"It's much easier to be 100% obedient than 98% obedient"

Elder Nkanza and I!  I tried to get a better picture, but I didn't have the chance, but he's still AWESOME!!!!

My my my.  I think the earth decided to spin a bit faster this week.  Just about everyone I know has said that this past week has flown by.  So true.

This has been an excellent week.  I would say that the most major event was Friday morning.  President Morin organized a mission-wide conference (split in two for Togo and Benin) on obedience.  It is a new push that he has started since he came in July, and many of us had a feeling that such would be the case.

The Assistants really kind of ran the show and set up three white boards with a title on every one.  The first was "Continuer" (continue), the second was "Commencer" (begin or start), and the third was "Cesser" (cease or stop).  We spent about 20 or 30 minutes on each one with a open word to specific activities that apply to each of those three verbs.  I was so grateful for the peace of the Spirit that confirmed that I am striving to be as obedient as I can be.  It is a beautiful feeling.  I still have many things that I need to work harder on, but I am doing my best, and I have felt the Savior's Atonement make up the difference.  We are starting to see miracles come in our area.

We then opened up time for testimonies from President and Sister Morin, the Assistants, and then every single one of the missionaries.  There were some great testimonies given.  I shared my testimony that Ether 12:27 is so true.  I have felt the Spirit strengthen me immensely in my quest to be more exactly obedient.  I have heard his voice guide me, and I have become more accustomed in heeding His promptings more quickly, which, again, has produced some great changes in me.

I had the opportunity also to give a fireside about the Pride Cycle Saturday evening.  This was such an edifying experience.  I think studying it was far more edifying than presenting it.  I decided to create my own cycle based on others I've seen.  I added a couple points, and as I was searching the scriptures, I found that everything fell directly in place!  It was so amazing!  My companion was laughing while I was studying because I just kept freaking out because everything was lining up so perfectly!!! I really learned what it means to truly feast upon the words of Christ and delight in the scriptures.  Here's a picture of my Pride Cycle and one with it translated.  

Pride Cycle

Pride Cycle translated

My testimony this week has been strengthened about prophets and the very important roles that they lead in our lives and in the world.  I thought of this while doing my in depth study of the Pride Cycle.  I thought of ancient people and the early saints of the Church and the peace and joy they found in the gospel and the words of the prophets amid trials and persecution.  I then thought of myself and the world around me.  It is so sad to see things deteriorate so rapidly around me.  Being set apart from the world as a missionary and a servant of God has given me so much light on this.  I have found this same joy and peace in my life.  It is the sweetest feeling to know who I am, to know God's Plan, and to know how I can follow in His ways.

I love you all so much.  Remember, as President Monson said, it is much easier (and more worthwhile) to be 100% obedient than to be 98% obedient.  Have a great week!!!

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

View from Frère Kazotti's balcony

"... Cleave unto the Lord and serve him with all your heart and all you soul"

Well, what a week it has been.  There have been many ups and downs, but mostly ups.  There have been many, many important lessons learned.  And I feel like I say that every week, but this week it just has so much more feeling and sincerity in my heart.  These two years truly are the best for learning the precious lessons of the gospel and of life.

Well, to start off, I sent off Elder Sahue on Tuesday and my new companion, Elder Nkanza (from DR Congo), got here on Wednesday, direct from the MTC!!!  So far it's been amazing!!!  I love him so much.  He's energetic, yet quiet and very humble.  He's obedient and a very good listener.  He's serious and is very ready to work, which I LOVE!!!!!!!  I'm very excited for our future.

I have been very grateful this week for my first experience with training back in February.  I have decided to take things a little bit differently, and I think it really reflects my personal quests and studies.  Instead of focusing so much on the material and teaching methods (as I did back in February), I have really been focusing on what matters most in the mission, OBEDIENCE and THE SPIRIT.  He has been very attentive and is already able to pay attention to the little details.  He's also amazing at giving service.  I can't even count how many times I've been served in the five days that we've been together.

I'm so looking forward this next week to getting into more of a doctrinal study together, though we've already had a couple of awesome discussions!  But now we'll be more focused on the lesson content and teaching methods.

My apologies for another short letter.  The computer has been so very slow today.  Also, hopefully next week I will have pictures because I have word that my new camera is here!!!

A scripture that touched me during my studies this week of service and sacrifice is Joshua 22:5, especially where it says, "...cleave unto the Lord and serve him with all your heart and all you soul."  My appologies if it's not exactly correct, it was written from memory and translated from French.

