Last week our friends with the Ouelessebougou Alliance went to visit the well project in Faraba 2. Djiba kindly sent me these photos and this great report, “Boubou and I went to Faraba 2 to see the new manual pump well and see how they are doing. We surprised them and the village was so clean. The kids were so clean as well. They are so grateful for the Alliance and the LDS church for this new pump.”
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We are so excited that our IDP (refugee camp) proposal has been accepted by LDS Charities. We are moving forward with plans to start providing some assistance and aid to our new friends near Ouelessebougou. Here is another report Djiba sent this week that made me feel happy:
“This is one of the IDPs in Sounsounkoro in the North settlement. I met him in Ouelessebougou when he was cutting the firewood of a family. I am so proud of these hardworking people. They do not sit and wait for help. They do what they can. I love that.”
“Being a refugee may be a defining moment in the lives of those who are refugees, but being a refugee does not define them. . . . This moment does not define them, but our response will help define us.”
–Elder Kearon (April 2016 – Safety from the Storm)
Today we said farewell to the thunderstorms, rainy nights and highly humid days of Abidjan and we said hello to Bamako’s dry scorching heat. Stepping outside here is like stepping into an oven and I love it. We are at home.
Elder N’zi represents many of our Ivorian missionaries who have been serving here in their home country. When they complete their missions, they simply go home. For Elder N’zi, who has been serving so faithfully as our mission financial secretary, that means getting in a taxi at the mission home and driving 30 minutes to Abobo where his family lives.
For some, who have parents able to travel to the Mission Office, there is a happy reunion here. But for most, like Elder N’zi, who is the only member in his family, it’s a solitary farewell and a taxi ride.
We love and honor those who serve close to their homes. And we love and honor our missionaries who are Pioneers in their families.
Here is the miraculous story of the return of Elder Michael Lindsay who returned to our mission this last week, almost a year after being evacuated because of COVID in March 2020. Thanks to one of our missionary moms, Cari Michon, for helping to compile this history.
During the second week of February 2021, a first group of eight American missionaries returned to Côte d’Ivoire. There have been no Americans serving here since the COVID pandemic closed country borders almost a year ago. These missionaries were the few who still had current visas, which were days away from expiring, still allowing them to travel. Because of COVID, the consulates have been closed, prohibiting any other missionaries who had served here to return.
For a while it looked that those 8 might be the only ones, because the church is not sending any missionaries back to foreign missions if they have less than six months to serve.
Around the world, families and missionaries prayed for the consulates to reopen in time for these missionaries to return to help bolster and repopulate the missions they left.
On 5 March 2021, after being re-assigned for almost a full year, 17 missionaries were returning to Cote d’Ivoire. The next day, 6 more would join them.
This group picture at the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport circulated on Facebook for families at home showing the Elders as they prepared to board the plane for their last leg of the trip to Abidjan. Sister Lindsay remarked what a beautiful sight it was to see. However, her son was not in the picture. Elder Lindsay had been detained in the Paris airport. His passport was missing. Prayers began, offered by the missionaries traveling and a community of fellow missionary parents at home.
After leaving Atlanta, Elder Lindsay felt sick and the flight attendants found an empty row in the back of the plane where he could lie down and rest. He fell asleep. When Elder Lindsay awoke, his shirt pocket was empty. He found his missionary nametag and boarding pass on the floor next to his seat, but his passport was missing!
The crew searched the plane before landing and the cleaning crew did a thorough clean after, but no passport was found. After leaving the plane, Elder Lindsay was detained by the French police while the rest of the missionaries continued on through customs.
The area between the airplane and customs is a no man’s land. At that point, the traveler is not in any country. Elder Lindsay was put into a “holding tank,” or a large room where anyone considered potentially illegal is held to wait for deportation. He was allowed to make a phone call to let his mother know what was going on and then his phone was taken. Then he was isolated in a room for the next 48 hours without food or water or contact with the outside world. They checked on him periodically.
In the meantime, Elder Lindsay’s mom contacted the church travel department, the US Embassy in France and the State Department. The Embassy was willing to give Elder Lindsay a new passport but the French Police would not allow it.
Elder Lindsay’s parents were told that eventually the French Police would return him to the United States. In the meantime, the other 16 missionaries boarded the plane to Abidjan. Missionary travel worked hard to book a ticket for Elder Lindsay to return to the United States where he would return to his area of reassignment, finishing out the last six months of his mission there. His dream of returning to Cote d’Ivoire was dashed.
Heather Lindsay shared, “Elder Lindsay is so sad and upset. This has been his dream to return to Ivory Coast –so close yet so far away.” A request for prayers went out to all the missionary parents of the Cote d’Ivoire missions. Many, many pleas for a miracle were offered, and Elder Lindsay’s name was placed on the temple prayer roll.
