Month: June 2020

Today we went with Elder Blehi and Elder Muyuwa to prepare for a baptism at the II Plateaux Ward here in Abidjan.

The Elders cleaned out the font and got everything ready.

The water bottle plugged the drain nicely.

Many of our missionaries have served in this ward.

Baptismal supplies in the cupboard.  This building hasn’t been used since the COVID-19 stopped church meetings here.

We waited and waited.  Sadly, the Sisters finally came, but without their investigator.  She’s decided to wait a bit.  We do a fair bit of waiting here.

Today we received another local Ivorian Elder who has been called to serve in the Nigeria, Enugu Mission.  Thank goodness he gets to start his service here while we all wait for the borders to open again.

Elder Guei comes from a family of nine.  Two of his siblings and he joined the church after being taught by the missionaries in 2017.  He met those missionaries when his sister invited them to his graduation party.  He loves the gospel of Jesus Christ and is so excited to start his mission and share the truths he’s learned.  He’s been attending a remote MTC in Abobo where he’s been learning to speak English.

Elder Mbuya will be his companion in the Grand Bassam Zone.  These two will be a formidable pair!

Speaking of borders opening, here’s the word we received from the American Embassy and State Department this evening:

Health Alert: U.S. Embassy Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire (11 June, 2020)
Location: Cote d’Ivoire

As of June 11, 2020, the Ivoirian Ministry of Health confirmed 4,404 COVID-19 cases in the country, including 41 deaths and 2,212 recoveries, leaving 2,151 active cases. The country has seen higher daily averages of new cases through the month of June, peaking at 223 new cases on June 11.

A World Health Organization (WHO) situation report released on June 1 declared Treichville-Marcory, an Abidjan neighborhood, a virus hotspot, with one third of cases in Abidjan originating from this neighborhood.  [Our missi

Cote d’Ivoire’s border closure and suspension on commercial flight operations was extended through June 30, as well as the State of Emergency and isolation of the Greater Abidjan region. The restrictions on large group gatherings in Abidjan is also maintained, reducing the maximum group size from 200 back to 50 individuals maximum.

The U.S. Embassy does not anticipate organizing an additional repatriation flight from Cote d’Ivoire to the United States at this time. There is no confirmed date on which international commercial fights may resume. Please continue to check directly with commercial airlines for updated operational information.

The U.S. Embassy urges U.S. citizens to continue to adhere scrupulously to personal precautions, such as wearing a face covering, practicing physical distancing, as well as frequent and thorough hand washing.

Every day there is progress at the temple site.  It’s exciting to watch.  This building will house the Distribution Center and offices.

On our way to MLC this morning we picked up Elder Lath, who is returning home today.  We’ve loved having him here after spending most of his mission in Nigeria.  These Ivorian missionaries who were able to come back to Cote d’Ivoire in March have been such a great blessing to our mission.

Today was an overcast rainy day.  We are moving into the rainy season here.  This is what I’ve learned about the seasons here:

December to the end of January = Harmattan–hot dry wind blows down from the Sahara, chapped lips, dry skin, and lots of lotion
February to mid April = changeable weather–some rain, some sun, comfortable
June to mid-September = Rainy, cooler
Mid-September to October, November = HOT, humid

Setting up and preparing for the meeting:

Social and physical distancing:

Today we had 3 hours of MLC training, which included quite a bit about being good leader examples and obedience.  We talked about the culture of our mission and changes that might improve what we do here.

Then this afternoon we had 2 hours with the smartphones!  The first phones are now in the hands of our missionaries.  This is a big day!

Today the goal was to complete the set up, and have them take them home and practice using them.  The rest of the missionaries will receive their phones in the coming zone conferences and these Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders will be able to help the rest learn.

Fr. Ebick is our Mission Communications Specialist.  He did a great job walking everyone through the steps of setting up their phones.  Every companionship has one phone.

