Bonjour from Bénin!

The new apartment: Elder Merrill (from Utah), Elder Gomun (from Ivory Coast), Elder Izekor (from Nigeria, who I'm replacing, he's going to the office), me, and Elder Sahue (from Ivory Coast) 05.12.14

Bonjour from Bénin!  Well, I got a transfer call last Wednesday, and today they moved me to Bénin!  So, here I am!  My new area is Fidjrossé, and I am with Elder Sahue from Ivory Coast.  The new perks of my area? Well, I can walk out the door of the cyber right now and see the beach.  We can see the beach from our apartment, too.  The cyber is really nice and really quick.  Our apartment has really good natural light as well.

Other than that, I'm not really sure what my area is like.  I've actually only been here for like two hours, so I haven't been able to touch too much here.  But the ride today was fantastic.  Many great views of the coast of Togo and Bénin.  In total is was about 4 hours.  But it went by quick.  Especially the Togo side.  It was weird to go through customs again on the border, considering that the last time that I did that was at the very beginning of my mission.

With Elder Peterson in the van 05.12.14

Togo palm trees 05.12.14

The beach near the border was BEAUTIFUL!!!!!  I didn't know that beaches like that exist here! 05.12.14

Another shot of the beach 05.12.14

This past week has been great.  After receiving the transfer call on Wednesday, I was able to get a few good-byes in before leaving today.  Church was interesting as they had been remodeling and weren't even close to finishing on Sunday, so it felt even more informal than usual, but the spirit was still there.  I was able to bear my testimony as well.  The Baguida branch is a very special branch, and they have grown very close to my heart.

One last picture with Peter from the Wuiti branch before he leaves for his mission next week!

I crouched down to take a picture with a few of the Primary kids on Sunday, and then they attacked me!  05.11.14

The work in progress. 05.11.14

           My old room is now yellow! 05.11.14

Well, I don't have terribly much to add this week.  This work has brought many, many experiences into my life that I could never have dreamed of.  I love this work and I love this mission.  I am very excited again for the things that I will be able to learn with my new companion.  Every companion teaches us very valuable lessons that will help us with the rest of our lives.

Enjoy a wonderful week.  My week will be spent with learning my new area and getting situated, so hopefully next week I'll have more stories!

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

Avec amour,
Elder Jenkins

Celebrating my birthday with a few members! 05.05.14

From the baptism of PATAKA.  He's an awesome man that has progressed so well.  His brother will be baptized next Saturday, but unfortunately I am now in a different country. 05.10.14

Elder Stagg sent this picture of Elder Jenkins right after the baptism on 05.10.14 (note from Mom - this came just as we were walking out of a baptism here in Florida - at the same time I was speaking at a baptism in Florida, Elder Jenkins was playing the piano and performing a baptism in Africa - sure makes the distance apart seem a lot smaller)

Feeding my new camel friend!

He's super nice!!!!!

Ok, maybe even TOO nice!

How close to the line?

Eating Djekoumé at Folly's

Hello all.  This past week has been full of trials as well as blessings.  I think it will be enough to say that it has been a roller coaster-type week.  After coming down with the flu on Wednesday and having it affect me throughout the rest of the week in varying degrees, and then with Zone Conference on Friday and General Conference on Sunday, I was left physically and emotionally exhausted yesterday (Sunday) night.

Zone Conference was amazing.  It was my favorite one so far.  My favorite lesson was Sister Weed's.  She started by explaining that the Ebola fever has NOT been reported in Togo or Benin.  In fact, it has only been found in Gabon and I believe Liberia (not terribly sure that the countries are right), which are very far from us.  She said that the missionaries in the countries affected are staying, so we have nothing to fear.  In the past 20 years, there have been 2,000 reported cases of which 1,500 were fatal.  It's hard to get, but it kills.

After that happy note, she explained the story of three truck drivers all seeking employment.  The question posed to the three drivers was how they would cross the ridge of a mountain on a very dangerous road, one side of which dropped directly off to a 200-foot cliff.  The first said that he could get 6 inches from the edge no sweat.  The second said that he could do 3, no hesitation.  The third said that he could stay as far away from the edge as was humanly possible.  She then asked, "Who do you think got the job?"

