able to secure a piano to practice.

So, Thursday finally came.  My studies had gone very well for the meeting, so I was very excited for it and had some high expectations.  We didn't go out at all because we had to leave at about 11:30, and we had to do our studies before then as well as eat lunch and prepare ourselves.  Anyways, after studying, Elder Kunz and I decided to go downstairs and make some lunch.  Just as we put the rice in the rice cooker, the power went out. Being very accustomed to this, we just transferred all of the rice to a pot and put it on the second burner.  I had already cooked the beans, so all that was left was to sautée some onions and hot dogs.  That all went fine, so we were filled before going up to get ready.

This is where a slightly large problem came into play.  The power was out.  Elder Jenkins had chosen earlier during his studies to ignore the promptings of the Spirit that told him to iron his shirt.  The missionaries were leaving in 30 minutes for Kégué.  Problem.

I then decided to get on my knees that ask the Lord for His help in fixing my problem, notably to bring the power back on.  However, I think Heavenly Father was wanting me to learn a lesson.  He did, thankfully, remind me that Mom had sent me here with a wrinkle release spray, so I applied that and it worked a little bit.  Still a bit worried about my shirt, we left for Kégué.

We got there at about 12:30 to find that there were only a few other missionaries there. We chatted for about an hour before I decided to go get set up at the piano.  Shortly after the Anfamé Zone Leaders got everyone seated and we starting singing some hymns.  I was doing just fine on the piano (only a few big mess ups), until about 2:15.  We were all kinda tired (I haven't played piano for more than 5 minutes in months!  let alone 45), so we stopped singing and I played some light prelude.  There were some missionaries that still wanted to sing, so they just sung along while I played until another Elder got up and led.  Then, at 2:30, as we were singing "Choose the Right" (which is normally an easy hymn for me), I saw President Weed walking up to the chapel with a group following him, and I really started to mess the piano up (I had kinda been psyching myself out with the fact that I would have to play in front of General Authorities).  However, I got my head on straight by the time they got into the chapel, and I was able to finish with a bit of dignity.

President got up and announced that we would be singing #160 "Called to Serve" to start off.  My jaw dropped.  I had been told to prepare #170 "Hark, All Ye Nations," and #173 "Go Forth with Faith."  I was not prepared at all to play that, but I relied on the Lord's help to get me through.  Overall, it was kinda bad.  The whole chorus the second time through I could only play right hand because I was freaking out so bad.  Hahaha good humbling moment for Elder Jenkins.

Anyways, then came the time for the handshake line.  We were sitting near the back, so we were some of the last in line.  Elder and Sister Clayton both thanked me (with me slightly cringing) for the piano.  Elder Vinson was next and thanked me for my service.  I then thanked him right back.  The line got stopped up a bit, so I had a bit more time with he and Sister Vinson.  Elder Vinson then added that I look like I'm enjoying myself here. With my smile broadening uncontrollably, I then replied, "I most certainly am!"  Sister Vinson then said, as I was shaking her hand, "Well, it most certainly shows!"  Haha that was a very heart-warming experience for me.  Anyways, after that we took our seats and prepared ourselves for a spiritual feast.

First to speak was Sister Vinson, who shared a short, but very sweet testimony with us. She was then followed by Elder Vinson, whom I have grown to love after his talk this past General Conference, his visit last December, and then his comment today.  The question that resounded with me that he asked was "How has the mission changed your life?" Seems like a common question, but it's not something that I've really stopped too much to think about in the busyness of our missionary schedule.  But I loved the personal thought that it provoked.

Elder Vinson was followed by Sister Clayton, who shared a message about finding the good in every experience, with some very interesting stories and testimonies.  Elder Clayton then got up to the pulpit and began his interactive address.  He spoke for about 45 minutes, and I loved every second.  He spoke a lot about acting and not being acted upon (which I think might have been greatly influenced by Elder Bednar, who had presided over the Mission President Conference in Ghana just the day before) in all of our relationships as missionaries.  What I loved is that almost every missionary that asked a question or responded to an answer, he would ask them further questions (showing us an example of seizing learning opportunities for more profound learning experiences).  He incorporated a lot of our pre-study into this as the three Elder Bednar addresses talk a lot about acting in faith to gain learning and testimony which lead to conversion to the Lord.  Again, absolutely fascinating to see everything so connected.

