Ain't No Mountian High Enough

Hello my wonderful friends and family! Has it been a good week? You know what? If you didn't have a good week, go and treat yourself to something nice and fun because we always need that everyone and then!

My week was fun but yet again interesting as our adventures have taken us to the bizarro world of the African Hospital! Oooooohhhh spooooooky! Dont worry it's not for me! So as you probably know, the sun is super strong here but especially the past two weeks it's actually been pretty bad. My companion started getting super tired and worn out since wednesday and then starting thursday he was having bloody noses pretty constantly. He still wanted to go to sector but we had to go up a pretty steep hill and the sun was blazing so yeah after that my comp was bleeding again and was like yeah okay let's go back.

Long story short we were told to go to the hospital which is funny because I've actually never been inside a hospital for very long so to get started in Africa was interesting. It actually wasn't super sketchy because we went to a pretty nice one near downtown Abidjan. I dont think the wait time was any different because we waited there for nearly 5 hours just to get the test results back, which then they told us to come back the next day to get a consultation, and then the next day he needed to get an x-ray which means that we need to come back AGAIN tomorrow to get the results. So basically I'm already not a huge fan of hospitals.

However it was neat because while we were waiting, it was in the room where other patients were waiting just being separated by the curtain so I started reading from the Book of Mormon out loud because why not I was bored. It was a little awkward at some points because it was actually dead silent at times other than me reading so the other people definitely heard me and we could hear them talking about it. I read some classics like Alma 32 and 34, Mosiah 5. It was neat and I was ready to just hand out BoMs all around but that's would've been a little weird. 

Okay but other than that we had a fun time working in our new ward! It's a very interesting area with lots of hills and ghettos which also borders the Banco Forest(no we can't go in there). We also worked a lot with probably the most elect member I've ever met. His name is Frère Adjossan and he is a convert of just over a year but he has the fire of 5 greenie missionaries that were born and raised in the church! He just took us around his whole neighborhood showing us everyone who is even slightly interested and just knows what's up. He speaks so passionately when he testifies which is borderline hilarious but also inspirational. Like if every ward had a member like this, missionary work would double easily. 

Okay sorry this email is long but last thing is that the steeple and the Angel Moroni were put up on the temple this week! I'm super excited for the members here to have wayyyyy better access to His Holy House! It's sad sometimes because there's a lot of members still who haven't been endowed or sealed, let alone even know what the temple is for, so I'm excited! Pics will be below!

Okay well that will be it for this week! I love you all and I pray for you all to receive the bountiful blessings the Lord has in store for you!

On s'attrape!

Elder Perkins

PHOTOS

1. Selfie with the boys(elders sorry)

2+9. Some neat views to give y'all a little more taste of the African ghetto scape.

3. Last pic with our recent convert Mary Loh. She had to make to difficult choice to move to a different part of Abidjan which is sadly outside the mission. However there's still a ward over there so we made sure she would get in contact with them!

4-5. Temple pics! Fun fact: This temple has the first Angel Moroni to be silver and not gold so BOOM history was made.

6. Hospital selfie

7. Pretty big millipede that I almost stepped on

8. The baptismal font at our ward building. Pretty neat, right? 

La Maison Blanche

Hey there! Its your missionary, Elder Perkins, here with yet another weekly! I hope everyone had a great week! This week was pretty fun and interesting!

The biggest thing that happened this week was obviously the baptisms from this Saturday!!!!!!! We were able to see Mary Loh, Vanessa, and Prisca get baptized!! It was super sweet and I'm so proud of all of them! Ahhhhhh I just love being an instrument in His Hands and being able to see some of the fruits of our labors!

Another fun thing was that we had a whole other paroisse added to our sector. There's still not a while lot of missionaries in our mission so another area in our zone had to be cleared of a companionship. We asked president what to do and he told us to start working there! We also were able to move into La Maison Blanche(the White House) because of it! Basically it's one if the nicest apartments in the mission because it's literally a house...that's white. It's got a washing machine and clim(AC) in our room, both being the first time I've ever had either on the mission here in Cote d'Ivoire! So I'm feeling kind of spoiled rn even though the apartment is still pretty dirty and our clim is a little old but still works okay. 