The reaction of half the missionaries kind of made me chuckle.  All of the Americans have heard the story before and so we all just kept quiet to let others participate.  However, there were many nationalities that had never before heard this story and were left a bit dumbfounded.  When the answer was finally shared, she drew a line down the whiteboard and wrote "good" on one side and "evil" on the other.  She then drew two "X"s, one just on the good side of the line and the other on the edge of the whiteboard, on the good side.  She asked which person would be more likely to endure to the end.  This time, everyone in the room understood clearly and gave the clear answer.

She then turned the lesson into almost and "up-in-your-face, fire-in-your-eyes, football-coach caliber" lesson along the lines of Elder Holland's Priesthood Session talk in the October 2011 General Conference.  However, it wasn't exactly the same caliber because she doesn't quite have the same voice as Elder Holland, but it was still piercing.  She explained that it is not good enough to see how close we can get to the line between good and evil, because then we start to slowly cross the line until we fall into things that we can't get out of by ourselves.

We need to to stay as far away from the line as possible.  It is then that we become true disciples of Christ.  It is there that we become converted to the gospel.  It is in the Lord's camp that we find protection against the evils in the world instead of help to get out of things that we shouldn't have gotten into.

It was a great lesson on obedience for all of us.
 

President and Sister Weed said that we will be having one last round of Interviews and Zone Conferences in June before they return home on July 1st!  That seems so weird!

Anyways, that about sums up my week.  My birthday was nothing special, but I thank you all for my birthday wishes.  I look forward to eating the delicious cake that my mom sent me to make tonight at family home evening. 

Smoothing the batter

Most important step of the whole process.

Out of the baking dish.

Starting the icing.

After icing.

Final product

Elder Bile's birthday present that he gave me

I love you all.  Have a great week, and don't just let the time pass by.

Avec amour,
Elder Jenkins

Elder Kongolo pulled this out this week.  I laughed.  I was tempted to ask him if he's ever worked at Best Buy, but he has not idea what it is!!!

 I thought these looked so cool.  The picture doesn't capture them really.

I was really tempted to buy these.

Missionary work and Harry Potter

Celebrating the birthday of our Nigerian Homegurl twins.  They're a crackup!  And they don't speak French, so everyone in the neighborhood just calls them "'Ow are you" Because that's all they say!  When people ask what their name is in French, they just say "'Ow are you?" hahahaha

What to say.  Je n’ai aucune idée.  Je veux bien continuer en français.  Il me semble que cela sera plus facile.  Est-ce que c’est bon ? Je ne sais pas, mais honnêtement je dois mettre plus d’effort maintenant pour écrire en anglais qu’en français.  C’est bizarre pour moi que cette semaine, il y a quelques anniversaires.  Aujourd’hui, le 28 avril, ça fait onze mois depuis que j’étais mis à part en tant que missionnaire.  Demain sera onze en mission.  Et aussi, ce dimanche sera mon anniversaire de vingt ans.  C’est trop bizarre.  Le temps s’envole.

Donc, cette semaine passée, c’était un peu calme.  Après l’activité de lundi et puis la soirée familiale, nous sommes rentrés un peu en retard, et à cause de cela, je me suis couché tard aussi.  Mardi, nous avons assisté à la réunion de formation de zone.  Les chefs de zone m’ont demandé de préparer une leçon, et c’était très bien passé.  J’ai appris beaucoup de choses de moi-même en préparant la leçon, et les autres missionnaires m’ont fortifié lors de la leçon aussi.

Mercredi, j’étais frappé par un rhume.  C’était très difficile de me lever, mais je l’ai fait.  Avec la mutation, tout notre programme a été changé.  Avec la maladie et autres choses, on n’a pas pu enseigner même une leçon, malgré nos efforts, mais on a bien terminé la journée avec le dîner chez notre premier conseiller de branche.  Jeudi, c’était mieux grâce au Seigneur, et on avait une journée normale.  Vendredi, la maladie a retourné avec vigueur.  Mais, avec la planification pendant le matin et une visite des Assistants avec les missionnaires qui ont été muté au Bénin, j’avais assez de force de pouvoir sortir le soir.

