Things have been really well for sure! The Day of Service was good for sure, especially because it was on National T.V.! And yeah the service helps a lot in gaining trust, because otherwise these people won't trust you because they think you're a big rich white person. So we are always looking for opportunities to do small stuff with people! The U.S. ambassador invited us over for dinner this week!! So we've been dying!! It will be incredible to eat food like that again..The old Branch Pres. that we have been working with is back at church again, we're trying to get him a call in the branch so he has some responsibility there, and we gave him a blessing yesterday actually, and he's been doing immensely better!! Its been amazing to see that with him!! I could see though that the branch had kind of shoved him off, and actually in this area before the missionaries weren't the best, and a lot of problems came up, and I think they kind of shunned him as well.. So when we have showed up, not mentioning a thing about what happened before, and just being good to him and serving him, its been huge for him, and has completely turned that around. So that's been really cool to see! 

But yeah a big thing I have learned as being obedient and such, not only do you receive many more blessings and tender mercies, but also you are more receptive to the spirit, so you see those a lot more actually, they really are around each day, we just don't always notice them, unless we really open our eyes. I love my companion though,  He's awesome, he's definitely incredibly humble, and a very Christlike person.It's been such a blast being with him! 

     I've gained an incredibly greater appreciation for the Book of Mormon as well so that's been awesome, its incredible how much there is in that one book!! Ive been having to dig deep into doctrine with having to be the one to respond to everything, and people always think you have to look into deep doctrine, and the words of modern day prophets to find the answers, which sometimes is the case, but truly, every single answer, you can find in the Book of Mormon, that book is the best!! We have an Ami named Daniel, who we found just two weeks ago, he is one of the smarter Ami's that we have, and we actually taught the word of wisdom the first lesson, afterwards explaining the Book of Mormon, since then he has read half of the book!!! And has filled a notebook with notes he has taken! He has an incredible testimony already, and will be getting baptized on the 7th!! I'm really excited for him, and I see him being an awesome member in the church! When Ami's are struggling, if you can just get them into the Book of Mormon, they will be so much more fortified... its insane! 

     We were able to get institute back started up, and actually 3 of our Ami's showed up! So that's been really cool as well.. We've been having around 15 of our Ami's at church each Sunday which has been unreal, and I keep forgetting that before that was around 3 maybe, so we've been blessed a ton! I'm still really frustrated with the marriage here though, as we have multiple people that have hit that roadblock.. But yeah the work is going great! The branch is doing well, and it has helped a ton having that third companionship come in! I've loved living with those two, even though they'll be leaving soon! Elder Owusu (old AP) is the best! He's Ghanaian so he speaks English, but honestly its easier to understand his French, but he's the best!! Ha ha, he sings Taylor Swift all day long, and is insanely Christlike. He also might be coming to BYU one day so that would be the best to have him over there! The work is great though! With the French finally there, I've been able to see my ability to teach well also grow so that's been a big help.. It is insanely hard to help people understand, with so little, but you have to make it work, so it takes a lot of work figuring that out! Its tough, with voodoo being ingrained in everyone, and the Catholic and Muslim churches being enormous here, to  get their old ways changed, but it is definitely coming along! Elder Owusu was giving us some comfort as well ha ha, he was saying when the missionaries first got in Ghana, they walked in the church, and they were playing drums, and the two leaders were women... Since then though they have a temple and the church is beautiful over there! Benin and Togo are really the last of the West Africa to get the church, and I guess the reason of that, is because of the problems in voodoo, and it is really the least educated of all the West Africa.. its coming along awesome here though!!  I love it here now though! Africa is the best!! Thanks for all of the love and support! I love and miss you all so much! Thanks for all you are doing back home!
Elder Oliverson

My Companion :)

Day of Service

Me with my machete

Ouidah

Bonjour!