We also went on exchanges with the assistants over in Koumassi! It was super cool because I've never worked outside of the main area of Youpogon in the mission so I got to see more of the mission! I learned a lot from their assistant-wisdom and maybe they a little from me! It rained pretty hard while we were there so that made things interesting! We're still waiting for the official rain season to start but it was nice to cool off for a bit.

We had interviews with President Lewis this week as well and we had a great talk! He was very reassuring of how needed and how appreciative he is for me and all the other Americans who were able to come back and help the mission get back up on its feet again. He also helped me figure out some other stuff for after the mission! Its crazy that I'm at that point now!

Fun little experience: We were teaching these ladies in a busy market area when an older and poorer looking lady came up to us. She seemed a little crazy just by the way she looked but she asked for the Restoration pamphlet that I was holding so I gave it to her! To everyone's surprise, she starting reading out loud then even asked for a pen to start writing on it and literally everyone around started gathering around to see because I guess she was kind of known to be the crazy poor lady that walks around but everyone was super astonished that she could read and write so well! So we obviously talked to her a bit and she was actually super nice! She unfortunately doesn't have a phone nor really a place to stay and gave her our number and she said she was around often so maybe we can talk more later. Basic principle of the lesson is "Don't judge a book by its cover"

Other than that it was a pretty normal week! The work is getting interesting with having to work in two wards now who have church an hour apart from each other and are pretty big areas. It should only be for a couple weeks but I hope we are able to help and teach anyone who is ready to hear the Restored Gospel!

I love you all and pray for you all! Please stay safe and stay healthy. P.S. if your curious, we haven't heard anything about getting vaccinated as I've heard many missionaries in the states have gotten vaccinated. So we'll see what happens here! Have a great week!

Elder Perkins

PHOTOS

1. Idk random photos from sector

2. Africa is iconic for their infamous "brand name" products. This edition is a "Mike" instead of "Nike" backpack. Thought it was funny cuz that's my dad's name lol

3. BAPTISM. ps sorry I'm not in it the pics were kind of rushed

Pressing Towards the Mark

Okay let's address the elephant in the room...20 TEMPLES WHHHAAAAAAAT

Like I was expecting the normal 8 or 9 but then he just casually said 20 and I had to do a double take. Shout out to my pops hometown Farmington, New Mexico! Not gonna lie I was surprised there wasn't a temple there already so I'm super happy for that! Also Brussels, Belgium is super awesome as well especially for my brother in law Kevin!! Woohoo temples are THE BEST

What did I think of conference? INSPIRING. Which talks did I like? ALL OF THEM. However my MVPs this time around are Pres Eyring, Sister Jones, and Elder Dube. Loved their words of council and hope! We were lucky enough to have enough credit and enough internet to watch all the sessions on our smartphone! Once again the brethren and the sisters come in clutch to help us out and speak inspired words to edify the church as a whole, but also us personally! What was your favorite talk? What did the Spirit speak to you during the sessions? What are you planning TO DO with what you've learned? Haven't watched it yet? GET ON THAT

Okay well apart from that not much happened this week. We had MLC(mission leadership council) again which the last one felt like the week before but it was actually a month ago, ugh I hate how fast this is going...anyway it was yet another wonderful discussion of how we can continue to better this mission and to stay focus on our purpose! We also were able to have a bunch of baptismal interviews done this week, in preparation for our baptismal service this coming Saturday! So be ready for pics of people in white next week! Pray for Vanessa, Prisca, Mary Loh, and Vincent that everything can go smoothly!

Okay really quick fun and amazing experience. We started teaching these two little girls just outside their home simply about Jesus Christ, but then before we know it there's probably around 30 kids just crowded around us and they got super into the lesson! So now they all know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he suffered for our sins! Definitely filled my soul with a little bit of Christ-like love and it was just wonderful!

I was able to really focus on the Savior's Atonement this week obviously because it was Easter week but also my Jesus The Christ read ended up coinciding this week with his death and resurrection which isn't a coincidence and I spent a lot of time pondering of the significance it has for ME personally and for my family now and in the future. I really loved the prompt the church came out with, "Starting Today" I love it because it kind of leaves us hanging. Starting today...what? And that's the question each and every one of us has to answer for ourselves! Our beloved Prophet, Russell M. Nelson, gave us the charge to pray to recognize the debris in our life and how to get rid of it! I challenge each of you as well to do the same and to set the goal that Starting Today, you will set out to accomplish it!