Missionaries arriving in Abidjan without Elder Lindsay
One of the moms, Dorothée Vankrieckenge Cannon, is from France and offered to be an interpreter if needed. The Côte d’Ivoire, Abidjan East Mission President’s wife, Susie Oldroyd Bendixsen, said “We were devastated today when we heard the news. We were praying that someone would find his passport and turn it into authorities in time for him to fly. Prayers still continue!”
Brother P. Fernando Carrera, a father of one of the missionaries traveling a day behind this group said with great faith, “A miracle will happen, I know that. Out of horrible experiences we emerge stronger and more determined to do the Lord’s will. There will be hundreds of people praying for Elder Lindsay. We’re with you.”
Elder Lindsay was permitted to contact his family in the early morning hours the next day. A Saturday update reported that a travel itinerary had been made for Elder Lindsay to return to the United States through Atlanta to New Mexico to complete his mission there. Sister Lindsay shared from that correspondence, “He said he feels at peace. Just really tired. He said he’s not scared anymore.” That gave some measure of comfort to the family.
Shortly after, his mother posted: “Miracles happen and prayers have been answered!” After a long scary night, the French police had come to the holding tank and retrieved Elder Lindsay, returned his scriptures, took him to Air France and said, “we have your passport. You are released and are on your own.” Cell phone in hand (with barely any battery life left to it), he called his mother, who in turn called the missionary department/church travel. Elder Lindsay was immediately re-booked on the Abidjan flight with the additional six incoming missionaries that afternoon! He raced to join them at the gate, tired and exhausted, having had no food or drink in 48 hours, but happy, oh so happy!
Apparently, whoever took the passport from his pocket in the middle of the night flight from Atlanta to Paris, discarded it at the airport after leaving customs. We will never know who found it and turned it in. Perhaps an angel!
Iain McKay, Elder Lindsay’s grandfather, said, “I serve as a New Zealand Consul in the USA. I deal with lost passports and other things on a daily basis. From experience we know that lost passports are seldom if ever returned especially if they have been stolen. In this case the Lord intervened.”
Moroni 7:35-37 “Has the day of miracles ceased? Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? . . . Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men.”
“We have witnessed a miracle! The Lord in in control!” exclaimed Heather Lindsay.
In Cote d’Ivoire, President and Sister Bendixson were in the middle training and interviews, preparing to send the new missionaries to their sector assignments equipped with new pillows, sheets, doxy, and mosquito nets.
Having been following the updates all day, Sister Ann Lewis was the first in country to read of the wonderful news. After getting everyone’s attention, Sister Lewis read with emotion to the group gathered around that the passport had been found and Elder Lindsay was on his way to Abidjan!
Sister Bendixson recorded, “We all stood with our mouths hanging open for a split second-and then the resounding cheer went up to the rafters! Miracles have not ceased! I asked for some quiet and asked if we could offer a prayer of gratitude. I asked for a volunteer and honestly I can’t remember who offered it, but it was sweet and sincere. What a special experience to be a witness to the collective power that you all displayed. The Lord really is in the details of our lives.”
And a final and beautiful “the rest of the story,” from Elder Lindsay’s grandfather, the Hon. Iain B. McKay: “After Elder Lindsay received his mission call we had his DNA done. It showed his ancestors came from that area. The family knew his ancestors had been kidnapped and taken to America where they were sold as slaves to a plantation owner in the South. He gave them his name of Lindsay. No one in the family knew their original name. His mission call, setting apart by the Stake President and subsequent blessings confirmed everything. It has been a deeply spiritual experience and blessing for our family. When he was evacuated because of COVID we were heartsick. As Patriarch of the family, I told them that Heavenly Father knows the beginning from the end and we just have to have trust and faith.
“When the call came for Elder Lindsay to return we felt our prayers had been answered. Then the latest 48 hours about demolished us. BUT, the Lord is in control and again we just needed to have faith and trust. We have all, as a mission family, have witnessed a miracle. I serve as a New Zealand Consul in the USA. I deal with lost passports and other things on a daily basis. From experience we know that lost passports are seldom if ever returned especially if they have been stolen. In this case the Lord intervened. My contacts at the State Department and French Embassy in Paris could do nothing.
“Elder Lindsay has unfinished work In Cote d’Ivoire. He is rejoining a group of modern day Stripling Warriors – your sons! And they are led by a Mission President and his wife called by revelation! As we say in Aotearoa/New Zealand Kia Kaha (be strong in the gospel) and Arohanuis (much love) and heartfelt gratitude from our family for your prayers and faith which precede miracles.” –Hon Iain B McKay
No, miracles have not ceased. To quote the Prophet Joseph, “The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”
Our mission drivers help move most of the missionaries during transfer week. The mission has 2 large vans, 2 covered pick-up trucks (we use one when we’re in town) and the Mission President’s car. Sometimes the missionaries take public transport (taxis or sotrama mini buses) to get to their areas.
This afternoon we got to help move a couple of our good Sisters between Cocody and Dokui. Here is Sis Gaze leaving Cocody and moving to the Dokui apartment.
Soeur Miandabu traded her places and will come to Cocody.