I’m really sorry but my time is short today because today we went to Ouidah (place where they sent off the slaves, and the voodoo capital) with the Zone, and the APs, and didn’t get back till not too long ago so I’m short on time today! But yeah we were involved with a day of service that was really cool! The best part was I got the machete for a solid hour! It was the best! But yeah, so it was the day of service for our district, so we went and cleaned those grounds of one of the government buildings, it was national televised too so that was really cool and helpful! I got on Benin national television sharpening my machete!! I think because they thought it was crazy that a white guy had a machete, but yeah it was really cool! I was in heaven with that machete. It was the best! It was really fun too; it was tough no doubt though. In the U.S we would’ve finished that job with a tractor in 30 minutes or so, but we had to clear the field with machetes... its crazy how well the Africans work with those, we didn’t know what we were doing! It was really cool though, and we had a really good turnout I thought! Presidents son was in visiting as well, so he was there with his two sons as well, it was crazy seeing white kids! I got a haircut that is not good, for sure didn’t want them to do that to my hair, but they messed it up, so there is nothing more that I could do, it’s happened to everyone here at least once! Its finally coming back though, everyone here made fun of me for it forever.

     But yeah the French is coming along really well, and finally isn’t really a worry at all, so it lets me focus much more on the work for sure! I finally see my ability as an instrument for the Lord growing that way so it’s really nice!  I’m worried I will be leaving this sector soon, and like I said before we have about 12 baptisms who are waiting for marriage, which I know are all coming soon, so it will be tough for sure to leave before we get those done because those were some awesome people for sure!

    Another new thing this past week was another companionship moved in temporarily. Because Elder Owusu, the old AP, is leaving in three weeks, and Elder Koadio who had to go home to fix a hernia, came back as well, so they put Elder Owusu and him together for the next couple weeks, until Owusu leaves, and they find a place for Koadio, and Gbegamey was the only apartment big enough for 6 so they brought them in. It’s been really fun for sure, and they’re both awesome missionaries! But yeah things are going pretty well! Elder Desvergez is definitely very zealous, allowing us to get a ton of work done so that is really nice! Honestly some of the happiest parts so far have been what we have been able to do with the branch, for example activating the old branch president. It’s going great though! I am very worried though that I'll be going soon! It’s going great though! Ambroise was at the service activity with his family and that was the best to see as well! That’s a beautiful family for sure! I have three new Ghanaians Amis as well! So it’s pretty weird teaching them! Teaching in English is honestly probably harder than teaching in French! Its crazy teaching them though but I love it! We have them now, and also an Ivorian Ami.  Something I found out, that actually makes a big difference, Benin is the least educated and least civilized of all of the West African countries, and even the others are in poverty. It was crazy talking to Elder Koadio, who is from Cote Divoire, and hearing him talk about how much tougher it is here to teach, because they have such a hard time understanding. It’s going really well though! That’s definitely a big challenge though for sure, and especially in that a big part hardly even speak French, but the gospel surely has to go to all the world; and all these people have the same potential as we do, so that definitely helps get things in perspective! But yeah I'm really excited with the Ghanaians’, its a father and his two sons, and they came here to Benin because they are carpenters, and the ebony here is much cheaper, so they make the stuff here and send it back to Ghana! We haven’t taught them too much though. It’s great as well having Owusu and Koadio come into the apartment though for sure! They are two Africans that are amazing missionaries, like future general authorities, they’re awesome! It’s been really cool, as it’s the coolest time of the year, so I think 80 ish or so? So that’s been nice! Avocados are in season here, same with pineapples, so that’s all I've been living off of but it’s been nice! I miss the mango's though for sure! The work is going really well though, and I remember Elder Ritchie saying how much more fun it is when you can finally speak well, and I’ve definitely found that to be true! It’s going awesome though! I love and miss you all a ton! I hope all is well! Sorry again I’m short on time! I’m trying to send a lot of pictures, but that’s impossible with the computers here, but yeah! Till next week!

Elder Oliverson

This is from over in Ouidah! Where they sent the slaves and such 

                                              The gospel is going to the whole world!:)

Bonjour!