Well this week I officially passed my 4 months left mark which made Elder Dube's talk, "Press Towards the Mark" kinda hit different and made me a little sad but very grateful again for my time as a missionary!

That's pretty much it this week! I love you all so very dearly and know that Heavenly Father loves you so much more! I hope everyone had a Happy Easter and a revelatory General Conference!

PHOTO(they might be a little mixed up)

1. MLC! Also the day before was Sister Lewis's birthday so we got cake!! 

2-3. I got another haircut from the one and only Frère Herman. What a legend

4-5. Okay I got more kids pics since just about everyone love them last time haha. Literally they are the best thing about the mission right now.

6. First time I've had plakalie since I've been back and...let's just say I didn't miss it too much...

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I Have A Bad Feeling About This...

On dit quoi les gars? Ça booste non?

Ok well here's yet another week that's flown by! I feel like I'm in a montage right now that's just showing me getting up every morning! This week went by fast but oh boy was there a lot that happened!

So the biggest thing was something honestly pretty nuts. I honestly can't go too much into detail but basically we got stuck in a random crazy church for multiple hours because they wouldn't let us leave unless we prayed their way which was a BIG no no. An ami that we are teaching told us that she had a mama that she wanted to talk to so we followed her and the farther we went, the more we were thinking it was a priest or something, and we were right. I was definitely having the classic Star Wars "I have a bad feeling about this" feeling(a.k.a the Spirit) the whole time.

We eventually were able to leave because they realized that we weren't going to do it but we had to get a mission leader to come pick us up and there was even police there so it was just a big mess honestly haha. In short, we should've never gone in there and we are perfectly fine right now and no harm came to us. We stayed stong to our faith and our testimonies and that's all that matters! It was just a big misunderstanding haha

We also had Zone Conference this week! It was crazy because the last time I had a completely normal Zone conference, fully in person for the day, was last year when I was last here in Cote d'Ivoire. I honestly forgot how much I really do love hearing from President Lewis! We focused a lot on using technology wisely, surrounding our teaching with the baptismal interview questions, and God's love for us! In all it was wonderful and I learned a lot! We've also been doing a Facebook and Messenger fast for the past week until this Friday and it's honestly been pretty relieving haha.

We had an impromptu exchange with Elder Grover on friday which was pretty hype! His companion had a going home meeting for most of the day so Elder Grover got stuck with us but it was fun to teach with him and get to know him better. I feel like my time is so short here but it's good to know the mission is in good hands once I leave!

We also had a wonderful baptismal service on Saturday then a cool Stake Missionary Fireside Sunday night! We sadly didn't have baptisms this week but the rest of our Zone is killing it finish off the transfer strong! The Fireside went okay but the only problem is that hardly anyone was there besides the missionaries and stake and ward leaders. However we had a great Q&A discussion lead by me and my companion which I had no knowledge of until they announced it and my companion was like, "oh yeah I forgot to tell you..." haha but it was great!

Transfer news is simple, Elder Owuor and I are sticking together for the time being! Who knows if it'll be for the rest of the transfer because things change very often with missionaries coming and going but I'm happy to be with him for now! Our amis are doing pretty good! We still have 4(Prisca, Vanessa, Vincent, and Mary Loh) who should be good for baptism on April 10th and then the rest will be later in the month! We've been trying to get members super involved because A) people listen to Adults or their peers more than two random kids in cute white shirts and ties and B) Members just are the best when it comes to missionary work!

Okay well this email became way too long sorry I highly doubt you'll make it this far but just make sure you are ready for General Conference this weekend! I don't know how they'll top the last one but I'm sure they will! Love you all and HAPPY EASTER!

On est ensemble

Elder Perkins

Photos

1. This old helicopter and plane are right next to our ward building which is pretty cool!

2-3. There was a Young Women activity that we popped into at the last second because we were hungry haha

4. Zone Selmer! Two of the sisters are going home and one companionship got doubled out so there's a lot of changes happening!

