So This is Christmas?- Week 12

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL!

What a special time of the year for all of us to turn outwards to others in service and love for each other! This being my first Christmas on the mission, I've gotten pretty trunky(homesick) since I'm missing traditions, reunions, and...Star Wars...BUT I have learned that this work and my sacred calling as a missionary is the best christmas gift that I could ever ask for and gives me more joy and satisfaction than any movie or wrapped package.

I'm writing today since I didn't have a lot of time to write on Monday so I thought I'd write y'all on this wonderful day! Just so y'all know, Christmas here is still super hot, humid, and sweaty. People don't really listen to Christmas music 24/7 here so I think I've only heard "All I want For Christmas Is You" by Mariah Carrey one time which amazes me. However at a Christmas Eve Party we had last night with other churches, one performed "You Raise Me Up" in English and another did Pentatonix's version of "Hallelujah" and they did pretty well! The missionaries prepared some hymns that we practiced these past few weeks but honestly they seemed a little lame compared to the other choirs. That's okay though we have the restored gospel so who's the real winner here?

This week has just been full of activities and fun times with other missionaries! Last Thursday we had a mission activity with President and Soeur Lewis and the highlight probably was that they had everyone how to do the cups thing from the "When I'm Gone" song so that was a vivid flashback to 2012 but it was actually pretty fun and I'm basically a master at it haha. We had a zone activity on monday which consisted of musical chairs, human foosball, and some awesome food! Then last night we had the multi-religious choir activity that I mentioned earlier which was a party.

This past week has been a little hard since I am basically leading the sector right now but I have learned a lot and my french has improved a lot! It has been fun though with all of my Provo Mt's in the same zone and Elder F. Young and I are going to do an exchange together tomorrow so that will be awesome!

The work has been a little slow lately since everyone is pretty busy and we have a lot of activities but the lessons have been going awesome! My new companion, Elder Fernando, is an awesome teacher and he gives me plenty of chances to teach and lead lessons so I am feeling more and more like an instrument in God's hands! We asked our ami, Fr Durand, is he was interested in being baptised and he said he was so hopefully that works out!

That's all I really have this week! I know everybody is pretty busy during this joyous season but just know I love you all and I pray for all of you to feel the love of Heavenly Father all year round!

WEEKLY WISDOM: "Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more"- How The Grinch Stole Christmas

PHOTOS:

1. Asking Santa(aka my District Leader) what I want for Christmas

2. Selfie with some random kids haha

3. Selfie with my fellow Elders!

4. Merry Christmas You Filthy Animals

5. One of my Christmas presents from home was an 8oz. tub of Chik-fil-a sauce and it was so beautiful

6. Pagne Guys!

Treat Yoself- Week 11

BONJOUR ET JOYEUX NOËLLE

How's everybody doing this beautiful Christmas season? I hope everyone takes time to really appreciate this wonderful time of love and charity towards one another and knows the true meaning of Christmas!  As for me, I honestly forget that it's christmas sometimes due to the lack of snow and lack of radios blasting christmas music everywhere but we have a cool event on Christmas Eve with our mission, the east mission, and even other religions meeting together to

sing and rejoice in our Savior so that is something I'mvery much looking forward to! I also got roped into singing a duet of "The First Noel" for it  so that will be fun also!

This week has been a blast! The highlight was definitely that I had the opportunity to singing "La Paix Est En Christ"(Peace in Christ) for three different zone conferences comprising of 6 zones! About a month ago, Presiden Lewis asked if I would sing it and keep it a secret(especially from my mom) since it was the answer to a bunch of scripture clues that they have been giving every month. It was such a cool experience to already have opportunities to bear my testimony on my mission in French! There were also a lot of unseen perks from doing this haha. First off, since the standard of singing here is very very low, everyone was VERY impressed with my song and so everyone thinks I'm a professional singer or something haha. Also some Sister missionary is making me a cake so no complaints there. Also the pagne products dude heard me sing to and he gave me a free tie because he liked it so much!

