Our need for personal revelation

Elder Nkanza and I with Bona and Judith, who are planning the marriage and baptism very soon!  Too bad I have to leave them behind!

Well, well, well...  The transfer virus has found its way to Elder Jenkins again.  Maybe for the last time for these two years. And I'm going to... drum roll please... *drum rolllllllllllllllllllllll* AKPAKPA.  Yeah, that's right.  Akpakpa.  Try saying that ten times fast.  Rather, try saying that one time slowly!!!  Just for a note: "kp" is considered a consonant in the Fon and éwé languages.  It's like a guttoral "p".  I will be working with Elder Jeneseri, my first time working with an American since the MTC 18 months ago!  He's Tanzanian by birth, but has been living in the States for quite some time.  I'm very excited for this new start again and the chance to make a difference.  This is truly where I am supposed to be.

For my short message today, I would like to simply bear a testimony of mine that has been so strengthened with this transfer call: our need for personal revelation.  In relating this experience, I do not wish to brag or boast or show that I am some sort of prophet; to do so would be a sin and against the will of God.  Nor do I wish to diminish the sacredness and importance of this personal experience that I had.  I am not seeking attention nor the glory of men.  I merely wish to bear my testimony and invite you all to partake of God's love and acceptance as I have, and I pray that the Holy Ghost assist me and you to confirm this simple, yet profound truth.

Two weeks ago, I was sitting in a missionary training meeting (Zone Conference) when a very strong feeling of peace overcame me.  This feeling burned brightly in my heart and was accompanied by the thought, "I really want to work in Akpakpa.  Yeah, I'm going to Akpakpa."  This revelation was preceded by pondering and asking what the Lord wants from me with my last 6 months.  We were talking about working with the local Church leaders and improving our relations with them when this overwhelming feeling and thought came over me.

Good-bye hug with Elder Rybin on Friday, the day before he called me for the transfer.

This past Saturday night, I received a call from Elder Rybin, one of the Assistants to President Morin.  "Elder Jenkins!" he said.

"Elder Rybin!" I replied, "Can I tell you where I'm going?"

"Sure, go ahead!"

"I'm going to Akpakpa."

"And who are you working with?"

"Elder Jeneseri!"

"Wow, right on!"

He then proceeded to give a few directives that President has felt of why I am needed in Akpakpa.  This experience had confirmed what I had known for two weeks, and I was ever grateful for the Lord's goodness towards a small and simple servant in His vineyard.  I know, if not from all my other experiences here then from this experience alone, that the Lord is in control of this work.  He inspires the mission president as to where He needs His servants, and the mission president is simply a tool in the Lord's hands.  

As I pondered upon this experience, I decided to study President Eyring's Sunday morning talk from the October 2014 General Conference about our need for personal revelation.  According to what I understood from his talk, one of the main reasons why we need personal revelation is to confirm in ourselves the commandments and rules given to us by our leaders and parents.  In this case, I sought the Lord's will for me, and just as he promised Oliver Cowdery, who served alongside Joseph Smith for many years, He told me in my heart and in my mind (see D&C 8:2-3).  What I understand now i

s that this revelation had confirmed the Lord's call for me to serve in Akpakpa before I even got it!  When I received the call to serve from my leaders, I was ready to accept this call with a willing heart and a willing mind.  What a miracle.

I testify that we all need personal revelation to progress in this life and eventually attain Eternal Life, exalted in the kingdom of our Father.  This small example that I have shared with you today is but a mere glimpse of what our Heavenly Father will reveal unto us through the power of the Holy Ghost.  We all have a RIGHT to receive revelation from God as we are literally His spirit children.  No one is too little to receive revelation.  We ALL can and will receive revelation from God if we study and ask and if we are worthy to be accepted of Him.

I love you all, and I invite you all to live your life in a way where you can be worthy of and receive revelation from on high to stregthen your own testimonies that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that your are a child of God

Have a great week!

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

Edouard and Clarisse (the ones who were married in August)!!!  Two of my favorite people ever! 

With the whole fam!

Dinner at their house last night!  Delicious, and perfectly spicy!!!

Aristotle, 3 years old, yet worthy of his name...

Lunch with the Bidodoussi family (minus Patrick the dad who was at work) today!

Lunch!  Was not too shabby as well!

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

Happy New Year from Baguida!

Happy New Year!  2014 is here!!!  That's so crazy!  Just so you know, Baguida partied it up pretty hard.  Not that I would know anything about it (President called and asked that we be inside by 6 pm for safety reasons), but Elder Kunz and I did get a trip to the restaurant in on the 31st before heading inside.

However, the 1st was a fun day!  We had a bit of a lazy morning after not being able to fall asleep until early in the morning due to fireworks.  But at about 10:30, we made it to Philippe's house (the branch 2nd counselor) to party.  We were welcomed by sodas and lots of music.  After a few minutes, the food was ready and we had some fufu gnam with eggplant sauce and beef.  DELICIOUS!!!!  It's amazing what a few months in mission can do.  Before I probably would have hated that, but now it's SOOOOOO good.  

 

Lunch!

This is how we do it!

Helping out a bit after eating.

 After that we danced and were just enjoying life before heading to the beach at about 1:30.  The beach was deserted, so we just chilled, took some pictures, and had a randomly started push-up contest.  HAHA.  After that we went to the sports complex that I've walked by a couple times just to check it out.  It was pretty cool inside.  Saw a pool for the second time since I've been in Africa, but this time people were actually using it.  And the soccer field has grass!!!  It looks pretty nice!  Enjoyed the view from the stadium.

 

Who said missionaries can't go swimming?  Haha just kiddin', I didn't.

The soccer stadium.

 

View of East Lomé from the stadium

After hitting up the sports complex, some wanted to go to a beach about 10 minutes away, but Elder Kunz and I were exhausted so we just went home.  There's a white family across the street that let off some big colorful fireworks that Elder Kunz and I are used to, so we enjoyed that!

Other than that, this week has been good!  We got a surprise visit from the Zone Leaders on Friday morning, so it was fun to study with Elder Dagrou again!  They also came to work through our Weekly Planning with us as well.  After that, I made some steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans for lunch!  Elder Rybin (the Zone Leader), Elder Kunz and I were all very happy and satisfied.

Not terribly much this week, I'm sorry!  Just ran out of time at the cyber today!  I'll write more next week!  I love you all!

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins