Escargot. Week 10

 Bonjour from Côte d’Iviore! It’s so crazy that 2 months have already passed since I came to Africa. Week 10 was great, the weather has been good, and my French is getting better! I absolutely love this place.

I’ve only had to take bucket showers half of this week thankfully. Being completely honest, the bucket shower isn’t that bad. I’ve grown somewhat fond of it. It’s the temperature of the water that gets me, it’s SO cold.

One thing I’m so thankful for at our apartment is the washing machine. I’ve helped some people wash their clothes, and it’s tough work. Here we just put the clothes in the washer, press a few buttons, and our clothes are washed. I still have to hang them up for them to dry, but hey, count your blessings.

On Tuesday, I was making lunch (take a guess at what it was), rice with chicken and tomato sauce, but this time I made some Aloko too. Here are the steps to make Aloko…

1) cut up a plantain

2) put the cut plantains into a pan with oil

3) stir frequently until fried

And voila, aloko. It’s way good, but it takes a long time to make. Something that makes cooking it pretty difficult is that none of the pans in our apartment have handles. So as you stir the plantains, the pan shifts and slides around on the stove because you don’t have a handle to hold. As I was stirring the third batch of plantains, the pan slipped and almost fell off the stove. I had to stick my knee out to catch it… I was holding the hot pan between a slotted metal spoon and my knee. Luckily, I was able to grab the shirt and put the pan back on the flame pretty quickly. Almost burned the kitchen down, but thankfully I just kinda burned my knee. Ça va aller.

There’s a couple disadvantages to being the only white guy for miles around. The first one is because, well, you stand out. I get looks from every single person I pass. Kids run after me shouting “Le blanc!” wherever I go. I’ve made a few babies cry just because I’m different. Issall good though, you get used to it.

Another disadvantage is because people talk to you. I’m not saying that because I don’t like to talk to people, I’m just saying that because a couple times people have made me really uncomfortable.

Example 1… Sometimes we visit the members’ houses in Vridi 2 with the other missionaries. At one of the houses there’s this guy that’s not really interested in the church, but he is very interested in how I can find him an American wife. It makes me really uncomfortable, mostly because he doesn’t act like it’s a joke… he actually wants me to find him a wife. He almost pulled up Facebook for me to find him a wife on Sunday. We’ve only seen him twice, but still.

Example 2… So, there’s this kinda crazy guy that wanders around Port-Bouet. He’s really scruffy and speaks almost unintelligible slurred French. Whenever he sees the missionaries, he stops them and asks for one of our brochures. Except, whenever I’m there, he talks to just me and tries to have a conversation about random stuff. It’s kinda the worst haha. On Saturday, he stopped us, and I quickly gave him a brochure, and we left. But, later that night, I ran into him again. He tried talking to me about something, but I couldn’t understand it at all. I said that “je ne parle pas Français”, and to my surprise, he started speaking ENGLISH! Eventually Elder Kalala and I escaped, but man, that guy.

Other than those two examples, I love talking to people (or at least trying to talk to people because my Français is petit. Being le blanc is actually pretty fun.

Last story. Apparently each Sunday we go to the branch president’s house for lunch. He and his wife are amazing, I love them. The soup this time was spicy, but still pretty good. They had the same stuff in the soup as we normally make for our meals… pieces of chicken, fish, onions, and okra. There was also pieces of pork or crab. But. BUT. Take a guess at what else was in it.

.

.

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If you guessed escargot, larve, et asticot, then you’re correct! They had snails, grubs, and maggots in the stew. Snails. Grubs. Maggots. I wish I could’ve taken a picture. The snails were each close to the size of my palm (they had been taken out of their shells), the grubs were about the size of my thumb, and the maggots were around the size of my thumbnail. Just thinking about having eaten that stuff makes me kinda nauseous. I know you’re gonna think I’m crazy and absolutely nasty for saying this, but in my opinion, they weren’t that bad. I was expecting to have to spit them back out into my bowl, but they tasted just fine. Snails and grubs and maggots. Bon arrive.

I don’t have any other super wild stories this week… regardless, it’s still been a wonderful week. My companion and I have gotten closer, and I’ve had good conversations with the other missionaries. My French is getting better, and it’s definitely not because of me. The gift of tongues is real. I’ve also developed a more personal connection with the members here and with the people we teach. 

Since my last few thoughts have been longer than the talks I gave in church back home, I’m gonna shorten it for this week.

