I love my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ

Well, my dear friends, this has been one week my current English vocabulary cannot even begin to find an adjective to describe.  So rather than try to find an adjective, I will, in recounting an ongoing experience from this past week, bear my testimony of the Plan of Salvation.

This past Tuesday, as we were home for lunch, I noticed that Elder Bile was moving a bit slow.  As the time to go back out approached, he sat on his bed holding his head in his hands.  For those of who you don't know him, and I'm pretty sure that means every single one of you reading this, Elder Bile is a VERY loud and outgoing person.  He makes me look VERY calm, that plus all my time here has calmed me.  Anyways, I honestly have never seen Elder Bile like this.  He is always the one to bring the noise and energy level up ten notches.  He had told me earlier that morning that he was feeling really tired, so I was not terribly surprised that he was struggling to get going. 

However, as I passed by his bed, I had the distinct feeling that I need to just sit down with him and put my arm around him.  As I did that, I started to have the feeling that there was something more than fatigue going on.  After a few seconds, he finally pulled his hands away from his face.  I asked him if everything was okay.  He replied, with tears in his eyes, "Yeah, everything will be fine." "What is it?" I asked.  He didn't reply, so I asked again.  After a few moments of silence, he stated, "Yesterday [last Monday, the 7th], one of my friends gave me some family news.  Because I don't have any contact with my family, it was him that had to pass me the message. He told me that my sister died this past week."  After that, both of us just cried together for a few minutes.  Once we calmed a bit down, I explained that he needed to call President Weed and let him know, and that while he talked with President Weed, I would inform Elder Dih and Elder Donadier (the other other missionaries in our apartment).  He agreed, and I dialed President Weed and explained briefly the situation and then passed the phone to Elder Bile.

After barely being able to choke out words to explain to Elder Dih and Elder Donadier, Elder Bile came back out to join us.  We went into the great room and spent some time together as a District.  After a few minutes of counsel and prayer, Elder Bile said that he was ready to go out, so we went and got ready.

We were able to get out the door and in the middle of our first appointment, President Dieudonné, President Weed's first counselor, called to say that he was on his way out to Baguida to meet with us.  Just as we were finishing our first lesson, he called to say that he had arrived, so we went out to the main road to meet him and then head back to the apartment.  We had a quick meeting of counsel and strength with him and one of the counselors of the Stake Presidency and then they took us to our next appointment.  Overall, we finished the day fine and I was very pleased with Elder Bile's efforts to overcome the grief and sorrow and put himself to work.  Yes, it was a bit slow, but he did a fantastic job.

Wednesday, I did a split with Elder Dih.  It had been planned weeks before, but I thought it was best to keep it so that Elder Donadier and Elder Bile could have some time together.  In the MTC, they had been companions and countless times, according to them, Elder Bile was there to put his arm around Elder Donadier's shoulder whenever he got homesick and thought that he couldn't go on.  Then, this past Wednesday, the tables were turned, and Elder Donadier was 100% there for Elder Bile in his time of need. After we finished daily planning at the end of the day, Elder Bile shared a bit from their day, and I was so impressed.  He really had put himself to work that day, and it showed.

The rest of this week has been filled with ups and downs.  There have been some moments where I have been so proud of Elder Bile and his efforts to work through the sorrow.  Other times, I struggled to known what to do or say to help comfort him.

However, one thing I do know, and I know that Elder Bile knows as well, is that death is not the end of his sister's story, nor any person that has ever lived on this earth.  Thanks to the scriptures, we know about something that we call the Plan of Salvation.  This plan is God's plan for each one of us, His children.  Well, my dear friends, this has been one week my current English vocabulary cannot even begin to find an adjective to describe.  So rather than try to find an adjective, I will, in recounting an ongoing experience from this past week, bear my testimony of the Plan of Salvation.

This past Tuesday, as we were home for lunch, I noticed that Elder Bile was moving a bit slow.  As the time to go back out approached, he sat on his bed holding his head in his hands.  For those of who you don't know him, and I'm pretty sure that means every single one of you reading this, Elder Bile is a VERY loud and outgoing person.  He makes me look VERY calm, that plus all my time here has calmed me.  Anyways, I honestly have never seen Elder Bile like this.  He is always the one to bring the noise and energy level up ten notches.  He had told me earlier that morning that he was feeling really tired, so I was not terribly surprised that he was struggling to get going.