That also lead to my Treat Yoself this week! When the Pagne guy gave me the free tie he also gave me a discount for an awesome pagne backpack so I couldn't resist and it's also Christmas so why not? Then I also decided to treat myself even more and get a whole roll of pagne and gave it to a tailor to make a complete custom outfit for me so I am really excited for that. I already know that I will be covered in pagne when I get home haha.

This Saturday was mutations(transfers)! My comp got transferred out so I'm staying in Beago with my new companion, Elder Fernando! He's from Benin and super chill so I think we'll get along fine! I've only been with him a couple hours but there's been no problems so far haha. It was sad to see Elder Agbahounzo leave though. We got super close this past week since my french has been getting a lot better so we joked around a lot and it was a party with him. With all of my singing and all, he started joking around with others that he is my manager and that if they want we to sing, they have to go through him so that was super funny. 

The work hit a little slump this week mostly due to the fact of how busy we were. It was pretty disappointing though because we had 3 baptisms lined up but they all fell through. Sr Flore accepted our baptism invitation but then her mom said she wasn't ready so we had to put it off for a while, then Sr Rochelle's mother said she couldn't be baptised right as we were about to invite her to be baptised, then Fr Odilo who has been progressing and coming to church every week for the past few months, suddenly decided to return to his Catholic church which was probably one of the most disheartening things so far on the mission. It was pretty hard and I was honestly pretty angry because I want to save these people's souls so bad and I want these people to accept the truth so bad! Hopefully they all work out eventually and my companion gave me good advice from Elder Bednar that this work doesn't really start until someone tells you no so I'm going to take that to heart and continue this work with boldness!

WEEKLY WISDOM: "Il est l'espoir quand tout est perdu  Il est ma force quand je n'en peux plus  Il est un rempart devant les tourments  Quand le monde est triste LA PAIX EST EN CHRIST"

There was a lot this week but I hope my emails give you a good sense of my adventures here in Cote d'Ivoire! I have my trials and difficulties for sure but this work and my love for it helps me overcome everything and I progress as a missionary and disciple of Christ!

PHOTOS

1. Last pic with my formateur!(I'll have a pic with my new comp next week!)

2. Zone Conference pic!https://youtu.be/lP42RvRp-DA

Canyons In The Sky- Week 10

Bonjour cher frères et soeurs!

Okay I'll get right to it one of my favorite things about Africa is the SKY. Literally the clouds are enormous and beautiful and I'm mesmerized every time I look up at the sky. I do miss the towering mountains of Utah but the sky always is changing and it's like a painting that changes every time you glance upwards it's amazing. I try and capture on my camera how pretty it gets but it's not the same.

So the most common form of transportation besides a normal taxi or walking is called a baka. It's just a huge van that they specially fitted to have as much seats as they can inside and then just pile people in. There's usually up to 12 people at a time in the baka at a time it is very squishy and sweaty but it's fun! I heard from a very reliable source that one missionary had a woman give birth in a baka while he was in it so that who knows I'll have to keep my guard up haha. You know for a fact that when I have a minivan for my future family I am calling it "Baka"

So on our way to our ward which started in ten minutes, we got a call from the bishopric asking for one of us to give a talk and the task fell on me since my comp gave the talk last time so during the beginning announcements, I chose the topic of missionary work and found 3 scriptures. That was probably the hardest and most stressful prayer I've ever given during the sacrament but I felt the comfort. When I got up to give my talk, I don't know if it was divine assistance or just dumb luck but the mic stopped working and it started pourring rain on the thin tin roof when I started my talk so basically nobody could hear me. I was trying my best and projecting a lot so people could hear me to no avail so they motioned me to go into the aisle. The rain died down a little but I still had to talk pretty loud and then my limited french didn't really help haha but I honestly felt so powerful haha. I felt I was on an apple crate giving a sermon like in the first picture of Preach My Gospel with Dan Jones raising a Book Of Mormon to the air it was awesome!

