Le Blanc-Week 1 in Africa

Hello hello hello everyone!

Wow has this week been a doosy! Let me tell you guys that Africa is wack.

 First off though I want to talk about my flights to get here! It was crazy long and exhausting but it was super fun. Good thing I was with my MTC comp and some others or else I would have been missed every single flight. So the flight to Seattle was not bad but when we got to the Tacoma airport the jetway wasn't working and we waited forever to the point where we could've missed our flight but luckily we were changed to the gate right next to the gate for our flight to Paris so that was a miracle. Right before boarding, a woman stopped us and asked for a blessing. It totally threw me off guard but we went to a kind of isolated corner and somehow I ended up giving the blessing. It was the first blessing I have given so I was stressed but it was a super spiritual and an amazing opportunity! She was headed to Nigeria for a humanitarian trip and was really scared about it so she was really grateful.

Our flight to Paris was LONG and long flights suck for missionaries because no movies or anything: However, did I peek a couple of times at someone watching Avengers: Endgame?...maybe...Then our flight from Paris to Cote d'Ivoire wasn't too bad! We were on an AirFrance plane so it was really nice.

Okay here is what it is like in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire: There is no streetlights, no street lanes, no waste management, no air conditioning, no carpet(I already miss carpet), and no white people. Walking down the street consists of basically every single person looking at you and the kids yelling "le blanc!" meaning "the white". At least there is no confusion for when people want your attention. 

I got assigned to my formateur(trainer) Elder Agbahounzo! He is from Togo and has been out for nine months! I'm so grateful that he is my formateur: He is super patient with my french and gives me plenty of chances to teach these marvelous people! They all like to make fun of my french and how I am american: I just laugh it all off. If I got mad everytime soneone nade fun of me here I would've been home after day one haha.

I'm in the sector of Beago which is nore of the village part of Cote d'Ivoire. Meaning that all of the roads are dirt, there is trash everywhere, and there are A LOT of animals walking around including goats, dogs, cats, and cows. What a party. 

This week has been very rough don't get me wrong, especially with the language, but I know that this is where I am meant to be and what I'm supposed to be doing. Only Heavenly Father is crazy enough to send a kid like me to Africa. 

WEEKLY WISDOM: End your day by identifying how Heavenly Father has influenced your day: It could be something very small, or something plain and obvious. Find those tender mercies in your life.

P.S. Sorry about any weird typos, the keyboards here are different haha

Kartchner didn't think he'd have time to email, sho Mike took very detailed notes of our phone conversation...

Elder P was not able to email this week, he decided to spend most of his time today on a "video" "call" with me and his mom. The "video call" from an internet cafe was mostly intermittent screenshots and jumbled audio, but hey better than nothing. We hadn't heard from him in 8 days, since he left the Provo MTC. His mission president did send us the attached photos from the mission home last Friday. We weren't worried, but it was very nice to speak with him today!

Basic rundown of my notes from the call:

On the way to Africa, he gave first blessing in the Tacoma, Washington airport to a woman who was on her way to Nigeria on a humanitarian effort. He had anointed before, but this was his first blessing as voice.

He said there were many small miracles on the way to Africa via Tacoma->Paris->Bamako, Mali->Abidjan, but didn't have time to go into all the details.

Arriving in Abidjan:

Driving is crazy, no traffic signs or signals. People sell stuff in the middle of the street. There are goats, dogs, cats and other animals everywhere, including in the streets. There is trash in street everywhere, really stinks in some places. They take taxis a lot, they cost about $1 American.

Dirt streets, very little pavement, rains in mornings but not too muddy

Had to sleep one night in a crowded apartment so he couldn't use his mosquito net, and got a few mosquito bites, but he is taking his malaria pills!! (Mosquito-borne illnesses will always be a concern)

Mosquitoes are nocturnal, not a problem during the day. They usually return to their apartment at 7pm every night to avoid the mosquitos as much as possible.

He said it's hot, but not too bad. No air conditioning in his apartment, but the fans make it comfortable enough. But he's not sleeping well, very tired.

All the kids call him "Le Blanc"= "White Guy", make fun of him for not knowing the language... The language is hard, people speaking fast with dialect. He is teaching a lot. First couple of days, he doesn't think people could understand him, but his companion is helpful and he thinks people are understanding him better now

His first shower in his apartment was from a bucket because shower wasn't working. Showers are cold, no not water in his apartment. He is washing clothes by hand.

He misses carpet - there is no carpet - all tile or bare concrete floors. Computer keyboards are weird - keys are in different places. He will be using his portable keyboard gift from the Curtis'!

Electricity has gone out twice but at least they have running water all the time

He is exercising, went running one morning with his companion and sweat a lot, even though it is cooer in the mornings.

His companion is Elder Agbahounzo from Togo, Africa, which is immediately east of Ghana. His companion has been out 9 months, is a native French speaker, and is trying to learn English. Their proselyting area is Beago, which is about as far Southwest in Abidjan as you can get, very near the gulf waters. 

They are getting along well. He is a very good companion, Kartch drew "the long straw" to get him. His companion is a good cook, teaching him how to cook. Lots of chicken and rice.

When they don't have appointments, they just contact people on streets, proselyte from 10am-7pm daily.

His mission is geographically very small, nearly all missionaries are in the West side of the large city of Abidjan (4.5 million people), so on P-day's from 9am-12pm most of the mission meets at a stake center for sports - soccer frisbee etc. They had a lot of fun today, got to spend a lot of time speaking with the other greenie American missionaries.

He says having clean drinking water has not been a problem. They have a filter in their apartment faucet, and members/locals are good about providing him with bottled water. (Water was one of our big concerns, but so far so good)

He has not been sick at all, he said the food is fine, he is getting protein, chicken. He has also eaten an "entire" fish and sticky rice with his hands (but he let someone else eat the fish head). (Food/protein was another of our big concerns, but so far so good)

Overall he said it was just a fairly rough week, culture shock, just a whirlwind. The language is the hardest thing he has had to adjust to.

But he seemed to be doing okay and had a good attitude about the challenge that faces him!

Africa was referred to A LOT at conference this weekend - 2 of the first 4 speakers referenced Cote d'Ivoire specifically, and even spoke of a sister missionary in Kartch's Abidjan West Mission! We are very excited for Kartch to have this opportunity to serve the Lord amongst such humble people.

Thank you all for your support and prayers.

Mike