“For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

I promise that no one can ever stray far enough off the path to be out of reach of God’s love. It’s never too late. The moment we turn back toward Christ, he will be there, arm extended, just like when Peter started to sink beneath the waves. Whether it be repentance, loneliness, or suffering, Christ will be there to help us through it. I have seen this in my life, and I know personally that it’s true. 

Anyways, I’d just like to restate that my mission is wonderful! I couldn’t have asked for a better situation. The church is so true. I hope you are doing well! I miss you, until next week! Also, Happy Halloween! Love you all!

-Elder Lyman

°This week°

the baptismal font at the church

  

 

The kitchen while I was making lunch on Tuesday. The bowl of plantains is on the far left, and the cooking plantains is on the far right. The other pot on the stove has the stew in it, and the rice pot is on the ground. The bowl with the slotted spoon has Aloko in it.

Since we don’t have a heat pad, we use an old gross shirt. It works pretty well as a substitute.

Garba with Aloko. It was actually really good. It’s around $3.

A gecko in our apartment on Friday.

Some of the crabs at the church behind the pavilion.

More info from texts...
•The maggots and grubs... Elder Lyman says "They were just fine. More like biting into a stick of butter. They didn't squirt, they were cooked all the way through and were curled up into little balls. Maggot is a gross word, but they tasted really good. The grubs did too. They were like smooth meat. And actually really delicious. mmmm. The snail was actually way good."
•Elder Lyman has overcome his aversion to just about everything. Including oreos (he thinks)
•There are no other American Elders in Elder Lyman's district, and only two others in his zone. One is from Blanding and the other is from Central Valley (near Richfield).
•Most of the members and investigators are women and kids, there are not many men.

Downpour Parkour. Semaine 9

Doznpour Pqrkour

Bonjour fro, Côte dùIviore1 Zeek ç zqs greqt here in Vridi &1 Itùs been zonderful serving here; I couldnùt hqve qsked for q better situqtion: ?y co,pqnion is q,qwing; the food is good; the people qre nice; qnd the spirit is o,nipresent: ?y French is still in its infqncy stqges; but itùs getting better:

(The entire email continued like this, french keyboards are set up differently. Elder Lyman said that "whoever designed the french keyboard is my mortal enemy." So we have taken the time to try and fix the errors to make his email easier to read. Numbers were the hardest to figure out.)

(Also, he abbreviates Frère as Fr, which translates to Brother. Sr is Soeur, which translates to Sister)

Bonjour from Côte d'Iviore! Week 9 was great here in Vridi 1! It's been wonderful serving here. I couldn't have asked for a better situation. My companion is amazing, the food is good, the people are nice, and the Spirit is omnipresent. My French is still in it's infancy stages, but it's getting better.

I had my first encounter with a Catholic pastor on Wednesday. Elder Kalala and I have been teaching Fr Boliga for a while, and he seemed ready to be baptized. I extended the invitation but then the pastor Desirai, he’s Fr Boliga's friend, got upset asking why we are trying to force him to be baptized when he’s already been baptized and force him to join our church. Elder Kalala thankfully took control of the situation and tried to explain stuff about the priesthood. But it was difficult. While they were conversing Fr Boliga and I were just kind of sitting there looking at the ground. Fr Boliga was because he’s a mild mannered guy and looked like he really didn’t want to be there while those two bantered, and I was because I don’t like contention. But mostly because I can’t speak French. About an hour later the discussion finally relaxed and we made an appointment to meet with pastor Desirai another day. Wild experience.

On Friday we were taught Sr Cynthia. We taught her about the doctrine of Christ and it went very well. After we finished we had to wait probably an extra 40 minutes to leave because it was raining. By the time the storm passed it was dark. Quick sidenote, all of the neighborhoods here have very narrow cement corridors that lead to people’s homes. The alley that Sr Cynthia’s house was connected to was completely full of 6 inch deep water. I had to jump off of the cement wall and people’s doorsteps. In missionary clothes. While carrying a bag. In the dark. It was wild. When we finally got out of the corridor and caught our breath we quickly noticed that the street was full of huge puddles and streams as well. The sand field where people normally play soccer? You couldn’t play soccer unless you wanted to be knee deep in water. It took us an extra 20 minutes to get to the apartment, just to avoid the random reservoirs that had formed because of the rain. When we got back to the apartment we were exhausted. Almost entirely due to the corridor parkour.

On Saturday we had a baptismal service! While Elder Kalala and I were waiting in the stick pavilion for it to start Sr Kelly, Sr Marie Eva, Sr Kelly’s younger twin sisters (Princess and ?) and a bunch of other little kids gathered around me. They started to feel my hair and touch my hands (you know how if you press your skin hard it leaves a little white aftermark(?)) and looking at my eyes. While they were doing that they tried to talk to me but I could only understand a little bit. It was a fun experience. Little kids are the best.

