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

We took a roadtrip!  This morning we left with Eveque Mel and the Bendixsens to go visit one of the far reaches of the Abidjan East Mission– Bondoukou.  We have a branch there waiting for a new branch presidency to be called and organized.  We were excited to see more of this beautiful country.  The drive took us about 7.5 hours through a tropical paradise.

The country we drove through was green and lush with jungle so thick it’s impassable.  We saw farms large and small. where land had been cleared.  The undergrowth is dense.   There are vines growing up and over trees.   At times I thought this must be God’s own country, untouched by humans.

When we passed through village areas,  we saw planted banana and plantain farms, cassava, rubber and cocoa farms, coconut palms and small vegetable plots tended by the locals.  There are always people walking along the road.  Many have gone to cut firewood and some are carrying goods to markets to sell.  Everything is done by hand here.  Women are the beasts of burden.  I marvel at the loads they carry, often with babies on their backs and children at their sides.

Here are some of the roadside vendors we passed by.

Lumber is harvested as well, and we passed many huge loads like this one of stately trees felled.

These trees are HUGE.

Another interesting thing we saw were roadblocks from the election a few weeks ago.  All in all, we counted 26  large trees that had been felled across the road to prevent people from going to vote in the Oct 31 election.  It was just recently that these trees have been cut and cleared so the traffic can flow again.  This road is the only main road to this northern area.

The last hour or two the road was paved only about half of the time and it was filled with washouts and potholes.  It slowed us down considerably.

We finally arrived in Bandougou this afternoon and checked into a hotel we’d arranged for.

Here is some of the yard decor at the hotel.

Our comfortable room:

Then we went to the church for the interviews to begin.  Pres Bendixsen and John and Pres. Sossou (who met us here) met with the priesthood leaders in this branch.  Several months ago the acting Branch President moved away, so we were here to reorganize the Branch Presidency.

This morning we traveled to Toit Rouge with Pres & Sis Lewis for a Zone Conference there with the  Toit Rouge and Niagon South Central Zones.  We had a fantastic day with them and these wonderful missionaries.

They began with a song and prayer, then the motto and a spiritual thought, then they celebrated birthdays. Sis Lewis gave each a journal book.  Then two missionaries gave three-minute talks (everyone came prepared to share something).  After that, the Zone Leaders each taught their own zone  about using Facebook effectively.

Then a pair of Sister Training Leaders led a discussion on what they learned during the recent lock down.  There was some good sharing.

After that, the Assistants taught from Preach My Gospel on effective teaching ideas. Then  we took a short break.  After the break there was a slide show to music the office Elders put together of all the baptisms since the last ZCs. That was nice. The last slide said, “when one missionary baptizes, we all baptize.”

The Assistants continued with a discussion on how to improve teaching, including with some role plays.

Then Pres & Sis Lewis did their trainings. They were really good. Sis Lewis talked about Ordinances and Covenants.  Many of these missionaries have only been to the temple one time, or not at all and most of them don’t have parents who are members or who have been to the temple.

She shared a video about covenants and then had a nice discussion.  The missionaries had so many questions.  It was nice to have a doctrinal discussion that was spirit-filled and inviting.   We talked about how ordinances and covenants bind us to God and we renew those covenants when we take the sacrament.

Then Pres Lewis continued with a discussion about why we have ordinances and covenants. He showed a picture of cassava (manioc) and then attieke. Their faces lit up. He asked them how cassava is transformed into attieke. Is it easy? The Sisters said it takes 3 days to make. We read Mosiah 3:19–the natural man is an enemy to God UNLESS he yields to the enticing of the HG and putteth off the natural man, becoming a saint through the atonement of Christ. We talked about that process of becoming like God–how it’s a process that involves ordinances and covenants.

He also talked about the Priesthood and how women also have Priesthood power (and why).  He said men and women make exactly the same covenants and participate in the same ordinances and then can receive the same blessings. It was a wonderful lesson and discussion.

He also talked about the temple and how even if you only have one opportunity to attend the temple in a life time, Heavenly Father will give you every blessing and fulfill every promise as if you were able to attend often.

At the end, he talked about this process of becoming and he invited them to repent and obey and come unto Christ by keeping his commandments.  He said it’s not like keeping school rules or police rules. We keep commandments because we love Jesus Christ.

He invited them to have more meaningful personal sacrament meeting experiences, being more humble. He ended by asking them to consider “What lack I yet?” and he gave them a few minutes to think about that and take some personal notes. Jesus said, “come follow me. I am the way.”
There was a sweet spirit in the room.

Then he had 2 departing missionaries share their testimonies and then he invited us to share our testimonies.  I told them about Pres Binene who had only been to the temple 2 times before he was called to be a Mission President.  He had served as a District President and as a Stake President, having only attended the temple twice.  I said, “he was a man of great faith and he had a strong Spirit.”

I said, “not all of you have been to the temple yet, and some of you have only been one time (if they went to the Accra MTC).  Then I told them there can be other sacred places in their lives where they will learn and grow and make and keep covenants with God.  I said, for me, Africa is one of those places.  It’s where I served as a young missionary and where I lived and worked after that.  It’s where I taught the Doctrine of Christ and practiced keeping my covenants.  It’s where I made promises to God and practiced keeping them.  It has become a sacred place to me because of the things I’ve done here, and now I am here again as a missionary.  This is also a sacred place for them.

I thanked them for their examples to me of how to live and be obedient and sacrifice. I was able to say the things in my heart and it seemed to come out OK and they understood me. I could tell in their faces.

John shared his testimony too and thanked them for welcoming us into the West Mission these last 5 weeks. It’s been a blessing for us to be here.

After the closing song and prayer, we took a group photo, then they handed out boxed lunches of rice and chicken.  The conference ended at about 1:30 and we were there until about 3:00. It was hot. The temp today said 85, feels like 95. We were all hot and sweaty. But it was good to be there.  What an excellent conference.  We’ll miss working with these West Mission missionaries.

We often have trouble getting into the stake center.  Today the gates were locked again and the member with the key couldn’t find the key.  We decided to move these 2 district meetings to our apartment and the AP’s apartment down the road a bit.

Here come the missionaries on the way to our place!

The Riviera District met at our apartment and the Cocody District met at the other apartment.  After transfers, we have several new missionaries in these districts and we are excited to get to know them better.

We had a great meeting, discussing our investigators (friends of the church) and how to share the incredible message we have of truths restored in the Book of Mormon.  What a gift!