I love you all so very much.

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

When we obey with exactness, everything else falls into place

Sorry I have no time today, but here's a little of what I learned this week.

The first principle of enduring to the end is obedience.  When we obey with exactness, everything else falls into place.  No matter what the trials or hardships, the Lord has made a promise, and He is bound.

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

Spiritual feast amid physical trials

Bonsoir mes amis.

This past week has been interesting.  While I have been physically stricken this week, I have had a spiritual feast!

Photo with Elder and Sister Curtis

We got a visit from Elder Curtis of the Seventy this past week, who is also the Africa West Area President.  In preparation for this conference, we filled out the same survey that we filled out several months ago in preparation for Elder Vinson's visit in February.  One of the questions was to organize the top 4 chapters of Preach My Gospel (our missionary study/ guide/ teaching resource book) that we felt like we needed the most help with.  The majority was clear with the 4 scriptures that he assigned to study before his visit.  They were Galations 5, 1 Nephi 3-4, Alma 17, and D&C 50.

Immediately upon receiving the study list I knew what I would be focusing on.  My two favorite chapters on that list were Galations 5 and D&C 50.  They were exactly what I was looking for in preparation for this conference.  In zone conference a week before, President Morin told us to all have a question or two that we wanted answered with our meeting with Elder Curtis, and two of mine were already answered in those studies!!!  By the time Friday came around, I was very excited to learn from someone with so much experience and so much authority from God.

The conference itself was a very edifying experience.  I also got to play piano again, and we had a couple of arrangements of "I Believe in Christ" and "God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again" with a missionary choir that were phenomenal.  Elder and Sister Curtis are such nice people.  Both of their lessons were such amazing examples of how to teach with the power and authority of God and how to invite active learning through faith and inviting conversion through the Spirit.  

After the conference, both of them thanked me for providing the music, and Sister Curtis and I chatted for a couple minutes about music and piano.  She mentioned how probably all of my mom's nagging to keep practicing so that I could play on my mission was finally paying off.  I told her that that was exactly how it was and then asked how she knew.  She responded, "Because I did exactly the same thing with all of our kids!!!"  Haha she's so super nice.  She asked me to pass a message on to my mom, so here it is: "You were right, Mom!!!"  We finished of the conference with some super good food!

The rest of the week was kinda hard physically.  I've had a nasty cough for about two weeks now, and it finally caught up to me on Saturday.  After walking 3 hours back from the baptism on Saturday (we had a couple errands to run) in the boiling sun, I was exhausted.  I ate and drank a bit and decided to lie down a bit because I had a real bad headache.  I woke up three hours later dying of thirst.  That's when I decided that I had gotten super dehydrated.  That plus the other fatigue that I had kinda just pushed me over the edge!  But that rest helped a lot!  Lesson learned: DRINK YOUR WATER KIDS!!!!!

Sunday after Church I had a bit of time to study again, and I was prompted to study "Wilt Thou Be Made Whole" by Elder Dyches from the October 2013 General Conference, especially with how weak I was feeling.  As I studied this talk, I was reminded of my studies earlier in the week, especially Galations 5.  After finishing this talk, I pondered a bit on why I was reminded t*of Galations 5.  Through that, I was reminded of my third question that I had from before the conference.  Then I made the connection.  My three favorite verses in Galations 5 were 16, 17, and 18.  Pretty much, if we follow the Spirit, we cannot follow the flesh.  And if we follow the Spirit, we will never be led astray nor will we ever be led into danger or trouble.  Finally, through the Spirit, we CAN overcome the flesh, or our carnal desires.  My testimony was then reaffirmed that it is only through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and upon principles of righteousness that we can ever hope to change ourselves for the better.  But as we come unto Christ and accept His Atonement, we can, through the Holy Spirit, overcome the desires of the flesh and become converted unto the Lord.

Later that day, I saw why this study was so necessary and why I had been prompted to do so.  As we were got to our second appointment, we found that they weren't home.  We called them and they said that they were pretty far.  Elder Sahue looked at me and suggested that we visit an investigator that we hadn't seen all week and that wasn't at Church Sunday morning.  We got there, and he looked much weaker than I was feeling.  When we sat down together, he just broke out into tears.  He explained that he's fallen very sick this past week, and because he's in a polygamist family, his father refuses to help him.  With no money and no woek, he has not been able to get the necessary medication from the pharmacy.  After groping through the depths of poverty, his heart has been broken much like the poor Zoramites in Alma 32.  Before I started to speak, I gave a slient prayer of thanks for the help that the Lord gave me to prepare me for this unexpected visit.