Anyways, the service started and Elder Kalala baptized Sr Kelly (she’s about 10, I think). She’s in our area and we’d talked with her a bit. She’s really nice. After that I baptized Sr Marie Eva (she just barely turned 8. She’s so awesome. She always has so much energy) Her full name is way long so I had to read it off of a paper to remember (Fae Lou Ruth Marie Eva). Thankfully I remembered the rest of the ordinance even though it was in French. It was a wonderful experience.

Other interesting things…

I went to Burger King and got a whopper on Thursday. It was super expensive for a relatively small burger. Sorry to say this, but it definitely wasn’t worth it...

I bought a couple things at the market next to Burger King, including off-brand Nutella  (Yes I know how anti-Nutella I was at home. I’ve finally given in).

I’ve developed an exercise schedule for the mornings. We don’t have a weight set so I have to lift the propane tank by the front door instead.

I still eat about one meal a day and it’s almost always the chicken rice tomato sauce meal. Imma call it CRTS. We eat a lot of CRTS.

We ate at the branch president’s house again on Sunday. They make such good food for us. This time they had aloco (sp?) which is fried plantains, peanut stew, and oranges. It was way good. Sidenote - so in Africa they eat everything, including the bones and skin of animals... So I’ve had to do that a lot. Except for fish bones. I can’t bring myself to do that. Anyways, at the branch president’s house I ended up eating crab with the peanut sauce. But I also ate the crab shell too. So weird. Would not recommend.

For fans of the Lego movie I recently found a scripture that says “masterbuilder” (1 Cor. 3:10) haha. You’re welcome.

Today we played soccer for an hour or two at one of the nearby sand fields. I have never sweat more in my life than I did there. Also, I got absolutely destroyed by the other team. Mostly because my skill level is far far below theirs, haha.

Among other experiences that I can’t remember. But anyways, it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty.

On Thursday. I had my monthly meeting with President Lewis. I am so grateful for every opportunity that I get to meet with him. He has a very strong spiritual atmosphere about him and I can tell that he sincerely cares for the missionaires. Anyways, he shared a  scripture with me that has helped me a lot these past couple days.

“Behold, I speak unto you, and also to all those who have desires to bring forth and establish this work;

“And no one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity, being temperate in all things, whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care.” (D&C 12:7&8)

After the meeting I waited outside President Lewis' office while Elder Kalala met with him. I was left with time to ponder that scripture. The scripture applies not only to Joseph Knight, who the revelation was initially for, but it says that it also applies to all that have desires to serve. It says that no one can assist in the work unless they have those traits. I decided to look into Christlike attributes.

When I returned to the apartment that night I spent probably two hours researching and reading about Christlike attributes. I eventually decided to work on charity. It’s the attribute that I felt most inclined to work on. Preach My Gospel describes it very well as does Moroni. There’s a lot of content there so I’ll narrow it down to a few nuggets.

“When you are filled with charity you obey God’s commandments and do all you can to serve others and help them receive the restored gospel. You will develop charity as you look for opportunities to serve others and give of yourself.” (PMG “Charity and Love.” pg 124)

“But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; And whoso is found with it at the last day, it shall be well with him. 

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with his love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him.” (Moroni 7:47-48)

Charity is the pure love of Christ. He loved us so much that He willingly suffered for every one of our sins and experienced every affliction that any of us can go through. No other demonstration of charity and love can come even close to comparison with what Jesus did for us. The physical, emotional, and spiritual agony that he went through in the garden of Gethsemane is inconceivable. As he was suffering he said -

“O my father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will but thine be done.” (Matt 26:39 & Luke 22:42)

The love and selflessness that he has for us is beyond all comprehension. And shortly after that. He was scourged, mocked, spat upon, and eventually crucified. Possibly the most excruciating form of human torture designed (1Nephi 19:9). What purpose would any being have to go through such unbearable agony and torture other than pure, infinite, selfless love? I can’t begin to understand the depth of charity.

Every day I wear a name tag that has His name engraved in big white letters. I have been set apart and ordained to be a representative of Him. That means I have to act as he would, too. I know I can’t go through the same things he did, but I can do my best to represent Him and do His work here in Côte d’Ivoire.