5. Cosmos selfie haha. We realized it's actually in our secteur so that's nice. 

Suffer the Little Children

BonSSSOOOOIIRRR et soyez bienvenue!

Literally last p-day felt like yesterday again but it's been yet another week! Ups and downs as the usual!

This email is dedicated to the children of Africa because they are just so dang cute but also insane and devilish but also so strong! As I said before, the classic "le blanc!" being shouted constantly in the streets has returned and who knew how much I actually did miss it? It allows me to interact with so many people who otherwise I might accidentally miss! I've honestly learned a lot of life lessons just by observing the people, especially the kids! It's a part of the culture here that I will always remember!

Otherwise this week went by fast and was pretty normal I'd say. We were supposed to have Zone conference this week, but it was delayed due to someone being sick in the mission office. I was kind of bummed because it was going to be my first completely normal Zone conference since the last time I was here in Cote d'Ivoire with it being all in one day and NOT over zoom haha. It's going to be this week instead which is going to be hard because it's the last week of the transfer and we need to do zone conference, interviews, and have exchanges with the assistants all in this one week and then we're getting transfer news this upcoming Saturday so next week will be interesting for sure.

I got my first good rainstorm! It was storming most of the night but it continued to rain pretty hard in the morning. Luckily, it lightened up enough for us to go out by the afternoon. It was nice to have some overcast weather because it's been pretty sunny and hot while I've been here. The official rainy season is supposed to start sometime in April so I'm excited for that.

Also that reminds me GENERAL CONFERENCE IS IN TWO WEEKS?!?! Wow that's insane! I don't know how this one will go for us here with he time change and all but I'll probably stay with my English speaking companion so we might just watch it on our phone in English which will be sweet! Not that I don't love french but just hearing their voices and all make it all the better for me.

This part of the vineyard is having some good fruits! We were able to find a bunch more people this week! Half of them were literally from us walking down the street and them stopping us asking why we're walking around so much, why is there le blanc, get in the shade it's too hot, etc. and they ended up turning into gospel discussions! Lord works in mysterious ways! We also were able to put Mary Loh, Herman, Vincent, Prisca, and Vanessa on date to be baptized! They were some of the first people that we found when we got whitewashed into the area and they've been doing great!. For now the baptism is set for the weekend after General Conference, but it can still change depending on if we need to make sure their ready and all but I'm super excited for them!

I'm love my mission! It's crazy how much time I have left, a little over 4 months! I don't want it to end so I want to do all I can to do this work until the end! I'll sprint to the finish line!

Elder Perkins

PHOTOS

1-2 These kids are always waiting for me when we come around to teach one of our amis so I had to take a picture with them. I even got some of them to call me Elder Perkins rather than le blanc!

3-4 after a mini exchange with our district leader we went by the stake center where a bunch of guys were playing soccer. We can't join them sadly but we watched and talked with them for a little bit!

5. This kid is adorable and keeps us entertained during sacrament meeting. Her name is Laura

6. Pink chickens...don't know how or why

7. Snapped a picture of a moderately busy street market

Sion Selmer! Week???

Hello everyone!! Thankfully, I'm not writing this email in a loud, sweaty, sketchy internet cafe, I'm writing it in the comfort of my apartment! The mission started using smartphones since last July so that means we're able to just use our phones to write and talk with friends and family! It's honestly a huge blessing because going to the cyber was always not so much fun for multiple reasons!

Anyway this week there was a lot of work for this part of the vineyard! Or as one of our member friends puts it, Sion Selmer! Sion is just Zion in french and Selmer is the name of the stake! I thought it was pretty catchy! We had a stake conference this past weekend which was super amazing! It did involve a lot of work on our part to organize all the missionaries to welcome everyone and see which people were amis and welcome them! Elder Klebingat of the area presidency presided and it was awesome to hear him speak twice! He was super encouraging to the members to be involved in missionary work, to know their divine heritage and potential, and just a little about the Second Coming which was interesting haha. President Lewis was there to translate for him as well! Overall it was a busy, crazy, but awesome weekend!