This morning while we were at church in Gonzagueville, the newly arrived Elders walked with the Bendixsens to the Cocody Stake Center for church with the Valon Ward at 8:00. That was probably a very short night.
After church they all went to the Mission Office for their orientation, lunch and interviews. We showed up after that and here’s what was happening then–the Elders were told where they’d be serving and they were gathering up their pillows, sheets, mosquito nets and Doxy (malaria meds).
I’d say everyone looks pretty happy!
Here’s part of the transfer board. I’ll add a pic of the other half tomorrow.
Waiting for the drivers to come to take them to their new areas.
One of the greatest gifts of being a missionary here is to work with outstanding people like Bishop Mel. Mel is employed as the chauffeur/ driver for the mission. He works non-stop to help the missionaries, the Bendixsens, and all the rest of us too. He is also helps keep the mission records. It was a joy today to see him serving in his role as the Bishop of his Gonzagueville Ward in the Grand Bassam Stake.
Mel’s wife, Sylvie serves as the Primary President, and their 4 beautiful children are all in the Primary: Sariah, Emliss, Salomon and Nathan. We love this family. They are true Saints in every way.
Every time we visit a different ward, I want to move there. Today was the same. I LOVED being with these beautiful Primary children today. They were bright and good and smart and kind. They sang beautifully and they recited so many of the Articles of Faith from heart. They are also learning the Primary Theme by heart. I was so impressed. Soeur Sylive Mel is the Primary President and she was fantastic with the children.
Reciting the 4th Article of Faith:
“We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
“I Love to See the Temple”
The Lord Commanded Nephi –“I will go, I will do the things the Lord commands. . .”
We had a fantastic Sabbath, visiting the Gonzagueville Ward in Grand Bassam. Our dear friend, Eveque Mel is the Bishop here and the leaders in the ward were warm and welcoming.
Today during the meeting the Relief Society and Young Women’s Presidencies were reorganized, a baby was blessed and 2 new ward members received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Then we had a wonderful testimony meeting. One after the next came to the pulpit to share, including most of the young Priesthood holders who prepared and passed the sacrament. We also heard from the newly called organization leaders and the Primary President. What a great ward!
Here are some photos I took after sacrament meeting. Here the deacons are putting away the sacrament trays.
This young boy’s name is Christ. He is 11 years old and he became a deacon at the first of this year. He told me how happy he is to be able to pass the sacrament.
This is the new Relief Society President. Her husband is a counselor to Eveque Mel.
After sacrament meeting we divided into classes.
This is the adult Sunday School class:
Upstairs I found the missionaries meeting with ward mission leaders. They cover both the Irho Ward (they met here earlier this morning) and the Gonzagueville Ward.
This is the Young Adult Class. You’ll see our dear friend, formerly Elder Amani, on the far left.
In another room upstairs, the young men and young women had a combined class where they discussed D&C 20 in the Come Follow Me lessons.
The beautiful youth of the ward:
Eveque Mel gave each one a nice copy of the Young Men’s or the Young Women’s theme.
After our meetings, Elder Amani helped me visit with our newest deacon, Christ, about his experiences and feelings about the gospel. He is a wonderful boy with a strong spirit. I was so happy to get to know him better.
Christ has learned all of the names of the modern day prophets. Here he is reciting them for me.
When I asked him what his favorite Primary song was, he immediately started to quietly sing “All over the world at the end of the day, Heavenly Father’s children kneel down to pray, each saying ‘thank you’ in his own special way, saying ‘thank you, thank you’ in his own special way.”
He sang the entire song perfectly and sweetly, with all the different languages saying “thank you.” He said he loved to imagine all the children in the world praying every night and thanking Heavenly Father for our blessings. It was tender and sweet. He said, “we all speak different languages, but God understands us all.”
When he shared his feelings about that song, I felt like he was connecting all of our worlds in a very simple and pure way. “God understands us all.” That was his message to me today. What a wonderful young man.
English Lyrics for CHILDREN ALL OVER THE WORLD
All over the world at the end of day,
Heav’nly Father’s children kneel down and pray,
Each saying thank you in his own special way,
Saying thank you, thank you in his own special way.
“Gracias.” “Malo.” “Wir danken dir.”
All over the world tender voices hear.
Some say “tak,” others “merci,”
“Kansha shimasu,” we thank thee.
Our Heavenly Father hears them;
He understands each tongue.
Our Heav’nly Father knows them;
He loves them, loves them, ev’ry one.
I love love love driving through market areas filled with people and the things they sell. It’s fascinating to me. I always wonder what I would sell if I lived here. How would I earn money to feed my family? What would I do? Who would my neighbors be? Where would I buy the things we need?
Markets give you a good idea of daily living here in Cote d’Ivoire. Come take a look at the things I saw on this Sunday morning as we drove to church in Gonzagueville. I snapped these photos this morning from the car to help me always remember my friends here and how hard they work to provide for their families.
Our Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan East and Bamako, Mali Mission 