The French is honestly coming along no matter how many times I think it is hopeless and pointless. Everytime I get down about the language, I always somehow find comfort in a tender mercy that Heavenly Father has given me and I can always turn to him in prayer for comfort and prayer.

WEEKLY WISDOM: Elder Bednar taught that it is very important to know of the enabling power or "grace" of the Atonement, not just the redeeming power of the Atonement. The Atonement is not just for sinners, but also for saints who need the strength to overcome their trials and make their burdens seem light.

Elder Perkins

PHOTOS

1. I managed to snag a picture from the back of a Baka. Hopefully that gives a sense of what it's like haha

2. It rained a lot that day and since there is no sewer system sometimes water blocks roads and even small alleyways. The response is to lay out cinder blocks as stepping stones.

3. Another attempt to capture the pretty sky here!

You Guys Like Chawarma?- Week 9

BONJOUR

Another week and another email from you pal Elder Perkins reporting from Cote d'Ivoire announcing that it has been another amazing week! And yes I finally had chawarma after so many years of seeing Avengers and it is super good!

We had the baptismal service for Frère Christ on Saturday! I got to be one of the witnesses and then also the next day I got to pass the sacrament to him right after being confirmed so it was the first time he took the sacrament as a member so that was special and he also got up and bore his short and sweet testimony afterwards. It was the strongest I have felt the Spirit in church and is one of the many memories that I will cherish from my mission.

This Saturday was the Annual Stake Relief Society Activity and I expected it to be something like in the movie the RM where they showcase ice sculptures or something but I was dead wrong. Basically every ward either did a little skit or a dance and they just blasted music the whole time and almost everyone was standing the whole time dancing so it was like a party and it lasted for 4 hours! Missionaries aren't allowed to dance so all of the missionaries were just in the back however the temptation was great to just jump up and start dancing haha. It was cool to see their culture a little more and get to know the members better. And afterward they had some super good food. The beauty of Africa is that for some dishes you eat with your hands and I love it. I was already a messy eater before my mission and it will only get worse hehe.

And now it's time for the fun Africa stories! First off people confuse us all of the time as missionaries from other churches which is probably pretty common for missionaries. The most we get is Jehovah's Witness but this week on two separate occasions people thought we were from the Anti-Christ church that is here and we immediately shot that down because we are the exact opposite of that haha. The power went out a total of who knows honestly this week so it was pretty hot. One night the power went out twice so I got barely any sleep. A lady stopped us in the middle of the road yesterday and invited us inside her house and introduced us to everyone because her son told her about how he sees us all of the time. The mother introduced us to her son Junio and said every time we walk by we have to come say hi so we definitely didn't say no. As we left the mom said to her son "Now you have a white friend"

WEEKLY WISDOM: LIGHT. THE. WORLD. Follow the calendar that the church sent out as much as you can and remember the true meaning of Christmas! 

Photos!

1. Picture at the Relief Society Party with some photobombers

2. CHAWARMA

3. Baptism pic with Fr Christ and Fr Elie, a nine year old from the ward that got baptised too!

Christmas Came Early- Week 8

Bonjour once again to you lovelies!

Cote d'Ivoire is continuing to have a new adventure, surprise, or trial waiting around each corner and it has been a blast finding out how to react and learn from each one! This mission has taught me many lessons that I will treasure for the rest of my life!

In regards to my early christmas, my fan sadly died this week. It was an ugly and slow death it was hard to watch. First came the screams and the slowness of motion, and then unexpectedly it came to a halt. So I had to suffer a night with no fan and let me tell ya that sweat pool is hopefully the only one I swim in while on my mission.  However, the night is always darkest before the dawn, and the next day we went to another apartment to pick up a fresh one. The apartment we went to is called "la maison blanche" and the name fits. It is ginormous, has a grand staircase, multiple balconies, a living room with a piano, an...AC! We just sat in the room with AC for literally 15 minutes it was so nice. Anyway we got back with the new fan and assembling it felt like christmas when I would get a new lego set and I was so excited putting it together. Then finally the moment came where I started it up and it I can only imagine that it is like what it will feel like when we enter into the Celestial Kingdom, enough said.