When we consider the power in these phones for good, it’s very exciting.  There is also power here for evil and we need to safeguard ourselves against those things that would cause harm.  We have confidence in these missionaries.

This morning we took a trip to the Temporal Affairs Office in Cocody.  These good folks look after the temporal affairs for the church in the Ivory Coast.  This includes things like real estate and housing, finances, travel, church buildings, and a church distribution center.

We’ve heard that the new building by the temple will soon house these offices and the Distribution Center when completed.

Our purpose in visiting today was to get some new check books.

Here is the Distribution Center.

And here are a few interesting things spotted along our way back to the office.

Fruit and handwashing stations:

Pavers for sale:

Benches for sale:

Meet Elder Kouame from Grand Bassam and Elder Oba from Abobo.  Both arrived this morning at the mission office.  They will join our missionaries here until the borders are open again, then Elder Kouame will travel to his missionary assignment in the Ghana Accra West Mission and Elder Oba will go to the Sierra Leone Freetown mission.  We are lucky to have them for now.

Both Elders have been attending remote MTCs in their home stakes.  Elder Kouame spent 9 weeks in a remote class in Grand Bassam learning from Preach My Gospel and learning English.  Elder Oba studied for 3 weeks at the Abobo stake center.  They both told me their favorite things were learning to use the computers and learning from their fine teachers in Accra.  And both are very happy they are learning to speak English!

Here’s a picture I took of Elder Kouame on May 28th in Grand Bassam where he was studying.  He had one other Elder in his group who went to the Abidjan West Mission.  Elder Oba had 12 missionaries in his MTC group (9 going to Ghana, 2 to Nigeria, and he to Sierra Leone).

It’s an interesting time to be a missionary here.  2020 will be a year we all remember with the disruptions in the normal flow of missionary work, but this work carries on, like a stone cut out of the mountain without hands.  It will fill the whole earth and we will help.

Here is the progress being made on the temple and on the distribution center this week.  Our Zone Training Meeting was peppered with pounding and constructions noises.

Zone Training Meetings happen once a month on the Tuesday after MLC.  The Zone Leaders attend with each of their districts and teach the things they learned in MLC to the rest of the missionaries.

Instead of collecting key indicator numbers from each companionship, they showed the numbers from the last month (May) and the goals for June.  Elder Lath will attend his ZTMs this week, then return home Thursday, completing his mission.

Today we talked about using smartphones and how they will enhance our work here.  This will revolutionize missionary work here.  John showed the missionaries an example of how missionaries in France are posting interesting things on Facebook that encourage people to comment and ask questions.  The post he showed had one of our Tahitians with an American and a French companion singing.

Here is our District minus Elder Muyuwa and Elder Blehi who had raced off to an appointment.

We gave the Sisters a ride home afterwards.

There are several homes next to their apartment that are made of tarp and boards.  It’s a hard life for many here.

This afternoon after their departing interviews, we met together with Pres and Sis Binene and the Assistants for a testimony meeting before our final dinner with these Elders.  We have missed doing this with so many of our Abidjan East missionaries who departed quickly during the COVID-19 disruptions.

After sharing our love for this work and for each other, the Binenes gave their final words of testimony and counsel to these two good Elders.  They were both called to serve in Ghana, and only joined us here in March, when they were evacuated from Ghana to return here to their home country.

After the group photo, the feast begain!

Soeur Celestine served her delicious food.

These are my favorite dishes:

And this is Sis Binene’s favorite dish–Footoo.  “I LOVE footoo!” she kept saying.

After the meal, we had a zoom call and wonderful visit with Pres Bendixsen.  I’m sad I didn’t get a picture of his face.  Next time!  They were scheduled to depart for here on June 29th, but this week we learned that will be delayed.  They are still waiting for the borders to open so they can be issued an Ivorian visa.  We are preparing for their arrival.

After that call, planning for the smartphones continued.  This week members of our MLC will receive their phones.  It’s an exciting time here in the Abidjan East Mission!