Things have gone pretty well this past week! Nothing too crazy has happened though! We have been working incredibly hard, and its a bit frustrating as right now we have about 12 Amis or so, that are completely ready for baptism, but because they can’t get married, for some reason or another (their spouse, money.) They haven’t been able to take that next step so we just have to keep fortifying them, but finding new Amis that will be able to progress. So this past week has been a lot of finding mostly!! Elder Desvergez has loved it as he loves talking with everyone ha-ha, we’ve found a handful of some bizarre people, but at the same time we have found some really good Amis! We have a new Amis who is a Rasta, and he’s actually very intelligent as well, he’s very interested in our message, but we’ll have to see how that goes! We have another ami I’m very excited about named Moise, he works in the government here, so he’s pretty well to do, and he has a few children as well, one actually is studying to be a doctor, and they have already been doing really well and were at church this past Sunday! He calls me Elder Clinton; because I think the only American he knows is Bill Clinton, so finding that I’m American, that’s the connection he makes. But it’s all good! We’ve been doing a lot of work in the branch this past week as well; we set up a fireside on Tuesday, and actually had a really good turn out! We had a meeting with the branch on Saturday as well, to try to get things more organized, and working, so I’m hoping that will help out! I GOT to give a talk on Sunday as well, on missionary work, and every member being a missionary, because the Branch President wanted me to chastise the branch, because they have struggled a little that way. I have no clue how to do that, so I just gave a talk! Ha-ha, it went really well though! But yeah the work is going great! It’s been a little tough this past week but it’s going well! Ambroise and Gilbert are doing amazing. Its the best to see them, and to see how far they are continuing to progress, its insane! Then I think back to the day when we found them back at the bar, and to see how happy they are now, and especially their families all together is the best! Because we’ve been doing a lot of finding lately as well its funny to see the people that don’t really want to talk to us. At first I though everyone did, but after this past week I realized there are even people here that don’t. For example when we knock a door, and we start talking, and the person is clearly not wanting us there, so they say I’m Ghanaian, (so they speak English) and then I start to speak English with them, then they say they don’t speak much English so they start speaking some random tribal language, only to find out Desvergez has started to learn those as well, and you can see the frustration in their face.... Man. Haha, we’ve definitley found some good new Amis though!! We for some reason have an unusually very tight relationship with the police and military here as well, Ha-ha, with the commissioner and many of the leaders being Mormon, or just liking us in general, that’s been really nice, For example this past week, we were walking through some crowd and there were military people ordering us around, and for some reason they started getting really mad, because they had to get some UN trucks through, they started pushing people and getting aggressive and such, and with me and Desvergez sticking out of the crowd like a sore thumb, it wasn’t a good situation.. Then out of nowhere, we heard someone yell Mes Amis!! (My friends!) And the head guy over the military group ran up to us and was happier than ever to see us, at first we didn’t recognize him because he was decked out in his officer gear, then we realized who it was, the second he came all of the soldiers that were pushing the crowd around scattered as they knew they were in trouble ha-ha, but yeah, its definitely nice having that hookup there! Things are going great here for sure! We have a mission wide services project this next Saturday, which will be pretty fun, so that’s exciting! I had to get blood drawn this past week for my Carte de Sejour, because apparently they are better than visas? So I headed over to the mission office, expecting that they had brought in some French doctors or something. The doctors weren’t there yet, but out of no where two random Africans in Bumbas (tribal outfits) showed up, and said they were the doctors.... never have I been so scared of a shot in my life, Ha-ha, it went well though as far as I know! I’m still not sick so I think were good... But yeah things are great here! It’s been pretty cool, which has been nice because we haven’t had power! And mentioning no power. We were at the coiffure today when the power cut, sooo. They ended up shaving mine and Desvergez heads... not the best look, I’m hoping well get that back real soon! Ha-ha I hope all is great back in America!

I love and miss you all! 

