Yesterday some of my favorite children sang one of my favorite Primary songs for me. I love singing this song in French with my young friends. Below are the words to the English version.
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.
Next week everything on this board will change, but for today, here’s what it looks like. This evening John and I slipped over to the office to surprise the Bendisxens by helping to organize the transfer board for them. John’s really good at keeping track of every single missionary and every single area and with transfers coming up, the board needed to be re-organized so it matches what’s in the church computerized system called IMOS (Internet Missionary Operating System).
It’s also important to see what areas in the mission have been on hold without missionaries while our numbers have been fewer, and what areas need to expand as missionaries return. John is a mastermind at mission organization and the logistics behind what goes on here. He’s been a huge blessing to this mission. His mind is filled with maps and spreadsheets and details and a vision for the future. He really helps keeping things running smoothly here.
Here are a few pictures from the Grand Bassam Stake Conference today. Elder Martinez, our Area President, was our visiting authority.
We arrived 20 minutes before 10:00 and the entire stake center was already filled and everyone was waiting quietly.
A young adult choir:
The missionaries always get to sit in the back on the stage.
Below in the left corner is my good friend, A. A. Christ. Watch for an article about him in an upcoming Friend magazine.
I counted 38 buzzing ceiling fans between where we were sitting and the pulpit up front. And the speaker system wasn’t working in the back, so we weren’t able to hear much, but it was good just to be here with the missionaries and these beautiful members.
During a rest hymn, I went to find the children. When we arrived they were all in this big room that was later turned into an overflow room for adults. The children were re-located in 3 other smaller rooms during the conference.
These 3 smaller rooms were divided by age groups.
The children in this youngest group were singing Primary songs, one at a time, someone came up, told a favorite song, then led the rest in singing it. When I arrived, they were singing “Away in a Manger.” It was so sweet to hear their voices.
Here are some of our faithful friends and Saints in pics taken after the conference ended.
This is Sylvie Mel, Eveque Mel’s wife and son.
Eveque Mel and his beautiful family:
This is my good friend, A. A. Christ. I learned that this week there was a fire in his home and all of his clothes and things were burned up. He is faithful and true, no matter what.
Above is Christ with his father and below is his sister, our former Soeur Ahoulou, who served here in this mission.
The beautiful family of Kouakou Kouame Serge Arnaud (Imperial Ward) with their 3.5 month old twins.
These are a few of the choir members.
Several of the wards arranged transport for the members to come.
This is Francois Mpinga and his family. He’s the one who helps the mission with the farewell scarves given out at each departure.
This looks like a ward council meeting happening.
How wonderful to see Elder Amani, who returned home a few months ago!
This is Stake President Koffi’s wife with one of their children.
Squeezing into the car for the drive home!
And our dear Eveque Mel and his family saw us off as we were leaving.
The highlight for me today was being with these members and feeling their love for the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is such warmth and light in their faces and in their hearts. I love it here so much. How will we ever pull ourselves away when this mission ends??
We had a lovely evening with friends here in Abidjan. Elder Martinez, our Area President is visiting and is attending the Grand Bassam Stake Conference this weekend.
Seated at the table with us are the Bendixsens, Koffi Priva, Elder Martinez, Pres & Sis Lewis and our new friends, Elder and Sis Eddington who are serving with the Lewises in the West Mission office.
We spent most of the day at the office. Elder Wright is the new mission secretary. Elder Kouame is still looking after the finances for the mission.
The Elders enjoyed some lunch down in the kitchen this afternoon.
This afternoon we met the new office couple in the West Mission–the Eddingtons. They are delightful. They are serving as the mission secretary and finance clerk there.
Today we traveled to Grand Bassam for the 2nd multi-zone conference this week. Yesterday the other half of the mission met in Abobo as we were flying to Abidjan. It’s nice to be back and it’s great to see these missionaries again! We have so many new missionaries now–the flow of missionaries arriving is getting back to normal.
Missionaries in American are now required to have the COVID vaccination before they can leave to serve in a foreign mission. We have 35 American missionaries serving here now with our African stalwarts.
Our lovely Soeurs:
Our Assistants:
Here’s a look at how the meeting unfolded today:
John and I had 150 COVID masks made for our missionaries here. We are trying to encourage the missionaries to obey the laws of the land and the counsel of the Brethren to always wear masks when in public. We should be the best examples of that at all times. It’s hard to do in a hot busy country. We hope this gift will help them unite and be obedient.
Here are some more beautiful missionary faces.
We broke for lunch when the food arrived after 1:00. We were all hungry!
After lunch Sis Bendixsen talked about the new pilot program called EnglishConnect. We are the first West African country to introduce this program to the missionaries. It’s going to be wonderful for our African missionaries to have an hour each day to study English. They downloaded the program on their phones and registered to use it.
A special musical number:
Pres Bendixsen was the concluding speaker in the conference. He talked about finding joy in the work and he showed lots of pictures of happy missionaries and baptisms.
After the conference, the gift bags from parents were passed out to the missionaries.
We really enjoyed being back with our friends here. There was a lot to catch up on and many new missionaries to meet. We will enjoy our 2 weeks here among friends.
Today was our last District Meeting with Elder Bah here in Bamako. He has received word that he’ll be transferred back to Cote d’Ivoire next transfer. So today after our meeting we presented these two Elders with their Chiwaras, a gift we give to every Elder who serves in Mali. The Chiwara is the symbol of Mali and its meaning has a special significance here.
Elder Bah and Elder Koffi
We are so grateful for these Elders who are Pioneers in Mali. There aren’t many who get to come to us here and the work here is not easy, but it’s a huge blessing to our Bamako Branch to have these Elders serving here. We love them.
This will be a sensitive post, but important post. Today we passed by this billboard showing a young girl being cut. It’s called FGM or Female Genital Mutilation. If you are brave and strong, read on. If you stop here, please say a prayer for our young girls in this part of the world who are abused in this way. This is a serious and heartbreaking problem here in Mali, where most girls and women have been cut.
Here are a few quick facts about FGM in Mali:
88.6%1 of women have been cut.
The prevalence of FGM in women aged 15–49 is 88.6% (excluding the rural regions of Kidal).
75.8% of women and 74.4% of men aged 15–49 believe that FGM should continue.
The regions with the highest prevalence are in the south and south-west of the country.
FGM is most likely to take place before the age of 5.
‘Cut, flesh removed’ is the most common type of FGM practiced.
91.5% of women aged 15–49 were cut by traditional cutters.
Our Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan East and Bamako, Mali Mission 