Samedi, nous avons assisté à un service de baptême avec une amie de l’Eglise.  Le service était très bien passé, mais ce qui m’a touché un peu c’était en rentrant.  L’amie nous a remarqué que la chose qui lui a touché le plus (elle nous a dit qu’elle avait la chair de poule même), c’était quand ceux qui ont baptisé ont soulevé le bras à l’angle droit.  Elle a pensé que cela montrait vraiment l’humilité, comme ils ont demandé la permission avant de faire le baptême.  Elder Bile et moi, nous avons expliqué que c’est un signe de l’autorité de Dieu, appelée la Prêtrise, et que la chair de poule était le Saint Esprit témoignant de la vérité,  et elle a bien compris.  Elle a expliqué que plusieurs lui ont demandé quand elle se fera baptiser, mais elle voulait rentrer chez elle pour le méditer avant de faire une décision.

A part de ça, il n’y a pas beaucoup.  Oh !  Sauf que j’ai reçu une grande révélation cette semaine à propos de Harry Potter !  Elder Bile et moi parlions un peu des films en allant à la soirée familiale.  On parlait, et puis, on est arrivé sur le point de Voldemort.  Et puis, BAMMMMMMMMM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Révélation !  Toujours, en anglais, je n’ai jamais beaucoup pensé au nom « Voldemort ».  Et enfin, j’ai pensé au sens en français.  Wow ! Je n’ai jamais pensé à « Vol-de-mort », mais c’est parfait !  Vraiment, parfois elle est très sage Mme. Rowling.

Haha,ok.  Je souhaite une très bonne semaine à tout le monde, et à la prochaine.  Je vous aime tous !!!  Vous me manquez aussi !

Ok, for those of you who speak English, my apologies.  I didn’t really know what to write. Here’s the translation:

What to say.  I have no idea.  I really want to continue in French.  It seems to me that it would be easier.  Is that ok?  I don’t know, but honestly it is more effort for me to write in English now than in French.  It’s weird to think this week there are several anniversaries.  Today, April 28^th marks 11 months since I was set apart as a missionary.  Tomorrow will be 11 months on my mission.  Also, this Sunday with be my 20^th birthday.  That’s too weird.  Time flies.

So, this past week was a bit calm.  After Monday’s activity and Family Home Evening, we got back a bit late and, because of that, I went to bed late as well.  Tuesday, we had Zone Training Meeting.  The Zone Leaders asked me to prepare a lesson, and it went very well.  I learned so many things for myself while preparing the lesson, and the other missionaries strengthened me during the lesson also.

Wednesday, I got hit by a cold.  It was very hard for me to get up, but I did it.  With the transfer, our whole day was different.  With me not feeling well and some other things, we weren’t able to teach even one lesson, in spite of trying, but we ended the day well with dinner at the home of the first counselor in our branch.  Thursday was better thanks to the Lord, and we had a normal day.  The sickness retuned with vigor on Friday.  However, with Weekly Planning in the morning and a visit from the Assistants and the missionaries that were transferred to Benin, I had enough strength to go out in the afternoon.

Saturday, we attended a baptismal service with one of our investigators.  The service went well, but what touched me the most happened on the way back.  The investigator noticed something that really touched her (she told us that she even had goose bumps).  It was when those who were performing the baptisms raised their arm to the square.  She thought that this really showed humility, like they were asking permission before performing the baptism.  Elder Bile and I explain that this is a sign of the authority of God, called the Priesthood, and that the goose bumps were the Holy Ghost testifying of the truthfulness to her.  She understood it well.  She explained that many people asked her when she would be baptized, but she wanted to go home and ponder on it before making the decision.

The Chapel

There were some pretty cool looking clouds coming through on Saturday.

This one was my favorite picture of the whole day

Apart from that, there’s not much to share.  Oh! Except that I received a HUGE revelation this week about Harry Potter!  Elder Bile and I talked a bit about the movies while on our way to Family Home Evening.  We were just talking and then we arrived on the point of Voldemort.  And then, BAMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Revelation!  In English, I had never thought much of the name “Voldemort.” Finally, I thought of the meaning in French.  Wow!  I’ve never thought of “Vol-de-mort," which means roughly “theft-of-death!”  CRAZY!!!!!!  But it’s perfect!  Really, sometimes she is very wise, Mrs. Rowling. 

