We have kind friends who have donated things we sent over in the container last year. Among the donations, we had boxes of shampoo, deodorant, toothbrushes and toothpaste and soap. We decided to share these gifts with our friends at church this year, so we’ve been making gift bags for everyone. It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!
We have a neighbor friend we haven’t met yet. Every night he makes his bed across the way from our bedroom, and every morning he neatly folds up his mosquito net and his foam mattress and he puts them away. I imagine he has sweet dreams just like we do in this place we love.
I pray every day for the Gift of Tongues. Truly. But gifts like that don’t just show up. we have to work for them. John is much better than I am. And he studies a lot every single day. I chip away at it, with my notebook filled with French words and phrases.
I thought it might be fun to put a few pages of church words here, so that some day when they’re all in my head, I can look back and remember how much work it took to put them there.
There were 2 District Meetings this morning at the Cocody stake center. We attended the Cocody one and looked in on the Bingerville District across the hall.
These meetings seem to follow exactly the same pattern: Song, prayer, Missionary Purpose recited full speed ahead, reading the white handbook (which will be retired when we receive the new version), Welcome by District Leader, Key Indicators by each companionship followed by questions if anyone has any, 2 lessons from Preach My Gospel (taught today by 2 of the newest Sisters), then closing song and prayer. Our meeting went about 1.5 hours. The other district went for 2 hours.
The Bingerville District
Afterwards I was admiring the beautiful handmade tie one of the Elders was wearing, and he quickly pointed me to Soeur Sakina, who had made it. She had a whole container of them and she happily shared one with Elder Lewis. The missionaries here (Elders and Sisters) love making ties or having the tailors in the villages make them from fabric they’ve purchased.
After the meetings, Elder Lewis and I spent about an hour getting some work done with the WiFi at the church while the missionaries practiced their musical numbers for the upcoming Christmas celebrations. We’ll be sad to miss each zone’s performance, but we’ll be happy to return back to Bamako soon!
This afternoon at the mission office I got to visit with Sanvee Kodjovi, who has just come to Abidjan from Bamako. The last time I saw him was on 16 November 2018 at his baptism at the chicken farm in Farako.
This last year, Sanvee has been preparing to go on a mission. He is the first ever missionary to be called to serve from Mali. We are so thrilled for him and excited for the wonderful blessings that await him.
I jotted down a bit of his story today, as he told me his history. I also video recorded him. His is a part of our Bamako history. Here’s what I learned:
Sanvee Kodjovi
Born 14 November 1993 in Togo
From age 7 to 19 he was a Priest’s servant in the Catholic Church. He wanted to become a Priest. There were 3 things that troubled him in the Catholic Church. 1. Baptisms didn’t make sense. They just sprinkled water on babies. He said in the Bible Jesus was baptized in a river by John the Baptist. 2. Representations. He said they adore or worship statues and saints. He felt you shouldn’t adore in church. 3. The Priesthood had to be celibate. He felt that you should be able to choose if you wanted to marry or not–it should not be a requirement. He said, “I wanted to get married some day.”
When he was 19 years old he completed his bachelor’s degree in law and English and he left the Catholic Church because of those 3 problems. He became a protestant, and joined the 7th Day Adventist. He loved to read and learn about religion. But he found there were differences between what he read and how people practiced. He was looking for the truth.
In the meantime, in 2015 he completed 2 Masters’ Degrees–in English and in Law. In 2016 he went to Accra to study English and he completed an English Language Proficiency Course. He wants to become a lawyer or diplomat and perhaps work for the United Nations. Then he taught French for 2 years in Accra at a college for Muslims.
Eventually he left all churches because he couldn’t find the truth. He was in Togo and a university professor there told him that the Book of Mormon is the best book in the world. (He wasn’t LDS.) Sanvee had a friend from Benin who went to Togo. This friend had a maid to told him about the Book of Mormon. He downloaded it and began to read it. It was a lot like the Bible. As he was reading it, something popped up and asked him if he’d like to visit with a missionary. He clicked Yes. He began taking the discussions online with a Sister Missionary named Aude Cunche from France (Temple Square Mission). He had lots of questions. They messaged and did video chats. That began in Togo in September 2018. In November he moved to Bamako to find a job. He continued learning. He was able to find Sekou and Pres Christ in Bamako and started worshiping with them. He was baptized at the chicken farm 16 November 2018. [John and I were there and I’ve got photos from the baptism].
In Bamako he applied for a job as a volunteer (?) but was told he needed to have at least 9 years of experience first. So he got a job teaching at a Primary school, levels 5 and 6. He has been teaching there until it was time to leave to prepare for his mission.
He returned to Togo in August to prepare and to see his family. His mother has passed, and when he told his father he was no longer Catholic, but now he was a Priest, his father was very happy for him. He hopes his father and family members will learn about the gospel and accept it. He introduced them to the missionaries and they are beginning to learn. Sanvee is the youngest of 4 children.
I asked him how he felt reading the Book of Mormon. He said that there are things in the Book of Mormon that are not in the Bible and that made him very happy. He prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true. He received an answer. He said he felt as if God was talking to him personally. He said, “This is the one you are looking for. You have found it now. The gospel is restored here.”
Sanvee will be serving in the Ivory Coast Yamasoukouro Mission. President Binene was going to interview him after we left and he will set him apart probably tomorrow. He flies to Accra to go to the MTC on Thursday. He plans to return to Bamako after his mission and hopes to find work there and serve in the branch. Sanvee is bright and good. He is a Pioneer in our Bamako Branch.
