February 2021 – Our Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan East and Bamako, Mali Mission

Visiting the Paillet Ward

This morning one of the wards we attended was the Paillet Ward, our first time visiting there. They used to be a part of the 2 Plateau Ward, but about 5 months ago they moved into a new building closer to their part of town.

We enjoyed the sacrament meeting very much. Here is a picture taken right after the meeting, before separating to classes.

I went to Primary with the children and enjoyed it very much. These children are beautiful and bright and good.

This it the Primary President:

After the 2nd hour, I met more of the members. Here are some of the men from the Priesthood Quorum class.

The Relief Society Presidency was upstairs having a meeting.

We had a really great meeting with the Bishopric, discussing missionary work in this ward and plans for the future. They are absolutely missionary minded and they welcome investigators every week.

Here are two of the young women:

We went up to the top of the building and had a look around. Here’s the area as seen from up there:

I love Sundays with the members here. I’m always sad we can’t return over and over again to the places we visit to really get to know these good members. They have so many stories to tell. I wish I could hear them all.

The Sisters’ Abatta Apartment

Here is the Abatta Sisters’ apartment. The 2 companionships of Sisters here serve in the Faya and Pomerei Wards. Soeur Akpalou joined these Sisters today.

Stairways and steps are interesting here. It seems that no two steps are ever the same size, so you have to be careful going up and down.

Here is the Sisters’ apartment:

The kitchen:

Fixing dinner:

Missionaries Continue to Arrive!

The next few weeks will be filled with lots of missionaries coming and going–there is a lot of movement in the mission right now. Many missionaries are finally now able to return to or go to their original missionary assignments. Some of these missionaries have been serving in their home countries for several months, waiting for the pandemic to calm down so they can travel.

Yesterday we picked up Soeur Akpalou at the airport. She is from Togo and has come to us after serving in Benin. We’re happy she has finally arrived. We brought her to the office for some orientation with her new companion.

Our Assistants and Elder Ewell waiting at the airport.

Today we received Elder Kayemba who has been serving in the DRC. Pres & Sis Bendixsen were at the airport to welcome him to our mission.

Last week we received Elders Pabu, Isampua, Kaputo and Konda from the DRC.

Our mission is slowly growing back to our full compliment. We are excited to replenish the force for good here and return missionaries to areas who haven’t seen them since COVID began.

Our Refugee Friends are Taught and Receive Mosquito Nets

In 2018, there were 228 million malaria cases that led to 405,000 deaths. Of these 67per cent (272,000) were children under 5 years of age. This translates into a daily toll of nearly 750 children under age 5. Every two minutes, a child under five dies of malaria. Most of these deaths occurred in Sub-Saharan Africa. (From the Malaria in Africa UNICEF website.)

This is why it’s important to help provide education and mosquito nets to those who have had no access to them. Today our friends from the Ouelessebougou Alliance visited our friends at the refugee camps in Sounsounkoro. My dear friend, Djiba, from the Alliance took these beautiful photos.

Djiba said, “The Ouelessebougou Alliance’s staff trained the Internally Displaced People in Sounsounkoro how to use the bed nets properly and talked about the importance of nets. The Alliance has offered each family four nets. The Sounsounkoro village Chief attended the event. These refugees, particularly their women with small children and the pregnant women were so thrilled and grateful for this incredible service.”

Something as simple as a mosquito net can save lives here, especially for small children under age 5.

You will love seeing these beautiful and grateful faces.

Progress at the Ouelessebougou Refugee Camps

Imagine if you had to flee for your life from your home with your loved ones. Imagine if members of your family were killed by terrorists before you were able to escape to safety. Imagine traveling for 3-4 weeks, carrying your belongings with you. You are hungry and tired. You walk to a distant village in an unknown place where a different language is spoken. You have lost everything, including your ability to provide for your family. What do you do now??

Our refugee friends in Sounsounkoro by Ouelessebougou are living this trauma right now. You can read more about these good people here:

https://atomic-temporary-165396489.wpcomstaging.com/2021/01/20/visiting-2-refugee-camps-in-ouelessebougou-internally-displaced-persons/

This week, my friend Djiba, with the Ouelessebougou Alliance, visited the refugee camps and he sent me these photos. I was excited to see the progress our friends are making as they struggle to make ends meet and provide for their families.