I wish everyone a very good week, and see you next time.  I love you all.  I miss you as well!

Avec amour, 
Elder Jenkins

PS Shout out to my big bro, Kaleb, and his 24th Birthday today!  It's crazy gig the tune flies!

Elder Dih with Luc and Vicky and Precious (PS: Precious can walk now!)

Elder Dih's good-bye Family Home Evening.

African missionary mouse trap.  Who can spot the mouse's tail?

Storm front coming through.  The rainy season is about in full-swing now.  It rains about every two days at least, especially in Baguida.  But the problem is that the humidity is higher, so it gets HOT when it's hot.  If there's no wind, I sweat a TON.

Yep.  Togo.  That's by far not the craziest thing I've seen on a moto.

Are you willing to sacrifice being more effective for being united?

Oh! I completely forgot to describe our service project this week!
Our neighbor's brick oven broke, so Elder Bile and I decided to go
help the mason rebuild it on Wednesday!  4.16.14

Moving 200 bricks was a workout!  Goodness I'm out of shape!

This was the easy part for us!

Well, I don't want to sound like a broken record, but it really amazes me how the time flies.  Honestly this past week has flown by again.  I don't have terribly much time today, but I just wanted to share a quick lesson that I have learned from this past week.  It has already changed my vision of everything so much.

So, just to begin, as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we work in companionships of two.  We spend ALL of our time with our companion.  From when we wake up at 6 am and go to bed at 10 pm, we are always together, except in the bathroom of course. We also sleep in the same room, so we're still together from 10 pm to 6 am.  As with all relationships, this much togetherness can lead to some discord and sometimes it takes a bit of time to talk together and work it out. Well, sure enough, this arrived for Elder Bile and me.

As I sought counsel from our leaders to help us resolve the problem, the response came in the form of a question.  "Are you willing to sacrifice being more effective for being united?"  This simple question changed my whole perspective on the current situation.  In fact, it realigned all of my priorities in the work in which I am engaged.  Not only in this work, but in the rest of my life as well.

As I've reflected on this question, it's turned out a bit like this. If we are united, we will have quality in our relationship and work. If we are effective, we may have lots of useless quantity that may be nothing but hollowness.  If we are both united and effective, we will have quality quantity.  However, when it comes down to it, unity is more important than anything else.

The more that I've thought about it as well, the more that I see that it applies to every relationship that I will have in my life, most importantly with my own spouse and family in the future.  I have been very grateful for this new knowledge and vision that God has given me, and it has been just another testimony for me that it is through trials that we grow, through "Mountains to Climb" that we reach higher.

Anyways, today, we had the Lomé Stake Easter Soccer Tournament.  I am exhausted and sunburned, but it was a blast.  Our missionary team ended up in the final where we lost 1-0.

after my pre-match warmups

Just before the starting whistle

from our first round game

another from our first round game

I switched to attacker for our semifinal game.  Someone was tired, but still wanted to play, so we switched.  We also had to switch our jerseys due to previous color conflicts. 

from the semi final

another from the semi final

Our team picture from this morning 4.21.14

I love you all and wish a very inspiring week!

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

 

Pigeons grow super fast!  This was one week from hatching day!  4.16.14

Easter sunrise.  There was a church that decided to do a fanfare
parade by our house at 5:20, so I was able to go up on the roof and
get good pictures.

Zoomed out

Thought these clouds were cool!

The staining process.  Foster Clark's is kind of like Crystal Light, but different

Yeah, brown eggs don't work too well with staining

After shelling and staining again

Easter breakfast!  4.20.14

YUM!

The Primary's Easter presents!

Inside 4.20.14

Hahaha I don't really have a caption for this.  BON VOYAGE!

I made chicken noodle soup this week!  Elder Donadier LOVED it!  He
asks for it all the time now.  PLUS, one of the stores had CAPRI
SUNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haha not really sure what this means.  It's painted on the wall of
one of our investigator's house.  the translation is: "You want or you
don't want?"