However, as I passed by his bed, I had the distinct feeling that I need to just sit down with him and put my arm around him.  As I did that, I started to have the feeling that there was something more than fatigue going on.  After a few seconds, he finally pulled his hands away from his face.  I asked him if everything was okay.  He replied, with tears in his eyes, "Yeah, everything will be fine." "What is it?" I asked.  He didn't reply, so I asked again.  After a few moments of silence, he stated, "Yesterday [last Monday, the 7th], one of my friends gave me some family news.  Because I don't have any contact with my family, it was him that had to pass me the message. He told me that my sister died this past week."  After that, both of us just cried together for a few minutes.  Once we calmed a bit down, I explained that he needed to call President Weed and let him know, and that while he talked with President Weed, I would inform Elder Dih and Elder Donadier (the other other missionaries in our apartment).  He agreed, and I dialed President Weed and explained briefly the situation and then passed the phone to Elder Bile.

After barely being able to choke out words to explain to Elder Dih and Elder Donadier, Elder Bile came back out to join us.  We went into the great room and spent some time together as a District.  After a few minutes of counsel and prayer, Elder Bile said that he was ready to go out, so we went and got ready.

We were able to get out the door and in the middle of our first appointment, President Dieudonné, President Weed's first counselor, called to say that he was on his way out to Baguida to meet with us.  Just as we were finishing our first lesson, he called to say that he had arrived, so we went out to the main road to meet him and then head back to the apartment.  We had a quick meeting of counsel and strength with him and one of the counselors of the Stake Presidency and then they took us to our next appointment.  Overall, we finished the day fine and I was very pleased with Elder Bile's efforts to overcome the grief and sorrow and put himself to work.  Yes, it was a bit slow, but he did a fantastic job.

Wednesday, I did a split with Elder Dih.  It had been planned weeks before, but I thought it was best to keep it so that Elder Donadier and Elder Bile could have some time together.  In the MTC, they had been companions and countless times, according to them, Elder Bile was there to put his arm around Elder Donadier's shoulder whenever he got homesick and thought that he couldn't go on.  Then, this past Wednesday, the tables were turned, and Elder Donadier was 100% there for Elder Bile in his time of need.  After we finished daily planning at the end of the day, Elder Bile shared a bit from their day, and I was so impressed.  He really had put himself to work that day, and it showed.

The rest of this week has been filled with ups and downs.  There have been some moments where I have been so proud of Elder Bile and his efforts to work through the sorrow.  Other times, I struggled to known what to do or say to help comfort him.

However, one thing I do know, and I know that Elder Bile knows as well, is that death is not the end of his sister's story, nor any person that has ever lived on this earth.  Thanks to the scriptures, we know about something that we call the Plan of Salvation.  This plan is God's plan for each one of us, His children.  It responds to three essential questions: Where do we come from? Why are we here? And where are we going?  These questions are posed in very general and VERY eternal terms.  They can be rephrased as: Where were we before birth?  What is our goal in life on this earth? And where will we go after death?

I know that this life is not the end.  As I once heard a servant of the Lord state, think of this like as a piece of string.  Then, think of a rope extending from both ends of the string,in both directions forever; this is Eternity.  Our life, compared to eternity, is like that piece of string tied the middle of the rope.  Once we zoom out far enough, it's like we can't even see it, but we know that it's there and there are many, many things that we learn from it.

I know that the gospel is being preached at this moment among those in the Spirit World who await the Resurrection and who never knew the fullness gospel of Jesus Christ (see 1 Peter 3:18-20 and 1 Peter 4:6, as well as Alma 40:11-14), including Elder Bile's sister.  I know that, as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive, for time and all eternity (see 1 Corinthians 15:20-22).

This is the season of Easter, the time where we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He is risen.  He has overcome death and, through His merits, we, too, can overcome physical death. His death and resurrection marked the end of blood sacrifice of the lamb.  Now, all the He asks of us is a "broken heart and a contrite spirit" (see 3 Nephi 9:19-22).  If we do what he asks us to do - including having faith, repenting of our sins, being baptized by one holding the authority of God, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end - we will inherit Eternal Life, the greatest of all the gifts of God (see 2 Nephi 31:19-20 as well as D&C 14:10 and Moses 1:39).

