Time is weird. Week 3. Or is it month 3?

Next week I'll be in the French branch which is kinda scary... Once we transition to the other branch, French is the only language we can speak, unless our teachers say we can speak English. It's a really daunting prospect, but I'm sure it'll be okay.

My French has been getting better! It's still extremely hard to apply the words we study into active vocabulary, and even harder to use it in practice lessons with Frere Maviny & Frere Afedo. Nevertheless, I am still very excited to be able to learn this language so that I can serve the people of Cote d'Iviore.

Reading from Le Livre de Mormon (Book of Mormon in French)

 

 

 

During sports we played basketball for a day or two. I'm really really bad at basketball, so my team wasn't the one that played the most. Then we discovered that there was a 4-square ball and a 4-square arena (?) in the auditorium. Now that is by far the best game. We usually have a line of 20 people playing 4-square. It's such a good time.

It looks like they fit in time for paper football as well

 

 

 

We switched rooms, floors, and companions today. Elder Summers switched with Elder Godfrey, so my new companion is Elder Godfrey (an elder headed to the same mission who Elder Lyman met a few times before heading to Ghana)!
I'm still in the same district as Elder Summers, so that'll be fun!

All of the elders that were here before us left on their missions this morning.

Elder Dwumah, Elder Lyman's favorite native who left the MTC for the field

Group photo before the departing elders left

 

 

 

 

It made things a bit more real to me: we're actually going out to serve people. So far, the MTC has felt like spiritual school in Africa; it doesn't feel like a mission yet. It'll be a huge culture shock when I land in Abidjan and go to my apartment where I understand no one.

Time is weird. Each day here feels like a week, and it sometimes seems like our next P-day or being able to sleep seems so far away, and in retrospect, the time I've spent here seems like it's been a year. But then, sometimes I'll look at my watch and think 'It's already 5:00?' or 'holy cow, Sunday is tomorrow?' Time is weird.

The elders in Elder Lyman's district

 

 

 

 

I know that my mission will be the same way, just on a bigger scale. At the beginning it will seem like each day takes forever and that the mission will never end, but near the end, I'll look back and wonder where the time has gone and be amazed that my mission will almost be over.

 

 

 

That's why I have to prepare for my mission now, so that I can treasure up every moment I have out there. I can't wait to be out in the mission field, despite how scary it can seem at times. I'm SO ready to help people feel God's love and share the gospel with everyone.

Love you all!

- Elder Lyman