The lesson was amazing, and he was very comforted and encouraged by the Spirit.  The words of comfort that were spoken during this lesson weere not mine nor were they his, but they were inspired by the Spirit, and I especially felt D&C 50:17-22 in practice.  We finished by giving him a blessing, for which he was very grateful and which served as another testimony of the truth for him.  He said that the calmness of the blessing which we gave seemed so much more like the Lord's way than the yelling, hitting dramatics that are seen in so many other Churchs.  he said that he believes firmly that the blessings which we gave was through the Lord's authority.

Well, that's about my week.  Like I said, I have had a spiritual feast amidst physical trials.  My health is increasing, and I thank my Heavenly Father for the spiritual knowledge and understanding that He has granted me this week through the grace of His Son's Atonement and throught the gift of the Holy Ghost.  May we all continue to strive to gain knowledge about God's kingdom and be found seeking after truth is my prayer.

I love you all.  Have a great week!!!

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

"Living in gratitude is to touch the heavens"

Hello, my family, friends, and strangers.  This past week has been full of the Lord's outpouring of blessings upon us.  Each companionship in our district (we have 4 companionships) had a marriage and baptisms this past weekend.  It was fabulous.

My apologies this week for the length of this letter.  It's been a while since I've been able to chat with my family through email like this week, so I've given a bit more time to that.

The marriage and baptism on Saturday were a wonderful experience, but I'll let the pictures explain those a bit better.

Edouard and Clarisse!  Two of my favorite people ever!

Lauriane (9) and Exaucer (4) their kids!  Asso (President Kazotti's daughter) is in the background in the blue dress.

The view of the lake from the top of the Calavi building where the marriage was.

Thought this was cool. 

The venue (on the top floor of the Calavi building). 

Part of the 10 couples (or more) that were married on Saturday!

"Hi. My name is Asso, and I'm a jedi." 

Hangin' in there. 

Exaucer, my favorite little African kid.  He calls me "his white". He's adorable and 4 years old.

Sister Missionaries

Best dressed award

Omar, our Branch Mission Leader.  He got his mission call this week to the Ghana Accra Central Mission!!!  He's an awesome guy.  I love him.

Ring presentation 

Ring presentation #2

Clarisse signing

Elder Sahue signing as a witness.

The baptisms in the Fidjrossè branch this past Saturday.  Our whole zone did the service together, and I believe we had about 15 total.  It was a wonderful day in the service of the Lord!

Elder Sahue, Clarisse, Lauriane, Brother Donatien (who has become good friends with them), Edouard, Elder Jenkins, Exaucer.

After watching President Monson's "Attitude of Gratitude" talk from October 2010 (we have the DVDs at our apartment), I would like to testify today of the strenghtening power of living with gratitude.  As President Monson said, being thankful is good and "honorable." Showing our thanks is "noble." But living with gratitude is "to touch the heavens."  I testify of this statement.  After an exhausting week, I was wondering how I could apply this to my life more completely.  I decided to try something that has been counseled to me for a long time but thet I've never trie: praying to give thanks to Heavenly Father and asking for nothing in return.

I was a little apprehensive before kneeling to pray, but this has been one of the most sacred experiences that I have had on my mission.  As President Monson, said, I felt as if I were "touch[ing] the heavens."  Many small and simple things came to mind as I continued.  I even realized that I had been a bit too impatient with my companion that day.  Every problem that I had seemed to melt away.  As I laid in bed that night, my mind was at peace, being filled with the Spirit.

I woke up Sunday morning with almost a complete absence of the fatigue that had weighed me down the day before.  There were times on Sunday where that fatigue came back, but I tried each time to remember that I need to live with gratitude.

This has been a very edifying experience, and I invite all of us to take more time to be grateful for our lives no matter where we are and strive to LIVE with gratitude in our hearts.  We will all be so much happier, and imagine the changes that would take place in this world if we all took time to be more grateful.

I love you all so much.  I hope you all have a great week.  I, too, am hoping to have a great week with two meetngs with Elder Curtis of the Quorum of the 70 and also the president of the Africa West area.

Avec amour,

Elder Jenkins

Without the Spirit, we're nothing!!!