I had my interview with President Lewis on Thursday and it was fantastic! He really helped me have a stronger knowledge of my purpose as a missionary and my love for this work. My mission president is awesome and he's the best other missions can fight me. I liken interviews with the mission president to a Bachelorette cocktail party. A bunch of people waiting around waiting to talk to someone talking about random stuff but all they want to do is just talk to the person and when they have their turn it goes by so fast and when it is done you just want to go back and keep talking! Yeah it's a weird parallel I know haha.

So probably one of the hardest challenges to face while serving here is the difficulty of feeling the Spirit. Either during lessons, sacrament meeting, or just while walking down the street. There are A LOT of distractions here and they vary in many forms. It can be from children, animals, bugs, loud fans or just loudness in general, or just weird customs that some people have here that I am not used to. I don't want to get to into it too much because I don't want to sound like I'm bashing my mission but that has probably been one of the hardest adjustments since you know, the Spirit is vital in teaching and just going about you day in general. However it has really helped me increase my tolerance and my focus so it has been getting better!

The work is going great! Frère Odilon and Frère Christ are seeming to be on track to be baptised this Saturday so that's exciting! Their baptismal interviews are on Tuesday so pray for them! We found some new amis who seem really interested in our church! One came up to us actually and asked to meet with us and is very excited to meet with us. One we came up to when we saw him studying the Bible outside so we have started teaching him and he has a lot of questions and concerns. He actually reads what we give him though which is rare here, but he just has trouble believing that the Bible isn't the only word of God but hopefully he can come to know of the truthfulness of the Book Of Mormon! This work is awesome and continues to fill my soul with joy!

Sorry for the long email this week haha but I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving this week! Thanksgiving isn't really a thing here but who knows maybe we'll make something special or go out to eat I don't know. But in the Spirit of Thanksgiving...

WEEKLY WISDOM: Be thankful for your challenges and your afflictions because without them it would be impossible to know happiness and joy in this life. We also have the opportunity to learn and grow from our challenges and form ourselves into the saints and disciples of Christ that God wants us to be.

PHOTOS:

1. Me and my beautiful new fan. I decided to name him Princeton. He's so beautiful.

2. We love the african knock-offs of Coca-Cola and Sprite haha

I Love To See the Half-Done Temple- Week 7

Bonjour mes amis et ma famille!!

Wow wow wow these weeks are continuing to fly by like seriously! And Thursday marks 3 months that I have been gone like wow!

The highlight of the week was our conference at the temple! The bus ride there was crazy sweaty and stinky. The bus had air conditioning but it barely worked. It got to the point where when I let my arms rest on my lap and then lifted them back up, my pants were soaked. It was awesome to see so many missionaries and also the progression of the Abidjan Temple! It is kind of funny because it looks like every other sketchy building here that is under construction but it will one day be an amazing House of the Lord where people can go and grow closer to our Heavenly Father! Hopefully it is finished while I am here so I can help these amazing people attend the Temple!

President Kearon was there and shared an amazing message of not worrying and just to lose ourselves in the work. He also re-emphasized the same message from when he visited the Provo MTC of Becoming the Message and having joy in this work which was awesome to hear again! He has such and energy and light about him and you can't help but be fascinated by what he has to say. It might be his british accent who knows.

 We invited one of our amis, Frère Christ, to baptism this week! He has such a good grasp on the doctrine and he remembers a lot of what we teach him and keeps his commitments which is awesome! He is set for the 30th and I am sure he will be really ready for then! This is my first ami that I actually started to teach and help him come unto Christ so I am really excited! We also have a lot more amis that are progressing very nicely and hopefully can be baptised by the end of this transfer! This work is honestly something else. I get so happy when I am able to bear my testimony and share the love I have for this Gospel and also for the love that my Heavenly Father has for me!