Elder Oliverson

 I’m super short on time!! Things are going great! Once again we’ve been working incredibly hard and have had a good time seeing it pay off! Our ami's are continuing to progress well, in exception of a few, due to marriages, which is no doubt the biggest problem here! It’s coming along though! We have baptisms this Saturday, with Gladise and here two kids! So I’m really looking forward to that! They’ve been really hard to teach because they hardly speak French, but they’ve all progressed really well! Another one of our cool experiences that actually happened a while ago has been with our ami Maximellean. Our first lesson with her, we were talking, and she was expressing some family problems she was having, my companion decided to read a story in Alma from the Book of Mormon, thinking the missionaries before had already explained it to her, which they hadn’t. She’s a strong catholic so we were a little worried, but we went along with the story and how she could apply that in her life. We finished the little lesson, and she went crazy asking what this amazing book was and how she could get one. We explained she could get one if she came to church with us that Sunday. Sure enough she was there, and since then hasn’t missed a single week! She’s been an amazing ami, and is now getting baptized on the 17th! So I’m super excited for that! My comp has taught me so much on using the Book of Mormon, and how important that really is, which I’ve seen clearly!! When you know how to use that your success goes up drastically in all areas its crazy!! But yeah the ami's are coming along very well! Sorry I am short on time, I will try to keep you all updated the next week! But yeah! We also, today, found out that this whole time we have had a zoo, just behind our apartment. So we decided to go check that out today! Man. it was a little shady kind of thing, it was back in this little parcel area, which I can see why no one knows about it. But coolest zoo I’ve ever been too!! They had monkeys everywhere, and a couple huge baboons, caged up though... But I got to feed one, no doubt one of the scariest things ever! Ha-ha, after that we found all of their crocodiles and alligators, which were all just behind a couple of bars... it was crazy. In the corner there was a full-grown adult lion... I legitimately could have pet it through the bars, but I chose not too... the lion wasn’t doing much in its little cage, and the guy who owns the place got a stick and started slapping the lion with it... That is something I’ll never forget is how mad that lion got... I was only feet away as it went absolutely crazy, and I legitimately thought that we were going to die... Seriously never have I been to a zoo like that. Ha-ha, but definitely the coolest one I’ve ever been too! But yeah the work is great, and the branch is coming along really well!! But yeah things are going great and the work is really fun!! Its much more fun now to with how far along the French is!! But yeah I love my comp. Its awesome how much I’ve learned from him. We had zone conference on Friday, and that was really good! The last big one was my first week here, so it’s good to see how far I’ve progressed. It’s crazy though too! But yeah the branch is doing great, its incredibly tough with that though at the same time! It’s going well though! For example, we had a lady bear her testimony about her husband who is a priesthood holder giving her a blessing. Which is great, till she mentioned that he’d put the oil in her mouth. Just things like that are some of the tough stuff to deal with! Ha-ha sorry again though I’m incredibly short on time today! I will for sure get caught up next week! Same with pictures! I love and miss you all!

Thanks again for everything! Elder Oliverson

                                                          I found a Snake

Bonjour!!                                                                                    

Another good past week and a tiring one for sure!! Things

have been going really well the past week work wise. Elder Barton just

got in, so the last American to come from the Provo MTC, because the

rest will be going to the Ghana now! But yeah the past week has been

really great!! Things are finally coming together now in the branch

really well, and we actually got two of the young men called as branch

missionaries so that’ll be way fun to work with them and help them get

ready for their own missions as well! This past week we made a lot of

progress with one of our ami's named Hughe. He is a student here from

Cote D'ivoire.. and we’ve had trouble getting to talk to him because of

his uncle, who is strongly against the church and such, and thinks we,

are racist and that whole thing. Finally though we have been able to

get working with him and its been awesome for sure! He loves our

message and has been soaking it all up, especially with the Joseph

Smith story and such, he’s been reading the Book of Mormon as well, and

we can already see a lot of progress with him that way. He is getting

baptized the 17 of the next month as well so that will be great! We

have had a great time with the new Font families that we’ve found, and

they as well are actually getting baptized the 17th as well so that

should be really fun as well! It was the best seeing them come in

church this past Sunday. All 7 of the kids took up about half of our

chapel, but hey its a good thing! As of right now we have 14

baptismal dates set for August with many more that should be coming!

So it’s really fun to see the work start picking up! The members have

been a huge help though, and were seeing a lot of improvement that

way, for example we had a rendezvouz with an ami after church, who

wasn’t able to go to church because she got some malaria, while we were

in the lesson she got a call from the relief society president in our

branch asking what was up and if she needed anything. So the branch

is doing awesome here! English class has been a pretty good time as

well, and that is for sure starting to help the missionary efforts a

lot because everyone here wants to learn English. Everyone. We’ve had

some problems with church cleaning so my comp and me have started

going each week to get that going, which also has helped a ton because

the members love it when we come! While cleaning the church we went

into the garage, only to find one of the missions extra trucks... this

whole time the brand new truck has been there, but apparently is only

for emergencies and such! I was kind of bummed Ill be honest! But hey

maybe one day! We’ve been able to start teaching more Muslims again,

even though their month isn’t over yet, which is interesting, but some

of them are actually progressing really well! Its interesting teaching

the word of wisdom and chastity with them because a lot of teachings

in the Koran are similar to an extent, so they don’t have too much of a

problem with those areas. But yeah the work is going awesome! One of

my favorite lessons this last week was our first lesson with the wife

of Ambroise, the one business man who hasn’t been able to be baptized

yet because they’re still waiting on the papers for their marriage. She

has been coming to church with him and the family each week, yet we

just finally had our first lesson with her because she lives way far

away. But yeah we had our first lesson, it went awesome, she

understood really well, and then she started talking about Ambroise..