Other than that, the sector of Andokoi is popping off! We've been able to find a bunch of super elect people who already are wanting to be baptized, it's just teaching them and helping fully realize the importance of baptism with proper authority and such, but all in due time! We're teaching Herman right now and when we taught about the restoration and showed him the Ask of God video(another perk of having phones here), he definitely felt of the Spirit! We taught about the Book of Mormon as well and helped him understand the importance of it all so we're hoping he can really come to know for himself! He also is a barber so I'm probably going to have him cut my hair this week so stay tune for that next week!

Well my feet are always tired at the end of the day which I guess is a good thing but it's mostly because our sector is about the same size as three sectors combined! There's just a lot of markets in it so that's mostly the reason why. The members are pretty concentrated in one area but every now and then we have to trek over to someone's house or pay a taxi or baka to get over there. So it's either the expense of our worn out feet or the expense of our money haha

We went on some exchanges this week with the elders in our Zone. There's only two other elder companionships in our whole zone and then two sister companionships, making just ten missionaries in total. Pretty small but it's kinda nice because it's just one district so we see the whole Zone often! Anyway we were able to work in their areas and it was fun to see other parts of the Zone and work with other awesome missionaries!

Real quick scripture that I loved from Elder Klebingat's message. It's from James 4:7 and reads: "...Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" HOW NEAT IS THAT if we are able to resist the devil and his cunning deceptions, he will literally FLEE from us. We are stronger than him! He has no power unless we give in to his lies! Stay strong my friends!

Well that's kinda it for the week! I'll see y'all next time!

Elder Perkins

The Prodigal Blanc Returns March 8, 2021...Almost a YEAR later!

Oh boy oh boy has it been a crazy past couple of weeks. There's been a lot happening mostly because I was able to actually return to Cote d'Ivoire! There were honestly so many moments and days where I thought I wasn't going back just to hear about something to give me more hope. Such as the day before I was going to leave I was told that I'm not going because I didn't have a Visa and then a day later I had it. I don't even think I could explain everything that went into me getting back so in brief it was a ginormous miracle and how grateful I am for it!

As I left my mission in Arizona, it's weird to say that I'm in a way grateful for COVID for giving me the chance to work in the States as well! I hope I was able to leave a mark on some of the people and missionaries there because I know they left a mark on me!

As the title suggests, the return to my original mission also brings back the iconic "Le Blanc!" that I'll be hearing constantly for the next five months!!! Along with that there's also the constant 32°C with 100% humidity, bucket showers, terrible smells, death defying traffic...the works. And let's not forget about THE FOOD. Definitely a highlight here as there's garba, foutou, bisap, sauce, etc!

I'll be honest the place is basically the exact same as I left it. Like actually because I was assigned to the same area I was in for a week before I had the leave! Andokoi! So in some ways it feels like I'm just picking up where I left off! Which is kind of weird because last time I was here I was just over six months into my mission and then now I have less than six months left of my mission...kinda crazy! My companion is Elder Owuor and he's from Kenya! Super amazing missionary as he knows the people and the language super well as he had to learn French as well. We speak in English sometimes but we're pretty good at keeping it French. 

My French is kinda slacking because it's been a year since I've had to actually speak it constantly in about a year but you know my comp and the people are patient with me so I should be too. I can't expect it to be just as good as it was before right away. The same as before I just need to be patient with myself and with others as I readjust!

Also like COVID isn't a thing here...like hardly anyone has to wear masks except at markets and chuch(supposedly). So yeah it's almost like COVID never happened here. Which is relieving but also pretty strange. Hopefully things back home return somewhat to normal before I come back because I'll probably be terrible at wearing masks again haha

It was SOOOOOOO good to see President and Sister Lewis again! I can't believe they have been here the whole time having to lead and care for this mission with so much crazy happening. I missed them and love them so much!

Ahhhhhh there's just so much to talk about but in short, I'm here, im working, im sweating, and I'm ready to give these next 5 months my all for Cote d'Ivoire! 

Elder Perkins 

PHOTOS

1. Me and my companion chic Elder Owuor!

2. Conseil de Dirigeants! It was a blast!

3. Selfie with the elders

4. I WAS ABLE TO SEE FRÈRE OLIVIER AGAIN. I'm working in the same stake as my old area, Selmer, so I was hoping to see him eventually and I did! Crazy grateful for his faith and perseverance!

The last two pictures are two other missionaries took from his mission...to give you a sense of the food and area.