I testify that the Holy Ghost lives.

Hello all!  What a week it’s been again!  As has become almost a custom for this period of my mission (or maybe my mission in general), I have felt a great spiritual growth this past week.  In everything that I’ve done, it has seemed to be centered on learning from and about the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead.  He testifies of God, the Eternal Father, and His Son, Jesus Christ.  He comforts us in times of grief or sorrow.  He strengthens us in times of weakness.  He teaches us in times of learning.  He reminds us and recalls to our memory importants truths when necessary (and when we ask).  He guides us and leads us along the path to Eternal Life and can be our constant Companion if we are worthy.

I have felt the presence of the Holy Ghost in my life.  Since the beginning of my mission, I have felt His presence more often.  And especially in this past month or so (as I have taken a much more conscious effort to be exactly obedient), I have felt that he has been my almost constant companion. I am not perfect, and I still make many mistakes, but in my quest to be perfect and to repent promptly when necessary, I have felt His presence like I never before have in my life.

I have felt a formula presented by Elder Bednar in the October 2010 General Conference in practice. He explained that there are three things that we must do to have the Holy Ghost as a constant Companion. First, we must desire to receive Him.  Second, we must invite Him into our lives by prayer, scripture study, Sabbath Day observance, fasting, etc.  Third, we must live worthily in respecting all of the holy commandments of God.  If we do these three things, we will feel the Holy Ghost by our side constantly.

In my research and experience, I have found certain fruits of the Spirit.  Love for God and our fellowmen.  Gratitude to God and His Son, Jesus Christ.  Faith in Jesus Christ. Patience to accept the will of God in all of our activities.  Long suffering towards our fellowmen and their weaknesses and in our own trials.  However, the one that I have felt the most these past couple days is power. Spiritual Power over Satan and his temptations. This power has come through prayer, study, fasting, and research to better understand Doctrine and Covenants 10:5, which states: “Pray always that you may come off conqueror, yea, that you may conquer Satan and escape the hands of his servants that uphold his work.”

After much prayer and fasting and study, I finally not only understood the meaning of this scripture, but I FELT its power and truth.  I FELT the power that God has over Satan and will have eternally. And I knew that this feeling came from the Spirit.  That is how the Spirit normally works with people.  We FEEL.  Just as if we go from an air-conditioned room outside on a warm sunny day, we will FEEL the difference of the light radiating from the Holy Ghost.

I testify that the Holy Ghost lives.  I have felt His presence throughout my life, and the testimony that he has given unto me many times of God our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ has become a part of who I am.  I have felt this testimony in the very tissues of my mortal body.  I have felt His strength and His power.  I invite all of us to seek after His soothing influence constantly in our lives.

I know that it is only through the baptism I received by someone (my father) holding the proper priesthood authority of God that I am able to have the Holy Ghost as my constant companion.  I know that this proper priesthood authority is only found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as it was restored to Joseph Smith through Peter, James, and John who received it from Jesus Christ Himself.

If you have not yet been baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority of God, I invite you to do so.  The blessing that you will feel in your life with be eternal, and you cannot even begin to imagine the joy that you will feel.  No lasting happiness can come from the world.  No matter how appealing the things of this world may seem, they will never last.  I have seen that first hand.  We have all seen what fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, etc. can do to big homes and fancy cars. These things are eternally worthless.  The only real, true, and lasting happiness can be found in living the true and living gospel of Jesus Christ found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I do not say that in pride or haughtiness, but I say that as a voice of witness from on high and a voice of warning. I know that these things are true, and I would declare them in front of all mankind, for God is my witness.

If you have already made sacred covenants with God through ordinances through His proper Priesthood authority, I invite you to stay true to these covenants.  You will feel of their saving power as you strive to live true to them, even if you have strayed from them. I know it. And as an official representative of Jesus Christ, I can, in all humility and respect, say that it is through His authority and through His merits that I can say that.  I know that as you strive to live true to your covenants with God, you will feel the strengthening power of the Holy Ghost.

Finally, I know that these are not my words, but the Lord’s.  I prayed specifically today, as I normally do, to share uplifting words with those who will read them.  I have, once again, felt His Spirit lead and guide me and inspire me as I have written these words.  This is a sacred feeling that I wish all of God’s children could experience more regularly: to know that you are on the Lord’s errand and that He will guide you and put words in your mouth (or on your fingertips).

That’s about how my week has been.  I love you all so much.  Have an inspiring, Spirit-filled week!

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

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?