Elder Clayton then opened up time for another 45 minutes of Q&A, on whatever subject we needed help.  He stated, "take this opportunity seriously.  You have two members of the Seventy, a Mission President, their wives, and a Area Seventy [who was translating for him].  You will not have very many opportunities like this again in your life."  This was most enlightening as most of the questions were very legitimate.  What I loved here was that 1) we got answers from Elder and Sister Clayton as well as Elder Vinson, and 2) every single one of them answered the question directly, but then they expounded on it to cover so many more topics.  For instance, one missionary ask about faithful women who are never married.  Sister Vinson then explained how temple work is ongoing and that we know every person will be treated and judged according to the desires of his heart as well as his acts according to availability on earth.  Elder Clayton then got up and expounded more on marriage, how we are given such outstanding couples as Mission President and wife to give us the example of how we should pattern our marriages after them (which reminded both Elder Kunz and I of his last Conference talk, "Marriage: Watch and Learn").

We then closed the meeting with very powerful testimonies from Elder Vinson and Elder Clayton, and then a prayer. Afterwards, they hurried us out because there was another meeting with the Stake leaders afterwards.  As we were leaving, I held the door open for Elder Vinson as we were walking out, and he gave me a handshake and added, "I love your smile, by the way, Elder Jenkins."  Love that guy.  He's just full of love.

We had a few minutes to talk afterwards, so I chatted a bit with Sister Vinson and Sister Weed, and then with a few other missionaries.  There's a new missionary from Tahiti, Elder Marurai, that I got to talk to for quite a bit.  Haha he's a crack up!  The first thing that he said to me is that he thought I was from Hawaii!  Haha he said I have all the qualities of his sister's husband, who's from Hawaii.  I told him I'm from Florida, so not quite the same, but slightly similar.

 

Elder Ritchie (one of the Assistants), me, and Elder Marurai (the Tahitien) together on Thursday.

Also, Thursday might have been the last time I see Elder Kabedeh.  It made me kinda very sad when he said that, but I'll just have whoever is taking them to Benin stop by our apartment since we're on the way.  I'm really going to miss him.  He's probably my favorite African in this whole world.

 

With Elder Kabedeh on Thursday.  Might be the last picture I ever take with him.

Anyways, other than that, there hasn't been terribly much this week.  The work is still progressing well.  We're still receiving contacts, and we're meeting lots of new people. We have a few that are progressing well, but no baptismal dates for the moment, mostly because of dowry problems.  Again, thank you for your prayers and for your letters.  I feel all of your love everyday.

This Church is true, something that I witnessed this past Thursday, and there is no other way to know that than to act and experience for yourself.  I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was restored by God and Jesus Christ themselves through their own called prophet, Joseph Smith.  All of the rights, power, and authority of God are found in this Church, and I know that this past Thursday, I was graced to be in the presence of two called, full-time servants of the Lord's Quorum of the Seventy (See Luke Chapter 10).

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

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

 

Here's a view of our kitchen

Decided to help our gardener out this morning.

I haven't worked like that for quite some time.  Oh!  Something I forgot to add is that Harmattan has really hit the past two days!  Yesterday at Church, we had no need for the fans and quite a few were wearing jackets.  It's so dry, it's bizarre!  Then today, as I was trimming the shrubs, I was working hard and breathing hard, but I wasn't hot nor sweating at all!  It has been quite a change.

The gardener was actually impressed with my work.  Then I told him that I did yard work at home and he understood.  Most Africans don't even know what a yard is though.

 

The Doctor

Well, this week officially marks my 20th week in Africa!!!  It's moving along, but I can't lie, this week I kinda got a glimpse of how long 2 years is.  Considering it's been 5 months and I still have 18 to go, I did get a bit sad this at the end of this week.  However, the work is progressing! 

One story that I want to share from this past week is with one of our amis, Benoit.  He is Komlan's best friend and we teach them together.  He was supposed to be baptised this past Saturday, but in our lesson on Wednesday he shared something.  He shared that he had read the first few chapters of the Book of Mormon and the story of Laman and Lemuel binding Nephi in the desert really touched him; the fact that Nephi immediately forgave them.  He said that when he read this, he felt like he there was someone he needed to forgive before being baptized.  I was sooooo happy for him!  So his baptism should be this Saturday!  The Book of Mormon is true, and I was so happy to see that Benoit is already prepared to receive his own personal revelation in scripture study.