She was talking about how before he wasn’t the best guy, he would be at

the bar each week with the guys, or was traveling for work. He never

saw the family, and she said that she hasn’t seen him, or her, happy in

years.. She said though she started to notice an enormous change in

him, and he started talking about how he was meeting with the

missionaries and how happy he was.. She said he left part of his job,

and has been home every night since then.. The part that about made me

die was when she said that now, every morning, and night he insists on

family study of the Book of Mormon, and prayer, and they’ve even

started up Family home evening.. She said no doubt they are the

happiest they have ever been, and they finally have their family

together again, and every day its the best when he gets back from

work. She explained that she though absolutely nothing could change

her husband, but if there was something that could, it would have to

be an absolute miracle. Man how great that was to see how much the

gospel really does bless individuals, but especially families!! That

was probably the happiest part of the week hearing that! Since then we

have been able to start teaching their five daughters as well, and

were hoping to be able to see them all be baptized together in the

next couple weeks! No doubt that will be a beautiful family in the

church!! The gospel no doubt is the only thing that could possibly

change someone’s life, and family like that. It surely strengthened my

testimony as well on how important the gospel is in the family, and

those things like prayer and scripture study! Another great part of

the week was at church.. Were so used to having about 3 or 4 amis at

church each Sunday, and that is the usual, maybe a couple more but not

often..  That’s one of the biggest problems we have is with getting

people to church.. We’ve found some awesome ami's lately, but still I

was blown away when we had 17 amis at church this past week!! It was

awesome to see the church filled completely, no doubt it could be a

huge blessing for the branch as well, and I wouldn’t be surprised to

see not far off the branch getting split into two really. But yeah the

ami's are all doing great and the work is awesome right now!! Its the

best still hearing people that sometimes have a hard time

understanding explaining how they just know things are true, and how

the spirit feels, and explain how things just feel right.. it no doubt

shows the power of the spirit in conversion and has been amazing to

watch! Also how the Lord helps us find those honest in heart and ready

to hear the gospel.. so often we find people, begin teaching and they

don’t progress, but we find they have friends or family who have just

soaked in our message. But yeah Africa is still great! Not a ton new!

It rained this week, like usual.. so we’ve been finding a lot more

lizards in our place, I hope they’re doing good work with the bugs, so

that’s nice! Desvergez is still the best ever!! He loves missionary

work and is no doubt the most zealous, fun loving missionary I’ve known

yet, so its been the absolute best! You definitely have to be fun

loving with these people, and they love you! We have a new p-day

activity, and that is finding different random basketball courts

around Gbegamey and asking people to play us in pick up games.. they

love it, (because its two yovo's).. till we start to play.. I will be

honest right now when I say that we one 32 straight games this

morning, 2 on 5.. On top of that though we got 5 new contacts from it,

so its definitely a good activity for the work as well! ha-ha but no

doubt its been 8 months since Desvergez has played but hes still got

it in him! Ha-ha, so things are going great here in Gbegamey! I hope

all is great back in the U.S.A! I love and miss you all!

Elder Oliverson

Kids here are the best!!

Bonjour! 

Another great and crazy week! Me and Elder Desvergez have been working insanely hard, but its been the best at the same time!! This past week has consisted of a lot of finding mostly, we've been working to get a lot more stuff set up in the branch, like the English class, a young single adults group, more branch organisation, and helping get mission prep going. Its been great though!! All our amis are doing great as well! One of those two business men, Ambroise is waiting on his baptism, because of a problem getting their marriage worked out.. They're pretty complicated to get done here, and along with everything you have to do, you have to get permission from both parents. Here parents are living in France, and so because of that for some reason they are having a lot of problems getting things done there, hes been awesome though, in still doing all he can to get ready for his baptism!! Overall this past week we fixed 8 new baptismal dates as well so its been the best for sure! We've also finally been able to get the parental permission for Merveille a young man in the branch, who hasn't missed a week of church in a year and a half, is already trying to get ready to serve a mission, but still hasn't been able to get baptized, because of the parental permission required.. So it was awesome to finally get that!! Still we've been doing a lot more in the branch and that so its been really fun, and having more members help in the work so its been great!! We actually have been able to start meeting with the former president of the branch in gbegamey, and who is actually the one who started up the branch, he has since, for about the past 9 months or so been completely inactive, and has gone off the path a little bit.. I had heard different things that he had gotten into some pretty rough stuff, but not much more.. But one day this past week we had a missed rendez-vous, in a parcel that was just next to his. I have never seen or met hi