That night after studying I prayed sincerely that I could have or start to develop charity. The next day, Friday, was the happiest day I’ve had on my mission so far. Nothing too terribly exciting happened, I was just full of happy energy throughout the day. I really feel like God blessed me with a small taste of what charity feels like. I want to always have that feeling with me. Here’s what I wrote in one of my journals after studying.

“For me, charity is acting as Christ would. Loving everyone. Ceasing to do or think evil. And lose ourselves in the service of others.”

I will strive to become like my Savior by serving with all my might, mind, heart, and strength. I will do my best to love everyone and have charity. I will be what he wants me to be.

Sorry, that was a lot. I wish I could’ve written this much content in any of my essays during high school. Anyways. I hope you are doing well. I miss you guys! Love ya!

- Elder Lyman

Congolese fufu with soup. Elder Kasaou is such a good cook, he makes stuff for us all the time.

Here's how you eat it: you grab a blob of it with your hand, squish it around until it's in a little ball, kinda swish it around in the sauce, then eat it whole. It's kinda wild. They use just their hands to eat a lot of food here.

 

The catholic church right next to us that always plays super loud music.

 

Me standing in front of the sign outside the wall of our church

  

The entrance to our church building

  

The chapel. You can see the sacrament table to the left. It’s really small. We usually have about 50  people attend sacrament meeting each week.

 

The backyard of our church building. There’s crabs all over in the back. And there used to be a wasp nest in the stick pavilion. The ocean is just on the other side of the back wall.

 

The street on the way to the church. By far one of the nicest roads here.

 

Elder Kalala, Soeur Kelly, Soeur Marie Eva and me before the baptism. For some reason the people here don’t like to smile in pictures. And Soeur Kelly is very shy.

 

Us with their member families. The two little girls in the front are the twins. They’re so cute

 

Us and a ton of random people that wanted to be in the picture too.

 

Elder Kalala, Sr Marie Eva and me.

 

Acheke with fish and spicy sauce and fried bananas (aloco(?)). Way way way good.

The stove we cook on, and the propane tank that it uses (to the left). Someday we get to take the tanks to market to fill them.

 

 

More info...

It's actually not very hot here. It gets sweaty in the sun and in peoples' apartments cuz they usually don't have fans, but other than that, it's pleasant.

Soccer is everywheeeeeeeere... The Africans' soccer everything is awesome, they're pros with passing and footwork and really anything. And it's all anyone does here.

Le Blanc. Semaine 8

Bonjour!
Week 2 in Vridi 1 was great! I've gotten used to most of the stuff here now. It's actually not that hot here, thankfully. I haven't seen a single mosquito yet (no Dad it's not like when we were in Colorado). The only animals I've seen here are chickens and some pretty sad looking sheep. Here's my usual daily schedule:

6:00 Wake up to the sound of the Catholic church playing its music

7:00 Eat sleep for breakfast

7:30 Do personal study

8:30 Do companionship study

9:30 Go proselyte, study

12:30 Eat a tomato paste stew with rice and doxy for lunch

13:30 Language study

14:30 Go proselyting, teach lessons, get called "le blanc" wherever I go

20:00 Return to the apartment and maybe eat something

20:30 Plan for the next day

21:00 Additional study while the Catholic church plays music

21:45 Go to bed 

That's what my schedule is usually like, but it varies all the time. Depending on whether or not we have appointments or meetings in the city, we stay at the apartment longer, or scratch our entire morning and take a taxi to the stake center, or proselyte later, or skip lunch, the schedule is all over the place. We've taught a few lessons and my French has been okay but people usually laugh at me when I speak haha.

The people here are so nice. When we show up, they always go to find something for us to sit on, whether it be a chair or a pillow or a wood block. Usually the things we sit on are the only seat that they have, so they sit on the ground. If there's nothing else, they'll sit on the ground. They always offer us water. They're always willing to listen and are pretty open about their thoughts and feelings. They're so humble and I love that.

I haven't eaten any really weird stuff here yet. Our daily lunch meal is almost always tomato paste stew with rice. Here's how to make it:

Step 1: cook a ton of rice with a little bit of oil

Step 2: Saute some onions and sometimes cook chicken in lots of oil

Step 3: Add a considerable amount of tomato paste to the oil onion mixture. Let it cook

Step 4: Put the oil-onion-tomato paste stuff on the rice and voila.

It's not bad but it's not something that I'd make at home. Other things I've eaten: 

-The Congolese fufu that Elder Kasau makes with tomato stew. 

