This afternoon we met in a Branch Leadership Counsel with our wonderful Bamako Branch leaders. We are laying the foundations of great things here. Oh, it’s so good to be back with our friends here!
After our long and helpful meeting, we all went to Amadine’s for dinner. What a great morning, a great afternoon, and a great evening!
This morning we took the Bendixsens to meet some of our dear friends here, starting with Thomas’s children. Esther, Desire and Judith were baptized while we were in Abidjan. They are faithful and true, attending church every single week. Sometimes they walk all the way by themselves. Sometimes their dad brings them. I love these kids.
Desire was out front cleaning his dad’s motorcycle when we arrived.
Here is Fr. Thomas with more of his beautiful family.
Next we visited the Kennedy Vicks family. They started attending the Bamako Branch the week or two before we left Bamako last February. Kennedy joined the church about 11 years ago in Nigeria, Ibo Stat when he was 29 and single. He married Lillian. She learned about the gospel and was baptized too. Now they have 2 sons.
We asked Kennedy how he found the church in Bamako, a city of 20 million. He said he saw the Elders walking on the street and noticed their “uniforms” and went over and stopped them. He told them he was also a member and they invited him to church. He was happy to know the church had come to Bamako. They’ve been attending ever since.
Kennedy and his younger sister with Lillian and their boys:
We stopped for lunch at Anounou’s daughter’s establishment in a convenience store by a gas station. It was our first time there and it was great.
In the neighborhood: Containers and a pinball machine.
This afternoon we traveled over some pretty bumpy roads to Binabougou, the place where one of our small unofficial groups meets for church. Recently some of our humanitarian friends did a water project here, constructing a solar powered well and water filtration system. This well is inside the school compound where our church meetings are held. The toilets for the school children were also improved as you can see below.
This village is so fun to visit. They are enthusiastic about our presence here. The children quickly gathered when they saw us coming.
This is the room where we hold our church meetings:
John with Pres Sekou and Pres Bendixsen:
President Bendixsen met with one of the school teachers (left) and one of our faithful members, Julien Dossou (right).
These gorgeous triplets are Julien’s sisters:
We walked down to the mango grove where some women had congregated out of the blazing heat of the day. The grove is so much cooler. Soon we were surrounded by all the children too. This is a community gathering place and it was fun to watch the kids playing there and doing some acrobatics.
Pres Bendixsen said a few words to the group, thanking them for welcoming us into their village.
We had fun playing with the kids and teaching them some songs like “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.)
After visiting Binabougou, we drove to Rose’s compound in Banconi, where we were warmly welcomed. We haven’t seen Rose since the Accra temple trip in March. What a happy reunion!
Rose introduced us to some of her friends who are being taught by the missionaries in Abidjan.
This morning we showed the Bendixsens around town on our way out to visit one of our groups in N’gomi. We stopped at the Artisan’s Market so Sis Bendixsen could do a little Christmas shopping! It was interesting to see how the market has changed since COVID. It was quiet and calm and there were fewer vendors than ever before.
We also went out into the streets where African fabrics are sold.
Sis Bendixsen found a beautiful simple necklace she loved.
After this market experience, we took the Bendixsens to meet Pascal and his team of our favorite wood carvers.
These men do beautiful work.
After this stop we went to Mr. K’s Burgers where we met Sekou for lunch before driving north to visit our little group in N’gomi.
This morning I looked out our window and waved good bye to our neighbors below. Today is the day we Finally get to return to our home in Bamako! We are so excited.
The last 9 months in Abidjan have been fantastic, but we’ve been longing to return home for a long time now. Today is the day.
Eveque Mel, our very dear friend came by last night to say good bye. We shared some Christmas cheer with him and his family. We will miss him like crazy. This morning he took us to the airport with the Bendixsens, who get to come with us and be introduced to our corner of the mission.
We’ve packed as much as we can take from our Abidjan apartment, not knowing when we’ll be back.
Sis Bendixsen has packed 150 Days for Girls kits that she sent over in their container when they arrived. They were made by my dear friends in Yakima and we’ll be sharing them with the Enterprise in Dakar.
Farewell to Abidjan, our beautiful home away from home!
Today’s clouds were especially spectacular!
Hello to our beloved Mali, hot, dry and dusty!
Bamako, here we come!!
We were greeted by a driver arranged for the Bendixsens. His name is Samba and he’ll be with us the next few days.
Unloading the Days for Girls kits!
Tonight we had dinner with Sekou and Dina downstairs in our building in our favorite restaurant. What a happy happy reunion!!
We are thrilled to be home!
Every day here we pass by decorative gates and doors that protect privacy and keep homes and compounds from intruders. Every gate is different or unique. It’s easy not to notice them, but once I started noticing them, I really began to enjoy the variety of their design and their different colors.
Here is a small collection of photos I’ve taken of some of these gates. I want to remember them.
This one is our apartment building:
This evening we and the Bendixsens went for a neighborhood walk. We wanted to show them Djigui Hotel not far from where we live, behind the temple. Sometimes the mission needs places to house missionaries who are coming and going. This is the place many of the American missionaries stayed before being evacuated from the West Mission.
This is a Poinsettia tree. They grow like this in Africa, blooming at Christmas time.
The plants here are exotically interesting.
After visiting the hotel and seeing the accommodations here, we walked back home through a new part of our neighborhood. It was quiet and friendly and lots of people were out and about, relaxing and visiting in these cooler evening hours.
There is quite a variety of homes in our neighborhood, from nice apartment buildings, to very humble homes like these.
We found a duck farm!
These handsome boys are the hope of Abidjan!
Every week the temple changes. This evening we went out for a walk and the gate was open, so we got to peek inside to see the temple up close. We will miss living close enough to watch the progress from week to week.
There is a sweet and reverent feeling on these temple grounds. Many are waiting for the completion of this sacred place. We probably won’t be here when it’s ready to be dedicated, so we are enjoying it now. We can watch the crane from our apartment window every day.
Our Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan East and Bamako, Mali Mission 