Month: February 2020

This morning we had our District Meeting with our four wonderful Bamako Elders.  We love being here with them.  We are making good progress here and we are so happy to be here.

These Elders are great teachers.  Today we got to hear from Elder Kouakou.  We had a great discussion about obedience and how teaching obedience will bless others.

After our meeting we filmed a shot video clip of these Elders with for our missionaries at home.  Our Washington Yakima Mission reunion is coming up and we want to show them our mission experiences here.  We miss our other missionaries so much, but are grateful to represent them here.

Now that we have a new branch presidency in Bamako, soon we will have callings for these good members.  Right now, aside from the branch presidency and the ward clerk, no one has a calling, so we all just fill in and help where we can.   My favorite place is with the children.  They forgive my French and help me when I don’t know the words.

Today I taught them about the Book of Mormon.  We talked about how we got it and what’s inside it.  I brought pictures and stories and we took turns reading and we learned together.  These children are like sponges.  They feel the good here and they want to know more.

We learned two new Primary songs today:  The Books in the Book of Mormon:

Premier et Second
Livres de Nephi,
Jacob,
Enos,
Jarom,
Omni.
Paroles de Mormon, Mosiah, font le Livre de Mormon.

Alma,
Hélaman,
Trois, Quatre Néphi,
Mormon,
Ether et
Moroni,
Nous connaîtrons bien les prophètes dans le Livre de Mormon.

And we learned the first verse of Book of Mormon Stories:

Dans le Livre de Mormon, on nous conte très bien
L’épopée des Lamanites dans les temps anciens.
En ce pays, leurs ancêtres vinrent de très loin,
Pour y vivre, ils devaient faire bien.

This morning we went with Rose’s family to help get their passports for the upcoming temple trip to Accra.  We had to meet at the bank on the other side of the river and pay the fees, now they can go to the embassy to get the the passports.

After that we went to the Ghanaian Embassy to start the work on our visas for the temple trip next month.

A year and a half ago, we had 3 days to pack things to put into a container going to Mali.  At that time we had hopes of coming ourselves within a few weeks to live here.  When I asked John what he wanted me to pack for him, he said, “M&Ms,”  That was his only request.  I picked up 4 of these large Peanut M&M containers at Costco and packed them along with other essentials I knew we’d be grateful to have here.

John finished off his first jar in 3 months and has tried hard to wait to open the second.  He made it an extra month.  Jar #2 was opened today.  It sat in the container at the chicken farm for more than a year in blazing heat.  The M&Ms survived pretty well.  I wonder how many days this jar will last.

As for me, my favorite treat here is plain roasted local peanuts.  John claims there’s a reason why his first mission was in Switzerland (land of chocolate) and my first mission was in Africa!

Here’s a look at Mali from the air, as we approached Bamako this afternoon.  It’s a hot, dry, barren land, with good people trying to survive in a hard place.

When we disembarked and entered the airport (both last week and today), we were met by health officials who checked each person’s temperature with a digital thermometer and required us to use hand sanitizer before entering the airport.

Our global world is watching the spread of the Coronavirus and health officials do not want it to come to Africa.

Here is today’s update of this frightening virus.  So far there is only once case in Africa–in Egypt.  We’re told if it comes here, it would be disastrous.

This morning we attended this District Meeting at the Cocody Stake Center.  We love being with the missionaries.  We love their hearts and their efforts to do hard things.  The Zone Leaders were also here today, adding their support.