We had a Grand Adventure today at Grand Bassam! The missionaries have told us about a place just beyond Grand Bassam where we can shop for wood carvings and nativity sets. For many years we have helped shop in Bamako for a benefit auction for the Ouelessebougou Alliance in Salt Lake, purchasing African items to help raise money for our Malian projects.
Today Bishop Mel took us to this Ivorian market where we hoped to find some new items for the auction next year. The “market” was actually an area on both sides of the main road with small shops, in a row, one after the next.
Before we got there, we drove along the coast. The government is doing a huge renovation to the beach front. I have no idea what it looked like before, but they’ve cleared everything away, and have cleaned the ground and leveled it and they have been planting palm trees and adding a walk way. They are also adding bathrooms and some buildings maybe for food. It goes on for many miles. Today they were planting things–landscaping. It’s going to be really nice. On the other side of the main road are hovels of shops and markets and vendors. The road is quite a ways from the shore–you can’t see where the water meets the land, but it’s going to be nice. I wonder if people here go to the beach.
I love roadside stands like this–with two of my favorite snacks here: watermelon and peanuts.
Piles of watermelons behind the shops:
Bishop Mel is the Bishop of a ward out along the way to Grand Bassam. He is is the Mission Clerk (secretary) so he looks after membership records, financial records, and all sorts of things in the mission office. He’s Wonderful, the father of 4 children ages 8 down to 6 months. He is kind and good and we loved spending the day with him. He’s also very good at bartering!
Here’s a look at the kinds of things we found in the shops. Most of the shops just sold hand made furniture, but there were plenty with curios, souvenirs and wood carvings.
These colorful people carvings are really fun and really colorful!
I really enjoyed the different depictions of Santa Claus or Pere Noel.
Many of the shops had wookshops behind them where the actual artisans create these fun carvings.
Here’s a look into one of the workshops in the back:
I am always on the hunt for interesting Nativity sets from the places we’ve lived. We found a few interesting ones today for the auction. I’ll take a picture of them after they’re unwrapped from all of their taped up packaging.
There were many other fun items for sale here–carved bowls and of course animal carvings and masks of every variety.
I just need to say a word about King Chairs. We see them almost every single day, in dozens of furniture shops that line the roads and highways here. They always are huge, with high ornate backs and red velvet upholstery. It must be a thing.
This was interesting today–there were shops piled high and deep with what looked like twisted driftwood. When we asked about it, we were told this wood is pulled from the bottom of the lagoons. It was eerie and fun. I have many friends who would create some amazing Halloween decor from these “trees” and branches!
It’s always fun to learn about different cultures by what they sell and the artistic things they create. We went away with a few fun things for the auction and a couple of things for ourselves. This is such a fascinating and interesting country!
Church today was great. There’s not much here that feels like Christmas at home, except when we sing Christmas carols at church (except we’re sweating while we sing them!).
Our 5 minute walk to church is about as interesting as a 5 minute walk can be. We start at our apartment here, go down this street, then turn and go up the hill of the street the church is on.
Then we turn by the plumber’s shop here:
We’ve already had leaks in 2 of our bathrooms, so this is good to know.
And then we head up the hill to the Stake Center. This hill has a road on it. It’s easier to walk it than to drive it.
They recently dumped some dirt, rocks and garbage in the crevices to try to fill them in.
This road crew was out this morning, with their shovels, trying to make it smoother.
It’s happened!! We have finally moved out of hotels and into an apartment in Abidjan!! After our first 3 weeks here, then 3 weeks in Bamako, we returned to a different hotel about 2 weeks ago. We have been waiting to get settled into our own place and it’s finally happening! Last night we left the hotel for our new apartment.
These are the views from our top third floor refuge of the street where we live. The crane in the photo above is at the Cocody Temple Site. We are just a five minute walk from there and the Cocody Stake Center.
We’ve been living on complimentary breakfast buffets at the hotels, where we’d quietly pack something to eat for dinner later in the day, usually a roll with ham and cheese, yogurt, and fruit. Sometimes we’d take a small pastry for a treat. We’ve gotten by on these 2 meals a day for these many weeks now.
This was our last hotel meal this evening in our new place.
The apartment is brand new. There are 2 king sized beds with bedding and we have A/C units in most of the rooms. The kitchen isn’t quite put together yet. There is a microwave. The fridge and stove aren’t hooked up yet (only two outlets in the kitchen in the wrong places). The washer and a dryer are sitting in the corner of the kitchen with no outlets. We’re not sure if we’ll be able to use any of these appliances before we return to Bamako. We’ve been washing our clothes in bathroom sinks.
We have nice furniture–two sofas and two chairs and a dining set. They tell us a TV is coming. There are dressers in the two bedrooms we can put things in. The apartment has 3 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. We will be very comfortable here. Soon we will be ready for company!
Today while we were enjoying a beautiful day in the Ivorian countryside, something wonderful happened in Bamako! Valerie was baptized!! She is beautiful and good and we are becoming dear friends. We will stand (and sit and learn) together now as the only 2 sisters so far in the Bamako Branch. I am thrilled for her. She was baptized by her husband, Trinita Kossi.
Our Cote d’Ivoire Abidjan East and Bamako, Mali Mission 