I know that my Redeemer lives.  He lived, died, and lived again for all of us.  The sacrifice that He offered for us in Gethsemane and later on Golgotha is beyond our comprehension.  Yes, having nails tearing through His skin must have been excruciating beyond conscious belief, but something that we can never understand in this mortal existence is the pain that He felt as he prayed to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, pleading, "If it be Thy will, take this bitter cup from me"  (see Matthew 26:36-46).  Through this sacrifice, He overcame the fall of Adam, opening to us the heavens and the kingdom of God.

I know that this Church is the one true Church of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He is at the head of this Church and leads it through a prophet, seer, and revelator named Thomas S. Monson.  This truly is a Living Gospel.  Through this Church, we have the fullness of the gospel, which is once more throughout the entire earth.  I love this Church and I love this gospel, but much more so, I love my Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

May we all take this next week to ponder upon the Lord's sacrifice in preparation for the celebration of His Resurrection next week.  May we all be filled with joy and gratitude in His Spirit as we reflect upon all that he has so freely given us.

I love you all.  Have a great week.

Elder Jenkins 

Baby pigeons on Thursday, 10 April, one day after hatching.  Elder Bile's expression after seeing the hatched babies, "The Lord takes and the Lord gives!"

Baby pigeons today, Monday, April 14

Elder Kunz's papaya trees

Bearing fruit!

With Gilchrist and his pet mouse

Nice Shirt!

uhhhh..... Yeah, Africa

Very possibly my favorite little African kid.  He is soooooooo funny!  His name is Escar.

Christmas party and shopping

At the Christmas party 12.17.13

Hey everyone!  So I was a bit late getting to write my email today, so I'll try and write quickly!

The work is moving along well here in Baguida!  We have two baptisms scheduled for this Saturday.  We were supposed to have five, however, three of them did not come to Church yesterday for various reasons, so now it's just two.  But we are still extremely grateful for the blessings that the Lord has given us for our work here.  We still have a lot of work to do and continue to improve ourselves.

A glimpse of Church downstairs!

The holidays are coming up here in Africa!  It is definitely different, but it's still the holidays!  I have been hearing a bit of Christmas music in the street (and a lot on my iPod), and noticing how the Christmas Spirit is working its way into me!  It's weird being a missionary in Africa for Christmas.  You just don't get that Christmas feeling by walking around like you do at home, but you can find it if you want to.

the Christmas card that the First Presidency sent us!

Last Tuesday we had a missionary Christmas party here in Togo!  It was a blast!  The first part was an hour and a half of playing games!  We had musical chairs, Pictionary, Chinese football (everyone stands in a circle with your legs spread and you try and hit the ball between someone’s legs with your hands), and President Weed's favorite game: guess the color that I'm thinking of and then I splash water in you face!!!  I don't really understand it, but he loves it hahahaha!

My clutch game winning pictionary of Moses.  It took me 2.24 seconds to draw

Chinese football madness

President Weed's game

We then had our devotional where every District was assigned a scripture and a hymn to describe Christ's birth.  We were given "O, Come All Ye Faithful" which actually sounds good with a guitar, so I looked up the chords and then was able to play it for the devotional and I don't think it was too bad!  At the end of the devotional, President Weed sang us a song with his guitar and he and Sister Weed shared a few thoughts with us.  After that we ate lunch which was African fried rice, some salad, and half of a roasted chicken: literally a roasted chicken just cut if half longwise.  It sure was a blast and a great experience!

Sister Christensen made this delicious goodness for everyone!
IT WAS SO GOOD!

This starbursts package was blessed by God himself.  I couldn't believe
my eyes when I opened it.  THAT is the definition of a "tender mercy."

Other than that this week was normal.  Until today.  I did some Christmas shopping.  To start off, we went to the bookstore (the library in french) and I got a Bible in éwé.  There was an anatomy textbook in French for 100 dollars that really tempted me, but I didn't want to pay that much for it.  Then we went to Superamco, the white supermarket (if you want to find white people, go to Superamco) where I found powdered sugar, vanilla, aluminum foil, and some steak, but they didn't have any bread rollers!  (note from mom:  this is what he calls rolling pins.)  So rolling out the cinnamon roll dough should be interesting, but I can do it.  

