Bonjour! 11/11/2013
This past week has
been pretty good!! We had zone conference Tuesday with the Tokoin and Hedzranoe
zones so that was good as always! It’s seriously always the
best boost to be together with everyone and hear from President Weed
and the AP's.. Elder Poll and Shearer bore there goodbye
testimonies so that was sad! They’ll be the first Americans I’ve seen go home on
my mission! So that’ll be weird for sure. But zone conference was great
and was really just centered around finding and working with
members, even if its especially difficult here, its what the Prophet
asked us to do, so were looking for ways to improve that way! We also
got the good old reminders from the handbook as there is a big
group of new missionaries now, so were hoping that that will help set a
good standard for them. But yeah and finally after months of getting
the church security report we got
a alert for our area!! I got a little
excited for that one but we found out that there has been a bad cholera
outbreak in West Africa and it is centered in Lome, so
basically were just supposed to keep doing what we do already in filtering
water and such, and we’ll be fine! So I’m hoping that’ll work
out!
I was able to ask the couple about the rash and what was all going
on with that, and Elder Christensen told me right away
exactly what medication to get and the concentration amount to get with
it... I was amazed all day wondering if he had some revelation or
something, till I found out that he was a pharmacist. The rash ended up
going away though, not sure still what it was but its gone! I got the worm
pills finally too, and it’s incredible how good I feel now that way! I just
got used to feeling kind ofcrappy all the time so I feel so good
now! Ha-ha so that’s nice. The worst this past week though was the
Wednesday morning I woke up with the worst headache I’ve had in my
life, and it even killed to move my eyes, I did all I could to get rid of
it, but it was terrible, and no doubt that was the most sick that I
have been yet on the mission it was terrible... I remember hearing
someone mentioning what Elder Leavitt one of the old senior couple
missionaries said once, that you can either be miserable in your
secteur or you can be miserable in the apartment.... so I went out that day,
I got through it alright, and it was one of those things where I hope
to go to sleep and wake up fine, but that wasn’t the case.. I woke up
and it was even worse and this time there were back aches too.. This
wasn’t good at all either considering those are the first big
two signs of Malaria, I kept praying though, and was still really
sick the rest of the day, but finally after a few days it died
out... But man that was miserable for sure! Ha-ha I’ve never been sick like
that in my life! Other than that though the work has been good!! Since
last week and having found so many new Amis, we’ve been working a
lot in that area, and finally after this past week have 4 baptismal dates
fixed!!! So it’s good to be able to get back into doing that! Also for
this secteur in general, as they have had only one baptism since it
has been opened, but its been good.. One of those was the catholic
guy, who had all the murals of Virgin Mary painted in
his house, he’s a pretty rich guy and works in bigger business as
well. We’ve been able to really stress the Book of Mormon with
him, and he loves it so much! No doubt that is the best tool and
always the best way to go! And one of the best ways to see if someone has
started to gain a testimony of it and of our message is when they have
the desire then to have everyone they know hear it, so he’s been a big
source of contacts for us which has been nice. But still things
are young with all of our Amis, a lot could change but things
have really started up well with them. But no doubt getting them into
the Book of Mormon will help with everything else from Chastity to
word of wisdom problems if there are any, so that is going
well for sure! Our other aims who was with the Jehovah Witnesses is coming along great as well, and with him as
well he’s gaining a love for the Book of Mormon now doubt! I can
seriously see how we’ve been blessed a lot in the area of finding people, which has for sure been an answer to prayers, especially in this
secteur, but its been really good, and hopefully with these
baptisms coming up, many more will come thanks to those.
The branch here is
still amazing! With a few returned missionaries its so strong
in the priesthood which has been a huge blessing in general here! One thing I noticed too is the
primary; I went in there this past week and man... there were like
30 kids there all sitting in
their chairs listening, it was
insane!! The primary is amazing here as well which will be a big
boost to the church! Also the primary and the nursery are combined
here, so I have to hand it to the leaders there no doubt! The biggest
problem now has been getting Ami's
to church as it is so far away from
everyone in our secteur, but it’ll work out!
This past week was really
good too because I got to hear from some old converts, and also I
heard from Desvergez, that many of our other Amis that we worked with
have been baptized as well back in Gbegamey:) So that was good to hear
as well!
I was also thinking, and
realized it’s almost been exactly a year since I received my mission call to
come here! Man what a blessing that has been. I’ve have had to work to get things back in order and going... I
got a really cool email though last week from a missionary that came
back here to visit, and went back to visit in Gbegamey, and just
said how happy he was to see the secteur turned around.. Its possible
with this one too no doubt, you can just see that it’s really work
and effective work that needs to be done but there is a ton of potential,
also with the Baptismal dates that was really comforting to see! My
studies have been really good this past week! And I’ve really been
looking a lot into a little about what
you were saying Ryan’s lesson for FHE
was on as well, about how Satan’s goal is to bind us up into captivity,
but in turn from obedience we can make it so he has no more power
over us to tempt us, its incredible how all of that works.
Also I remember President Weed telling just about how every time he
would bear his testimony on the mission he could feel it reaffirmed,
and no doubt its true, that’s the best, whether it’s the Restoration or
the Atonement it really does happen. That’s one of the best things
to help people understand is the Atonement, because there is such a
lack of comprehension here, but to really help people see that God is
merciful is the best. I love and miss you all a ton! I hope all is great back there!
Elder Oliverson
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