"Draw near unto me and I will draw near unto you"

Hello all.  Today has been a very busy day, so I will have to keep it short unfortunately.  First thing's first.  TRANSFERS...  Yep... it's that time of six weeks again.  Already.  So I got a call from Elder Bulunga Saturday evening and ...........................................................  I'M TRAINING AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  That's right.  This is by far my all-time favorite calling as a missionary.  Yes, it's hard.  Yes, it takes lots of patience.  And no, missionary work doesn't progress quite as quickly, but it is such an amazing time of growth in not only the trainee but in the trainer as well!  As my companion has not been "officially" assigned at this time, I will present him next week.  But the one that has been assigned to me as of now is Congolese.

Besides that, it's been a wonderful week!  We have had many opportunities to give service out of the ordinary, with more planned for this week!  (see pictures below) We have found many new people to teach!  The work is really starting to pick up here in Akpakpa!  Elder Jeneseri is sad to be leaving after spending his first 7 months in this area, but he's going literally just next door to Avotrou, bordering our area right now!

Like I said, I do not have much time today, but I would like to share my testimony of being converted to the Lord.

Conversion to the Lord is one of the sweetest feelings that I have ever had the opportunity to taste in my life.  Over the past few months, a few things have come up where it would have been very easy to just be fed up and done with it.  Many instances could have led to disappointment and sorrow, but with the conversion to the Lord that He has so graciously given to me, I have been able to keep my head up and carry on with faith.

I am a changed person.  I am nowhere near perfect, but the Lord has produced a profound change in heart in me.  I compare this feeling to Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life, found in 1 Nephi 8.  The story recounts that when Lehi tasted of the fruit, it was sweeter above all else that he had tasted.  So sweet that he look around immediately and wanted to share it with his family and friends.  This is why I have sacrificed the past 20 months of my life and will gladly sacrifice the next 4 to the Lord's work!  I have tasted of this fruit!  I have felt what the prophets ancient and modern have described as a change of heart that produces this fruit!  I know what it feels like to be accepted by God Himself, which is why I want to share this with as many as I can.  So please, if you have not yet tasted of this fruit, I ask of you and invite you to search, ponder, and pray to find it.  I promise you that you will.  With the Lord's help, we can all draw closer to Him.  He has promised us that as we "draw near unto [Him], [He] will draw near unto us." (see D&C 88:63)

I love you all so much, and I hope and pray that you all have a wonderful week and seek to draw closer to the Lord as I seek to draw ever closer to Him.

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

One of our unique opportunities for service:  Our neighbor got locked out of their apartment by her two year-old daughter

So,  Elder Jeneseri had to use the wooden ladder to cross from our balcony to theirs to go into their apartment and unblock the door.

It was kinda intense, but the Lord was protecting us.  We were praying very intesnely as well.  It took like      30 minutes to figure out.

A short introduction to Akpakpa

Welcome to Akpakpa !!!  It is certainly a different view from Fidjrossè.  While Fidjrossè was on the outskirts of town and relatively calm (especially when we get out into the village-type areas), Akpakpa is definitely and in-town kinda place.  For over a year I’ve been in the quieter, richer parts of the outskirts of town, but now I’m smack-dab in the middle of it again.  It feels slightly weird to be back in-town, but it has it’s perks.  We’ve got several restaurants in our area and a bakery right next to our apartment.

Well ; I appologize for the lack of time today.  It was quite the adventure to find a proper cyber today.  I promise that I’ll write more next week !!!

I love you all so much!

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

I'm being transferred to Paradise . . .

We got a little bored waiting for people to show up.

Well, what a week it has been!  To start things off, I got a call from the Assistants last Saturday night, and I'm being transferred!  I'll be replacing Elder Peterson in Baguida, and my companion will be Elder Rasolo (I don't know his whole last name because he's from Madagascar and their last names are like 20 letters long)!  I'm pretty sad to be leaving behind the Wuiti Branch because they've become family to me.

Apparently Baguida is like paradise, and it's actually quite cool because it's next to the ocean, so I'm very excited to be going there.  It's pretty far from everything because it's close to the border of Benin, but I'll be able to survive. Still not sure which day I'll be leaving, so next Monday I might still be writing from Wuiti or from Baguida, but my letter will still get out! 

So this weekend we had a pretty cool experience.  Gabriel, the former Prime Minister who was baptised in August, called us Saturday evening to invite us over to dinner at his house.  What he didn't tell us was that he was celebrating his 60th birthday, and we would actually be eating at his second house right next door.  To call it a house is an understatement.  I would say it's a super nice hotel (pool included).  So there were a few tables set up around the pool, and he seated us at one.  More and more people began to come until just about every table was filled.  I was one of two white people there, and by far the youngest person.  So, there were some dancer/ drummers that came and performed, but they got to be pretty annoying after like 10 minutes of the same thing over and over again.  Then, we ate.  We only got to eat the salad because we had to leave to go home, but we continued the feast Sunday night, and we feasted.  Gabriel wouldn't let us leave until I was stuffed beyond belief.  We got back to the apartment pretty satisfied.  However, my stomach began to be feeling really really uneasy.  Then a couple hours later, everything that I ate came back up quick or went down and out pretty darn quick.  After spending the whole night pretty miserable, I was able to conclude that it was food poisoning.  Guess that's what happens we I finally decided to try fish.  So, today's been a bit interesting, but I'm feeling a bit better now.
 

The view of the party from our table

A good shot of the dancers that came and performed.  I wish I could upload some of the videos I took, but I guess that'll have to wait

 

I also wanted to remark how much incredible progress the Wuiti Branch has made during my 5 months here.  Yesterday was one of the most edifying church experiences of my life.  We had testimony meeting during sacrament, and there were so many inspiring testimonies, especially Gabriel himself as he shared his testimony about how he knows that his whole family will accept the message of this truth as well and will become members of God's only true church on the earth.  Then, for the third hour, we talked about Joseph Smith, the prophet of the Restoration, and his role in our lives, and again, there were so many amazing testimonies shared about the Spirit and how it works in us.  I have been so blessed to be a part of this branch's progression, and again, I'm sad to leave, but I'm also excited to see how it will grow just until the end of my mission.

I love you all so much, and have a great week!

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins