I'm Singing! I'm in Africa and I'm Singing!

Well well well...looks like we have another week here folks. That means another email from Elder Perkins. Man will this guy ever finish his mission????

Yes sadly I will but NOT YET. Don't worry you'll have to deal with my emails for just a couple more weeks then you all will be free! I had a great and busy week! It honestly flew by super fast which makes everything harder and harder as I'm really getting ready to head home! However here's how my week went!

So this week we started doing rehearsals for this special choir that's performing this weekend. This professional choir director from France who's a member came down to do it and she's pretty awesome! Hearing her speak like actual French is a huge win but the downside is that we have rehearsal every day besides Saturdays and Sundays. So that means even my precious pday time is taken away...how dare they! But its super fun. We're singing a variety of songs from primary songs to beautifully arranged choir pieces. I'm just praying all goes well because if you remember my other emails about Africans singing, it doesn't always end well. But Soeur Defranchi is really putting us to work so that we actually sound good! So we had rehearsals all last week every morning and we are doing the same thing this week every morning. It's made days go by super fast since now we only have the afternoon and evening to proselytize. 

However, with all of the choir craziness, we have had some good times out at sector! Went on exchanges with Elder Kaba from the Congo and it was super fun! We also were able to find a bunch of new people this week. One lady named Anna is probably the epitome of Ivorian etiquette as she either buys us soda or makes us food every time we go over there because we are part of her family even though we are basically strangers. I love Ivorians. There's another family that we found and they are also super sweet and polite and pretty cool! They said they spent a couple years in Algeria and then next year they are planning on moving to either Canada or the U.S.! 

Of course I've been thinking a lot about home(shocker) but it seems like it all just melts away as I lose myself in these lessons and with these people still. Especially as I've looked back throughout my mission to see how far I've come and changed. I'm still me but I'm also a lot more now. And I will continue to do that even at home!

Also super fun because this one church was in our sector for a day and they literally gave out a brochure to everyone, including us. Why not? Is it bad to research other religions? Besides once we got home and took a look at it, we couldn't help but laugh and completely destroy all of its teachings because some were pretty out there doctrinally speaking so that was a laugh.

Well probably next week you'll see a basic long email talking about how much I loved the mission and all but this week y'all can chill with this normal email. Always know that GOD LOVES US. That is the first great truth of the gospel. Never forget it.

Till the next time,

Elder Perkins

Photos:

1. The baguette bisap boys. Bisap is a super sweet juice that comes from a hibiscus leaf and then a baguette is bread duh.

2. Pic of choir practice!

3. Somebody wuz a wittle tiward

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4-6. Trainer-Trainee meeting with Elder Okojie

Should I Write That Down?...Also 'MURICA

I was so busy with Youth Conference, that I forgot to post Elder Perkins 4th of July email! So these are out of order, sorry!

Yo yo yo how's everyone doing this morning? Time flies when you're having fun so it's crazy to see how much fun we're having but sad to see how fast it's going by as we're going hard in our sector and training! Lot's of stuff is happening as I'm prepping to go home, but at the same time there's a lot of work to do in this area so it's been fun to be busy with that!

What a week! Many many ups and downs this week with working in an area that hasn't been worked in a while. So that means finding all amis ourselves and getting members remotivated a little bit! The neighborhood also isn't used to seeing a white guy every day so that's led to some fun interactions. One lady walked up to us unprovoked, handed me her child saying "take him" and started walking away. I would've really freaked out if she didn't almost immediately turn back around and started laughing but thank goodness she did and we gave her a brochure so win win? Also many weird/drunk old guys stopping us in the street wanting to say how happy they are to see Christian missionaries in their neighborhood. It's actually pretty sweet, no matter how many times they repeat the same sentence.

