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

A Gift of Christ: Often it maketh my bones to quake

Before leaving his disciples, Jesus promised them an incredible gift–a gift that would surpass any gift ever given. I thought about that gift in the dark pre-dawn hours on this Christmas morning as I waited in bed, listening to the prayer calls of the mosque out our window.

I thought about the reminder to pray for a long time this morning and I also thought about how LOUD that muezzin is with his microphone. We hear prayer calls several times a day, always loud and repetitive. I like being reminded, most of the time. Not so much at 4:00 a.m., but during the day it can be a nice reminder to give thanks for my blessings.

This has been an interesting Christmas season, here in Bamako. There are no Christmas lights, no Christmas trees, no decorations, no presents, and no carols being sung. The trappings of Christmas are not found here in these Muslim neighborhoods. We’ve had to create our own simple Christmas celebration.

Last night we read the Christmas Story from Luke and from Matthew. I thought about Jesus’s birth and His life and all He has done for us. I thought about how, at the end of his life he said to his disciples:

And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:16-18, 25-27).

He gave us this unspeakable gift, the Gift of the Holy Ghost–to teach us, to help us remember Him, to comfort us, to protect us, and to give us peace in a troubled world. It’s the greatest Gift ever!

The scriptures describe the voice God uses. In the account of Elijah in the Old Testament, it says:

The Lord said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. (1 Kings 19:11-12, italics added.)

The prophet Nephi had brothers who would not hear. To them, he said:

Ye are swift to do iniquity but slow to remember the Lord your God. Ye have seen an angel, and he spake unto you; yea, ye have heard his voice from time to time; and he hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words. (Nephi 1:45, italics added.)

When Jesus visited the people on the American continent after his resurrection, his coming was announced in this way:

And it came to pass that while they were thus conversing one with another, they heard a voice as if it came out of heaven; and they cast their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud voice; nevertheless, and notwithstanding it being a small voice it did pierce them that did hear to the center, insomuch that there was no part of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce them to the very soul, and did cause their hearts to burn. And it came to pass that again they heard the voice, and they understood it not. And again the third time they did hear the voice, and did open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence the sound came. And behold, the third time they did understand the voice which they heard; and it said unto them: Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name—hear ye him. (3 Nephi 11:3-7, italics added.)

The Holy Ghost communicates to us in much the same way–quietly. He speaks to our hearts and to our minds. He causes us to feel things or remember things. He cautions or prompts us to do or not to do certain things. He is our constant companion.

I love the description of the Holy Ghost’s communication to us in a revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1832:

Yea, thus saith the still small voice, which whispereth through and pierceth all things, and often times it maketh my bones to quake while it maketh manifest. (D&C 85:6, italics added.)

This morning as I was awakened by the blaring reminder to pray, I thought about the Holy Ghost and the quiet messages I receive almost daily–Jesus’s gift to me. It’s the best gift ever. I don’t really need anything else, especially on this Christmas Day.

Christmas in Bamako 2019 “Prayer is Better than Sleep”

I woke in the dark pre-dawn this Christmas morning to the cries of the muezzin at the mosque across the street, calling us to prayer. These reminders come daily, every few hours, reminding us that there is a God in heaven and that we need to remember Him and worship Him.

Muslim Prayer Times — Muslim prayer times: pre-dawn, sunrise, mid-afternoon, sunset, and nightfall.

People here simply stop what they’re doing to pray. And they don’t pray without first preparing to pray. Every day I see religious young men sitting on curbs or in store fronts or just on the side of the road, preparing for prayer. This preparation is called Wudu. They are taught that they must be ritually pure before praying. (If since your last prayer you have urinated, defecated, passed gas, bled excessively, or fallen asleep while leaning against something, you need to perform wudu.)

I watch these young and old men washing for prayers. They use their little plastic water pots and wash their hands, then they pull up their pant legs and wash what they can of their legs, then their feet, being particular about every toe. Then they wash their heads, their ears–inside and out, their eyes, their noses (they snort in water, then snort it out), they wash the inside of their mouths with their fingers, going around their teeth, then spit out the water. They do all of this so they are clean to approach Allah in prayer. It’s really amazing to watch this preparation. I see it every day. In places where they have no water, they wash with clean unused dirt.