Hello everyone.  This has been another great week.  Our whole district has been lengthening their strides in the work, and it's really starting to show.  The Lord has been so merciful in His abundant blessings of late, and He continues to bless us in our efforts!

Tuesday was a sort of bittersweet day.  After our Zone Training Meeting in the morning, we had an EXCELLENT meal at the famed "Maman Florence's" house in Aïbatin, the Sister Missionaries' Branch.  And there's a reason she's famous: 1) she's a fantastic cook, 2) she's one of the loudest, most crazy older single ladies I've met, and 3) "[she's] every missionary's mama."  We had some really good Foutou igname with a delicious, perfectly spicy peanut sauce.  It was sooooo good.  Unfortunately, my camera took a nasty fall after the meal and would no longer turn on.  I was a bit sad for a few minutes after it, but I got over it, and it'll all be ok.  It's currently in the shop for a diagnostic.

Pounding the ignames.  It's a freaking workout!  No wonder all those African women are so strong!

This is how I dooooooo...

What we call foutou igname with peanut sauce.  So good!

On a happier note from that day, we had a first lesson with a contact that's really wanting to turn his life around, and it went soooo well!  He said that after reading the brochure, "[he] felt something really positive; like it was sucking all of the poison out of [his] life."  I was able to testify that that is the Spirit of God testifying to him that God loves him and that this is the way for him to turn things around.  He accepted the invitation to come to church this week, so we are very excited to see where this will go.

This past Saturday was a very good day.  After a couple of good appointments, we had the baptismal service in the afternoon!  Chris was finally baptized!  He explained in his testimony after the fact that this has been 2 years in the making!

Chris was so ashamed of the jumpsuit that he wouldn't let anyone take pictures of him hahahaha!

Our experiences with Chris have really accentuated the importance of the Spirit in conversion.  Everything always went ok with him.  He came to church every Sunday, he normally kept his commitments, and he was always asking when our next appointment would be.  I've always liked him because he's young, and his family is fairly well off and so it felt almost like a connection to home with the technology they have.  He also speaks perfect English because he did 5 years of college in Ghana.

Anyways, about a month and a half ago, it started to get a bit difficult.  His testimony was really starting to diminish, and it was coming to a time where he (and we) would have to make a decision.  Everything we shared with him he almost rationalized it to nothing.  We were both getting a bit worried for him, but we decided to just endure with him.

Finally, about two weeks ago, we got a random text from him saying something like, "set my baptismal date.  I believe."  Both of us were shocked and, in an appointment after we received that, he explained what led to it.  He said that he was just sitting there thinking a bit about the Church and the message and about Jesus Christ himself.  He said that as he was thinking, almost doubting too, he heard a voice in his head that was like, "why not believe?  It seems right.  What do you have against it?"  He said it felt right, so he started believing, and he said everything made sense.  All of his rationalizations suddenly disappeared and he felt ready for the baptism.

Just another example of why the Spirit is soooooo important in missionary work. In fact, without this Spirit, we're nothing!!!

I love you all soooo much.  Have a great week!

Avec amour,
Elder Jenkins

LOVED this picture.  Unfortunately, I was trying to get a straighter angle on it when my camera fell out of my hands :(

A sunrise this week.  Thought it looked pretty cool.

C

There was an activity at the Aïbatin Branch after the baptism, and since there was food and we had no appointments, we stayed!  The guy who was directing it had to leave to go get plates and utensils and such, so he left me in charge of directing and assisting the judges in their judging.  It was a blast!  Luckily I wasn't a judge because every plate had fish in it!  Ok, not every plate, but almost every plate.  There were some pretty delicious selections, and I took note.

 

 

 

Magnifying my calling as Judges' Assistant

This little girl would not leave my side during the whole activity!  She's so adorable!

All of the participants

This was my favorite meal 1) because I love it (with out fish.  I usually do an omelette) and 2) because of his description.  He said, "this is the perfect single working man/student meal.  It's only 500 francs!"  I like that guy anyways.  He's Ivorien and on the high council.

Elder Silvas with my other favorite plate for the night.  It's called Djongoli and SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good!!!!!!  It tasted really Mexican.

Precious Moments

My apologies this week: there were three power outages while we were at the cyber this past Monday.  Since I didn't have a chance to write home, I am writing today with my Mission President's approval.

So what I wanted to write about this week was to share a few special moments.  These moments I have started to document as "Precious Moments," moments when I have been so touched by the Spirit and when I have felt as if heaven is drawing nearer to me.