Ok but honestly there have been moments where I forget how much I really have come in terms of French. No way perfect at all because A. I was gone for a year of the mish and B. African french isn't near perfect either so it's good for me but idk if my proper French speakers out there will enjoy hearing me at home. Nevertheless, as I'm training Elder Okojie and he's learning the language,(yes lots of "what language was she speaking?" but mostly it really is another tribal language🤣) I have memories rush back of when I was the exact same and couldn't spit out one sentence without stumbling. I'm grateful for my Heavenly Father who really did strengthen me through those rough language times and how I have this opportunity to help someone overcome the same trial!

So yes in case you were wondering, we did celebrate the 4th of July as best as we could. Sadly, we aren't allowed to handle fireworks BUT my roommate is a pretty dang good cook so we all helped in making fried chicken that's de-boned(a VERY rare delicacy here), also corn on the cob, and potato salad! It honestly was pretty delicious! Even the Africans liked it!(usually they don't like american food...) We also sported our american flag boubous that are pretty common here actually. In all it was a mighty day to remember our country and to eat a little more like home for a day. Pics of all that below

In all it's been a great week! I hope everyone's 4th was great and we can still have an eye fixed on the Glory of God and of hope for the future! Keep going, keep trying, keep falling, keep picking yourself back up, and most importantly keep becoming!

Elder Perkins 

PHOTOS

1-2. Our sector covers a lot of the lagoon so some cool pics of that. The second is the view from an ami's house so that's sick.

3. I always seem to find another african child who is more sassy than the last! Her names Abo and the first thing she said to me was "I'm not scared of you"

4. Scrumptious 4th of July meal. We also made scones which didn't make the pic. Corn was a little rough though but still decent.

5. Someone didn't get the memo. Elder Gifford(no american pride at all) is going home with me in a couple weeks so we're getting ready.

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Dream Dream Dream Dream Dream Dream

Hey everybody! Here's another email for y'all from Elder Perkins! I'm doing great and I'm having lots of fun! Let's dive into the week.

So if you didn't know, Africans are all about dreams. We know the stories from the bible and from church history of dreams affected people's lives. However, we sont get too much of that anymore in the States nowadays. Africa still has that over here and it's awesome! I've heard so many dreams from very concerned people wanting to know if God was angry at them or not. Now I'm no Joseph of Egypt or anything so I'm not much of an interpreter. However some of their dreams can be pretty wild and it makes me believe that Heavenly Father really does use dreams to nudge people in the right direction sometimes. I heard two stories this week that were super interesting.

First story is from an ami. He basically was traveling the world and had a bunch of stuff because his work was scamming people on the internet. However, he fell sick one day and even fell into a coma. During the coma, he had a dream of a bright man standing in front of him. He couldn't see his face but he asked him a question. "Do you see what you life is like? Do you think I'm happy with this?" And He also asked the question "What do you think I want you to do?" And the ami answered to repent. After that he woke up from his coma and he left all of that worldly stuff and became a Christian, trying to follow biblical principles and to lead a good life. Pretty crazy right? Btw if it sounds familiar, it does. *cough* Alma the Younger *cough* Super Cool!

Second story comes from the bishop in our ward. He was super against joining the church for a while as his family was trying to convert him. He met with missionaries a lot but he just wouldn't listen. He then dreamt that one day it was raining super hard and the missionaries took shelter in his living room, while they were their he asked three questions. That was it. But when he woke up, he remembered that his dream said that would happen a year from that day. Lo and behold a year later, he found himself in his living room with the missionaries, it pouring rain outside, and he asked them his three questions. He didn't realize it until afterwards and he took it as a sign from God. Now he's a bishop. Crazy story!

Besides the dreams, we had a great week! Lots of getting to know the sector and the members! Finding lots of new people as well! There's this one little girl named Lafélicité who is probably one of the smartest and most polite girls I have met here! Another is a true African Mama who called to us on the street by "Les Elders!" So we went by and she said the missionaries taught her a while ago but they stopped coming. Probably covid caused that. Anyway her name's Mama Djoma and she's super nice and very passionate about God so that's going to be fun as well!

3 weeks to go! I'm working and training my comp as much as I can before I head back to the States. Still got the last leg of the race to go, but the end is definitely in sight! Have a great week everyone and I wish you all the best!

Elder Perkins

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