Month: October 2020

West Africa Area: Families in Sunday Church Worship Meetings

area presidency

The Africa West Area Presidency announces that all family members can now come to Church on Sundays for worship services. Children and the elderly can join their families. Consideration to individual circumstances will determine the choice to attend or not by each individual and family as we continue under the COVID-19 pandemic. The Sunday congregational meeting schedule is currently limited to a one-hour Sacrament meeting.

Weekday meetings and activities in Church meetinghouses can be held, as long as they are fully compliant with government and Church guidelines. Your meetinghouses must have received approval to recommence Sunday services from the Area Presidency.
All government guidelines must be followed strictly for the COVID-19 pandemic. Please make sure that (not an all-inclusive list):

1. Any member who is ill must not come to Church on Sunday
2. Buildings are clean, orderly, and disinfected
3. Social distancing of two meters is maintained at all times, unless when sitting next to family members or individuals who live under your same roof
4. Hand washing with soap and water facilities are provided at the entrance of the buildings. Members should wash their hands for a minimum of twenty seconds
5. Hand sanitizer receptacles are to be provided in the sacrament hall
6. There will be no singing by the congregation. Pre-recorded music will be played with the sound system
7. Avoid touching other members physically
8. Others as applicable.

We are very grateful for your attention to the COVID-19 pandemic prevention. President Russell M. Nelson has invited us to be good neighbors and model such prevention in our homes and communities, as well.

Bits and Pieces

These two pictures are from a couple of weeks ago when they dumped some new road base in the holes in our road.

Here is the progress after 2 weeks of people driving over it–

The more it rains, the worse the roads get.  The gullies and ravines on the hill down to our house have opened up again and we try not to fall in as we navigate our way home.  In areas like this, where the road is relatively flat, it’s not so bad, it’s just bumpy.

John has been working with Elder N’Zi and the finances in his spare time.  Elder N’zi is learning some great skills.  Many of our missionaries have never used a computer before.  It’s fun to teach them how things work.

Here is a cell phone cover store we passed by.

I sat in our meeting yesterday looking at this artwork hanging there on the wall.  I kept thinking those sandals looked like giant cockroaches on the floor.

Coconut is just about my favorite food.  Today I shelled 3 small ones to get me through the next week.  I’m happy our island Elders taught me how to shell coconuts the easy way.

Here is the laundry view from our kitchen window.

Zone Conference with the Adzope Zone in Cocody

Because we’ve brought our missionaries from Adzope into Abidjan because of the elections, we were able to hold a Zone Conference with them today.  A bonus treat for all of us!  We gathered with these 16 missionaries in the Cocody Stake Center and spent the morning learning together.

John taught these missionaries about our new soutien plan for their missionary support funds.  We love the new system, having the missionaries receive their support every other Monday (P-day) now instead of on the 1st and the 15th of each month.  This will simplify so many things.

Another large part of this new policy is teaching the missionaries to plan and budget their money.  Each missionary will have a budget plan on paper every 2 weeks to keep track of their financial goals and all of their expenses.  This will greatly simplify things for the financial secretary because the plan includes saving a set amount of reserve money every 2 weeks, that can be used for emergency expenses like transportation or health care.  It will help the missionaries learn about saving for the future and being more self-reliant.

A short break

After the break, we played the Companionship Game to see how well the missionaries knew their companions.  That was fun!

Then Elder Amani and Pres Bendixsen taught about being prepared and about being good missionaries.

Before the end of the conference, we heard departing testimonies from Soeur Djadou and Elder Gandaho, who will be going home at the next transfer.   We will really miss them.

 

 

 

 

After the conference ended, we served pizza and enjoyed visiting with these excellent missionaries.  This really is an amazingly good zone.

Moving Day before the Elections

Because of the upcoming elections (31 October) and demonstrations surrounding them, the Area Presidency has asked us to bring all of our missionaries in from the areas outside of Abidjan. For the East Mission that’s just the Adzope zone with 16 missionaries. For the West Mission that’s 60 of our 80 missionaries who are serving in the Yopougon areas.  We have been scrambling to figure out housing and food and transport.

The elections are Saturday. It’s going to be an interesting week. The missionaries will have to stay in their apartments from Thursday through Monday, then we’ll see what happens after that. 10 years ago when something like this happened, it turned into a year-long civil war and more than 3000 were killed.  We are all hoping this election passes peacefully.

These good men are our mission helpers and drivers who will be helping the missionaries move today.  We have a great team serving here.

Tomorrow morning our 3 Haitians will fly home.  Because of the missionaries have to stay in, we won’t be able to see them off at the airport or take any pictures of their departure.  We wish them well.

Elder Unasa’s Departure for Samoa (West Mission)

Today was Elder Unasa’s last day at the office with his companions.   John spent the afternoon waiting at the COVID testing place for his results (which had not yet been received) and I completed an oral history interview with Elder Unasa at the office (our recorder’s card filled up during Sunday’s interview).

We both had sweet experiences.  John’s was an out-right miracle.  He got the results in the final possible minutes, and I completed a wonderful interview for the Church Historians of Elder Unasa’s experiences working as a missionary in Guinea and his evacuation from there.

Then we raced to the airport with the documents.  Elder Unasa was there with his companions and everything was ready to go.  Elder Unasa will fly from Abidjan to Paris to London to Hong Kong to New Zealand to Samoa.  It will take him 4 days, then he’ll be quarantined for 14 days in a hotel before he can reunite with his waiting family.  That everything has fallen into place is nothing short of a miracle.  These amazing missionaries deserve every possible miracle, and they come!

Heartfelt farewells

The Workings of the Office (West Mission)

This morning we had our West Mission office staff meeting.  These are good meetings where we discuss the coming week and all the upcoming events.  We have one Elder flying out tonight and 3 Haitians flying home Wednesday.  And today we are all praying for Pres Lewis in Utah, who is having some exploratory surgery.  It was a good day to be together to combine our faith for his return to us.

Here are a few photos of our office Elders, who are always behind the scenes.  Elder Yrie is our financial secretary.  It’s a hard job, as you can see.

Elder Balbutin is our travel secretary.  He takes care of flights and visas and tickets and all the instructions surrounding those things.

Elder Casupanan helps with technology.

Elder Kabeta is our mission secretary.

John had a little stress today about the upcoming elections and about a COVID test that we need tonight before Elder Unasa can return home.  As of 4:30 it had not yet been processed.

John has headed to the COVID lab to make things happen.  We need a miracle here.

Visiting “The Missionary Hotel” Apartment in Port Bouet (West Mission)

After church today in Port Bouet (pronounced poor buoy), we visited the apartment where 6 of our West Mission Elders live.  This bright orange apartment is close to the Abidjan Airport, and it has several extra rooms, so it’s called “The Missionary Hotel.”  Missionaries who are flying home often spend their last night here.

Here is a tour of this rather historic Missionary Hotel:

The entrance and lots of missionary shoes and shoe polish

The front parlor with some birthday decorations

The laundry area in the back of the main floor

The back yard

The garage and mission van

Laundry area

Exercise equipment

The kitchen

Bathroom and bedrooms

Upstairs balcony

After the apartment tour, we spent a couple of hours with Elder Unasa, recording an oral history for the Church historians in Salt Lake.  Elder Unasa served in the fist branch in Guinea and he told us all about helping to establish the Church there.  Elder Unasa flies home to Samoa tomorrow.  He has served long and faithfully here, well past his scheduled departure date. We are so grateful for his service here and in Guinea.