If they are not near a mosque, these men (and women) find a clean place to kneel. Most use a prayer mat or rug, rolled up and kept just for this sacred ritual. Sometimes they pray in groups, sometimes alone.

gettyimages-159613082-2048x2048 — Bamako Prayer Time. Photo credit: ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP via Getty Images

Muslims demonstrate their faithfulness by actively honoring the Five Pillars of Islam in their everyday lives. Prayer happens daily and is the most visible expression of their faith.

The 5 Pillars of Faith
Hajj: Pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam’s most holy site, that all Muslims must make at least once in their lifetime.
Sawm: Ritual fasting observed during Ramadan.
Shahadah: Reciting the Islamic profession of faith, called the Kalimah (“There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger”).
Salat: Daily prayers, properly observed.
Zakat: Giving to charity and aiding the poor.

Islam became the state religion in Mali in the 1300s. They say ninety-five percent of this country is Muslim. I enjoy living in a Muslim neighborhood and country. The people around us are religious, kind and respectful.

LDS Prayer

Members of my faith also have a strong tradition of daily prayer. We pray just as often, but in a different way. Prayers are most often private, but families also gather to pray together, with one member of the family praying out loud with the rest. I pray all the time, and I try to always keep a prayer in my heart.

On this Christmas morning, I listened to the muezzin reminding me to pray. The English translation of his prayer call is this:

God is Great! God is Great! God is Great! God is Great!
I bear witness that there is no god except the One God.
I bear witness that there is no god except the One God.
I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God.
I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God.
Hurry to the prayer. Hurry to the prayer.
Hurry to salvation. Hurry to salvation.
God is Great! God is Great!
There is no god except the One God.
For the pre-dawn prayer, the following phrase is inserted prior to the final repetition of God is Great: Prayer is better than sleep. Prayer is better than sleep.

I do not understand the Arabic sung and chanted by our local muezzin, but I understand the feelings of my heart, and the love I have for my Father in Heaven and his son, Jesus Christ, and I am thankful for them, especially on this Christmas Day, as we celebrate the beginning of Jesus’s mortal life. Because of Him, I can learn how to live so that I can return someday to Their presence.

These photos are taken from our apartment during Friday afternoon prayers when our street is lined with faithful men offering prayers to God.

Interesting things seen today in Bamako

I like taking pictures. It’s Really Hard for me to be in a place where I can’t just take any photo I’d like to take. There are cultural sensitivities here and religious factors that make it inappropriate to take photos without asking, and it’s not usually appropriate to ask.

I’m usually in the back seat of an old taxi as we go from here to there. Often times there are no door or window handles that still function in the back seat where I sit looking out the window at this incredibly interesting world around me. For every photo I do snap (often through the glass) there are hundreds I wish I could take. Maybe thousands.

Today I took a few photos as we wove in and out of traffic and through the neighborhoods here around our home. Every photo has a story and many of these stories I’ll never know. But maybe I will learn some of them.

2019-12-23 Bamako (13) — Shirts for Sale

2019-12-23 Bamako (6) — Her head got tired of carrying these.

2019-12-23 Bamako (14) — A gas station for motorcycles.

2019-12-23 Bamako (18) — Bagging Coal to Sell

2019-12-23 Bamako (21) — A Family Dinner Hour

2019-12-23 Bamako (22) — Young Moms Visiting

2019-12-23 Bamako (29) — Phone Minutes Sold Here

2019-12-23 Bamako (30) — A Car Wash for Motorcycles

2019-12-23 Bamako (32) — Sunglasses For Sale

2019-12-23 Bamako (33) — Happy to Deliver That for You

Sometimes we try to keep too many irons in the fire.

2019-12-23 Bamako (26)

Car to Car Sales

If you wanted to do all of your Christmas shopping without leaving your taxi, you could do that here. I never tire of watching enterprising people, young and old, trying to make a sale while we are stuck in traffic. Here are a couple of photos I snapped today from the back seat of our taxi.