-Acheke with veggies, fried fish, and  sometimes mayo (I think that it's called Garbo)

-Acheke with pork and spicy sauce 

-An egg sandwich that had way too much mayo in it

-Spaghetti with sardines and spicy sauce

-Fried bananas & plantains (which by the way is SO good)

-Fufu and goat stew and tamarind juice at a bishop's house (which is SO good too)

(Acheke/Attiéké is a side dish made from cassava that is a part of the cuisine of Côte d'Ivoire. The dish is prepared from cassava pulp that has been grated or granulated. Dried attiéké is also prepared, and is similar in texture to couscous.)

(Fufu is a staple food and is made by boiling starchy foods like cassava and/or plantains and then pounding them into a dough-like consistency) 

 

That's it as far as the food I've had goes. Not too weird yet (I haven't eaten any giant snails yet thankfully). I want to convince Elder Kalala to come to a store with me so I can buy stuff to make brownies or tacos or something like that.

There's so much more I could add to talk about. I have to keep it short though.

For my spiritual thought, I'll share an experience I had. One morning, I was doing personal study, and a couple thoughts sunk into my heart. One was from a meeting we had in a previous day. 

Elder Kalala and I went to a meeting with all the other new missionaries and President Lewis & Soeur Lewis. I learned so much from it, but the principle that stuck out the most to me was this. President said that we can't just be a "good missionary." Trying to be the best missionary we can be is great. But even if we become the best missionary ever, after our mission ends, we're not a missionary anymore. That's why we have to be good disciples of Christ instead of just a good missionary. That way, the things we learn here will continue with us after our missions as well. We have to do our best to act as Christ would act, and follow Him.

The second thought I had was from a song. Elder Kamara has music that he plays often, and it's wonderful. The song that touched my heart is about a missionary leaving people behind. In the previous verses, it says that "two years is a long time for me" and "I'll miss you dearly." The last verse is the Elder's response to his loved ones, and it hit me really hard.

"Two years is a time for me to give back for I owe, each breath that I breathe. It's only a small thing, when you look at eternity."

My third thought came from my companion, Elder Kalala. He truly is amazing, I love him with all my heart. Anyways, the same day as the activity with the Lewis's, we had a heart-felt conversation. He told me about his struggle to come on a mission and the challenges he had to overcome so that he could serve. But, he told me that being here is what his father wants him to do, both his Heavenly Father and his father in the spirit world. He dedicates everything to the people here, always asking himself how he can help them, how he can serve. He loves them. He's an incredible person.

I have a scripture that ties all those thoughts together. In Alma, the sons of Mosiah went on a mission to their brethren, the Lamanites. They left their rights to the throne of Zarahemla, family, friends, and home for 14 years. 14 YEARS. Ammon, one of the sons of Mosiah, says this about his experiences:

"And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation, yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world - not upon the mercies of the world alone, but upon the mercies of God."

"And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some." (Alma 26:28,30)

Ammon and his brethren left everything they knew behind, and completely committed themselves to the service of God. They suffered so much, and yet they did it patiently with patience and love. Because of this, they brought many of the Lamanites to the truth, and their joy was full.

I'm here in Côte d'Iviore, having left family and friends behind that I love an entire world away. Any manner of problems or afflictions that will happen here are nothing. The Savior suffered everything for us. The least I can do is try and pay back what I owe. I know that my family will be protected and safe. I will work my hardest, relying on the Lord, keeping my eye single to the glory of God. I will become the best disciple of Christ that I can be. I'm ready to "lose myself in the work."

I'm sorry for how long this email was haha, I got carried away. But anyways, I want you to know that I love each and every one of you and I miss you! Until next week!

-Elder Lyman

Sorry that I have no pictures this week, we can't take pictures while we're proselyting and I always forget about my camera haha.

Other info from Elder Lyman during our hangouts chat that was very short this week because the power went out... twice...
•His companion, Elder Kalala was one of the first elders to serve in Senegal, which is also part of the Abidjan West mission. He served there for ten months. He returns home December 17th.
•Elder Lyman tries to teach parts of lessons, but it is still tough.
•He has seen a few stray dogs, but not many. Another elder said that dogs are sold at butcher's counters as meat where he is... Maybe that is why.
•Taxi rides "are the most stressful thing ever and we take them often. Sometimes we are just in oncoming traffic."
•If Elder Lyman can't get the computer at the cyber cafe to switch to English then his portable keyboard doesn't work and his texts/emails look like this

because the keys are in strange places. He is happy to use the keyboard we sent him with. It makes communication so much easier on his end. I am so glad we sent him with the Neo keyboard. (Thanks, Morrills, for the suggestion!!!)