Transfer

Bonjour! 04/21/2014

First off I don’t have a ton of time today as we had a big soccer activity for the Stake in Kegue today. So I will be short! This past week has been good though! Not too much new except for that I got the transfer call this past week, so I’ll be leaving Be Kpota! I will be going to be one of the Zone leaders now in Anfame. Luckily still in Togo! I will now be working with the other Zone leader Elder Gnenenon from Cote DIvoire. My fifth Ivorian:) Ha-ha. I’m really excited though, and I’ve heard he’s an awesome missionary, and that it’s a great secteur so I’m really looking forward to it.

Things have gone pretty well in the work this past week, but not too much new. As the church is so new here, they’re still working on getting better at helping the recent converts, but its us that do most of the lessons with them. We have a lot right now, so a lot of our time has been with them, which has been good as well! Something I saw in particular was how amazing some of our recent converts are, but also how much Satan works against them right after their baptisms. It shows a lot though that he is worried about them being part of this great work, and doesn’t want them there. One in particular was Joseph, who we baptized a couple weeks ago. A few days after his baptism the manager of his company came to him, and presented a huge job offer, which would send him to live in Germany. The problem was that in accepting this offer, he would have to lower some of his standards he has as a member of the church. At first he had a hard time, as that’s a huge temptation, and its almost every persons dream here to go to Europe, or America, so this was definitely something that was tough, and I could understand why it was hard for him. I was really happy though to see that even though this offer looked so appealing, and it seemed so big and great, he chose to stay here in Togo, and keep doing what he is doing. I was super happy to see that, and its things like that that make me thankful to work here.

Our other Amis are progressing pretty well also, which is nice, but I’ll be sad leaving them for sure. This is no doubt one of my favorite secteurs, and I'll miss it a lot. Luckily though, I’m not too far as I’m still in Lome! Things are going well in Togo as well. We all got a mass message this past week that there is a Ebola outbreak here right now, that just came over from Ghana. I’m not quite sure what that is, but I’m pretty sure its not the best. So we'll see what happens with that! Along with that, this past week I saw my first case of elephantitis. That disease where the leg, or whichever part infected swells to the point where it really does look like an elephant. It was seriously very sad to see, and I can’t even imagine how it would be to live with that. It reaffirmed the fact though that it is not at all easy living here, yet seeing how great and happy the people are, helps you understand the more important things in life.

Also this past week I was able to download conference and have been listening to that so that’s been nice! It’s awesome to have that help from our Prophet and Apostles so often. I haven’t listened to all of them, but one of my favorite talks was the one by Elder Anderson about spiritual whirlwinds, and the fact that even though the world is getting worse, the Lord doesn’t lower his standards. I’m excited for sure to see the rest of conference soon! But yeah, things are going well with the work, and I’m excited to be going to Anfame for sure. As I said time is short as the Ward is having a little goodbye party, so that will be fun! Also tomorrow were eating one of our member’s cats for a little goodbye party as well:). That could be a highlight for next week so I’m hoping that all goes over well, but yeah, things are all going very well in Africa, and the work is surely going forward!

Sorry my time is short today! Thank you for everything, and for all of the love and support! I love and miss you all a ton!

Elder Oliverson