Sometimes I make lists of the interesting things I see for sale out of my car window. Here are a couple of those lists from my journal this last week:

In a short stretch of road, maybe 10 minutes, these are the vendors who came to our window trying to sell things: school notebooks, pens and pencils, an inflated swimming pool for little kids, back packs, pillows, car floor mats, plastic toys, socks, carpets, plastic goblets in all colors, water bottle/flasks, windshield wipers, some sort of deep-fried crispy thing that looked like a thin churro, stick drives, electronics, headphones, art work, water pouches, soap, dried plantain, dried mango, children’s shoes, bullion cubes, orange juicers, hats, pots and pans, squeaky toy dogs, a ukulele, and several who wanted to wash our windows–they carry a liter bottle of soapy water and a squeegee. Not bad for those few minutes. You can buy just about anything in slow traffic! The sellers are men and women, boys and girls. Most wear thin little flip flops or sandals on that hot pavement. Some just beg for money, indicating their hunger. It’s an interesting time every time we get into a taxi.

Here are the few interesting things the vendors were selling in the street while we were stuck in traffic for about 5-10 minutes on our way home today: binoculars, electric shavers, flute recorders, ironing boards, screwdrivers, serving bowls, mini guitars, Christmas hats with flashing lights, toy trucks, large silver serving trays, mugs, thermos jugs and hats for the sun. There were also some food items like jars of peanuts and water.

Anounou and Banana Bread

Anounou is one of our long-time dear friends in Bamako. He is the Field Director of the Ouelessebougou Alliance, so he works in Ouelessebougou during the week (an hour and 45 minutes south of here). We often get to see him on weekends.

Anounou dropped by this evening for a visit. John showed us our latest snap chats from our kids and we enjoyed some warm banana bread while we talked about our affairs in Bamako and the state of the nation. Last time Anounou was here he loved the banana bread we gave him so much, I decided to make a loaf just for him this time!

I am trying to perfect a banana bread recipe that works well with our local ingredients. This batch was much better than the last one! We’re also getting used to our gas/flame oven that has no temperature settings.

Here’s the recipe:

Banana Bread in Bamako (makes 2 loaves)

Mix together:
3 large bananas, smashed
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup margarine (or 1 c. shortening)
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp mace

Add:
4 cups of flour

Pour batter into 2 loaf pans, sprinkle the tops with a cinnamon-sugar mixture.
Bake at 300 degrees for about 40-45 min.

Christmas Sabbath Gifts 2019

Gift giving in Mali is a sweet thing. The people here are humble and good. They are grateful, kind and respectful. They expect nothing and they thrill at anything. Today after church, these simple few gifts were distributed. We had the bags with soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste, shampoo and deodorant for each family or individual, tied with a simple gold bow.

For the children, we had a handful of little candies–Smarties and Lifesavers. We also put out a table with church magazines that we found upstairs in the storage room. We found 100s of them, stacked up in dusty piles. Yesterday we cleaned them off and organized them. Today we shared them.

These gifts were simple, but given with love and received with love.

While the adults received their gifts, the children lined up in two lines, quiet and orderly, to receive their little handful of candy. I was amazed at how well-behaved they were. They stood patiently waiting their turn as Dramane and Nourou handed each one a few pieces.

We initially thought the magazines would be for the adults, but when we saw the children eyeing them longingly, we told them to take whatever they wanted. Many of these children attend schools with very limited printed materials. In the villages they use individual chalkboards to write on and memorize. Owning a book or magazine of your own is a Treasure!

Within a few minutes, the magazines were gone! We went to get more so everyone was able to take what they wanted. They were Thrilled, especially some of the older children!

Seck Dolo, one of our wonderful Bamako members:

The future of Mali:

Nourou is the 2nd Counselor in the Bamako Branch. Here is his beautiful family:

My sister, Valerie:

Biggo and Valerie:

The buses were waiting. It was sad to see everyone leave. What a wonderful Christmas Sabbath we’ve enjoyed together!

Our faithful and good Bamako missionaries:

We sat with Sekou Dembele, the first counselor in our Branch, for a few minutes after all was said and done. He was so happy. It’s been such a wonderful day. Several friends of the church (investigators) met with us today to think about the birth of our Savior and to worship with us. Goodness is spreading and growing here in Mali.

Our Christmas Sabbath in Bamako 2019

We caught a taxi bright and early this morning to go to church. Our arms were full of Christmas cheer and we were excited, knowing that members of all three of our groups would be traveling here to Bamako to worship together.

We went early to finish helping set things up while our friends arrived.