Djiba explained to me that the women in Sounsounkoro (the refugee camps) are earning money by making charcoal which they sell to people who need it for their cooking fires.

These women cut down trees (with machetes) and then slow-burn the wood in piles to make the charcoal. This week it is over 100 degrees in this area. It will get up to 104. Imagine doing what these strong women do, to feed your family. Could you do it?

Djiba sent this short video of the charcoal fields. I can feel the heat here.

Our friends have also been busy building more homes for their families. They dig mud clay from the ground, mix it with water, and then form mudbricks that dry in the sun.

Imagine the comfort of having shelter for your family. Imagine this world. Knowing these good people changes my heart.

We have just received some wonderful news this afternoon! The Area Presidency in Accra has approved the refugee project proposal submitted by the Ouelessebougou Alliance to send aid to the people in these refugee camps. LDS Charities will partner with the Alliance to help these good people help themselves and become more self reliant.

If you are able to chip in, please, any help will be used in the right ways. You can contact Judy Hut at judy@lifteachother.org at the Ouelessebougou Alliance to learn more about the project and how you can help. THANK YOU!

Friends in our Neighborhood

These ladies keep me supplied with coconuts. They get such a kick out of seeing me come down the dirt road to their little stand every few weeks when we are here. I always buy several coconuts to keep me happy.

Yesterday when we got home, this dear lady was digging through the small dumpster outside of our apartment building, searching for empty plastic bottles. I told her we had a lot of them up in our apartment and her face lit up. John ran up to get them and he returned with a large bag full of our empty water bottles. She was thrilled.

She added our bottles to her collection, put them all on her head and happily went on her way!

Children at Play in our Neighborhood

The longer we live here, the braver our little neighbors get! They approach me now, saying, “Good afternoon, madam,” and I speak back to them in simple English, the kind they learn at school. “How are you?” “I am fine.” It’s so fun.

Today they were singing and dancing with boxes on their heads and swords in their hands made from rolled up papers. They are creative and happy children and I am glad we are neighbors.

Progress on the Abidjan Temple

Here’s an update on the Abidjan Temple this week. The work progresses every day. We suspect much is happening now on the inside. Shipping containers have arrived and are parked around the temple behind the tin fences where they are secure.

This is the Distribution Center:

The tin fences have been moved even closer to the stake center now.

They are moving the dirt around, preparing for the landscaping.

These pictures were taken by holding my camera up over the tin fence, point and shoot. I couldn’t see what I was taking until afterwards. It’s fun to see the progress here!

Zone Conference with the Abobo 1 & 2 and Dokui Zones

Today we traveled to Abobo to meet with both Abobo zones and the Dokui zone in our zone conference. We had a good day, following the same plan as yesterday with this group of missionaries.

Here’s the transport bus from Dokui:

The days here are warm. There is no air conditioning in our church buildings. We rely on open windows and ceiling fans.

Here’s a quick look at our day:

Lunch time:

Every morsel eaten!

Washing the dishes:

John taught the missionaries today about daily and weekly planning.

Break out sessions with each of the 3 zones to set some goals:

The Abobo and Dokui zones:

Sis Bendixsen with the group going home next week:

Zone Conference with the Cocody and Grand Bassam Zones

This morning we met in the Cocody Stake Center for a Zone Conference with the Cocody and Grand Bassam Zones. We got off to a slow start, about an hour late, because the bus from Grand Bassam was held up in traffic. Finally we were all together and ready for our conference.

Here are a few pics as we waited for Grand Bassam to arrive:

At 10:00 the Zone Conference got started.

Pres Bendixsen welcomed everyone and shared some news of the mission.

The Assistants and Zone Leaders did trainings on personal and companionship planning and on finding new people to teach.

Companionships set some companionship goals for the coming month.

Then we had a break for lunch.

Frere Ebick is our technology expert.

The drinks served are local favorites. The yellow is a ginger-flavored drink. The purple is made from a berry concentrate.

After lunch the dishes are cleaned and gathered.

Getting a bit of fresh air–

After lunch we had more instruction from Pres Bendixsen. Then the new missionaries were welcomed and birthdays were celebrated. We finished up at about 4:00 p.m.