We had an excellent church meeting this morning. The 3 women who spoke were excellent, sharing their feelings on respecting the gift of paying a tithe, overcoming trials and how parents can work together as a team to bless their families.
At the end of the meeting, Bishop Sery Kone spoke and cheered everyone on. These are hard times for many right now. There are some, he said, who go all day without food and some who don’t know what the next day will bring. He told us about how when he was a young orphan boy, he worked in the cocoa fields and lived with a professor. Food in that home was limited. Rice was mixed with attieke to make it stretch. The family was always fed first, leaving nothing but green sauce for him. During this time, there was a lady who gave him food. He said, “she saved my life.”
Then he told us about an orphanage in Grand Bassam that is in desperate need of renovation. For our ward Christmas service project, our ward is going to go help repair and renovate this orphanage. He asked members to come with their hands and hearts to help.
He told us because that lady shared with him, he is alive today and so is his young son (who had made his way up to the stand to sit by his dad). He said, “I am here today because someone helped an orphan.” Then he gently and emotionally said, “who knows– an orphan you help today may be your bishop someday.”
I am grateful for the times we’ve been able to visit this, our home ward here. I always come away uplifted.
This afternoon we joined about 32 senior couples who are serving missions of various types in West Africa in a Zoom meeting. Most of these couples have assignments in Accra (or from home) for the entire area. These assignments include things like health and medical, communications, working with young single adults, humanitarian, and gathering history.
Our Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan East and Bamako, Mali Mission 