Pres Sekou is preparing extra trays for our sacrament meeting. The bread and water are ready. We use crusty baguettes for the sacrament bread to remind us of the broken body of our Savior, Jesus Christ. The water reminds us of the blood he spilled for us.

Faithful Brother Mbaya:

Elder Usoh led us in singing several hymns as we waited for the transport vans to arrive with our members from Gomi, Diatoula (the town 45 min beyond the chicken farm who go to the new building in Farako), and the chicken farm (Mountougoula).

The bus from Gomi arriving!

We waited from 9:00 until 10:15 for everyone to come.

Dramane and the bus from the chicken farm finally arrived!

Dramane is the leader of the Chicken farm Group. He translated into Bambara for his members. Many of them don’t speak French.

With Sekou conducting, we had an opening hymn and prayer. Every chair we had was filled. We had to bring down the few chairs that were upstairs and dust them off. The count was 98, and I think we had 100 by the time we finished.

The sacrament was blessed and passed to every single one. It was so reverent and peaceful as we thought about Jesus Christ and the incredible gift He gave us.

Than we had 4 speakers–Romaric spoke first about the birth of our Savior, then the choir sang “Joy to the World.” Then Elder Ikpeti spoke about why following Christ is important. Then the choir sang “Angels we have Heard on High,” with a beautiful solo by Valerie. She was wonderful.

Then Elder Kouakou spoke about love. Dramane was the last speaker. He spoke in Bambara on serving as Christ serves. The closing song was “Called to Serve.” Then everyone was invited to go outside for a few minutes while we set things up to show them the beautiful new video depicting the birth of our Savoir.

Brother Biggo, our executive secretary, got the projector and laptop going and everyone–young and old–sat, watching the beautiful video. It was magical. No one in the room made a sound, as they watched, enthralled.

After the video, Sekou and Dramane explained about Light the World and each family was given the calendar with ideas of things to do to serve others in the coming year. Then we handed out the gifts of Christmas cheer to each family and individual. We are grateful for each other here. These are the Pioneers of Mali, all joined together today, to worship Heavenly Father and give thanks for His Son, Jesus Christ. What an honor it is to be here in this sacred place.

Nourou, Dramane and Sekou:

Our Bamako Missionaries: Elder Usoh, Elder Ikpeti, Elder Sulu and Elder Kouakou:

Some of our wonderful priesthood leaders:

Stopping for Water and Minutes

When we leave the church here in Bamako, and walk down the dusty dirt road to a main road where we can catch a taxi, we pass so many interesting places and people. We often stop at this little shop to buy a case of water, that will get us through about a week. If I were a true African woman, that case of water would go right onto my head to be carried. I let John carry it.

Today John also purchased some more minutes for his mission flip phone. While the shop owner helped him, I quietly snapped these colorful photos of this small shop and some of the things you can buy here.

Dry goods, rice and soccer–all a good Malian man needs to survive!

These small neighborhood shops are everywhere. This is where most of the family shopping is done here, in shops like this. Rice is weighed and measured. Bullion is sold by the cube, and these canned goods represent the basic needs of most families.

Below you can see this shopkeeper’s wife and many other interesting parts of life here: a mosaic floor made from broken tiles, low chairs made from strung plastic rope (cool and comfortable), a small coal stove (on the ground by the tree) where the silver tea pots are heated to make tea several times a day, the green and black plastic pot filled with water for washing your hands, or for washing head, hands and feet before ritual praying, a green container for water storage, a re-used bottle of water, flip flops and some fans.

I also noticed this hand pump–maybe it’s kerosene oil or gasoline. You can see the Orange Money sign, that tells us you can buy phone minutes here.

Across the street from this small shop is a laundromat. There are usually 2 or 3 women out here every day doing laundry in these tubs, scrubbing on washboards. I think they do it for hire, but I’m not sure. Maybe they have large families and they just have a lot of laundry to do. Every compound has clothes lines and most buildings have laundry drying up on the roof. I love watching daily life happening around us here.

Cleaning the Church and Choir Practice

On this Saturday morning before our Christmas Sunday, we met at the church for choir practice and a day of cleaning to prepare for tomorrow’s special meeting. The church compound is a refuge for the members here. They come here often, to rest or to visit with others, or to help with the cleaning. There’s never a sign up sheet sent around with who’s turn it is to do what, everyone just Comes. We work together and we love the peace the gospel brings.