The first moment was a marriage on Wednesday.  The Aïbatin sister missionaries (in our district) have been working with several couples in preparation for marriage.  Finally, two couples have been able to get everything in order for their marriage and then baptism.  So Wednesday the office elders picked us up in the mission van and we went to get the rest of the crew (the couples and family plus the sisters).  It was pretty packed, but we made it.  Luckily the sisters had asked me to bring my guitar so that we could all sing "Love at Home" together, so I got automatic shotgun.

The mission van

Elder Oliverson at the wheel

The District

The marriage itself was fun.  The mayor of Akassato (a little bit north of Cotonou--the marriages up there are far cheaper than in Cotonou) is quite the poet, which made for some good laughs.  But a precious moment for me was singing "Love at Home" at the end of the ceremony.  Another testimony for me that God lives and that He truly gives us families for a reason.  It is only through these families that we can reach the highest level of exaltation, which is why families are so important in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Here are the two couples with the mayor-poet on the right

The couple that was baptized on Saturday

The ring (I'm kinda proud of this picture.  It actually turned out ok even though I had a terrible angle)

The peanut gallery

The wedding party (courtesy of Elder Oliverson)

The couple who was baptized on Saturday (courtesy of Elder Oliverson)

The second moment was on Friday.  I had the opportunity to do the baptism interviews for one of the couples (the other couple was traveling and will be baptized in the coming week).  The husband and the wife are already soooooo solid in their testimonies of the truth.  They know that Christ had established something on this earth, that it was lost, and that it was restored by God and Jesus Christ through Joseph Smith.  They are so happy together, and they understand the gospel already very well.

But what touched me the most about this couple was how they know.  It was not through reason or research.  Yes, both of these practices helped them to gain a testimony, but what planted their testimony firmly in them is that they FELT that it is true.  When both of them explained this to me independently, I, again, FELT the same thing that they did.  Even though I come from halfway around the world, my testimony is the same as theirs.  Even though we might have acquired this testimony in different ways, it is the same.  Oneness has always been godliness, and this new, young married couple has joined in that oneness in their own special and precious way.

The third moment was their baptism on Saturday.  The baptism was in the afternoon due to the Mormon Helping Hands activity in the morning.  It was so nice to see two people so ready to enter into a covenant with God through the special ordinance of baptism.  President Morin came to the baptism as it was the first in the Aïbatin building.  His welcome message was focused on the family and its importance in life and in eternity.

The baptism on Saturday

I am very excited for this couple and the future that they have in front of them.  I never had the chance to teach them, but through the events of this past week, we have grown a relationship together, and I have been so happy and blessed to have shared a bit of their own path to eternal life with them.

The Mormon Helping Hands activity this past Saturday went very, very well.  In contrast from last year, everyone was engaged at almost every moment, and it was amazing how quickly the task got done.  We were done in just about an hour!  There was a Yovo-owned pastry place right in front of where we were working, so as we were waiting for the bus to come back and get us, Elder Hawkins, Silvas, Hanks and I all got some REAL cake/ éclairs!!!  It was quite delicious.  Not too expensive either.

My job was just to dump sand wherever they told me

Charging my load

This was the hardest part.  They started laying sand right next to the mounds instead of starting on the outside, so I had to roll over tons of sand in order to get to where I needed to go.  The problem was that the tire was completely broken.  Not just flat, but broken. In half.  So it did almost nothing.  Especially on sand.  But at least it was a good workout (which I haven't had in a while)!

In action

This little girl was so cute in that vest that was way too big for her!

 The whole group at our activity

Elder Silvas trying to get a sandwich.  Elder Kunz, Hawkins, and I were all dying laughing because he was just standing there with his hand up.  He eventually succeeded.

Anyways, that's been my past week.  It's been a great one, and the Lord is really blessing us!  I'm so happy to be in Fidjrossè right now, and I believe next week should bring some exciting news!

Thank you for all of your prayers.  They really do make a difference.  With a few other experiences this past week, I have truly felt the Lord's love, grace, and protection that He so graciously provides for His servants.

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

Avec amour,
Elder Jenkins

I played keeper for the first half and got score on three times.  The first was a 1-on-1 in the opening couple minutes.  The second was an own goal (*hmm hmm* Elder Oliverson).  The third was my fault because I had completely forgotten to set the wall on a set piece (that happens when you only play three times a year).  I then played second half at forward.

Our team from the soccer match this morning.  We got killed by the members, it wasn't even funny. But they sure thought it was hahaha