As I thought about what I wrote last week, I completely forgot to write about the blood drive that we had!  It was a blast!  No, I didn't give blood (I mean, I'm kinda in Africa).  But there were a bunch of us missionaries just kinda sitting around doing nothing, so I started looking for stuff to do.  The lady who was in charge of it all was over taking the weight and blood pressure of all of the donors and looked especially bored.  So I went up to her and asked her if I could help.  She asked if I knew how to take blood pressure, and thanks to Blain, my trainer at BYU, I do!  It's probably one of the easiest things on earth to do, but I was glad to have something to do.  So the whole time I was taking people's blood pressure, whether they were just taking pre-donating measurements or someone had fainted (yeah, there were like 4).  But, due to the stethoscope, everyone started calling me Doctor, and it still hasn't died down, even a week and a half after.  Anyways, it was fun.  I was occupied and happy, but we had an amazing turn out.  I think the number of donors was anywhere between 30 and 40!

Just doing my job.

Saturday at the blood drive.  I got a little bored when we got a bit stopped up on donors due to only having three doctors there to extract.

After that, not terribly too much this week during the week.  However, this past Saturday and Sunday, we had the open house and dedication of the Kégué building, so I got to see lots of familiar faces!  We also had some investigators come and check it out, too! 

Here's a good look at the Kégué building.

The weather was beautiful!

They set up pictures depicting a bit of what our church is all about throughout the church and it's grounds.

Saturday was the open house.  In the Chapel/extension of the chapel they had a projector set up showing a bunch of media from EFY/ General Conference.  Then, they had a room set up for all of the 5 auxiliaries in the Church, Elder's Quorum (adult men), Relief Society (adult women), Young Men, Young Women, and Primary (children).  As we were walking around the building checking things out, we got to the primary room.  Just next to the primary room was the infirmerie/ first aid room.  I peeked my head in to see what it was, and then all of the sudden "Doctor!  We have a coat for you today!"  So yeah, I stayed in the first aid room FOR 5 HOURS!  All I did was give out aspirin and tell people to drink lots of water.  So that's all I got to do until at 3 we had a baptism when we got to baptize Frederic!  His dad has been meeting with us for about 2 or 3 months, but just doesn't feel like he is quite ready yet.  However, he asked us to teach and baptize his son.  Frederic is 10 years old, and he soaks everything in like a thirsty sponge.  It's ridiculous how quickly he learns!  Children are truly amazing when it comes to the gospel.  After the baptism we stayed to accompany the last stragglers of the open house/chat with other missionaries, and then we went home.

Baptism with Frederic and his family on 10/26/13!  (Frederic is the one in the Winnie the Pooh shirt.  We had to take pictures after the baptism due to the open house that was still going on, but it was great for people to come and see what a baptism is like!)

Sunday was an incredible experience.  We had church at 9 in the morning and then the dedication at 2 pm.  At 12 we went back to the apartment to eat and found that the Be Kpota missionaries came back with the other missionaries in our apartment because their house is so far.  So we had 8 mouths to feed at lunch!!!!  I cooked for the four Americans (Me, Elder Edwards, Elder Ringle, and Elder Haggard - no complaints with that group!) and Elder Kabedeh cooked for all the Africans (Elder Kabedeh, Elder Mbala, Elder Kouadio, and Elder Soanantenaina).  It was busy, but we made it.  The Dedication started at 2, so I prepared quickly and we finished eating at 1:45, but one Elder from Be Kpota was convinced that it started at 2:30 so he took his time eating.  We got there right at about 2:30, and I felt the eyes of President Weed following us from the stand as we found our seats. 

Anyways, it was an amazing meeting with great speakers, even though we only got to hear half of them.  But the last three were Sister Weed, President Weed, and an Area Seventy from Côte d'Ivoire, who is the former mission president of the Côte d'Ivoire mission, which included Togo in his day.  Something that President shared really touched me.  While he was bearing his testimony, he shared the story of the First Vision of Joseph Smith.  As he recounted the story, he remarked that at the very moment that God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph, the last Dispensation of God's only true church on the earth was opened, never to be destroyed again.  He then explained how we live in this dispensation today, and we have the truth right in front of us and it's our duty to share it with the world.  I want to add my testimony onto that of President Weed.  I KNOW THAT THESE THINGS ARE TRUE!!!  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true church of God on the earth today!  Period.  This church is, and always has been, led by Jesus Christ himself through a living prophet.  This work is truly moving forward like the stone cut without hands out of the mountain, rolling forth to fill the whole earth as described in Daniel 2:44-45.