I had my first fish head this week. That's right I looked a fish dead in the cooked eyes and bit its head clean off, and it actually didn't taste bad at all! A little crunchy though haha. I also had some foutou which is like a sticky banana paste that you dip in sauce and it is really popular here but for some reason it just doesn't agree with my stomach at all so hopefully I learn to like it. There is one thing I will never like here though. That's the pork. How pork works here is that they take the dead pig then just chop it into a bunch of little bits including the head and legs...everything and then barely cook it so it is super chewy and it includes the skin, bone, and even hair sometimes. You know how some members decide to not drink caffeine? Well it's like that for me but just with the pork here. It isn't good for my physical or emotional health. It makes me really miss my Uncle Kevin's amazing pork at IDK Barbeque there's a little shoutout for ya Kevin. I expect a paycheck when I get home.

WEEKLY WISDOM: Just Smile! Even when It seems hard to. I have a story with this one. During one of my lessons I was giving the story of the First Vision and while I was reciting Joseph Smith's account, the people we were teaching started laughing because I was talking weird and soft so my companion had to take over and I got really discouraged but instead of continuing my day in discouragement, I decided to just smile and it actually helped my attitude and by then end of the lesson I paid no mind to it. Never forget the power of smiling. It can improve your day and also someone else's!

PHOTOS- Sorry I realised that I forgot to put descriptions for my photos so you were probably confused for some of them haha

1- Sweaty Bus Ride!

2- Me in front of the soon to be temple!

3- Conference Selfie!

4- My Provo MTC MTs!

5- Shot with Stake Center and a lot of the missionaries!

I'm Addicted To Water- Week 6

Hello Hello Hello! I am none other than Elder Perkins

(If you can get that reference you will get a gold star...somehow)  

Okay this week honestly flew by and I don't have much to talk about haha. Anyway just so everyone knows...It is HOT in Africa. I get back from our sector most days and my clothes are honestly drenched in sweat and I have to just sit for a while in front of my fan which is slowly deteriorating meaning that I have to now give it a little airplane jumpstart to get it moving. Also in regards to my title I have been drinking a lot of water you're welcome mom. I probably drink around 3-5 liters a day because it tastes so good I honestly can't help it.

I had my first baptismal service this saturday! Baptisms here are a little sketchy since we have to fill the fonts ourselves which means that the water is only up to just below the knee making the baptisms very interesting. They almost have to lay them completely flat to get them fully immersed. Also before the service we had a missionary activity with the members of the stake and we helped them answer some common questions here in Cote d'Ivoire. My companion and I roleplayed with members of being a concerned investigator couple wondering why we have to be married before being baptised so that was funny.

So we have a conference at the Abidjan Temple site tomorrow with the famous President Kearon of the Presidency of the Seventy and I was called to be in the choir for it! We are singing "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" in french of course and I am so excited for it! I also can't wait for the temple to be done so the amazing people of Cote d'Ivoire can receive the blessings of the temple more easily! It is scheduled to be done while I am here so fingers crossed!

Just some little Africa funnies this week I accidentally blended together the word "thanks" and its french counterpart "merci" and said "menks" so that was crazy and also awkward haha. I stun the african missionaries here whenever they realise that I know how to play soccer and I gain their respect haha. OH also this might be apostate but I started to liken being an American in Africa to being Jesus Christ when he visited the Americas. Know well that I am NOT saying that I am like our Savior in any way, shape, or form he is perfect and I am far from perfection believe me. But when african children come up to me and feel my palms and skin all of the time it is kind of hard not to relate it to that sorry if I am speaking blasphemy but I haven't been struck down yet so I think I am good.

That's all folks! The days may be rough but I can never regret my decision to be here in Africa preaching this amazing gospel!

WEEKLY WISDOM: In the words of the Prophet Joseph Smith Junior, "Judge Righteous Judgement" Don't be too quick to judge, but still strive to know all that you can of a person and stick yourself in their shoes so that you can know how to act.