We then went and visited a few members around the Grand Marché and I bought two pagne outifts and a drum!  I called Soeur NGuessan to come help me choose, and she brought her husband (who I've only met once because he works in Gabon, but he's home for Christmas) and Koukou, her 10 year-old son!  It was great getting to spend the day with them!  I also called Peter (the Secretary of the Wuiti Branch who is like one of my best friends here that isn't a missionary) because he is a tailor.  Anyways, we went to three different shops throughout the market, and they were all three members (or one soon to be) of the Baguida branch!  It was so cool seeing them at their work.  At President Hervé's (our branch president) shop there are five members that work there and two more came over to visit!  It was so cool to see how they still stick together as members even at work!  

one of the two pagne shops we visited

The view of the Grand Marché from President Hervé's!!  It was pretty cool!

In President Hervé's shop.  There are five people that work there
and they're all members

After we finished shopping, we got a cab home and I had to climb ninja style into my bathroom window upstairs because the other two missionaries locked the staircase door and took the keys.  I got a video, but unfortunately the connection will not allow me to upload it.

So that's our adventures from today!  I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and find the chance to give to others!  If any of you feel sorry for me on Wednesday, please don't.  I'll be in Paradise talking with my family.

I love you all!

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

the moon during Harmanttan

(from wikipedia:  The Harmattan is a dry and dusty West African trade wind.
This northeasterly wind blows from the Sahara into the Gulf of Guinea 
between the end of November and the middle of March (winter).
The temperatures can be as low as 3 degrees Celsius.
The name comes from or is related to an Akan cognate.)

I saw this sign this past week and thought it was pretty cool.

Musee National

Happy 11/11 everyone!  I captured a picture of my clock at just the right moment today, but I almost missed it because we were at the museum!  Yeah that's right, we went to the museum.  Honestly, it's the small museum I've ever set foot in (well, I mean I haven't been to terribly many museums in my life, soooo yeah...), and it's the NATIONAL museum of Togo!  It's attached to the Palais du Congrès (the Palace of Congress) which is like the big(ish) auditorium where they do a bunch of concerts.

So yeah, every month we have a Zone activity just to have a break from the daily life of missionary work.  Usually we just go and play soccer/ basketball, but every once in a while we like to do something to educate us on the people/ nation so that we can understand them better.  So we went to the museum and saw a bunch of original African stuff, like straight up Voodoo/ slaves.  Yep, that was about it in the museum.  But it was pretty cool!  A bunch of cool looking artifacts.

 

In front of the museum this morning, 11/11/13



Apparently Voodoo priests use this for music

Didn't know they had Vikings in Togo

I got a little excited with the Xylophone (mom here - love seeing the percussionist in him comes out still)



 I think this is a depressed slave

That's the only sign indicating where the museum is from the road.  It was kinda hard to find

The main floor of the museum

The other floor of the museum



The slavery monument in Togo.  I didn't get the good side of it because I felt kind of bad taking a picture of it.  Not really sure if it's permitted or not.

So this week has been fairly normal, other than the fact that my companion and I got a bunch of lessons in.  We were both very happy with how our numbers turned out this week, so now it's time to improve.

I have been very impressed as to how the members of our branch have responded to the Prophet's call to be more united in missionary work between members and the missionaries.  The past 2 weeks we've had 6 people come for the first time that were invited by friends that are members!  And all of the members are so willing to accompany us to the lessons.  My companion and I were getting a little worried because we were running out of people to teach, but our plates have been filled again and we're ready to go!  We're already starting to see early fruits of the labor of the members!  I'm sad that my time in the Wuiti Branch is reaching sunset because I've come to love these people like family, and the work is priming to explode in this area.

 

We had our Primary program this week.  It is a little difficult for them to learn the songs because they do not have a piano, but it was great!

 

With the primary after their program on Sunday! (11/10/13)

 

Sorry, I don't have terribly too much to write this week.  We got to the cyber a little late this week, so not too much time.  I love you all so much, and as always, I share my testimony that I am truly on the Lord's time and His errand, and there is not a better place for me to be right now, regardless of worldly ambitions.  As the Savior said, and I paraphrase, when we seek for the Kingdom of God before all else, everything in our lives will fall into place.  And if something doesn't, it's not important.

Also, I have been brought up to date with the natural disaster in the Philipines, and so I send out a remimnder to please pray for all of those affected by this devastating tragedy, especialy those missionaries valiantly serving the Lord in that area of the world.

I love you all so much!! Have a great week, and make someone's day!

Avec amour,
Elder Jenkins

 

A picture of our Zone from Zone Conference this week!

I forgot to roll my pants back down after putting my shoes back on after cleaning the church building on Saturday, 11/9/13

 

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.