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

 

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

Here's a look at President Preuss (our Branch President) at his desk.  Apparently his grandpa was captain of a major German U-boat during WWII and sunk a bunch of Americans, which is why his name is German.



The stadium right next to the church building.  Its the main stadium of Togo (it's the biggest).  Overall feel?  I'd give it a Junior College rating.  But a high level Junior College.





Sunset from the stadium.



I learned that it is important to know AND to ask which voice is good

Again, another week gone by. And this week flew!  Literally feels like yesterday that I was just in the cyber writing!  This week has been another great one, but I ended up exhausted at the end from all of our activities on Saturday!

 

To start off, we got to celebrate two birthdays this week.  The first was Tuesday for Soeur Bella.  We had no idea that it was her birthday, but we had planned to visit her anyways.  We got there and they were about to start cooking and preparing all of the food!  So we helped them prepare and definitely helped them eat.  We had some futu gnam (pronounced footoo nyam), which is like mashed potatoes that you use like pâte with a really yummy red pima sauce and chicken, a sort of african corn dogs, and popcorn, all with sparkling cider.  It was delicious!

 

 



Making the futu gnam by smashing the yams



 



 Eating African Style

Friday night we got to celebrate with Soeur Pauline of the Tokoin branch.  She made us some pâte rouge (one of my favorties in Africa!) with fried chicken and Vimta (like a middle eastern soda that's DELICIOUS!  almost as good a Guarana, but it's not the same taste.  Vimta is more of a berry type of taste).  We then opened us some gifts and sang and took pictures.



Celebrating at Soeur Pauline's



Our present for Soeur Pauline.  Credit to Elder Kabedeh for buying the pagne

So Saturday, we had two church activities.  Saturday morning was with our branch, the Wuiti Branch.  Many of the members gathered together at about 9 o'clock, when we had some instruction and then split up into companionships.  We then split to go into all of the parts of our secteur to do OVB (ouvrir votre bouche) or door-to-door.  I got to work with Frère Raphael and Prince (Soeur N'Guessan's son, pronounced Prance).  We sent off into the northwest corner of our secteur.  Prince had the idea to go Résidence du Bénin, which is where the super rich live (there's a lot of French Yovos (white) there).  In reality, its excatly like a normal American community; it's just that almost every house has a guard sitting out front.  We contacted one family and lots of guards, but didn't really get too much done.  But hey, it was nice to see grass and gardens!  We then left and started heading back to the branch, always looking and contacting.  Finally, right before we were supposed to be back at the branch, Prince had the idea to stop at his friend's house.  His friend wasn't there, but his friend's blind grandfather was.  Prince began talking to him about our message and how it is about the Restoration of Christ's church that Christ himself established on the earth.  The man then went rambling on against our message for 30 minutes!  I even got sunburnt from standing out in the sun for all that time.  Several times I tried to break it off so we could leave, but he wouldn't have it.  Finally, we got back to the branch where everyone was waiting for us before giving our reports and eating lunch.

After that, we headed over to Tokoin for another great activity about faith and listening to the Holy Ghost guide us along the Iron Rod, or the Word of God.  I've attached a picture of this activity.  

The main part of the Iron Rod course.  Notice those who were led to the great and spacious building.

It was a really great activity, and many of us, members, missionaries, and amis included, learned a great deal.  I was one of the people that guided, switching between being the voice of the Holy Ghost and being the voice of Satan, and it was very interesting seeing it from that perspective.  

We all really have to make sure which voice is good and which is bad.  At times, it may seem like both are good, but slowly Satan leads us in the direct opposite direction of God.  I learned that it is important to know AND to ask which voice is good so that we can tune in to the voice of the Holy Ghost to guide our lives in accordance with the commandments of God. 

After all of these activities, I was exhausted and Sunday was a bit of a struggle for both my companion and me.  But we both got our rest today, so hopefully we'll be in good shape for when the Assistants come tomorrow for a split!
 

That's it for this week.  I love you all so much!

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

Found this at Soeur Dopé's.  Did they mean Rambo or rainbow?