m in my life, and really wasn't sure why we hadn't visited him before or why I haven't heard much about him.. But Elder Desvergez, decided to just stop by and say hey and introduce ourselves.. We did so and he ended up having us come in. In that hour or so he explained to us a little of what had happened and how things were going and why he isn't in the church anymore. We also found out that his brother who lived in the building next door had passed away a while ago, and he was trying to sell the place, he showed us though and showed what the problem was, and when we walked in, it was crazy!! Ive never in my life seen a place more dirty in every way possible.. There were dead mice everywhere and such, and it was pretty insane for sure! We asked if we could help by chance, and he refused, we took that and gave a little spiritual thought, and went on our way.. In our planning though we were trying to figure out what we could do to help him. We ended up deciding to get all our young men, and youth in general to come over with us one day to go clean up that house for him, do a little service and see if that could help this guy. So we ended up organizing it, the only part I wasn't too fond of was that we had to do it at 5 in the morning.. because its Muslim month long holiday and that, they do more praying and such, so they do all of the washing their hands and feet and such, and so we had to do this service at a time before they used all of the water for the day. Soon we got to go over there, and man it definitely wasn't easy at all!! Ill never complain about hard work again that's for sure, but seeing this guy and how stunned and happy he was made it completely worth it!! Since then we have been able to have a couple lessons and meetings with him and such, and no doubt you can already see him getting his life back together, and actually this past Sunday he came back to church for the first time in months!! No doubt making that all worth it! It definitely strengthened my testimony on service, and how we can do missionary work, and be representatives of Christ in many different ways! So that was definitely one of the happiest parts of this past week! But yeah the work is great!! Insanely tough for sure but its been great! Its been especially tough with the Muslim holiday and such, but were definitely seeing the blessings for the hard work for sure!! The branch is doing great though, and its been the best getting more involved with them and helping out there.. I got to kick it in the primary this Sunday again because President Weed and his wife were visiting and he needed me to translate for her in the primary..(which I have to give it to her, it would be insanely hard to be here that long and not know French!) So that was fun to be there with them again! Ive got to refresh on my primary songs for sure though, its been a while! It was cool to because the presidents son and his wife were visiting here as well, so they got to come to the branch and visit. Talking to them after it reminded me how awesome these people really are! I felt bad because I'm getting so used to being here and the people that I forget how blessed and happy they really are and what a blessing it is to be with them!! The presidents daughter said something to that really hit me, and that was that she saw that the gospel is the same, and is still true in every different language and culture.. and how true that is! Yes you walk into the branch, and its so different than anything you'd ever find anywhere else, but the Gospel is still the same, as is the spirit! So that was another great reminder for me as well! But yeah things are all great here! The work is definitely picking up for sure as well so its been great! Things are a lot different for sure as well being with another Yovo, and a lot more crazy.. Haha we have a lot more run-ins with "prophets" and some of the stranger people as well.. but its been fine! And along with that as well, there is a man claiming to be Jesus in Nigeria, and has already gotten up to about 50 million followers.. so that's been a big one here as well.. but just goes to prove the prophecies of in the last days there will be plenty of false prophets and such! But hey the work is still progressing here amazingly with all of that! I hope all is great back in America! I love and miss you all!

Elder Oliverson

Larry's family that I had FHE with last week! 

