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.