The Gata

Bonjour!! A pretty great past week here in Benin!! Big news is the new companion Elder Desvergez!! First off just because of the shock in that he's a French (so hes a yovo as well) and it would be the first time that's happened and the only companionship like this here, so we were both surprised, its been the best though! One of the most french people you ll ever meet but hes the best no doubt! Hes our only french missionary from Paris, because he was a big basketball player over in France! He has been on the mission for 7 months now, and was in Togo for those past months and is now here.. But things have been the best for sure!! No doubt Ive never worked harder in my life but we have a party for sure.. But hes no doubt one of the most zealous missionaries ever so its the best to work together! Hes a stellar missionary though for sure and works really smart as well! The office elders warned me to get ready to pack my bags with Book of Mormons because hes been known for going through our boxes of Book of Mormon's like crazy.. on top of that he eats like crazy, which is a big positive when ami's put food in front of us..(not that I don't love it or anything) which is also probably the reason hes 110 kilos as well.. not sure in pounds? I went from being the big guy to meeting my match though with a French who is much bigger, so walking down the roads in Gbegamey its hard to hide Haha but its the best and we work insanely hard and things have really been picking up and doing insanely well here in Gbegamey! Two downsides though are the fact that all prices are about 4 times the original now because apparently two white people are insanely rich?.. and also that for some reason two big white missionaries attract more of the stranger people..(voodoo and such) not sure why but that's for sure kept things interesting.. haha Not a ton new ami wise, we've been spending most of our time finding lately and building up there, but still have been able to be teaching 7 lessons a day, so we have a lot of ami's progressing well, and should be having a lot more soon! All of our new members like Gilbert and Ambroise, the business men.. are incredibly strong members, and its the best to see how fast they're growing in the church no doubt! Desvergez is a smart missionary for sure, and has taught me a lot though already, and work is going to start picking up no doubt!! We had an awesome experience yesterday in a quick visit with a family in the branch.. This family is one of the strongest families in the church Ive ever seen, and have only been in the church for 6 months, but working to prepare financially and spiritually to get ready for a trip to Ghana to go through the temple.. so its been awesome.. but we were planning on visiting them after church, we went over and were having a great little visit, and answered a few questions, and it was about time to leave because of another rendez-vous, so we just planned on wrapping up, but a feeling came that I should just share one more quick scripture, and I opened up and went to Nephi chapter 18 and just the verses 1-4, at the time I wasn't sure why but I just had a strong feeling I should, so I was just planning on reading together and talking about how its always best to do things in the manner that the Lord has shown rather than the manner of man and the world.. and after reading without explaining Larry broke down in tears.. first time I had ever seen an African cry, so that was pretty strange, and he went on to explain that this scripture was exactly an answer that he was searching for in his life with work and family and such.. as they have had serious struggles and things were tight and had no clue what to do.. the spirit was incredibly strong being with that family for this awesome spiritual experience and showing how real the spirit really is and such.. He went and marked on the wall the day and the time of this experience and it wasn't hard at all to see how incredibly grateful he and his whole family was.. no doubt one I wont forget and am so thankful for the spirit that was there!! Its incredibly how much the spirit is always involved, and the goal is really just to act on it.. I remember Elder Bednar saying in the MTC not to be a missionary who for ever thought questions if its the spirit or not, but that when you're worthy and doing whats right, 9 times out of ten those promptings are the spirit. Desvergez has taught me a ton there too, and choosing what to do and where to go, all of even the smallest thoughts, he goes for it, and it often ends up being incredible! We've also had some cool experiences in teaching the people more out in the boonie's type areas, where there is no education and most speak only Font and seeing how the message really is for everyone, and everyone can understand the gospel if the spirit is there.. its awesome being with the humble people hearing them try to explain how the spirit feels, or why they stopped us and the impression they had.. the spirit definitely works both ways! But yeah the work is going great!! It is going to start to go crazy as well, so its really exciting!! But yeah the week has been good, and things are starting to pick up for sure.. no Revanons this week, and I doubt we'll have to worry about them trying to hit us with sticks anymore Haha, and on a side note I got a alligator back pack... yes, an alligator.. so for everyone that thinks a kangaroo scripture case is cool.. try an alligator one.. Haha only in Africa!! the problem is how bad it smells.. considering its an alligator, so I'm really hoping that goes away soon! But yeah things are great here in Africa, its getting hotter again and hasn't rained in a few weeks, and people are getting really worried because this is the least rain they've had in decades, and apparently there is a drastic drought here as well, so they said we should be seeing big effects from that as well in a couple months with the harvest and such! But its all good! I hope all is great back in the U.S! Love and miss you all!

Elder Oliverson

Some of my boys in the Branch in Gbegamey!

Elder Kabedeh, Elder Soanantenaina & Me.

This is Etoile rouge behind me.. a big monument here in Gbegamey.

This was our wonderful 4th of July celebration.. roasting hot dogs over our burner!!